The player's guide

🚀 Getting started

• Play now with just a name: no email, no password. When you want to keep your character, choose 💾 Save character in the menu and pick a username and password. Or build your look first in the character creator.
• A short tutorial (farming, woodcutting, fighting, trading) takes about ten minutes. After it, the 🧭 Journey card always shows a good next goal, with a reward and an arrow pointing the way.
• Daily quests (⚡) reset every day. Keep a streak for bonuses; one missed day a month is forgiven.

Controls

Click (or tap) people and things to select them; their card shows every action. Click the ground to walk there. On a phone, use the stick and the buttons on screen.

🧭 The world

You start in the grove, a village with a bakery, an inn, cottages, the Common Field to the north (anyone may gather its wheat) and the Village Ranch to the east (everyone's animals, garden and hives). West along the King's Road is Hollowmere, the woodcutters' town by the Whisperwood; past the Silverrun bridge, the fishing town of Brightwater. Beyond them, roads lead to 20 more towns across the continent:

• Danger grows with distance (⚠️ tiers 1 to 8): the heartland is gentle, peaks, mesas, the darkwood and the swamps are harder, and the far lands have beasts of their own.
• Day and night, and weather. Some fish only bite at night, or in the rain.
• The map (M) fills in as you explore. Walk up to a waystone to attune it; from beside a waystone you can travel to any attuned one for free (or for 10 🪙 from anywhere else, from the map).
• A bicycle (V) more than doubles your speed. You'll get off to fight, fish or go indoors, and something hitting you knocks you off.

🧑‍🌾 The villagers

Every villager has a voice and a life. Talk to them (💬) about anything; they answer in their own words, know true things about the world (who sells what, which way a town lies), and remember you. Help them and they grow fond of you: dear friends get little gifts and a discount.

Villagers with minds

Some villagers decide for themselves what to do next, with real stock on their shelves and coins in their purse. You can watch them work:

• Rowan cuts wheat in the Common Field and carries it to Hollis's mill; Hollis mills flour; Marigold buys it and bakes, setting free loaves out on her table.
• Ansel fells trees in the Whisperwood for his woodpile; Bjorn the smith and Maren the carpenter buy his logs.
• Della milks and shears at the Village Ranch, presses cheese and weaves cloth; Fenwick presses apples, grapes and pears into cider and wine. They carry their goods to whichever inn or shop pays most.
• Tamsin's caravan travels between the grove, Hollowmere, Brightwater and Coralwick, buying what one town has too much of and selling it where it's short. Her wagon is a shop while she's in town.

They talk, gossip and answer you

• Villagers stop and talk to each other when you're nearby: real conversations, with gossip about what players did (a rare catch, a boss slain, a promotion) and friendships that change over time.
• Say something in chat near them and they may answer; call one by name and they will.
• A gold ! over a head means a mission; ? means it's ready to hand in. Some ask for help when they run short, some post commissions for furniture, and some take standing orders (📋): supply them every week, with a bonus for a full week.

💰 Making a living

💼 Jobs

Look for 💼 Jobs on a villager's card. Work a shift a day for a wage; the more shifts you do, the higher you rise (promotions after 5 and 15 shifts, with better pay). You can hold 3 jobs at once. Miss 3 days in a row and you're let go (they'll take you back the next day). Days are real days, counted in UTC.

🐎 How a caravan escort works

Tamsin's wagon goes round the grove, Hollowmere, Brightwater and Coralwick, trading about 8 minutes in each before moving on. A shift is one leg of that road:

1. Be there when she sets off, within 12 tiles of the wagon (she calls out “Wagon's packed!”). Only the guards beside her then are signed on; catching up on the road doesn't count, so wait for her in town.
2. Stay close for at least 60% of the way. Don't run far ahead or fall behind.
3. Beat the ambush: about 2 minutes into a leg with guards, 2–4 beasts jump the wagon. The far legs bring tougher ones.
4. Arrive with her. She pays you at the next town and thanks you by name.

🌾 Gathering, woodcutting and fishing

• Gather wheat in the Common Field, and herbs, berries, mushrooms and stones in the wild. Each wild patch comes back for you after a while, so nobody strips an area bare.
• With an axe (Pip sells them), chop trees for logs; a few chops fell a tree, and it grows back.
• With a rod, face deep water and press R. When it bites, strike, then keep the fish in the zone on the reel.

🪙 Selling, and how prices work

• Every item has a value. Specialists pay it in full (Marina for fish, Hollis for wheat, the inns for drinks and cheese); other buyers pay less. Odo on the village plaza buys nearly anything; Vesna in Hollowmere buys far-land curios and boss trophies.
• Supply and demand, town by town: each town remembers what it's been sold. Sell a lot of one thing and the price there drops (the Sell window warns you: “they've had plenty”); it recovers over a few hours, and the next town pays full price. Towns with more buyers for something take more of it.
• Buying and selling back never makes a profit: shops always charge more than anyone pays.

