Expedition

Dashboard

Dashboard › Games, then the Expedition tab

Commands

/expedition (or e!exp)

You need

Manage Events to start a game. Manage Server for giveaways, schedules, settings and the league.

Element needs

View Channel and Send Messages in the channel. Create Public Threads and Send Messages in Threads when a game runs in a thread. Attach Files is optional: without it the map pictures are left out. Giveaways also need Embed Links, and the giveaway command checks for Manage Messages and Mention Everyone.

Plans

More games at once, bigger games, more winners, scheduled expeditions and the Journal map. See plans

#What it does

An expedition is a journey the whole channel takes together. Members press Join, the group sets off, and Element tells the story of the trip in the channel: the weather, the dangers, who lost a life, who was left behind and who got through. The last travellers standing reach the goal, and those are the winners.

Every game picks one of four journeys: Desert caravan, Mountain climb, Rainforest or Sailing crossing. Each has its own places, weather, dangers and items.

#Why use it

It is a game that runs itself. Start it in a few seconds, let members join, and watch the story unfold on its own, with a map at every camp. It suits events, giveaways and a regular game night, and it scales from a handful of friends to a very large server.

#Start a game

#How a game runs

1. The lobby. It shows the journey, the weather forecast, the host, the number of winners, the lives and when the group sets off. The buttons are Join, Pack, Leave and Host. Element posts reminders as the lobby closes.
2. Set off. At least 2 travellers are needed, or the lobby is cancelled. Anyone who didn't pack gets a random kit.
3. Five stages. The journey crosses five places, one after another. Each stage has its own weather, hidden until the stage begins. Element posts a message for every round, naming everyone who is hurt, saved or left behind.
4. Camps. Stages 1 to 4 end at a camp, with a map and a search party.
5. Arrival. Exactly as many travellers arrive as there are winners. Element posts an end card with the map and mentions the winners.

Everything in the story is deterministic once the group sets off, so a game is the same after a restart.

#Packs and lives

Pack lets each traveller choose a kit before the group sets off. A journey has 10 items, and a kit is 3 of them. Each item helps in some situations, such as the right gear for a storm or a river crossing. Leave it out and Element deals a random kit.

Lives are how many hits a traveller can take. The host sets one number for the game, from 1 to 3, in the command or the server settings. A traveller who loses their last life on a stage is left behind and may be found at the next camp. A traveller who loses it again, or on the last stage, is out.

#The fork and camps

At the start of stage 3, the group reaches a fork with two routes. Each traveller picks a route within a short time, and Element places anyone who didn't pick. The routes face different weather and dangers, so the choice matters.

At every camp Element posts a map and sends out a search party:

• Each traveller left behind on that stage has a chance of being found, and a better one if they carry the journey's signal item.
• A traveller who is found carries on with 1 life. Nobody is found twice.
• Big search: once per game, at the second or third camp, every chance doubles.
• Volunteer: in normal games, members still going can press Volunteer for a short time. Each volunteer improves everyone's chance a little, up to a limit.

#Threads

By default, giveaway games run in a thread off the giveaway message, and other games run in the channel. Change it in /expedition settings to every game or never, or set thread on a single game. If Element can't open a thread, the game runs in the channel.

Only one game can use a channel at a time. A game that has set off into a thread frees its channel.

#Giveaway mode

/expedition giveaway runs a giveaway that ends with an expedition. Entrants become the travellers, and the order they arrive in picks the winners: the first to arrive win.

• Run it with time and winners, and the same options as /giveaway start. Add journey (a journey or random) and thread (yes or no). You need Manage Server, and the server's command rules apply.
• Every giveaway rule, limit and message works as usual. The message shows an Ending line naming the journey.
• Bonus entries become lives, up to 5.
• When the time runs out, entries close and the expedition starts. Winners are posted in the giveaway's channel as soon as it ends, with the usual DMs and claims.
• A giveaway with no more entrants than winners, or fewer than 2 entrants, is drawn normally without a journey.
• Ending the giveaway early while the journey runs shows a Hurry up button that speeds the story along. Editing a running expedition giveaway isn't possible.
• Rerolls pick the next places, not a new random draw.

