Endeavor: Deep Sea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What You Take From the Sea
• Scenario-Driven Play
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Reward Symbols
  • Phase 1a: Recruitment
  • Phase 1b: Effort
  • Phase 1c: Reassignment
  • Phase 2: Activation
• The Actions
  • Travel
  • Sonar (requires a second disc)
  • Dive
  • Conserve (requires a second disc)
  • Journal (requires a second disc)
  • Promotion
  • Completing Links
  • Special Zone Features
• The Impact Board
• End of the Round
• Final Scoring
• Cooperative and Solo Modes

What You Take From the Sea

This is a game of discovery, observation, understanding, and conservation. You extract nothing material—everything you draw from the ocean is an intangible benefit:

• Reputation increases your ability to recruit Specialists (you add one Specialist each round; higher Reputation attracts more effective ones).
• Inspiration increases the number of discs you gain each round (discs represent the effort of activating Specialists and carrying out actions).
• Coordination increases your ability to reassign discs from Specialists back to your Staging Area.
• Ingenuity increases your technical proficiency—more vessels, and the ability to pilot them deeper.
• Impact lets you place Impact markers on the scenario's Impact board, providing bonuses and being very important for final scoring.

Score the most points to win.

Scenario-Driven Play

Each time you play, choose a Scenario sheet that establishes the setup, special rules, scoring goals, and Impact board. Every scenario can be played competitively, cooperatively, or solo (see Co-op/Solo).

Components

37 Ocean boards (in five depths; once in play, a board is a zone), 4 player mats, 36 dive tokens, 51 Specialist tiles (21 different Specialists, each with a Junior/blue and Senior/gold side), 4 Team Leader tiles (start as Seniors), 5 double-sided Scenario sheets, 6 Bonus Goal cards, 6 Setback cards, 1 score pad, 24 Journals, 8 Anchor Journals, 1 wave marker, 120 discs (30 per player), 80 Impact markers (20 per player), 20 track cubes (5 per player), 12 vessels (3 per player). Discs, Impact markers, track cubes, and vessels are effectively unlimited—substitute if you run out.

Setup

1. Scenario Sheet: Select one (first game: Mission 1: The Call of the Ocean).
2. Ocean Boards: Arrange the boards your scenario specifies per the diagram. The maximum depth is five unless stated. Discard any mission-specific board (marked with a symbol) not in your scenario.
3. Ocean Stacks: Shuffle the remaining boards into five face-down stacks by depth.
4. Dive Tokens: Shuffle the dive tokens face down; draw the indicated number onto every zone with a Dive site.
5. Journals: Shuffle Anchor Journal and Journal decks separately. Lay out four random Anchor Journals face up; keep the shuffled Journal deck face down nearby.
6. Specialists: Prepare the Specialist tray—Tier 1–4 stacks stay organized; for Tier 5, place three random tiles (Junior side up) in each pocket of the Tier-5 column.
7. The Wave: Randomly choose a start player and give them the Wave marker.
8. Player Materials: Take a player mat, a Team Leader tile, and 30 discs, 5 track cubes, 20 Impact markers, and 3 vessels in your color. Place your five track cubes on the 0 spaces of your Attribute and Research tracks; place your Team Leader near your mat with one disc on its activation circle; keep the rest of your discs in a distant supply pile (not available until in play); keep Impact markers near the Impact board; deploy your starting vessel to the launch zone and gain its Arrival bonus.

Preparing the Specialist tray: Flip Tier 1–4 Specialists Junior side up and sort by title into columns (Tier 1 leftmost, etc.). Shuffle Tier 5 Junior side up and stack three random tiles in each rightmost-column pocket. Re-randomize Tier 5 for each new game.

Gameplay

The game is played over six rounds, each with two phases. The player with the Wave goes first in each phase; others follow clockwise.

Phase 1: Preparation — each player does three steps:

• 1a) Recruitment: Recruit one Specialist.
• 1b) Effort: Gain discs from your supply to your Staging Area.
• 1c) Reassignment: Reclaim discs from your Specialists to your Staging Area.

