The Far Road

Marco Polo was gone for twenty-four years. Xuanzang crossed the deserts alone. Your grandfather's map shows Serica, a city of silk at the eastern edge of the world. Nobody you know has seen it. Find it, and come home to tell of it.

On the way you will meet farmers, lords and kings. You will see famine, war and cities in ruins. Most travelers who set out never come back.

1 Β· Who are you?
2 Β· How hard is the road?
3 Β· If you die
The book of travelers
How to travel
  • Goal: reach Serica, then get back to Venna alive. It takes years.
  • The map is incomplete. You only know roads near you. Ask around, copy scholars' maps and talk to travelers to learn what lies ahead. Your grandfather put Serica in the wrong place.
  • In a town: buy food, water, beasts and warm clothes; hire guides, guards and servants; rest to heal; work for silver; ask the local ruler for a pass. Then pick a road and set out.
  • On the road the days tick by on their own. You eat every day. Farmland villages sell food along the road; deserts, steppe and mountains do not. Deserts need water. Camels carry the most.
  • Seasons matter. High passes kill in winter. Deserts burn in summer. Ocean ships sail only with the monsoon: east from April to September, west from November to March.
  • Guides keep you from getting lost, and they only know their own country. Guards fight bandits. Servants carry loads and nurse you. Everyone eats and wants wages.
  • Passes from a ruler waive tolls and scare off bandits in their lands. The Great Khan's golden tablet works from the steppe to the eastern oases.
  • The world changes. Regions slide into famine, war or plague, and great events reshape whole countries. A city you passed on the way out may be ash on the way home.
  • Trade pays for the trip: buy goods near where they come from and sell them far away. The merchant gets better prices.
  • Checkpoints: in Chronicle mode, every great city (β˜…) and monastery keeps a copy of your journal. If you die, you can pick up the tale from there. Your earlier graves stay on the map.
  • πŸ’‘ Advice tells you what a careful traveler would do next. Keys: Space pauses travel, 1–4 choose, Enter continues.
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