Jason Morningstar contacted me a while back with the idea of revising Archipelago II. He’s done some great work on it, and we’ve tweaked it a little, removing stuff we didn’t use and adding things we liked.
You can download the latest version here! (Link updated September 2017)
Nørwegian Style 
Great!! Good to see a new edition of this game!
Would you allow me to make a spanish translation of it? I would love to see this in spanish too!
Hola Pablo! ¿Se puede bajar la versión III en español de algún sitio?
¡Muchas gracias desde ya, compañero!
Pablo, if Matthijs is OK with it I can give you access to all the art and InDesign files. He knows how to contact me.
Hello! Can I download the Spanish version of Archipelago III somewhere?
Many thanks!
I’m not sure of there’s a Spanish translation of III, but II is here:
https://norwegianstyle.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/archipelago-ii-in-spanish/
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I’d be interested in any hints and tips regarding Character Creation. So many RPGs still seem to consider the characters’ relationships, emotional journeys and internal conflict to be secondary to game stats. In our game group its my turn to choose a system soon and I wanted to give Archipelago III a go, but we’ve only played very traditional stories before (“We’re the good guys, a bad guy is threatening things, go and stop him”). So I was hoping someone would be able to give a little guidance on how to write some of those more important story elements into character creation, without each player needing to write a whole biography of their own character. Thanks very much, guys.
In Archipelago, the most important parts of character creation are probably indirect relationships & destiny points. Make sure everyone has a relationship to something someone else also is related to.
Now, most games will say all characters need a motivation. However, that’s not as crucial in Archipelago: If you don’t know what your character wants, it will still have a destiny to aim for, and other players will still be jumping in and making things interesting for your character. So even if you make your character a little chubby hobbit who just wants to stay home, if its destiny is something to do with dragon treasure or magic rings, the other players should jump in and visit the character with an old wizard and an offer that can’t be refused.
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Hi, I’m looking for games just like yours to improve my students’ skills in English. I was wondering if I can use it in my class and if you are interested in receiving feed back from my experience. Shae shared me this amazing game.
Also, I’d like to keep in touch with you for your guidance when playing. My email is teff032@hotmail.com
Sounds awesome! You can use any of my games in your class, I’m happy to see them being played. Feedback would be great 🙂 You can e-mail me at matthijs1000 (at) hotmail (dot) com
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Is there anyway I can get Archipelago III now? The dropbox link is dead, and google is not helping.
Hey! Hm, I think Dropbox has done something with its link structure. Right now you can try the ePub/Mobi versions that Tina Trillitzsch has set up at https://spielen.trillitzsch.net/2016/05/19/archipelago-iii-in-epub–mobi-for-your-ebook-reader-or-phone/ – I’ll see what we can do about the PDF.
Updated the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i69if0a6ntdshju/archipelago_third_edition.pdf?dl=0
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Hi Matthijs. My group likes Archipelago and we occasionally play it. I have found a bit different set of resolution card texts and I would like to try them out. Do you have any source files that I could use for both types of cards provided in Archipelago III? I really like the look and feel of them. Thanks!
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A question about the cards:
Does one print out each page of cards once?
This will produce 28 cards, I believe. Is that the complete set needed for play?
Thanks!
Hey, Chris! Yeah, one of each card should do fine.
Sweet! Thanks!
We have a couple of weeks without the Referee running our current game. So I was poking around for something to run for two weeks.
And then I read Le Guin passed away.
And then I thought, “Hey… how about an Earthsea styled game…” And then, “Hey… Archipelago!”
Hej! Quite a few Le Guin fans can be counted amongst our monthly RPG meet-up, so we’ve shared this link to Archipelago with them. Thanks for making Archipelago available as we’ll enjoy using it as a way of discussing and honoring her work!
I noticed that the bit, included in the second edition, about using playing pieces on the map has been removed for this edition. Did you find that omitting the playing pieces led to a better experience at the table or was there another reason for the deletion? I’d be very interested to hear what difference it made.
I consistently forgot that bit when running the game myself, and the game still worked, so we just dropped the playing pieces 🙂
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Hi Matthijs! Let me say that Archipelago is like a breath of freash air after trying to squeeze narration into all these dice-dominated systems.
Would you authorize a Russian translation of Archipelago 3.0? We’ve got quite a community that generally leans toward narrative and Scandinavian style games (it’s probably the climate, isn’t it?). I’ve been playing with some friends, but it’s quite tiresome to try and remember how we decided to translate The Phrases this time around. I thought that just translating the whole guidebook would actually be easier. I’ll make sure to send the pdf here if you’re OK with that.
P.S. While I’m at it, am I right assuming that *every* player should be an element owner, or else they wouldn’t be able to interpret Fate cards?
Thanks in advance – and thank you once again for a great game!
Hey! This sounds great, I’m all for a Russian translation. I don’t know if there’s anything you need from me, but if so just contact me at matthijs1000 at hotmail dot com!
(Yeah, everyone owns an element!)
Thanks for getting in touch! I love this.
I hope I was able to extract everything from the PDF without lowering the quality too much, so I guess I don’t need anything unless you decide that it could look better. Here’s what I ended up with:
https://vk.com/doc32093569_483175088 Full rulebook, web version
https://vk.com/doc32093569_483266001 Rules only, print version (for b&w uncoated A4 spreads)
https://vk.com/doc32093569_483265926 Cards only, print version (for color coated A4 spreads)
There are some minor layout changes (I also added that clarification about elements & an active link to this blog), but mostly I was trying to follow the original text & design as closely as possible.
That’s super cool! Let me post about it here.
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The interactive nature of Archipelago III poses some challenges when played in a play-by-post format. Are you aware of anyone playing Archipelago III as play-by-post or do you have any suggestions on how to do this successfully?
I’ve never tried that format, or heard of anyone trying it. So apparently you’re a pioneer 😀 Would be interesting to hear more about how this works for you!
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Hi! I digitally cut out the cards to be able to use them in online play. Would it be alright for me to share these? It’s a little bit of work that would be saved for others, this way (I can also send them your way if you want to host them yourself, too).
That sounds great! Please feel free to share them however you want (as long as you do it for free).
Here they are:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ol8qouh3lw3z2a/Archipelago%20III.zip?dl=0
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What is the license of Archipelago III? It does have an SRD? Can someone translate it to still non translated languages and share it? Or make derived content and share it, for commercially or non-commercialy purposes?
Are there any virtual games out there?
What did you have in mind, Nick?
I’m interested in playing or observing a game of Archipelago to make certain I understand the rules, etc.
I am located in New Mexico. Maybe using Zoom?
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