The Shoaling Festival is an annual event that celebrates the greatest of the free divers in Praelora, as well as commemorating those who have been lost at past events. Each diver has spent the last twelve months preparing for the boat upon which he will set sail out across the Gasillica Ocean, facing the dangers of the open water, including destructive spore storm, predators of the sea, cutthroat pirates, dragon hunters, and even rivals to reach the first of four Key Markers. At these points, each diver, alone yet knowing that if he is successful, he will return to Praelora to a hero’s welcome, makes a free dive into the depths of the ocean. He will hold his breath for as long as he can, attempting to withstand the pressures pressing upon him. What lies below are the sunken remains of a long dead civilisation. There he will find artefacts and relics that if brought back to Praelora will ensure his fame for another year.
This is the background for the BOW Solo Journaling Game, in which a player—or Freediver—explores a dangerous aquatic world hoping to survive and return to tell the tale. It is published by Hatchlings Games, best known for Inspirisles, the Deaf-aware, sign-language as magic, Arthurian roleplaying game, and shares much in common with another solitaire roleplaying game from the publisher. This is Dragon Dowser: A Journalling Game for One Player, in which the player will use his dowsing crystal to overcome the elements, uncover ancient secrets, battle long-buried machinery, and in the process, save the last of the dragon eggs. Both Dragon Dowser and BOW take place in similar, if not the same world (dragons appear in both); are inspired by Japanese anime, in particular, Studio Ghibli’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; and share the same mechanics and play structure, the Carta System from Peach Garden Games. So as with Dragon Dowser, what a player requires in BOW is a standard deck of playing cards, a six-sided die, a set of tokens, and a journal for the Free Diver to record his story. As an alternative to the deck of playing cards, the roleplaying game has its own deck of cards. These have their art and text, so that the player does not have to refer to the book for the card descriptions, although the rulebook can still be used as a reference guide for all of the cards.
BOW requires some set-up before play begins. Key to this set-up is deciding upon the Marker for the playthrough. This is the location that the Freediver must reach in order to win the competition and is represented by one of the deck’s four Ace cards. Each of the Aces and its associated suit is linked to a particular theme. Clubs to ‘Sea Life’, Diamonds to ‘Secrets’, Hearts to ‘Seafarers’, and Spades to ‘Survival’. The player chooses one of the four Key Markers and draws twenty-three cards from the deck. Together with the selected Key Markers, these are placed face down in a six by four grid. Two Haven cards are placed to either side, represented by the Jokers in a standard deck of playing cards. The player’s die is put on one of these Haven cards as harbour from which his Freediver will set sail. Together, this forms the play area, that is, the sea across which the Freediver travels and explores.
On a turn, the player moves from one card in the play area to another in any direction. This costs a single ‘Seaworthy Token’, each a representation of the seaworthiness of the Freediver’s boat. The Freediver starts play with ten ‘Seaworthy Tokens’ and if he runs out of them, he is not lost, but stranded at sea. He will be rescued and brought ashore at the other Haven, from where he can set out again. Should this happen again, the Freediver’s rivals reach their goals before can reach his, effectively ending the game.
Each card turned over reveals three factors. The first is whether the card is ‘Negative’, ‘Negative Chaos’, ‘Positive Chaos’, or ‘Positive’. This indicates how many ‘Seaworthy Tokens’ the Freediver gains if positive or loses if negative. The loss or gain in terms of ‘Seaworthy Tokens’ ranges between one and five, or is rolled on a six-sided die if ‘Negative Chaos’ or ‘Positive Chaos’. The second part is a ‘Description’ and the third a ‘Prompt’. The ‘Description’ details the situation, whilst the ‘Prompt’ suggests what the Freedriver might want to address in his journal. Cards valued seven and lower are negative, whilst those valued eight or more are positive. It is also possible for the Freediver to discover another Ace, that is, a Key Marker for another Freediving competitor, giving him a moment of Respite, whilst the player is free to describe what his Freediver finds there.
For example, the ‘6 of Hearts’ is Negative and costs the Freediver a single ‘Seaworthy Token’. The Description says that, “Residents of an island previously thought to be friendly to competitors now seem to be hostile. You had hoped to replenish supplies here, instead you need to beat a hasty retreat.” The ‘Prompts’ consists of “What is behind this hostility? How do you feel it can be resolved?” Then the ‘9 of Clubs’ is Positive and gives the Freediver a single ‘Seaworthy Token’, and has the ‘Description’ of “An abandoned wreck lies just off-shore guarded by an enormous octopus. While considering where to risk a dive, a dragon soars overhead, its vast shadow luring the guardian far from the wreckage.” Its ‘Prompts’ consists of “What is the octopus guarding? What makes it so unexpected?”.
The rules to BOW are simple and easy to learn and play. The process is helped by an extended example of play at the end of the rulebook and this, combined with the fact that the Freediver cannot die, merely be rescued once and once again (and in the case of the latter, fail at the attempt), serves to make it suitable for younger players.
The rules to BOW are simple and easy to learn and play. The process is helped by an extended example of play at the end of the rulebook and this, combined with the fact that the Freediver cannot die, merely be rescued once and once again (and in the case of the latter, fail at the attempt), serves to make it suitable for younger players.
Physically, BOW is well presented. It is a small, landscape format book with some excellent artwork, much of it replicated from the game’s cards. The writing is clean and simple, making the game easy to pick up and play. With only half of the deck being used at any one time, there is plenty of replay value in the game.
Like Dragon Dowser before it, BOW is light and easy to play in terms of its rules and positive and uplifting in terms of its tone. This reflects its Solarpunk genre, optimistic and environmentally affirming, though there are potentially darker elements to the setting such as the pirates and the dangers of the sea. There is potential for the rivalry with the Freediver’s competitors to add further darker elements, though BOW does not quite make as much of them as it should, leaving it up to the player instead to develop their presence. The great feature of BOW—because it uses the Carta System—is its replayability, since the number of cards required to play are less than half of the total number of the cards in the game. This means that a player can have his Freediver participate in the Shoaling Festival year after year without exhausting all of the storytelling experiences that BOW offers and even revisiting cards previously drawn can mean developing stories told in previous playthroughs. BOW has the feel of wind through the hair, the taste of salt on the air, and the calm of the waves, with the open sea leaving plenty of room for the player to interpret the journalling game’s prompts as his Freediver sets sail for the Shoaling Festival.
