Last Port of Call

1–4 players
Difficulty 3 of 3
Not recommended under 16
Available in: Français, English, Español, Deutsch, Italiano

The Meridian: 3,000 passengers, twelve decks, and a cough on deck 4 unlike anything known. In the open sea, the cruise becomes a race: understand, flee, hold on, and get out alive.

The rulebook at a glance

d20 + attribute
4 attributes
Noise

Read the rules

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Campaign
The Meridian
4 sessions · survival, closed setting, choices
Cost: 4 Dice for the whole table

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By the Icotale team

The world

PlaceThe MeridianA cruise liner: 3,000 passengers, twelve decks, three swimming pools, a theatre and an onboard hospital. Four days at sea before the next port of call.
PlaceDeck 4Inside cabins with no porthole, where the first cough was heard. The corridor smells of disinfectant, and of something else.
PlaceThe onboard hospitalSix beds, a glass-walled isolation room, a stock of medicine and a doctor who hasn't slept.
PlaceThe bridgeThe command post, right at the top: the radio, the charts, and the captain who refuses to sound the alarm.
PlaceThe engine roomThe belly of the ship: generators, heat, noise, and the only watertight doors that really close.
FactionThe Aurora Lines companyOwner of the Meridian. Its representative on board has a single order: no scandal before the next port.
CharacterCaptain HaldaneThirty years at sea, a spotless reputation, and a deep terror of losing it.
CharacterDoctor Sibylle MarchettiThe ship's doctor, exhausted and clear-headed: she was the first to understand what was happening on Deck 4.

The rulebook

Resolving actions

Roll 1d20 and add the attribute modifier: 11 or more succeeds, 14 under direct threat, 17 in the heart of the horde.
A natural 20 opens an unexpected way out; a natural 1 succeeds but makes noise — and noise attracts.

Initiative : 1d20 + Nerve modifier

Attributes

Vigour VIG: Running, carrying, holding a door shut, taking a hit.
Dexterity DEX: Slipping past, aiming, picking locks, striking true.
Know-how KNO: Medicine, mechanics, radio: understanding and repairing.
Nerve NRV: Keeping a cool head, deciding fast, reassuring others.

Special rules

Noise: The Storyteller keeps a noise gauge for each scene, from 0 to 3. Every blunder, scream or gunshot raises it by 1. At 3, the horde arrives within the round. Silence and cunning bring it back down.
Contamination: A bite or a deep scratch infects: the character gains a fever counter, from 1 to 3, which goes up one notch every session or every violent effort. At 3, they are no longer themselves. The Storyteller says so plainly; the others decide what to do with them — isolate them, treat them, hide them.
Supplies: Water, food, batteries and medicine are counted: each search brings back what the Storyteller describes, and each day of survival uses some up. A full bag slows you down (−2 to Dexterity).

Character creation

Roll 4 dice with 6 faces per attribute, keep the 3 best · 2 rerolls allowed4d6kh3

Origins

Crew member: Knows the service passages and the door codes; +1 to Know-how.
Passenger: On holiday, as a couple or with family: everything to lose; +1 to Nerve.
Stowaway: Came aboard without a ticket, used to hiding; +1 to Dexterity.

Vocations

Ship's doctor: Knows what a fever means, and how much time is left.
Security officer: A badge, a baton, and the ship's plans in their head.
Mechanic: The engines, the circuit breakers, the generator room.
Entertainer: Knows everyone on board and knows how to talk to a panicking crowd.

Derived values

Hit points: 10 + Vigour modifier
Defense: 10 + Dexterity modifier
Initiative: 1d20 + Nerve modifier

Starting equipment

A head torch
A bottle of water
A magnetic cabin key card

Veils

Topics kept off screen: the Narrator never shows or describes them.

sexual violence
violence against children
gore
cannibalism
drowning