Folks, it is time. There’s been entirely too much chatter about the subject, and we need to nip this confusion in the bud right now.
10: takes place completely on a boat (or spaceship, which counts as a void-boat)
9: takes place on a boat, with possible death/cop-out ending for leaving the boat mistakenly
8: boats with brief stop-offs at islands and such, or spaceship that stop off at worlds (think: 4x4 Galaxy.)
5-7: significant chunk of game with boat travel. This is flexible, but the simple way to look at it is, rivers get 5, lakes get 6 and oceans get 7.
4: boat only used to get from one location to another
3: boat travel is implied but not present. Places you can’t get to by boat, perhaps. Or maybe it indicates another way around. Maybe 2 and 3 should be flipped?
2: boat as scenery, immobile
1: no boats. Why oh why does this author hate 70% of the Earth’s surface?
I’m open to adjusting this rubric, and I’ve devoted considerable thought to this, but I can’t do it on my own. I need help. Perhaps we should even make a spreadsheet and have heated debates over whether something is X or X+1!
Anyway, I’ll start with this joke, but only with entries I know. Here’s hoping others string it along!
Bright Brave Knight Knave: 4. a boat takes you from one location to a handful of others. You never actually spend a turn on it.
DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS: 1. Lots of adventure once things get rolling, but nothing involving water transportation (I think!)
Eat the Eldritch: 10. It’s in a submarine. Perhaps we should make submarine 11 or reorganize the points from 5-7 downwards to 5-6. The taxonomy here isn’t fixed, yet.
The Enigma of Solaris: 10. It’s in a spaceship that you need to get running again. You never dock in-game.
Explore Your Psychosis: 1. There’s a park, and often there are toy boats on small lakes at parks, but folks, a 2 is a real stretch here.
Fix Your Mother’s Printer: 1. Fortunately, you don’t have to go to such great lengths to find a printer part. There’s discussion of visiting another continent, but this is the 21st century, so it’s probably by plane.
LAKE Adventure: 6. About 1/3 of the rooms are a lake to navigate. Perhaps 7, since you are 13, so the lake may feel as big as an ocean.
To Sea in a Sieve: 10. Whole game on a boat. You actually leave it at the very end. But you’re not forced to. You can be oblivious and drown.
Trail Stash: 3. There is a location called Small Isles, as well as a lake, a shore, and a rock that wasn’t intended to be in a desert.
The Vambrace of Destiny: 1. We can’t be having a small pool you can drink from bumping things up to 2, here. Or that underground river that temporarily blocks passage. Spoiler-not-spoiler: you don’t summon a boat to get across it.
Who Iced Mayor McFreeze? 1. Alas, Mayor McFreeze’s melting remains can’t really count as a body of water.
What say you all? I’m willing to tally everyone’s observation.
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