Participate

City of Five Sails is an expandable card game set in the swashbuckling world of Chaosium's 7th Sea roleplaying game by John Wick.

Players control one of five factions as they fight to influence, control, and explore the independent and unruly city of Five Sails. Primarily designed for two players, multiplayer allows for up to four players.

Each player assumes the role of a Leader who, with the help of their loyal allies, spreads their influence across the city to control key locations, hire Mercenaries, and exploit ancient artifacts.

Savvy Leaders consider Five Sails its own player in the game. It is represented with the City Deck: a pre-built deck of cards that is the city itself with unusual characters, items, and events. This deck will shift as player engagement changes the story of Five Sails. Players have to navigate the city and its goings-on just as much as they must navigate their opponent.

The winds of fate and treachery are billowing in the City of Five Sails; player decisions will steer the way! Throw your weight behind your favorite faction and captain their way to victory. The story of 7th Sea: City of Five Sails will be constantly shifting and evolving based upon community driven choices, major tournaments, and participation. How the story progresses is in the hands of you, our players.

via Chaosium

7th Sea is a tabletop roleplaying  game of swashbuckling and intrigue, exploration and adventure, taking place on the continent of Théah, a land of magic and mystery...

Players take on the roles of heroes thrown into global conspiracies and sinister plots, exploring ancient ruins of races long vanished, and protecting Kings and Queens from murderous villains. 

It is a world of sharp blades and sharp wits, where a cutting retort can be just as deadly as a sword’s point!

The story of 7th Sea: City of Five Sails begins with five distinct factions, each hailing from a different part of the city, influenced by the countries just beyond the city walls. Each faction is represented by a Leader, but as the story progresses, more leaders will emerge complete with new goals, tactics, and styles of play. 

Odette Dubois d'Arrent is the most recent arrival to the city. She is a courtier from Montaigne, a country that does not have a district or established foothold in Five Sails. She is tasked to help her patron expand his influence within the free city.  As such, she is eager to find allies. But she did not arrive in Five Sails alone. A small, but elite, group of skilled Musketeers accompanies her and protects her from the rougher elements of the City. Her strengths include movement and creative positioning to make the most of her political abilities and her Musketeer's steel.  

 An accomplished General in the War of the Cross, Kaspar Dietrich returned home to Eisen, only to find it in ruins, overrun by monsters. As such, he has a passionate distrust for all things sorcery and supernatural. Kaspar fled south to the port city of Five Sails where he hopes to use his formidable reputation as a master commander and strategist to build an army to reclaim his homeland. He utilizes strategies that involve making use of the city and the mercenaries and equipment available to him.

Soline el Gato grew up on the streets and canals of the Castillian District of Five Sails and knows intimately what it takes to survive in a city such as Five Sails. The leader of a den of thieves and scoundrels, Soline uses her cunning and adaptability to always keep her opponents on their toes, not knowing what to expect. Soline's style is one of disruption, making it increasingly difficult for an opponent to gain ground.

Yevgeni the Boar is a man so large and foreboding that even the elements seem to bow down before him. He has become something of a folk hero in the eyes of the Ussuran district and his reputation as such extends well beyond the cast of his shadow. He is not native to Five Sails, but has no memory of his life prior to his arrival. Because of this, he searches for the answers of his past. Yevgeni's style is much like the man himself; bold, direct, and powerful. He prefers to get the job done himself rather than send anyone else to do the work.

"Don" Constanzo Scarpa loves his city, for Five Sails is indeed his city, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to protect it, even if it is from itself. Reputation, family and loyalty are the things that are of paramount importance to Constanzo as he tries to advance politically through the ranks of the city's elite. Constanzo's style is cutthroat and brutal where the ends always justify the means. He cares not for what or even who gets sacrificed along the way as long as it advances his goals.

There are three ways to achieve victory in the City of Five Sails: Defeat your opponent's Leader, simultaneously Control each of the three central locations, or end a "day" (game turn) with 7 or more Renown (Victory Points).

Along with their Leader, players construct a 40 card Faction Deck which represents the tactics, actions, and equipment that helps achieve victory. They also construct a 10 card Approach Deck which contains the Characters and Schemes they use in the city. Five Sails has three locations: the Docks, the Forum and the Grand Bazaar. Characters will struggle against one another to control these locations to claim Renown.

During Dawn, a card is placed face-up in each location from the City Deck. Then the players select one character and one Scheme from their Approach Deck. Then they draw cards equal to their Leader's Panache stat.

Players create High Drama by alternating Actions. This includes moving their characters to the City locations. Recruiting Mercenaries at those locations. Claiming those locations for their Renown. Or even challenge another character to a duel!

Duels are the heart of the swashbuckling genre and 7th Sea: City of Five Sails is certainly no exception! The back and forth nature of our unique Riposte, Parry, Thrust mechanic represents the dance of actual swordplay.

When a character issues a challenge, they send Threat to their target in the amount of their Combat stat. If the challenged character accepts, they respond by playing a card. Whenever a card is played in a duel, it modifies the threat. It may Riposte some of the threat back, Parry some of the threat away, or generate entirely new threat with a Thrust. Any threat that is not mitigated wounds the character and the rounds repeats until there is no threat in either direction.

Some cards have Maneuvers and Techniques. These are additional skills your characters have trained in. Characters approach duels differently based on their stats versus their opponents. A higher Finesse may give you more options in the duel. Higher Combat may let you do more damage.

