Expeditions

Summary: Expeditions are tabletop roleplaying experiences for 3 to 5 adventurer characters usually accessed via Arcanum cards with the help of the Gatekeeper in the Ritual Room. They are run by a Gamemaster and are resolved in 20 to 40 minutes.

There is a lot things can be done in the live action space but most of the action in a Gateway Chronicles event takes place on Expeditions. An Expedition is a brief tabletop encounter or series of encounters that are resolved using tabletop roleplaying.

Most Expeditions are accessed by opening Portals using the Arcanum - enchanted cards similar to tarot cards, each of which can be used to open a Portal to a specific place, sometimes with a specific purpose or objective. There is more about them in the Arcanum section.

Invoking a Portal

To begin an Expedition, choose an Arcanum card, gather a party, recruit a Gamemaster, go to the ritual room and tell the Gatekeeper you intend to use the card.

NOTE: Only Adventurer characters can participate in Expeditions. Some Plot characters will have the stats required. They will have both the Plot Character and Adventurer icons on their badge.

NOTE: A Game Master is required to run each Expedition. Players who have been cleared to act as Game Master will have the Game Master icon displayed on their badge. Some Arcanum require specific Game Masters. There is more on this in the Arcanum section. Acting as Game Master can earn you extra experience. There is more on this in the Advancement section.

Portals may only be opened from the back room of the tavern. Expeditions depart from there and will return there.

• Parties of no less than 3 and no more than 5 may pass through a Portal.

Expeditions are run in specific areas of whatever facility we are using. The Gatekeeper will tell you where to play.

To use the card, hold it aloft and say its name aloud and give it to the Gatekeeper. Core Cards are retained for use. Story, Trump and Key cards are used up after a single use.

Playing Expeditions

Game play on most Expeditions is abstract and narrative. You direct your character’s actions with the help of a Game Master who will set the scene for you and help explain your options.

Expeditions aren’t played in real time. Hours, days, even weeks can go by in a matter of minutes. Expeditions are something like traditional role-playing games, but they are more focused, and they are resolved more quickly.

If you are an experienced gamer you will have to fight the instinct to play Expeditions as though they were full-fledged RPGs. For example, most of the gamers we know will treat a battle with a group of goblins as an opportunity to display their tactical cleverness by setting up an ambush complete with mantraps and deadfalls. Because of time constraints, Expedition Encounters are more like computer games - you make choices for your characters but you have a relatively limited set of options.

The goal of an Expedition is to expand the scope of the game and introduce elements that you can bring back to the other players. Most Expeditions should take between 20 and 40 minutes to resolve.

The simplest way to think of it is thing - tell the story of your adventure afterwards in the Ram’s Head. Go on Expeditions to further your goals and fuel your stories but the Ram’s Head should always be at the heart of everything you do.

The Word of Recall

When party begins an Expedition, they will be taught a word by the Gatekeeper. If this word is spoken aloud during the Expedition, a return Portal opens to take them back. It’s the preferred way home.

Any character can speak the Word of Recall at any time, but all of the characters that are still conscious must consent or it won’t work.

When the Recall is triggered, unconcious charaters and characters that were slain will automatically be brought back with the group as long as they are within 30 feet of a conscious party member.

There are limits to how much inanimate matter can be brought back through the Portal, but the limits are uncertain. If they are exceeded, the Word of Recall will fail, so it is best to restrict your ‘baggage’ to what your characters can carry.

The Word of Recall can only be spoken three times. After that, it loses its power and all of the characters are assumed lost unless the Gatekeeper is in a generous mood and is willing to figure out some other way for them to return to the Tavern in a reasonable amount of time (you may have to sit out for a bit).

A note for the treacherous among you (I know you are out there) - you can’t resist a Word of Recall you yourself have spoken, so if you are planning to intentionally ‘use up’ the Word’s power and strand your Expedition you will need at least one confederate.

Portal Collapse

One danger of going through the Portals is that they eventually collapse. No one knows how long one will stay open.

When the Portal begins collapsing, the Gatekeeper will issue a five minute warning. 

When this time is up, a doorway will open back to wherever it was opened in the first place. Characters must step through the doorway immediately, or they will be left on the other side of the Portal when it collapses.

This means that from the moment you open a Portal you are on a timer. Move too slowly on Expedition and you will be booted back to the Ram’s Head. This timer is somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes for each Expedition. Only the Gatekeeper knows for sure.

NOTE: This is a tool used by the Gamemaster to enforce the time limit on Expeditions. In practice it is rarely needed.

Exception: Local Expeditions

Sometimes there will be objectives close enough for parties to walk there. For example, a recent session took place on the border of the Feywild. Expeditions into a nearby labyrinth didn’t need Arcanum cards. Parties simply walked there. You will be told during setup when this is the case.

Advanced Concepts

The conceits required to make the combination of live action and tabletop games work require a fair amount of hand waviness but if you want a better idea of the metamechanics underlying the setting read on. I’ve spent entirely too much time thinking about this.

Everwhen

Unless a specific dimension is named, Portals will take you to the specified kind of place but there is no telling in which dimension it will be. So a Portal card that takes you to a stable will so without fail, but there is no way to control which stable or where unless it was specified when the card was created. None of the Core cards specify a target dimension.

These places are mystic archetypes. The "Cobblestone Bridge" isn’t a specific bridge in a specific world in a specific place. It is simply THE Cobblestone Bridge, a model for many others like it and stories about it. These places are said to exist in Everwhen, a “Neitherspace” that like the Ram’s Head itself, touches on many dimensions.

Try not to worry too much about the metaphyics involved. If you are trying to get a handle on how this all feels and functions, the underlying concepts are heavily influenced by the work of Neil Gaiman. If you aren't familiar with his stuff, go find yourself some Sandman and dig in.

Temporal Distortion

One of the most peculiar things about the Gateway Expeditions (and the most difficult to understand) is the fact that no matter how much time an Expedition takes, only a fraction of that time will have passed in the Tavern when the adventurers return.

Most adventurers simply accept that this is so, but if you really must know, it has something to do with a series of Temporal Wards built into the Ram’s Head’s foundations. Those who enter the Ram’s Head are subject to ‘Tavern Time.’ Time in the nearby settlements moves more quickly than it does in the Tavern.

By the way, if you don’t understand all of this Temporal Ward business - don’t worry about it. It really isn’t important. You could ask the Gatekeeper to explain it to you but it probably won’t help much. All you need to know is that the Expeditions can take days or even weeks, but when you rejoin the characters at the Tavern, you will only be gone for as long as it takes to resolve the Expedition. This is a device that makes Expeditions possible. Please don’t scrutinize it too closely ;)