Adventuring together should mean more than standing in the same room. A party is a small formal group with one leader, and while it holds, the leader's quest is the party's quest: the same objective at the same stage, on everyone's journal at once.
How it works
Anyone can create a party and become its leader. The leader invites connected players, they accept, and the roster shows who is in, who is still thinking about it, and whose invitation has gone stale. Leadership can be handed to an accepted member, and the leader may remove anyone at any point.
The leader's progress is the party's progress. When the leader starts a shared quest the same quest and stage are projected onto every accepted member, and when the leader moves forward so does everyone. A member's own observation of a stage is not taken as the party's, which is what keeps a shared quest coherent when six people are running through the same barrow at different speeds.
Quest items and quest dialogue belong to the leader. Other members can see the item and are told plainly that it is the leader's to take.
Custom contracts are their own surface. A Jarl sitting in their own hold's seat can put a civic contract on anyone online, and a faction leader can put one on their own members. A contract carries an objective, a count, an expiry and a reward in gold and experience, and it closes when the thing is actually done: the target killed, the goods deposited, the letter delivered, the place reached, the prisoner jailed. Some are handed in rather than closing themselves, and either the giver or the person carrying it may abandon one.
Commands (/help party)
/party create creates a party with you as leader.
/party invite <player> invites a connected player. Leader only.
/party accept [number] accepts a pending invite.
/party status shows the leader, the quest, accepted members, pending invites and stale invites.
/party leave leaves your current party.
/party leader <player> hands leadership to an accepted member. Leader only.
/party remove <player> removes a pending or accepted member. Leader only.
/party quest start <questId> [stage] starts a shared quest. Leader only.
/party quest set <questId> <stage> projects a stage to accepted members. Leader only.
/party quest stop <questId> stops the shared quest projection. Leader only.
Contracts (/help quest)
/quest catalog [civic|faction] lists the contract types you can assign.
/quest assign <chatId|name> <type> assigns a contract to a target player.
/quest status [id] shows your active and recent contracts.
/quest turnin <id> hands in a consuming objective. You have to be in scope for it.
/quest abandon <id> cancels a contract, as either the giver or the one carrying it.