We lost our homeland to the Volcano God’s wrath. Now we sail among these ten thousand isles in search of a new home. But each isle is guarded by spirits, gods, giants, man-eating monsters, or tribes that arrived there first. May the ancestors favor our quest!

My new super-lite RPG, Layag: Voyage to the Outer Islands is up on itch.io! Layag means ‘sail’ or ‘to sail’ in my language, and this game is about exploring a tropical fantasy archipelago inspired by the lands and cultures of Maritime Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. You play Viking-like heroes, mighty warriors and hunters, skilled mariners and spirit-calling shamans, blessed by the ancestors with powerful guardian spirits that live in your tattoos.

It’s inspired by Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts and Sinbad films, The Odyssey, Austronesian history, and episodes from the Philippine epics Darangen and Ibalon, which deal with exploring and taming a wild new land.

This is my entry to the exploration-themed itch.io One-Page RPG Jam 2022, so it’s got a super-light system – quite an exercise for me in killing my sacred cows to make room! It is in fact a very lite version of my magnum slowpus, Hari Ragat – same concept and setting, but limited to just the exploration. It’s pay what you want, so please check it out!

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