Phase 2: Activation — players take turns activating Specialists to perform actions, continuing clockwise until everyone has passed.

Reward Symbols

Common rewards: advance a specific attribute (Reputation, Inspiration, Coordination, Ingenuity) one step; advance an attribute of your choice; advance your lowest attribute; advance Research (max 12, excess lost); place a marker on the Impact Board; gain a disc from supply to Staging Area; promote a Specialist; perform a Sonar action (optionally in a specific zone); discard a disc from Staging Area to supply; spend Research.

Phase 1a: Recruitment

Choose one Specialist from the tray and add it to your tableau. Your Reputation track determines the highest tier you can recruit (your Recruitment level); to recruit a Specialist, your Recruitment level must match or exceed its tier.

• Recruited Specialists always enter play Junior side.
• You may recruit duplicates.
• Resolve any immediate gains before proceeding; Reputation/Inspiration gained here affects the next two steps.
• If recruiting a Tier-5 Specialist empties its pocket, move the top tile from another pocket in so three Tier-5s are always available.

Phase 1b: Effort

Gain discs from your supply to your Staging Area equal to your Inspiration track's Effort level (one disc per symbol).

Phase 1c: Reassignment

Reclaim discs from your Specialists to your Staging Area (freeing both the disc and the Specialist), up to your Coordination track's Reassignment level. If you can't reassign all, choose which. In the first round you reclaim the single disc from your Team Leader.

Phase 2: Activation

Beginning with the Wave and proceeding clockwise, on your turn you either take a turn or pass. Once you pass, you take no further turns this round.

Taking turns: Usually you take a turn by activating a Specialist—place a disc from your Staging Area on a Specialist with an empty activation circle, then perform its action(s). Some actions require an additional disc from your Staging Area to carry out.

• Specialists with actions separated by "/" require you to choose one.
• Specialists with actions not separated by "/" let you perform any or all, in any order, still counting as one turn (possibly in different zones; resolve each fully first).
• You may activate a Specialist and perform no action.
• Certain activities can be done in place of activating a Specialist.

General rules: You may always decline a reward or action. To perform an action in a zone, you must have a vessel there (signposted spots show where to Travel, Sonar, Dive, Conserve, Journal). Reaching the Impact symbol near the end of an attribute track gains one Impact (advancing beyond it retreats to the symbol and gains it again). The Ingenuity track unlocks additional vessels—the first time your marker reaches each "Gain Vessel" icon, place a new vessel at the launch zone and gain its Arrival bonus.

The Actions

Travel

Move one of your vessels from its current zone to a different one. The maximum depth you may move to, and the maximum distance (in zones), both equal your Technology level (from Ingenuity). Vessels move horizontally or vertically, one zone at a time, and may not pass through empty spaces. Arrival Bonus: after moving (or placing a newly gained vessel), immediately gain the destination zone's Arrival bonus (only the final zone).

Sonar (requires a second disc)

Place a disc from your Staging Area on the leftmost empty space of a Sonar track in a zone where you have a vessel (choose which track if several). Claim any reward shown; most spaces let you Discover a new zone:

1. Choose your board: Draw two Ocean boards from the depth(s) shown, and choose one to place (return the other to the bottom of its stack). You may draw boards too deep to currently travel to; except depth-1, a board must be placed below a zone of the shallower depth; if impossible, draw from the shallowest legal depth; if the play area is full, gain instead of drawing; discard and redraw any mission-specific board not in your scenario.
2. Place the new zone in any legal spot at the correct depth. If it has a Dive site, add the indicated dive tokens.
3. Discovery Bonus: claim the new zone's one-time Discovery bonus.

Placing a Sonar disc may complete a link.

Dive

Choose a zone (with your vessel) that has a Dive site with tokens remaining; draw and reveal the top token. Dive tokens display Research and usually an effect. During your turn you may spend any number of tokens (into a discard pile), each either for its Research value or its effect. You may spend a token in place of activating a Specialist, before/after/between actions, and on the same turn you get it. At the end of your turn you may store a maximum of one dive token; spend excess first. Research caps at 12.

