Camping Mechanics¶
Overview¶
Establishing camp is an expedition action step that provides morale, recovery, and preparation benefits. Camp quality scales with the Campcraft skill band. In some zones and seasons, camping is necessary for survival — the cold gear system and Exhaustion status make rest mandatory on long winter expeditions.
What Establishing Camp Does¶
When a player or party allocates a step to Establish Camp, the following occurs at the settlement tick:
| Effect | Always | Campcraft Familiar+ | Campcraft Practiced+ | Campcraft Skilled+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morale +10 | Yes | — | — | — |
| Injury recovery rate improves (+0.5 grade recovery per tick spent at camp) | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-departure morale bonus (+5 morale carried into first encounter after breaking camp) | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cold gear check passes automatically (camp substitutes for adequate shelter in winter) | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Passive injury recovery rate improves to full grade per tick | — | — | — | Yes |
| Multi-expedition persistent camp established (see below) | — | — | — | Yes |
| Guild camp structures can be built at camp site | — | — | — | Yes |
| Supply consumption at camp reduced by 20% (efficient resource management) | — | — | — | Yes |
Supply consumption: Camp requires consuming standard expedition rations. Each full day spent at camp consumes the normal per-day ration allotment for the party. Camp does not reduce supply consumption unless the Campcraft Skilled supply efficiency effect applies.
Camp Quality Tiers¶
Camp quality is determined by the highest Campcraft skill band in the party (party members benefit from the best available Campcraft):
| Camp Quality | Required Campcraft Band | Morale Bonus | Injury Recovery | Shelter Effect | Additional Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rough Bivouac | Untrained (no Campcraft) | +5 morale | None | None | Nothing; barely qualifies as camp |
| Field Camp | Familiar | +10 morale | +0.5 grade/tick | Partial shelter (reduces cold penalty to Partial) | Basic fire; minimal comfort |
| Established Camp | Practiced | +15 morale | +0.8 grade/tick | Adequate shelter (no cold Exhaustion) | Fire + wind cover; party recovers properly |
| Skilled Camp | Skilled | +20 morale | +1.0 grade/tick (full) | Superior shelter (halves movement penalty next step) | Organized camp; pre-departure bonus applies |
| Expert Camp | Expert | +25 morale | +1.2 grade/tick (exceeds standard) | Superior shelter + concealment (reduced creature encounter chance at night) | Concealed camp layout; longer persistent viability |
| Master Camp | Master | +30 morale | +1.5 grade/tick | Superior shelter + concealment + optimal rest | Maximum recovery; can host guild camp structure build events |
Multi-Expedition Persistent Camps¶
At Campcraft Skilled, the player can establish a Persistent Camp that remains viable across multiple expeditions.
How it works: - When establishing camp, the player can designate it as persistent (costs one additional action step to properly stake, mark, and cache the camp supplies) - The persistent camp site is recorded on the character's personal map - On subsequent expeditions to the same hex, the character starts at the persistent camp site rather than at the zone entry point - The camp degrades over time without maintenance — see degradation below
Persistent camp viability:
| Time Without Maintenance | Camp Condition |
|---|---|
| 0–3 real days | Full quality maintained |
| 4–7 days | Reduced by one quality tier |
| 8–14 days | Reduced by two quality tiers |
| 15+ days | Abandoned — camp is lost; site is cleared |
Maintenance requires a player to visit the camp site and spend one action step on upkeep. This resets the degradation timer.
Camp visibility: Persistent camps are visible on the regional map to players with Survey or Cartography at Practiced. A visible camp can be claimed by another player if it has degraded to Abandoned, or raided (see pvp-and-conflict.md — persistent camp raiding is a minor variant of resource node contesting).
Guild Camp Structures¶
At Campcraft Skilled, a player can organize the construction of guild camp structures at a persistent camp site. These are temporary field installations, not permanent buildings.
| Structure | Materials Required | Effect | Degrades After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply Cache | Timber (5 units), Leather (2 units) | Stores up to 50 units of expedition supplies accessible to guild members | 14 days without maintenance |
| Triage Post | Timber (5 units), Cloth (3 units) | Doubles injury recovery rate for party resting at camp; grants Physician NPC for one rest step | 10 days |
| Guard Post | Timber (8 units), Iron (3 units) | Reduces creature encounter chance at camp by 50%; reduces raid success chance vs. camp by 30% | 14 days |
| Cook Station | Timber (4 units), Iron (2 units), Clay (2 units) | Eliminates supply consumption penalty for camp rest; improves morale bonus by +5 | 7 days (requires fuel) |
| Survey Marker | Iron (4 units), cloth flag (1 unit) | Makes the camp visible as a named guild camp on all regional maps regardless of Survey skill | Permanent until dismantled |
Guild camp structures can only be built at Campcraft Skilled camps. They require the Campcraft Skilled character to be present for construction. Once built, guild members can use them without the builder being present.
Field Smokehouse¶
Players with Campcraft Skilled can establish a Field Smokehouse at camp using: - Timber (3 units) - Salt (2 units, consumable)
The field smokehouse converts raw meat and fresh fish to smoked/preserved versions over one camp rest step. This: - Increases the coin value of harvested meat and fish (smoked goods sell at 1.4× raw value) - Extends trade shelf life (smoked goods do not lose value over expedition duration; raw goods degrade) - Fulfills Arujoki preservation orders without requiring Arujoki Smokehouse access
Camp Morale in Context¶
The morale bonuses from camp stack with the baseline expedition morale as documented in morale-and-status-effects.md. A party's morale band at the start of an encounter is influenced by:
- Base morale (30 solo, 75 full party)
- Role bonuses (Warden +15, Vanguard +10)
- Camp pre-departure bonus (+5 to +10 depending on Campcraft band)
- Any morale losses from previous encounters in the same expedition
Camp rest does not recover morale lost to Fear or failure events — only the Warden's active morale restoration ability, or returning to a settlement, fully restores morale.
Winter Camping¶
In winter (Kaamos), camping is often necessary for expedition survival. The cold gear system checks shelter quality at each rest step:
| Player Cold Gear | Camp Quality Available | Cold Exhaustion Risk |
|---|---|---|
| None | Rough Bivouac only | Exhaustion applied after first night |
| Partial | Rough Bivouac or Field Camp | Exhaustion applied if camp is Rough Bivouac |
| Adequate | Any camp quality | No Exhaustion from cold at camp |
| Superior | Any camp quality | No Exhaustion; movement penalty next step halved |
A party with a Campcraft Skilled member effectively provides Adequate shelter regardless of individual gear, because the Skilled Camp provides the needed protection. This makes a skilled camper exceptionally valuable in winter expeditions.
Blizzard conditions: If a Blizzard weather event occurs during camp rest, the shelter check applies at one tier harder. An Established Camp (normally Adequate shelter) provides only Partial shelter during a Blizzard. A Skilled Camp still provides Adequate.