Expedition Moves

These moves apply when you prepare for, undertake, or return from an expedition. Like all moves, they're stat-less — when one says "roll," you push your luck (see 00-core-loop/dice-and-moves.md).

CHART A COURSE

When you wish to travel to a distant place, name or describe your destination ("Gordin's Delve," "the hagr's lair," or "wherever these tracks lead"). If the route is unclear, tell the GM how you intend to reach it. The GM will then tell you what's required, the risks, and how long it will likely take.

When you set out on the journey, the GM will present each of the challenges one at a time — plus any surprises that you couldn't have seen coming — in whatever order makes the most sense. Address them all and reach your destination.

No roll. Chart a Course is a framing move: it establishes the journey and hands the GM a structure to run it. The challenges themselves are resolved with other moves (Defy Danger, Forage, Make Camp, and so on).

OUTFIT

When you prepare for an expedition in a friendly community, choose 1:

HAVE WHAT YOU NEED

When you check to see if you have a specific helpful item or resource, spend 1 Preparation and describe a quick flashback of you receiving / prepping it. You have had the item or resource all along.

You may skip paying the Preparation cost if any of the following apply:

Your gear's edge tracks Prosperity. Any iron weapon you Outfit with (or produce from your steading) has piercing equal to the steading's Prosperity (min 0). A prosperous steading puts armor-piercing steel in your hands; a poor one hands you plain iron that skips off armor.

Piercing: when you deal damage, reduce the target's armor by your weapon's piercing (to a minimum of 0). So Prosperity +1 or better is what makes your iron weapons armor-piercing at all.

Whatever you produce, it must be something you could have had all along. The GM can increase the Preparation cost if the item is especially large, awkward, or difficult to acquire. The GM can veto unreasonable items.

Bands, plainly: no roll for the move itself — you spend Preparation (or use one of the skips). The only roll is the d4 for a small item, and that's a straight pass/fail against Prosperity.

FORAGE

When you spend a few hours seeking food in the wild, roll. In winter, you have disadvantage. On a success, pick 1 — then pick an additional 1 for each 6 in the final roll:

Provisions can substitute for Preparation when you Make Camp.

No six? You still pick 1 — the base success. Each 6 adds a pick on top.

MAKE CAMP

When you settle in to rest in an unsafe area, answer the GM's questions about your campsite. Each of you (you + your follower) must consume 1 use of Preparation or provisions; if you use a mess kit (requires fire & water), then 1 use provides for two people.

If you eat and drink your fill, and get at least a few hours of sleep, pick 1:

If your rest was particularly peaceful, comfortable, or enjoyable, you also gain advantage on your next roll.

No roll. Make Camp converts provisions (or Preparation) into healing or recovery. Compare to Recover: that's the Prep-spend, mid-expedition heal (4 + Prosperity). Make Camp is the camp-rest heal (½ your max) — two different paths back to full.

REQUISITION

When you borrow assets from your steading for an expedition (horses, a plow, tools, etc.), roll. If the roll contains sixes, go ahead, but bring it back safely. On a success with no sixes, you'll need to do some convincing. On a bust, you don't mark XP — you can take the asset with you if you want, but if you do, reduce Fortunes by 1.

Bands, plainly: sixes = you get it clean. Success (no sixes) = you need to convince someone. Bust = you can still take it, but Fortunes drops and no XP.

RETURN TRIUMPHANT

When you return home in triumph — having saved your fellows, put down the threat, seized the opportunity, etc. — clear one of the steading's debilities (diminished, lacking, or malcontent). If the steading has no debilities marked, increase Fortunes by 1 instead.

No roll. Return Triumphant is a narrative flag: you've come home victorious, and the steading shows it.

RECOVER

When you take time to catch your breath and tend to what ails you, expend 1 Preparation and recover HP equal to 4 + Prosperity. You can't gain this benefit again until you take more damage.

When you tend to a debility or a problematic wound, say how. The GM will either say that it's taken care of or tell you what's required to do so (Defying Danger, expending Preparation or some other resource, finding something, Making Camp, etc.).

No roll. Recover spends Preparation for HP. The debility/wound half is a conversation — the GM decides whether it's handled or what it costs.

Open questions