A Campaign of Sleeping Gods: Survival via Tea, Soup, and Flapjacks
Journey across a mysterious world through the Wandering Sea on an epic adventure with a ship’s crew in Sleeping Gods.
I’ve steered clear of solo campaign games recently, mostly due to the effort and ongoing time requirements. Yet when I had a short vacation, it felt like the right time to dive into Sleeping Gods! This enormous world is much more than a simple storytelling game, as there are strategies and resource management to keep in mind for survival. To the Wandering Sea!
Spoiler Alert
No major spoilers are presented here, but some of the photos show components that go beyond the initial setup. I also shared my map with notes and keywords, which is probably the biggest spoiler of all… If you zoom in and look closely! Most everything is more of an overview, but if you haven’t played, just be aware that the following post has some spoilers.
Game Overview
Game Name: Sleeping Gods
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Ryan Laukat
Artist: Ryan Laukat
Publisher: Red Raven Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
The crew of the Manticore arrives in strange waters, and all 9 individuals take part in the adventures. There is a sense of discovery with an over-arching storyline and collection element, while the sheer size of the world opens up plenty of doors for wondrous discoveries… And monstrous battles!
First Play
October 28, 2025
Complexity
3
Latest Play
October 30, 2025
Expansions
2
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
2 Hours
High Score
153
Game Area
52" x 28"
Low Score
153
A World to Explore
Gameplay is centered around traveling to different regions in a hefty paragraph-style book, often interspersed with skill checks and combat. But that doesn’t capture it all.
At first, it can seem daunting to have a full crew to keep track of. Even in solo, a total of 9 characters are used.
I didn’t find this too overwhelming after I saw how the system worked, but I also didn’t get as attached as I often do with a single character or very small group. Just a note!
But the world itself? I was captivated from the start and couldn’t wait to see what might be out there on my journey!
Great Introductions
I appreciated the inclusion of the introduction scenario. This allowed me to bypass most of the rulebook at first so I could get comfortable with the core mechanics and ideas.
Excellent! This was the perfect way to make a huge game feel like it wasn’t such a monster to manage. Not that it’s simple, yet I felt like I could ease myself into the system.
Once I had a grasp of the gameplay sequence, I took a break to read the rest of the rulebook. Definitely much longer!
The tutorial seemed much different in terms of ease-of-use, but I was soon on track and ready to continue playing!
Combat Puzzles
An interesting mechanic centers around combat and how to deal damage. This is done in a sort of puzzle sequence with lots of choices. It was a very neat aspect for a long time!
I had to think about which enemy to focus on, but also keep in mind any horrible abilities that might trigger at the end of the round. And the damage! Who could defend the best?
Naturally, I got a little tired of these puzzles towards the end. The novelty wore off and they started to feel tedious.
There were story moments and events with forced combat that I wasn’t too thrilled with, but they weren’t too bad.
Mapping the Sea
As my journey unfolded, I used the included map of the Wandering Sea to take a few notes and mark some of the important areas. Actually, that meant I marked everything…
Ha! It was so cool to learn more about the world and see what was out there. Collecting totems is a central element, and I made sure to mark off some of those key locations.
Each map felt unique, too, and whenever I flipped the page, I immediately surveyed the area to prioritize my stops.
Since this was my first campaign, I visited as many spots on each map page as I could. So much to see in the sea!
From Sea to Shivering Seas… Defining a Campaign
I don’t want to give away too much from this campaign, both to keep the spoilers minimal and not record too much detail for myself. This is a game that feels like it warrants multiple full campaigns, and in that way, I typically don’t like to know the exact “optimal path” to succeed. Stumbling along is often a fun part of the experience for me, odd as that may sound!
But this was a campaign that I’ll remember, for it was almost destined that I would travel to the far reaches of the northern archipelago. I don’t want to give away too much, but I had one of the most delightful moments among the icebergs. Did I laugh out loud over a certain encounter? Absolutely! And it wasn’t hard to solve the problem, yet it was quite satisfying.
The only real downside to this one is how much time is involved in completing a campaign. After this, I know I’ll flounder if I only manage to play every now and then. I have to set aside the time to sit down from beginning to end, which is likely anywhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 hours. Luckily, I have a dedicated solo table, but reserving the time will be tricky!
A Cooking Story
Relatively early on, I had the chance to draw a couple of item cards for free. Hilariously, they turned out to be cooking gear and a teapot… This crew was going to be well-fed. Ha!
