This site is for the trial run of Horizon, which has finished! If you want information on the full game, commencing October 2005, you should go here.
- History
- War and Aftermath
- Nations
- Irgar
- Jurica
- Lasinia
- Vegdarbarra - Grey Order
- Engineering
- Exploration
- Fashion
Advice for Expeditions and Explorers
So you want to go on an expedition - possibly to acquire some rare alchemical ingredient or perhaps you are in search of a rumoured hidden treasure, or perhaps you are on a spiritual journey to a place of great power (say, an active volcano for those associated with Fire), or perhaps you have been sent off by the university cartography department to map a region of the Treacherous Lands or to capture rare specimens for the city zoo, or perhaps you simply have too much spare time and money.Whatever the reason, expeditions need to be organised carefully (this is not compulsory, but when you become lost on the top of a mountain in Vegdarbarra with no food supplies and being pursued by hungry Kraelings don't say we didn't warn you), and so you should likely bear the below in mind when planning an expedition:
- Your expedition is more likely to succeed if you have an adventurer, professional explorer, guide, or at least someone with local knowledge of the area or who is well travelled on your team. First- or second-hand knowledge about your destination will prove useful; people skilled at survival in the wilderness could prove vital. If local knowledge is unavailable (as will often be the case in the Treacherous Lands), it's often a good idea to send smaller expeditions to scout out an area of terra incognita before you send a larger expedition along.
- Getting equipment. It would be a good idea for you to plan out what equipment you will need, as well as what you might need if things go wrong. To do this you can get by on local gossip and common sense (if you are going to Vegdarbarra, perhaps it might be an idea to bring warm clothes), but this is the least reliable method. You could find out from someone with the quirks Foreigner or Well-travelled, however again you may not get a complete picture ("oh, you didn't say you were going to the Desert of Doom..."). The best pathway would be if you have hired a guide or explorer to get their advice, as well as seeking the opinion of someone with local knowlege.
- Arranging transportation (perhaps a ship or a cart) if required and food reserves is helpful. You should plan appropriately based on the size of your expedition.
- And most importantly, getting a financial backer. All this stuff isn't free you know, and unless you are extremely wealthy you will need someone to pay out the bills if you want to send forth large expeditions. A small party of PCs and perhaps a few flunkies could pay their own way, but if you want to take significant numbers of NPCs on an expedition (perhaps to colonise or conquer some undiscovered country) we're talking Major-to-Staggering investments. Perhaps you can convince some financiers of the value of the discoveries you may make, or alternatively they may offer to support you if you do some task for them while you are out there.