Tides of Madness is reactive by design.

At sea, you respond to horrors. You roll dice, track damage, and try to hold the ship (and your mind) together.

But between voyages, I want to give players a moment of clarity... a place where decisions come first.

That’s where Port Actions come in.

Why Port Actions?

While journaling a few test runs, I noticed a pattern: Players have plenty of agency in response to chaos, but little agency to initiate. You’re always dealing with fallout.

That’s the right energy for a horror game at sea. But in port? That’s different.

Ports became the perfect counterpoint to the sea.

• The sea forces reaction.

• Ports invite intention.

So I added a short system of Port Actions. Choices you make when docked.

What They Are

Each port visit lets you choose from four actions:

• Repair – Restore Ship Integrity

• Recruit – Restore Crew Morale

• Rest – Restore the Captain’s Sanity

• Port Influence – Improve the Port’s condition

Each uses the same 2d6 roll structure, but results vary based on Port State (stable ports help; cursed ones hurt). It's fast, thematic, and encourages journaling just as much as the sea itself.

Here’s a taste:

REST (Sanity)
You find solace... or something like it.
10+: +2 Sanity
7–9: +1 Sanity, but the dreams linger
6–: No gain. Something follows you back to the ship

Why Keep It Small?

Originally, I considered more complex ideas: Port allies, secrets, long-term upgrades.
But Tides of Madness is about the voyage.
The sea is the stage. The logbook is the story. The ports are punctuation.

So for now, I’ve kept this system focused.
Four actions. One goal: give the player a chance to prepare... or fail to.

Next Steps

I’m not shipping this update yet. I need a few personal playtests to feel out the balance.
What happens when you spend your final action repairing at a cursed dock?
Will players try to improve a port before their next voyage… or flee it entirely?

I think this subsystem will be most interesting when stringing multiple voyages together, traveling from port to port, trying to make your way across the region.

I’ll report back once I’ve had time to find out.

If you’re testing Tides of Madness on your own, I’d love to hear how ports feel to you.

...Hezitant

If Tides of Madness spoke to you, if you’ve heard voices in the rigging or seen yourself in the crow’s nest, step aboard:

https://discord.gg/rfvdqeGvgq