How to Play

Sleeping Gods

1-4 players 60-120 min 8.1 Board Game Geek Rating

Players captain a steamship crew stranded in a mystical 1929 world, exploring an atlas of interconnected pages while making story-driven choices. This cooperative campaign uses a journey log to save progress between sessions, allowing flexible solo or group play. Victory requires discovering fourteen divine totems scattered across exotic islands to return home.

Published 2021

Sleeping Gods

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Position ship board
Place ship board on the side matching the number of players
2
Add starting resources
Place 3 coins, 1 grain, and the ship token on the ship board
3
Open atlas
Place atlas on page 2, and place the ship in the region marked with number 2
4
Distribute crew boards
Place Captain Odessa board near the ship board, distribute other crew boards among players
5
Prepare card decks
Shuffle ability cards and market cards into two separate face-down decks
6
Create event deck
Shuffle 6 random event cards of each type face down, with dangerous cards at bottom and mild cards on top, returning the rest to the box
7
Place starting adventures
Place the 4 adventure cards with "starting" on the back near the ship board
8
Position quest materials
Place magnetic box containing adventure and quest cards nearby
9
Place storybook
Position storybook near the board
10
Prepare enemy deck
Place deck of enemy cards face down without shuffling them
11
Shuffle search tokens
Shuffle search tokens into a face-down stack
12
Deal starting hands
Give each player 1 command token and 1 ability card
13
Display level cards
Place level cards near ship board face up where anyone can look through them
14
Start journey log
Fill new journey log with date and player names, then decide brutal or normal mode
15
Select first player
Choose first player and give them the captain token

