Rum, Sodomy and the Thrash - An Afternoon with Sea Evil

The boardgaming bug is a curious beast. It had flitted...

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This dig pretty quickly brought me to a pit of infinite shadows presided over by one Nate Hayden. Auteur. Man of Mystery. Possible Black Wizard.

This just set the hook.

I might have passed over this article had it not been on a game title that I just stumbled across on BGG -- current Geek of the Week Tom Russell (chief cook at Hollandspiele, the coolest game company on Earth) just declared it a game that "rewired my brain in some very important and interesting ways." So stumbling upon a review of the same title here made me perk up more than a bit. But damn, I really stayed for the writing. I usually read the first and last paragraphs of reviews to see if the rest is worth a look. I read this critter beginning to end.

I want to make sure I'm looking at the right thing on the web site -- this is only $29? That's really cheap these days, and frankly, I don't care about minis or custom dice or the thickness of the cardboard. This is in the impulse-buy zone and I got a birthday coming up.

One last thing -- please quit your job and spend more time entertaining me.

Andi,
Many thanks for a well written review. I bought Sea Evil as soon as the e-mail arrived in my inbox. It's been on a shelf ever sense it arrived in my home. I loved Psycho Raiders. Not so much with Freakface! Sea Evil just got tucked beside the other two 'zines, and honestly - was forgotten.

Time to pull that little beast out again!

And now that I think of it; there's a fourth horror game from the fine folk of Cave-Evil. It's entirely POD. Released as an "exclusive" for a holiday issue of Fangoria, the game's title says it all.
DON'T LET THE WOLVES EAT OUR BABY

I totally need to play this.

* Eyes filling with tears * Shut up, just shut up. You had me at "Sodomy"

I have played Sea Evil twice. The first time was really just a learning affair and I'm not sure we finished the game.

But the second... the owner of the game controlled the evil forces, and I was manning the ship. He made some key errors which allowed me to take out some of his units and we ended up sailing home to victory. Well, not all of us did.

This is excellent work Andi, very well done.

You really ought to take a look at some of the indie RPG stuff going on right now. It’s very zine-influenced. I really got into Nate’s stuff because it has that metal/punk zine vibe and if you look at some of the things out there right now like Best Left Buried, Mork Borg, Esoteric Enterprises and such I think you’ll see a lot of the same aesthetics...but in an RPG setting, not BG.

Michael Barnes wrote:
I really got into Nate’s stuff because it has that metal/punk zine vibe and if you look at some of the things out there right now like Best Left Buried, Mork Borg, Esoteric Enterprises and such I think you’ll see a lot of the same aesthetics...but in an RPG setting, not BG.

Cheers Michael, that means a lot coming from one of my favourite tabletop writers. Yeah, the lo-fi punk flyer/metal zine art and themes are totally my jam. Helps that the game is also excellent and a skilled marriage of the thematic with the mechanic. I've found some corresponding and adjacent flavours in my BG quest such as offerings from Goblinko, Themeborne and Craft Fair (I'll be receiving a reprint of Trash Lords shortly and hope to give it a write up here), but i really need to dig further into the indie RPG scene. As an OSR guy I'm aware there's a huge wave of new creators putting the R firmly in that acronym so i probably have some fun digging ahead of me. Cheers for those titles, I may start there.

Sagrilarus wrote:

This dig pretty quickly brought me to a pit of infinite shadows presided over by one Nate Hayden. Auteur. Man of Mystery. Possible Black Wizard.

Geek of the Week Tom Russell (chief cook at Hollandspiele, the coolest game company on Earth) just declared it a game that "rewired my brain in some very important and interesting ways."

Hey man, thanks for reading. Would you be able to point me in the direction of that article you mentioned? I'd be keen to read an interpretation of this game from a design point of view.

Yeah it's only $29 although for me the postage to Australia was a hefty burden on top of that. It's 100% worth the outlay though, unique and limited as it is. I'd go so far as to recommend you throw down some money on the triple pack based on the strength of this alone. Issac Childres wont miss it.

As far as my day job, it obviously sucks but blessed as it is with the boon of legal currency as opposed to 'exposure' i'm gonna have to keep reluctantly punching in. Don't worry though, there's heaps more shit I want to write about. Find more at www.mongolcult.com

Thanks again!

Sadly the game has no officially prescribed mechanics for Sodomy. However the scope for 'implied sodomy' is pleasingly immense.

NeonPeon wrote: I totally need to play this.

You really do.

drewcula wrote: Andi,
Many thanks for a well written review. I bought Sea Evil as soon as the e-mail arrived in my inbox. It's been on a shelf ever sense it arrived in my home. I loved Psycho Raiders. Not so much with Freakface! Sea Evil just got tucked beside the other two 'zines, and honestly - was forgotten.

Time to pull that little beast out again!

And now that I think of it; there's a fourth horror game from the fine folk of Cave-Evil. It's entirely POD. Released as an "exclusive" for a holiday issue of Fangoria, the game's title says it all.
DON'T LET THE WOLVES EAT OUR BABY

Thanks for reading Drew, since playing Sea Evil i have ordered both Psycho Raiders and Warcults as well as downloaded 'Don't let the wolves..' and i'm eager to dive onto them soon. I really recommend Sea Evil, especially if your group has a flair for the theatrical.

Tell me, what was it about Freakface that didn't hoist your freak flag as it were?

WadeMonnig wrote: * Eyes filling with tears * Shut up, just shut up. You had me at "Sodomy"

And no 'BUM OK' snake oil!

hotseatgames wrote: I have played He made some key errors which allowed me to take out some of his units and we ended up sailing home to victory. Well, not all of us did.

I must shamefully admit my own failure to dispatch the crew during one attempt. Neptune was surely with them that day.

YESSSS ANDI!!! What a wonderful review of one of my favourite EEE magazine games, tied only with Psycho Raiders. Thank-you!!!