#Schedules

/expedition schedule opens a private panel where you add, edit, pause and delete schedules. A schedule has:

• a channel, a journey (or random), winners, lives and a lobby length;
• a cadence: every few hours (1 to 12), daily at a time, or weekly on a day and time, in a timezone you pick;
• thread or channel, and an optional ping role for the lobby.

The panel shows each schedule's next run and what happened last time. A run is skipped, with the reason shown, if another game is using the channel or Element was restarting. If a server drops to a lower plan, the newest schedules over the limit pause and come back when the plan does.

#The weekly league

Every server that joins plays the same journey, with the same dangers, at the same moment each Sunday at 00:00 UTC. The journey and a weather forecast are shown on the league board in Discord all week.

• Join: anyone with Manage Server can join from /expedition league or the dashboard, for free on every plan. Pick a channel for the lobby, an optional ping role, and whether the server's name shows on the public page.
• The game: the lobby opens at 00:00 UTC and lasts 10 minutes. There is no host. Members join, set off together and play the same journey as every other server.
• Distance: each traveller who counts earns 50 km for every round they get through and 500 km for arriving.
• Who counts: members who have been in the server for 7 days or more, with accounts 30 days old or more. Each person counts for the first 3 league lobbies they join each week. Everyone else still plays.
• Score: distance divided by the square root of the server's member count, so big servers need more travellers to score the same.
• To rank: at least 10 counted travellers and 25 members. Below that the game still runs and the server sees its own score.
• Points: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 for the top 10 each week, and 1 for every other ranked server. Your best 10 of 12 weeks count for the season.
• Seasons last 13 weeks: 12 ranked weeks and a rest week. At the end, the top servers earn a pennant (Gold, Silver, Copper or Iron) shown for the next season.

See the public league page for this week's journey, the standings and the hall of seasons. /expedition league shows the same board in Discord, and your server's own place is on the dashboard. A server can leave at any time, and its results are hidden while it's out.

#Settings

/expedition settings (Manage Server) opens a private panel for the server's defaults:

• Default journey: one of the four, or random.
• Default lives and default lobby length.
• Thread or channel: giveaway games only (the default), every game, or never.
• Default ping role for scheduled lobbies.
• Map theme: Classic and Midnight, or Journal on Premium.

#Commands

The lobby's Host button lets the host (or anyone with Manage Events) start early, cancel or stop a game. Status shows you your own lives and kit.

#Limits

Only games started with /expedition start count towards the games running at once. Scheduled, giveaway and league games never block each other or a hand-started game. Giveaway games follow the giveaway's own limits, and league games have no traveller limit, so a server on any plan can rank.

If a plan lapses, nothing is deleted: the Journal map draws as Classic, and schedules over the limit pause until the plan returns.

#Common problems

• "There's already an expedition in this channel". A channel holds one game at a time. Wait for it to finish, or run the new one in another channel or thread.
• "This server already has … expeditions running". You have reached the games-at-once limit for your plan. Let one finish, or raise the limit with a plan.
• "Couldn't open a thread, so the journey runs here". Element needs Create Public Threads and Send Messages in Threads. The game carries on in the channel.
• The lobby was cancelled. At least 2 travellers must join before the group sets off.
• No map pictures. Element needs Attach Files to post them. The game works without it.
• A schedule is paused. The panel shows the reason: it was paused by hand, the plan changed, or Element can't post in the channel. Fix that and press Resume.

#Turn it off or reset it

Games only run when someone starts one, or when a schedule or the league does. To stop a schedule, pause or delete it in /expedition schedule or on the dashboard. To leave the league, use League settings then Leave the league. A running game can be stopped from its Host button.

To choose who can run Expedition commands, and where, use command rules.

#Related

• Giveaways
• The public league page