Anchors Aweigh: A Solo Cruise Ship Horror Adventure Game

Anchors Aweigh in the Bermuda Triangle You’ve been saving up for years to go on a pleasure cruise. Two weeks of travel to distant ports, lands, and people. Everything was great. Your cabin, your fellow passengers, the crew, the seas. Exactly what you need to relax and rewind. The Captain even joked about cruising through the famed Bermuda Triangle and hoped your wills were up to date. Then, strange things started happening less than a day out of port. Strange lights in the sea, strange aquatic life, and then a thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere, stretching as far as the eye could see. Passengers began disappearing, the crew started acting weirdly, and odd phenomena occurred. Uncharted islands appeared. Nautical obstacles approached the ship. At night, the weirdest things happened. Crew members brought you gifts you didn’t ask for. Outside communications ceased. Power fluctuated or failed. Two weeks of this? Wait, how long have you been at sea again? You’ve lost track of time. Bon voyage. **Warning: depictions and descriptions of R-rated horror are used in this solo adventure.** Materials you will need. You will need some simple items as follows: • A Standard Deck of Playing Cards (with Jokers): I own several decks with different face card themes. You can use a standard deck or a unique one to play solo games with themes. Every card will have a different meaning as you draw one. They produce the adventures to start you on your way, a side quest, a discovery, how your character may feel, or people or creatures you will meet along the way. • Paper and pencil, or a writing program: I prefer a writing program or a spreadsheet to log in order and with your ideas as you travel the world. Now, before you begin, you have to decide who you are: 1. Are you part of the crew or passenger? Are you an adult, teen, or younger? What’s your gender? Is this your first cruise, or are you a seasoned traveler? Are you from the city or country? What’s your social status, real or perceived? What is your profession? 2. Choose Your Role: Are you traveling for fun? Or are you here because you were paid to sail? What type of personality do you have? What do you look like? Any bad habits? A risk taker or risk avoider? A follower or leader? Can you swim? What is your fitness level? 3. Prepare your Deck: Shuffle your deck of playing cards and place the stack face down. With your character’s nature made, your role in the story selected, and your cards ready, it’s time to start your journey. Gameplay: Each card creates a new event or discovery for your character; make sure to chronicle them in order. A series of turns of fate may reflect on the card you have two cards later. 1. Draw a single card at a time from the deck. Begin by drawing a situation card, any Club suit, and it starts you on the adventure. Reshuffle the deck with the cards drawn before the first Club and continue. 2. The prompts below will tell you the card’s meaning by number and suit. Try to imagine the scene with all five senses. 3. Write your entry describing the moment using your senses. Imagine it’s a scene in a movie, comic, or novel, and play with it. Use that imagination! 4. After writing down your scene, draw the next card to continue your adventure. When you reach the end of the deck, you can either imagine going back to where you started or use it as a cliffhanger for your next story after you shuffle the deck. You just completed “Book One” of your adventure. 5. Even though this is a solo adventure, you can bring your friends along and have them as part of your group and all of you write your part in the adventure separately. Be careful; their character may not be trusted! Watch your back.