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Begin turn
The player with captain token starts and controls Captain Odessa
2
Apply venom damage
Crew members controlled by player with venom token take 1 damage if able
3
Perform actions
Complete up to 2 actions on your turn
4
Gain command option
Instead of an action, gain 1 command token
5
Draw event
After 2 actions, draw card from event deck, read it aloud and follow instructions without discarding unless specified
6
Check event deck
If event deck empty, read storybook paragraph 1 (first time), 1.2 (second time), or F1 (third time)
7
Pass captain token
Pass captain token to next player clockwise
8
Move ship figure
Move ship action figure to one ship room other than the current one
9
Check room damage
If room has 2 damage cubes, ship action ends immediately
10
Bridge room
Draw 1 ability card and gain [2-3-3-4] command tokens based on player count, then return all command tokens on all crew members and adventure cards to supply
11
Galley room
Draw [1-1-2-2] ability cards and [2-3-3-3] command tokens, optionally discard 1 ability card from hand to remove 1 fatigue from any crew member
12
Deck room
Gain [2-2-3-3] command tokens, then optionally draw search tokens
13
Quarters room
Draw 1 ability card and [3-4-4-5] command tokens, then return [2-2-3-3] command tokens from any crew member to supply
14
Sick bay room
Draw 1 ability card and [3-3-4-5] command tokens, then restore 1 health to any crew member
15
Assign crew member
Optionally assign one crew member with craft skill and less than 2 fatigue tokens to participate
16
Add fatigue
Put fatigue token on participating crew member and add 1 for each craft symbol to next fate draw
17
Draw fate
Draw fate card to determine travel distance
18
Discard for bonus
Discard ability cards with craft symbols from hand to add +1 per card
19
Check travel table
Consult travel table to determine how many region boundaries you can cross
20
Move ship token
Cross region boundaries including dotted lines, coasts, spiral binding, or numbered atlas edges
21
Handle atlas edges
When crossing edge of atlas, flip to indicated page and place ship on region touching opposite map side
22
Resolve hazards
If new region has a hazard, pass the hazard's challenge or suffer the consequence
23
Choose location
Select one location number in your current map region
24
Read storybook
Open storybook to corresponding paragraph number and read aloud the first box
25
Follow instructions
Continue following instructions until you reach "Return to the ship"
26
Return triangular tokens
Return any explore triangular tokens gained to supply
27
Requires market location
Must be in a region with a market location
28
Draw market cards
Draw 7 cards from market deck
29
Purchase cards
Spend needed coins to buy desired cards
30
Equip weapons
If purchased card is a weapon, equip it to one of your crew
31
Place other cards
If not a weapon, place it by your other adventure cards
32
Return unwanted cards
Put unwanted cards at bottom of market deck
33
Requires market location
Must be in a region with market location
34
Use Inn
Spend 4 coins to remove 1 fatigue from all crew members
35
Use Shipyard
Repair 1 ship damage for each coin or resource token spent
36
Use Healer
For every coin spent, restore all health to any one crew member
37
Spend XP
Spend XP to buy level cards, then tuck under crew member hiding the face
38
Select participants
Active player chooses crew members with less than 2 fatigue to participate
39
Pay command costs
Spend 1 command token for each low morale participating member
40
Apply madness damage
Every participating member with madness suffers 1 damage
41
Add fatigue
Put 1 fatigue on each participant
42
Allow other players
Other players spend 1 command each to add their crew members
43
Calculate skill value
Sum all challenge skill icons on participants and their ability cards, subtract 2 for each weakened participant
44
Draw fate
Draw ability card and check fate number in top left corner, then discard it
45
Modify fate
Use crew abilities, adventure cards, and equipped abilities to alter fate number
46
Discard for bonus
All players can discard cards with matching skill icon to add +1 each
47
Determine success
If total skill value equals or exceeds fate number, challenge is passed
48
Apply failure consequences
On failure, apply listed penalties such as health loss, ship damage, or negative tokens
49
Setup enemy cards
Retrieve listed enemy cards, shuffle them, and lay face up without spaces
50
Place synergy tokens
Put synergy tokens on corresponding crew boards
51
Distribute combat tokens
Distribute 4 combat tokens evenly among players (3 players: active player gets 2)
52
Combat token placement
Player with combat token places it on eligible crew member (less than 2 tokens, not frightened, more than 0 health)
53
Choose weapon
Select one of the attacking crew member's weapons
54
Choose target enemy
Select which enemy to attack
55
Check First Strike
If enemy has uncovered First Strike, enemy deals counterattack damage first
56
Roll accuracy
Draw fate and add weapon's accuracy number plus any bonuses
57
Apply accuracy penalties
Deduct 1 if enemy has uncovered wing symbol and weapon lacks ranged attribute
58
Determine hit
If total accuracy equals or exceeds enemy defense, attack hits
59
Place damage tokens
On hit, place damage tokens equal to weapon damage on adjacent enemy squares without damage
60
Apply Resist
Place 1 less damage if enemy has uncovered Resist 1 ability
61
Fatigue penalty
Place 1 less damage if attacker has 2 fatigue tokens
62
Claim synergy
If synergy symbol is covered, move attacker's synergy token to any crew board
63
Remove defeated enemies
Remove enemy cards with all hearts covered, slide remaining cards together
64
Counterattack
If enemy not defeated and hasn't counterattacked, enemy deals basic damage plus uncovered damage symbols minus weapon blocks
65
Miss consequence
On miss, attacker still deals 1 damage to enemy
66
End of round attacks
Each remaining enemy from left to right deals damage to any crew member chosen by active player
67
Resolve enemy abilities
Apply uncovered enemy abilities including Adjacent damage, Disarm, Regen, Ship damage, Frighten, Low morale, Madness, Venom, and Weaken
68
Continue combat
Repeat rounds until all enemies or all crew members are defeated
69
Trade combat tokens
Players can spend 1 command token to give or receive combat tokens

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Normal mode crew defeat
If all crew members have 0 health, move to nearest port, remove all crew damage and fatigue, discard 6 top events, and start a new turn
2
Normal mode ship defeat
If ship reaches 11 damage, move to nearest port, remove all damage, discard 6 top events, and start a new turn
3
Brutal mode loss
If all crew members have 0 health or ship reaches 11 damage, you lose the game
4
Event deck depletion
When event deck empties for the third time, read paragraph F1 in storybook for final resolution
5
Quest completion
Game progresses through gaining quests (retrieve quest cards) and completing objectives as directed by the storybook

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

 Set Sail! Sleeping Gods [1]

Set Sail! Sleeping Gods [1]

Session

Clearing Fatigue Is Hard! Sleeping Gods [4]

Clearing Fatigue Is Hard! Sleeping Gods [4]

Session

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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