Conserve (requires a second disc)

Choose an available Conservation site (with your vessel); pay its Research cost, gain its rewards, and place a disc from your Staging Area there (may complete a link). Pay Research costs from your Research track (and/or by spending dive tokens for their Research value).

Journal (requires a second disc)

In a zone with your vessel, choose an unoccupied Journal site whose Field symbol appears on a Journal in the display you wish to publish. Spend the Journal's Research cost, place a disc in the site (may complete a link), claim the Journal face up (effects active), and refill the display. Journal effect categories:

• Points (?): score at game end.
• You: immediately gained by you (often Promotion).
• Others: immediately gained by all other players.
• Actions: in place of activating a Specialist, place a disc in the Journal's activation circle to perform its action (discs on Journals stay for the game and aren't reassigned). Examples: Dive and claim an extra token; Travel as if Technology were one higher; Conserve at a site where you have a vessel at the same depth even without a vessel in that zone.

Promotion

Choose a Junior Specialist and flip it to its Senior side, gaining any displayed attribute, Research, or Impact (you keep the Junior symbols). If a disc was on its activation circle, discard the disc to your supply.

Completing Links

Some features connect via links. When both ends are occupied by a disc, the link completes and both players with discs at either end immediately gain the link's reward (not twice if you occupy both ends). Multiple links may complete at once; the active player gains first, then others clockwise.

Special Zone Features

• General Effects (yellow warning triangle): an effect not tied to a particular feature.
• Action Effects (yellow line from a feature): something special happens right after you perform that feature's action.
• Marked Spaces (yellow ring): once you have a disc there, the indicated special rule applies to you.

See the Ocean Zones Special Rules sheet for every zone's clarifications.

The Impact Board

The Impact Board on each Scenario sheet is a grid of hexes with rewards. When you gain Impact, place a marker from your supply in an empty hex and gain its printed reward. You may only place in a hex with an entry arrow pointing to it, or one touching an occupied hex. Occupying certain colored hexes scores points at game end (per the scoring legend). A hex with an ∞ symbol can hold any number of markers. Scenarios may add unique Impact-board rules.

End of the Round

Once all players pass, the round ends. If it was the sixth round (each player has seven Specialists including their Team Leader), the game ends—proceed to final scoring. Otherwise, pass the Wave clockwise and begin a new round.

Final Scoring

Tally in order:

1. Attribute Tracks: each track marker scores the value of the scoring bracket it reached (brackets apply to all four tracks).
2. Impact Board: points for markers in scoring hexes per the legend.
3. Journals & Tier-5 Senior Specialists: some Journals show scoring values; each Tier-5 Senior scores per its unique criteria (ignore remainders).
4. Mission Goals: each Mission's goals award points; many offer leader bonuses for having the most of something (ties for 1st all earn the 1st bonus and no 2nd; a sole 1st with a tie for 2nd gives all tied the 2nd bonus; you must satisfy a goal's criteria to qualify for its leader bonus).
5. Leftover Research & Discs: add leftover Research (including on a stored dive token) and discs in your Staging Area, divide by three (ignore remainders).

The highest score wins; ties share the victory.

Cooperative and Solo Modes

Every scenario can be played cooperatively. Solo has no special rules and is effectively one-player Co-op, except you play seven rounds instead of six.

Additional Co-op setup: Shuffle the Setback cards and make a face-down stack of three (four for solo). Shuffle the Bonus Goal cards and stack three on top of the Setbacks. Return the rest to the box unseen. Choose your difficulty (Beginner: any four goals; Intermediate: any five; Expert: any six; Legendary: all seven).

Bonus Goals & Setbacks: At the start of each round (including the first), draw the top card. In rounds 1–3 this reveals a Bonus Goal to strive for; in later rounds it introduces a disruptive Setback (resolve immediately, then discard).

How to win: Play by the normal rules, but instead of competing, meet thresholds for a set of seven goals (the Impact Board Goal, three Mission Goals, and three Bonus Goals). Co-op goals require the team's combined success to reach or exceed the threshold (determined by player count); ignore leader bonuses. At the end of the sixth round (seventh in solo), if you achieved goals equal to or greater than your chosen difficulty level, your team is victorious.