What the Water Gave Me

As a seafaring bunch, you don’t know what you expected. Tumultuous waters are an inevitability of sea travel, but no one wants to consider the possibility that you might not make it out alive. One of you is the captain finding a way to survive and one of you is the crew trying to hold it all together. One of you is the ship that seeks safety and one of you is the sea trying to lead her astray. There’s no telling how long the storm will last. You don’t know if you’ll make it through the night. It’s possible whoever controls this world is merciful and you will live to tell the tale, forever cautious of the sea. It’s also possible that your ship will sink and you will never be heard from again. How exquisite.

"What the Water Gave Me" is a GMless roleplaying game for 2-5 players based on a playlist of songs about getting lost, being found, and what it means to have lived.  Players take on the roles Captain, the Crew, the Ship, and the Sea and collaboratively tell a story about finding your way back to land in the midst of rocky seas, building relationships, and creating a world together. As the playlist progresses, there are more questions and more complications. This is a "lost at sea" version/hack of "You Want it Darker" by Nora Katz.

Being lost is inevitable, because losing yourself is part of what it means to be human. Being found is good fortune, because sometimes even if you’ve found yourself something bigger comes to swallow you whole.