simpathis | [ archived ] adventures & excursions

— ADVENTURES & EXCURSIONS —
The current Adventures & Excursions Charting Log can be found here.

As of September 2016, the game has shifted gears to take on a more exploratory route in an effort to help rebuild the world which had remained in a post-apocalyptic dying state for over eight hundred years. Has anything survived? Is anything salvageable? Can the world be restored? And what can be learned about the world's mysterious past? Or is that even important?

Perhaps rather than trying to solve a mystery, the more important thing is to determine what bits of land (if any) can be hospitable and used for additional resources to breathe some life back into this place. But who knows who or what lurks down there. Potential allies, dangerous threats—how the world changes will only be determined by those willing to make that change. Everything will be influenced by player suggestion and character action. It's a big, wide open world, ready to be developed—or destroyed.

There are two ways players can have their characters explore: player-run adventures and mod-guided excursions.

❖ Adventures

"Adventures" are expeditions set out by characters and are initiated by players. Adventures are going to be tailored to the characters and what the players wish to find. If you guys just want an action packed filled trip through some rock woods, we can do that. If you'd like to find something more plot relevant or something to advance plot, we can do that. You don't even need to be overly specific. Something as simple as "related to Peromei's history" is enough to give us something for you to work with.

Basically, adventures are for players and characters who like to strike out on their own and do something outside of the usual stuff going on.

» Requesting an Adventure. Players will need to comment to this subthread and fill out the form. Once approved, we'll give a notice and send the details through PM. To request an adventure you only need to give us the following:

Who is in the party;
What the group hopes to accomplish;
Where the group may wish to focus on (you can even make your own map!);
When the expedition will take place;

and other details but those are the four main things you'll need to figure out first.

» Charting the Adventure. After a request is approved, you will need to make your own log and reply again with the link so we can add it to the chart.

» Revisiting locations. Unless specified, all locations should be able to be revisited either by the same group or another group. Most locations will likely be a one-time deal, but there may be some that could hold new things or may need a check-up. Maybe you think of a new plot twist to work with the location setting. Or maybe you'd like a location related or next to a pre-existing. Regardless, if it's possible, a group can go back for whatever reason.

❖ Excursions

"Excursions" are similar but different in scope compared to Adventures. Whereas an Adventure is mostly player run, Excursions are designed by the mods and ICly is organized by the ESO (Empatheias-Shaarnath-Otherworld Collaborative). Each month we will announce in the monthly Mod Announcement "focused locations" that those interested can go to. Within the excursions, we'll have certain locations, goals, and other things in place. Players will still have leeway to create and add to the setting, but there are some guidelines that they need to follow and tasks to and accomplish (or fail). You can think of "Excursions" as like background events that those interested can participate without having to worry about coming up with their own ideas; like a job to do.

» Excursion Missions. Each Excursion will have at least one or two special missions accompanied with it. Those are the goals that those participating should try to do and are listed on the Task Board. While the majority of these tasks will be on site, there may be some that can be done within Verens or Shaarnath. These "special missions" are completely optional—one can do an Excursion and have their own particular goal or task in mind instead. But if you are taking on a special mission, you will need to include it when signing up as well as indicating how you hope it will go (such as succeeding or failing). You can either have a pre-planned group, join an open one, or start an open group of your own. Once you know how the mission goes or if you already know how it will be, reply again to your comment so we can note how things went.

» Signing-up. To participate in an Excursion, we will have a specific subthread made in this post for those to sign-up. Each subthread will have the basics entailed and, if applicable, a form to fill out. No approvals necessary—once you sign-up it's assumed that the characters will figure out a way to join.

» Logs. After we see that there is some interest for participation, a log will be made within the week. In the log we'll include any other details not already mentioned, but after that players have free rein in terms of what they do.

» Timeline. While Excursions are available for the entire month, once there is interest the there will be a 1 to 2 week period for actual IC activity. This doesn't mean that characters are in the location for that long. They could be there for a couple days, return home, then go out again. But the Excursion itself can only last for a certain period of time before funds run out and everyone is kicked out or risk being stranded. For the record, getting lost or stranded and have a group come out and save them as a follow-up Adventure or Excursion is completely viable.

» Adventures. Those who are doing their own Adventures can actually run in tangent with Excursions if they so choose. While not directly related—such as being in a completely different area or focusing on something else—it's possible for a group to find something related or do something that could affect Excursion groups in some way.

❖ How to Travel

You may be wondering how characters will go about traversing through the surface, especially when the atmosphere is toxic and the world is ready to suck the emotional life out of anyone unprepared. So first, let's talk about the protection and supplies.

» Dunamis and Crystals. Dunamis and complete crystals are going to be the keys in offering the best protection against the dying world's environment. Strong emotion based barriers can be erected to repel the outer influences. However, it's not impervious nor can it last forever, especially dunamis. But it can be assumed that those from Shaarnath will assist any who venture outward, either for free or for pay.

» Arehtei assistance. The Arehtei will also gladly offer some means of protection if asked. Usually it will take the form of a small charm, like a feather from Elios or a scale from Thras. Again, these will only last for a few days and does not protect them from everything.

» Supplies. If part of ESO, then it can be assumed that necessary supplies are given. If striking out on your own, then characters will need to procure money and supplies somehow. That of course can be handwaved. We don't need proof of this.

Now let's talk about the means of travel.

» Airships and other large transportation vehicles. Verens is pulling in their weight by offering airships to help ferry people over large distances. They are also in the works of manufacturing other large machines to cross the land, and eventually ships to deal with the oceans. Of course they're a small city so don't expect a whole fleet or armada anytime soon, but there should be a good number soon. However, travel distance is still limited as the atmosphere is not the safest for the current available airships. But they are good for carrying cargo. ESO can provide these, but it's possible to hire outside the organization.

» Teleporter coordinates. Shaarnath has a few coordinates to unspecified locations around. It's also possible to throw in random coordinates and try one's luck (and hope that the other side works to bring them back). While the teleporter can handle larger groups, it would be more useful for general short recon trips as only so much can go through at once. It also means that the group will be walking, so can only carry so much.

Finally, we'll touch up a bit more on how players can help with the worldbuilding aspect and pretty much design the type of place they'd like to go to.

» Location suggestions. The world is basically a free world ready to be molded and shaped. It's also kind of broken so it'll eventually reshape again. We are completely open to location ideas. Should there be a continent frozen under black ice? An island in the center of a giant whirlpool? Other floating islands? Chain of volcanoes? So long as you keep in mind that the world is on its death throes, anything is free game!

» Design your own island/continent/area. With this cool map generator, you can design your own island or land mass with some details like lakes, trees, hills, mountains, ruin towns. It's basic, but it totally would work for our purposes. Here's an example of some random place. Since there's no real pre-existing map, anything is fair game. You can even add to already existing designed maps.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask when requesting your Adventure.

❖ Worldbuilding Suggestions

We are always open for ideas in terms of locations, goals, setting environments, even maps for all of this. So if you have any suggestions for any aspect for worldbuilding, please comment to this subthread!