Indeed, I leaned into this theme a bit and whenever I was faced with a choice, recipes seemed to be the way to go.
There was a lot of cooking done during exploring, and the crew often managed to recover from wounds quickly.
This was a wonderful assortment of items, although they took up a fair amount of room! I had to stack them up, and at one point, I thought I had a recipe for flapjack soup. Ha!
Marco, Chef and Baker
Not that I needed any other reason to lean into the cooking side, but I couldn’t resist! When I saw Marco’s special ability cards, I snapped those up to make the recipes even better.
Incidentally, he was also pretty well-equipped for combat with an upgraded weapon set. Still, for thematic purposes, I imagined him swinging around a frying pan for effect. Ha!
I think with this many crew members, some will stand out during a campaign, while others fade away a little bit.
Rafael was like a chef’s apprentice at one point when he had a unique cooking ability… The Manticore was all about food!
Weathering the Storm
In order to reach a proper ending, the crew must survive through 3 cycles of the event deck. These start off fairly mild, but then shift into more deadly situations.
It was interesting that I saw wandering icebergs at one point, for I made the decision to go as far north as I could.
Some of these felt like nuisances than enjoyable story moments, but that was pretty thematic… Try managing a steam ship in an unknown world with these dangers!
At the end, the ship was almost in perfect condition, while the entire crew had at least some health left. They lived!
Totem Collection
Central to a campaign are totems, or special items that can be found throughout the world. There are 75 unique ones that can be discovered over multiple campaigns. So many!
Since I was mostly in exploration mode, I ended up with a fairly modest haul of 7 totems. Not too shabby at all!
Totems are often focused on main story moments and provide benefits that can be most useful. None were about recipes or cooking this time, but maybe they’re out there.
It was fun to collect these, and with a better understanding of the starting maps, I now know where to pick up a few.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-6
Expansion 1: Sleeping Gods: Dungeons
Expansion 2: Sleeping Gods: Tides of Ruin
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Outcome: 153 (Win, Ending #1)
So many keywords! I loved looking back over these cards, for this was a very involved adventure. It was great to keep this on my table for a few days, spending a few hours at a time to sail around the Wandering Sea. There were a couple of gameplay elements I didn’t love, yet the overall sense of exploration and discovery was amazing. Such a great time!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Exploring the world feels like an experience with so much to discover and a sense of wonder in each new location.
- There is a great deal of variety in every sense, particularly in the cards and crew abilities that can shape a campaign.
- Tracking locations and totems isn’t strictly necessary, yet it’s easy to do and encourages multiple campaign plays.
- Resource and time management is crucial to see a large portion of the world and helps go beyond the story passages.
- Skill checks and combat present real risks to the crew and ship, making it important to manage everything well.
- Although story paragraphs are typically short, they are often enjoyable, humorous, or poignant and worth reading.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The play area is quite large at the start, and accumulated cards continue to require more space as it sprawls out.
- Although it’s possible to pause, there are so many components and story items that spacing out play seems unwise.
- Combat is required in a lot of situations and is fun at first, yet can become tedious and repetitive after a little while.
- Managing a lot of crew members isn’t necessarily bad, but only a few of them feel important to each campaign.
Victory Conditions
Survive to Achieve an Ending
- Overall Goal Progress 9%
Goals and Milestones
Achieve every ending. (1/13)
Collect every totem. (7/75)
Continue the Conversation
Have you enjoyed playing through Sleeping Gods recently? Without too many spoilers, are there any particularly awesome story moments you remember? I had a wonderful time throughout this campaign! Devoting so much time to it was well worth the effort, although I don’t know when my next adventure will come along. So glad I finally set sail with this crew!
I typically read your blog on BGG, and tend to forget how useful the format of your blog is on this website. Love the details about table size, time, etc. This is a game I want to get back to – I enjoyed my brief exploration but didn’t get a chance to get back and play more deeply. The size and length of play makes this a hard one to leave out for me…
Thanks for the kind words! Glad the extra details here are useful. It definitely seems like a game that rewards enjoying the full experience, but being able to play through a campaign consistently can be a challenge. Hope you have a chance to play again someday and discover more!
I acquired a copy on the flea market at the local convention and I am looking forward to try this both solitaire, and with my wife on my birthday!
Sounds excellent! Hope you have a great time playing, and a very happy birthday to you!