Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles Cooperative Board Game

About this product

The darkness has reached the sea, and Doom is rising.

Standalone cooperative fantasy adventure • 1–4 players • Ages 14+ • 60–90 minutes

Sail into the Forsaken Isles, battle creatures through the night and manage the growing threat of Doom in this standalone Set a Watch adventure.

Product Description

The Unhallowed have returned, and this time, rumours of their corruption are spreading from ports across the Kingdom.

In Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles, the Queen gathers a new band of Adventurers and sends them out to sea to investigate the growing darkness. Across dangerous islands and remote coastal locations, your party must work together to protect the camp, confront relentless Creatures and survive long enough to face the final Horde.

Forsaken Isles is a fully standalone Set a Watch game. You do not need the original Set a Watch or any other title in the series to play.

Each round, your group rolls dice and decides which Adventurer will remain at Camp while the others stand Watch. The resting Adventurer tends the fire, scouts ahead, heals exhausted Abilities, manipulates the journey and prepares the group, while the Adventurers on Watch use their dice, Abilities and equipped Items to clear the approaching Line of Creatures.

But the journey across the Isles brings a dangerous new threat: Doom.

As certain effects increase Doom, the pressure builds around your camp. Push it too far and an Unhallowed joins the Creature Line, another Creature is added to the Horde waiting for the final battle, and Doom begins building all over again. Clever use of Camp Runes can help reduce Doom, strengthen the party or even remove threats from the Horde, if your dice cooperate.

Six distinctive Adventurers offer very different ways to confront the darkness, including the treasure-hunting Corsair, ancient Earth Golem, nature-commanding Druid, fiery Sorceress, resourceful Merchant and versatile Halfling Cavalier.

And when you want a shorter challenge, Hunt for the Kraken replaces the standard nine-round journey with a focused five-round hunt culminating in a battle against the mighty Kraken.

Whether you face the Isles alone or with a full party, survival will depend on more than strong dice.

Watch the fire. Control the Doom. And be ready for what rises from the sea.

The standard game runs across nine rounds, with one Adventurer resting at Camp while the others defend the party, before everyone joins the final Watch.

Rulebook: View the Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles Rules (PDF)

Why You’ll Love It

• Fully cooperative adventure: Plan together, protect the camp and combine your Adventurers' strengths against an increasingly dangerous Creature Line.
• A new Doom mechanic: Let Doom build too far and the consequences strengthen both the current battle and the Horde waiting at the end.
• Six distinctive Adventurers: Each brings different dice, Abilities and character-specific mechanics to the party.
• Nautical fantasy setting: Travel through islands, coves and dangerous waters while facing new creatures connected to the growing threat at sea.
• Tactical dice combat: Combine direct attacks, Ability cards and Items to defeat Creatures before they overwhelm your party.
• Meaningful Camp decisions: Maintain the fire, scout upcoming threats, heal Abilities, manipulate the map and use powerful Runes.
• Adjustable difficulty: Choose Easy, Normal, Hard or Insane by changing the number of Summon cards in the Creature deck.
• Hunt for the Kraken mode: Enjoy a shorter five-round game built around a dedicated Kraken encounter.
• High replayability: Random Adventurer combinations, Locations, Creatures and optional deck construction let you shape new challenges.
• Fully series-compatible: Mix Adventurers, Creatures, Locations, Items and other compatible content from across the Set a Watch series.

Quick Details

• Players: 1–4
• Recommended Age: 14+
• Playing Time: 60–90 minutes
• Game Type: Cooperative fantasy adventure puzzle game
• Play Style: Fully cooperative
• Core Gameplay: Dice combat, character abilities, tactical planning and resource management
• Game Length: Standard 9-round game
• Short Game Mode: Hunt for the Kraken : 5 rounds
• Difficulty Options: Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane
• Solo Play: Yes
• Designers: Todd Walsh and Mike Gnade
• Publisher: Rock Manor Games
• Standalone Game: Yes
• Other Set a Watch Game Required: No

Rock Manor Games confirms the 1–4 player range, 14+ age recommendation, 60–90 minute playtime and standalone compatibility.

Good to Know

• Set a Watch: Forsaken Isles can be played completely on its own.
• Four Adventurers are always used, regardless of player count. In solo play, one player controls all four.
• During the first eight rounds, each Adventurer must rest at Camp exactly twice. All four Adventurers fight during the final Watch.
• The game includes a Merchant Phase where collected Coins can be spent on Items for the party.
• Each Adventurer can normally equip up to two Items.
• Doom is tracked using three Doom tokens. If the party would gain Doom while all three spaces are already filled, an Unhallowed enters the Line, a Creature is added to the Horde and the Doom tokens are cleared.
• Camp Runes can help reduce Doom and provide powerful effects such as removing a card from the Horde or allowing Adventurers to reroll dice.
• Creatures that are not defeated may be added to the Horde, making the final Watch more dangerous.
• Hunt for the Kraken is a dedicated shorter mode lasting five rounds instead of the standard nine.
• The game includes optional Creature and Map deck construction for groups looking for additional replayability and custom challenges.
• Already own another Set a Watch game? Adventurers, Creatures, Locations, Items and other compatible content can be mixed and matched across the series.

The Doom consequences are particularly important: when a fourth Doom would be gained, the game adds an Unhallowed to the Line and a Creature to the Horde before resetting Doom.

Hunt for the Kraken

Instead of the normal nine rounds, Hunt for the Kraken lasts only five rounds and uses a dedicated Kraken deck built from eight Tentacles and the Kraken itself. The Beast's Lair becomes the Final Location, and each Adventurer rests only once before the final confrontation.

More adventures await beyond the Isles: Discover Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin, a standalone cooperative adventure introducing Coins, a Merchant and powerful Items. If you own the complete Set a Watch series, Set a Watch: Doomed Run connects everything into a replayable seven-Realm campaign.

Components

• 6 Adventurer Boards
• 30 Ability Cards: 5 for each Adventurer
• 6 Nature Cards: for the Druid
• 2 Black Powder Cards: for the Corsair
• 1 Mounted Status Card: for the Halfling Cavalier
• 1 Rock Charges Dial: for the Earth Golem
• 1 Double-Sided Merchant Board
• 1 Camp Board: built into the box
• 32 Location Cards: 22 Regular Locations, 3 Final Locations and 7 Respite Locations
• 36 Creature Cards
• 4 Summon Cards
• 13 Unhallowed Cards
• 9 Kraken Cards: 1 Kraken and 8 Tentacles
• 30 Item Cards
• 16 Coin Tokens
• 3 Doom Tokens
• 1 Fire Token
• 4 Rest Tokens
• 9 d6 Dice: 3 sets in 3 colours
• 3 d8 Dice
• 3 d12 Dice
• 1 Rulebook