High Drama is over when both players Pass their chance to take an Action. The Day ends and all characters return to their Homes. Renown is collected from locations you control, and if no one wins, play another Day!

Using TTS (Tabletop Simulator) you can play 7th Sea: City of Five Sails against players around the world via this virtual format. The 7SFS Starter Deck module is free to use. Proceeds from our Digital Tier will go towards the development of 7th Sea: Online to create a web based platform just like our Doomtown: Online, the same engine used to enjoy the Legend of the Five Rings and Game of Thrones card games online.

You can schedule a game using the Pine Box Entertainment Discord server.

Gen Con 2022 marked the preview of 7th Sea: City of Five Sails and Pine Box hosted an inaugural tournament to honor the occasion! Sixty-five players arrived in Five Sails to brawl and backstab their way to victory in this two day tournament using prerelease starter decks. This tournament, and others like it are also Storyline tournaments, just as many of the tournaments from the 1998 7th Sea collectible card game once were. Storyline tournaments provide opportunities for players to shape the future of the City of Five Sails by allowing them to answer critical questions and make compelling decisions regarding the city and the extraordinary personalities that call it home. 

For more on the event and storyline implications check out this blog post at Chaosium.

 BASE SET ($50): An additional Base Set of 7th Sea: City of Five Sails can be added to any pledge.

APPROACH DECK SLEEVES ($10): A pack of 50 glossy Sleeves, 10 from Each Faction, to use for your Approach Deck cards.

PLAYMAT: INSTRUCTIONAL OR FACTION ($20): a 24x14 neoprene play aide/player mat featuring the 7th Sea map (design not final) or any of the Faction playmats featured in the District Leader tier.

DELUXE TOKENS $35: a set of high quality 40mm diameter, 3mm thickness chips to replace all the cardboard chit tokens included in every base set.

BLOODSTONE WOUND TOKENS ($40): A set of 20 bloodstone Wound tokens from our friends at Level Up Dice featuring bloodstone material used in the making of their gemstone polyhedral dice!

WALNUT FACTION DECK BOXES ($100 EACH): Level Up Dice created these amazing faction deck boxes with a hidden compartment folding down from the faction emblem to hold tokens. Each side can hold double sleeved cards, enough to feature your Faction/Approach Deck along with a City Deck or another Deck.

The following is our projected timeline:

NOVEMBER 18, 2022: Full Base Set PDF Delivery and Tabletop Simulator Updated for Online Constructed Play

DECEMBER 2, 2022: PledgeManager goes live; starter deck tournament at PAX Unplugged

JANUARY 22, 2023: Updated files sent to manufacturer for review/printing

JUNE 4, 2023: Transport/fulfillment begins

AUGUST 5, 2023: Gen Con 2023 Release Storyline Festival

Unlike card games that distribute cards via randomized booster packs, the 7th Sea: City of Five Sails base set will have all the cards available to you right away in a single box, so you can build any deck you want right away and make the experience truly your own. Expansion packs will continue this trend and give you the full amount of playable copies right up front. This ensures that all players have access to all of the same cards. There's no rarity system or scouring secondhand markets for the card you need! Promotional cards offered as prizes at organized play events are all alternate artwork cards with updated flavor text that reflect the evolving story of Five Sails. These cards, however, will play the same as the originals.

Pine Box Entertainment was founded in 2016 by a group of passionate Doomtown: Reloaded fans. Their mission: to keep Doomtown from riding into the sunset. With Pinnacle Entertainment Group taking the lead, the first Doomtown Expansion under Pine Box Entertainment was successfully funded. Pine Box Entertainment would go on to launch 5 total Doomtown expansions that explored the greater Deadlands universe and conflicts. Our most recent Kickstarter was Doomtown: Weird West Edition. Pine Box Entertainment has hosted 2 destination Doomtown championship events, one in Tombstone and the other in Deadwood, and will continue this tradition with Destination Events for 7th Sea: City of Five Sails after a Gen Con 2023 celebratory launch festival.

"PBE has been created from a very grassroots organization to a team that absolutely shows their passion to the gaming community. Supporting them is one of my many ways of saying thank you to them, and encouraging them to keep being bold and daring, while building something fun for all gamers out there!" -Eric Boivin

"If you like your games bursting with flavor, without generic combatants, and with heroes and stories around each name you put on the table, Pine Box has your back. Each Doomtown and 7th Sea card has a name and history that allows your connections to the characters to grow beyond just the written lore. The community can have individual and communal reactions to the characters and this is encouraged with community storyline events." -Brian Mazurowski

"Pine Box Entertainment started as a fan mission to save a game from dying a second time. From that moment on, they've shown that they're passionate about getting a variety of new and interesting games out into the world. From a new 7th Sea card game to an RPG that lets the myths of the Philippines shine, to a remake of a game about a king who really likes plays, they've been inclusive and fantastic in their games. I eagerly await wherever they put their creative energies next!" -Charles Penn

The FAQ is linked here. We invite everyone to hop on over to the Pine Box Entertainment Discord where Pine Box staff, playtesters, and fellow denizens of Theah can answer any of your questions and show you the game on the Tabletop Simulator (TTS) platform. You can also join the community on the  Official 7th Sea: City of Five Sails Facebook Page. 

7th Sea® is a registered trademark of Moon Design Publications LLC, used with permission. Pine Box Entertainment and the Pine Box are (C) Pine Box Entertainment, LLC 2022.