If you - like me - are a fan of fanfilms and independent movie production, you should give Tides Eye a follow.

Their Instagram bio is full of behind-the-scenes and exclusive sneak-peeks on the production, which they describe as “a new high-sea fantasy adventure shot on real ships with real steel ⚔️”

They ditched the dreaded green-screen, CGI slop and went all-in on locations and practical sets, at the same time applying the latest technology in cameras, editting, musical score etc.

For an out-of-the-pocket production funded by two friends crazy enough to tackle the challenge, Tides Eye is already a movie I’m looking foward to watching and supporting.

So, while we wait for Dreadnauts to be ready, Let’s follow the day-to-day production of this very promissing indie film.

• Follow their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TidesEyeFilm

• Here’s the IMDB entry about the film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39150564/

• You can also get a taste of the movie’s soundtrack here:

TIDES EYE - the movie, is coming in 2026🏴‍☠️🔥

Imagine you are sailing the open seas and suddenly the lookout up´on the crow’s nest points to the horizon and yells in desperation.

You sharpen your eyes and an impossible vision strikes you: a distant ship on the horizon. But instead of sailing the far waters, it floats high above the sea, almost as if sailing through the low clouds.

You are not getting mad: this is a very unusual phenomenon known as the Fata Morgana Effect.

Check the video below to take a peek as how it looks like:

This is probably the origin of myths like the Flying Dutchman, the famous ghost ship that haunted superstitious sailors on the high seas.

How would this natural phenomenon could be imported to the supernatural world of Dreadnauts?

It could be a cursed ship, a glitch in the fabric of reality or just the effect of magic, of the darkest kind.

I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking of a couple of ways to incorporate it into my adventures…

It’s time for your April update on the development of Dreadnauts, a Mothership RPG hack inspired by nautical horror.

I have to admit that, since March, there hasn’t been much in the way of new developments. The game is still in dry dock, undergoing a new layout pass alongside technical and rules revisions. Believe me, no one is more eager than I am to see this quickstart sailing into rough seas. But it will still take a little while.

That said, as soon as I have something substantial to share, I’ll publish an extra update covering the news in detail.

In the meantime, I’d like to use this space to talk about one of the rules I’m most excited about. And this is something that ties directly into both crew mechanics and ship rules, two topics I haven’t yet explored in these monthly updates.

Before we dive in, a quick disclaimer: these rules have not yet gone through full revision or detailed playtesting. They may change slightly, significantly… or even sink without a trace.

That’s the risk we take.

The Crew

In Dreadnauts, my approach is to treat the crew as a single entity, a unified character, almost like an NPC. This is similar to how the game handles ships themselves. The main goal here is simplification.

Mothership and the Panic Engine rely on mechanics that are simple, yet highly evocative and immersive. Since ships and crews are central to any nautical horror setting, Dreadnauts needs elegant, streamlined systems to handle them; systems that extract as much immersion and emergent narrative as possible.

Costs and Choices

One of the mechanics I’m most excited to include is something I’m currently calling “Blood for Wood” (working title).

At its core, it allows you to sacrifice members of the crew to cancel physical damage dealt to the ship. For every point of damage negated, the crew is reduced by one.

Narratively, imagine a cannonball tearing into the hull, opening a breach below deck as seawater floods in. In the chaos of the moment, the captain makes a desperate call: a group of sailors is ordered below to contain the damage. They succeed, but at a cost. Some are dragged away by the force of the water, vanishing forever into the cold darkness.

Mechanically, this maneuver may buy the ship (and the player characters!) some breathing room. But it comes with consequences.

First, any loss of life witnessed by the players can (and arguably should) trigger a Fear Save and/or immediately grant at least one point of Dread (our version of Mothership’s Stress), pushing PCs closer to emotional collapse. At the same time, a reduced crew impacts performance and morale, potentially bringing the ship one step closer to mutiny.

Everything is a trade-off. Every decision has a cost.

Interlocking Systems

There are several other mechanics designed to interconnect and influence each other in similar ways.

For example, one of the character “classes” (called Stations), focused on officers and command roles, has an intrinsic weakness: whenever they fail a Presence test (one of the game’s core stats), nearby allies gain one point of Dread.

This reflects those critical moments when a captain or first mate must issue orders under pressure, but their voice falters. They hesitate, stammer, or betray their fear through trembling hands. The crew notices. Confidence fractures as the closest crew members notice it. As fear spreads, like a disease...

This rule embodies one of the core design philosophies behind Dreadnauts: systems should interact, overlap, and cascade in ways that are sometimes unpredictable. The ship becomes a microcosm: a closed, unstable system where collapse feels inevitable.

Your Thoughts

Now I’d like to hear from you.

What do you think of these mechanics? Do they feel appropriate? Balanced? Too harsh?

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send a message.

I’m genuinely interested in hearing from the community that’s been forming organically around this project. It’s been both surprising and incredibly motivating. And it makes me even more excited about where Dreadnauts is headed.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before you have the quickstart in your hands, ready to play with your group.

Until then, keep the deck and the rigging tight.

All the best,
Luiz

If you enjoy horror and pulp exploration, you might want to check out my latest fantasy RPG adventure: The Scarlet Citadel.

This is a faithful adaptation compatible with Old-School Essentials of one of Robert E. Howard’s most influential works—often called the quintessential dungeon-crawl story.

It puts the PCs on a time-sensitive rescue mission. They must save their king—betrayed, captured, and imprisoned in the dreadest of places: the fearsome dungeon of a deranged sorcerer.

Explore the weird and dangerous Scarlet Citadel. As you search for the king, he will be moving through the dungeon, and so will a prowling monster. In this deadly game of cat and mouse, who will emerge victorious?

If you want to test your luck, get a copy and challenge your players:

• Get the PDF here: The Scarlet Citadel

• Or grab a bundle with another Howard-inspired adventure: The Tower of the Elephant + The Scarlet Citadel

Perfect for fans of sword & sorcery, horror, and classic pulp exploration.

Until next time,

Keep Hexploring!

Luiz.

Hexplore Publishing