📜 Bounties and reputation

Every town's notice board posts bounties: hunts, gathering, parcels to deliver to another town, places to explore and wanted beasts. Helping a town raises your standing there:

At Revered, you earn the title “Friend of <town>”.

🍺 The inns and the saloon

Rest by the hearth to heal, buy hot stew for the road, read the rumour board and see who's around. Feeling lucky? Play blackjack, liar's dice or arm wrestling for small stakes (with daily limits).

🏡 Your homestead

South of the village lie the homesteads. Claim a free site at its For sale sign and you get 4 parcels free. Buy more next to the ones you own for 2,000 🪙 each; how many you may hold grows with your level. Choose what each parcel is (you can change it any time):

Crops, vines and fruit trees

Plant seeds in fields (Pip sells radish, carrot, tomato and pumpkin seeds), water them and harvest. Grapevines and fruit trees grow slowly, then fruit again and again. Saplings are sold where the land suits them:

Animals

Buy young animals for your pastures and feed them crops. Pet them often: a happy animal sometimes gives a quality good worth far more.

The barn

Your farm grows with everything you produce (farm levels unlock more). Build your barn, then:

The workshop and furniture

Make 18 kinds of furniture (oak chair, stool, round table, bookshelf, cabinet, wardrobe and more). Show your best pieces in front of your workshop, sell them, fill villagers' commissions, or decorate your cottage in the village. Visit other players' homesteads and cheer them (once a day each).

⚔️ Adventure

• Combat (J): beasts show when they're about to strike. Dodge (K), or hit them while they wind up to stagger them for extra damage. Equip a bow to fight from a distance; each shot uses an arrow.
• Packs of wild beasts roam ahead of travellers, fitting the land: wolves and boars in the Whisperwood, scorpions in the desert, lurkers in the swamps, and in the far lands dune stalkers, ice trolls, wyverns, rime wraiths and worse.
• Knocked out? You wake in the village with a tenth of the coins you carried gone.
• Random encounters on the road: a cornered traveller, a merchant with a broken cart, a lost child, an ambush. Everyone who helps gets paid.
• Treasure maps (from bounties, encounters and relics): read one in your bag, find the place it shows, and dig. Three maps chain into a legendary cache.
• Hidden relics, four sets of ten, glint across the continent. A finished set pays out and gives a title.

Bosses

Each far land hides a lair boss, shared by everyone who fights it: deal a fair share of its damage to earn the reward, with a chance at its unique weapon. It returns two hours after it falls.

And the Old Rootking wakes in the north woods Saturdays at 18:00 UTC. Bring friends.

Growing stronger

Every level raises your health and opens new things, and every 5 levels you pick a perk:

Bjorn's forge in Hollowmere upgrades swords, axes and fishing rods (+1 to +3) for coin and materials, and forges far-land gear from what the far lands leave behind. Tools wear with use (watch the bar in your bag): a worn tool works worse, and Bjorn repairs it.

📖 Collecting and friends

• Your book collects fish, crops, creatures, places, folk and relics; each page pays a reward, and achievements unlock titles for your nameplate.
• Moments: your proudest milestones become cards to share, and your profile has its own page.
• Friends see when you're online; everyone shares the world chat.
• The shop has outfits and accessories for your character.
• Billboards stand by the village plaza, by every town's square and along the King's Road. A poster on one is an ad from a real game, shop or creator: tap it to visit them. An empty board can be rented by anyone at /advertise.
• Be a good neighbour: the few rules are in the terms.

❓ Questions

How do I earn my first coins?

Follow the 🧭 Journey card, gather wheat in the Common Field and sell it to Hollis, pick at the Village Ranch, or take a job: Hettie's Grove Post needs couriers, and Hollis pays for wheat every day.

Why did my price drop?

That town has bought a lot of it lately. Sell somewhere else, or come back in a few hours.

I was let go from my job.

You missed 3 days in a row. You can be hired again the next day (you start over at the bottom).

Where do I get fruit tree saplings?

Apple saplings from Pip; the others from the general stores of the towns whose land suits them (see the table under Your homestead), or Tamsin's caravan brings their fruit.

Can I put my game, shop or channel on a billboard?

Yes. There are 26 billboards, from $9 to $49 a month depending on how busy the spot is. Upload a poster at /advertise; every poster is reviewed before it goes up, and refunded if it isn't approved. You see its views and clicks day by day.

Is it free?

Yes. Everything in the game can be earned by playing. You can buy gems (for outfits), or become a member ($4.99 a month or $39.99 a year): 💎 500 every month, a members-only outfit every month, a star on your nameplate and 2× more conversations with the villagers. Neither is ever needed to play, and nothing you can buy makes you stronger.

What's Whistle?

A 75-second herding game: tap, and your whistle pushes 30 sheep away from that spot. Get them into the pen before the wolves pick off the stragglers. Play it at /whistle or at the sheepfold in the village plaza. There's a new course every day; your week is your best score each day added up, and every Monday the top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Champion Shepherd title and a golden hat.

What's Harvest Haul?

Load Della's cart with the day's produce (slide to aim, let go to drop, ↻ to turn), then lean it over the bumps and hills on the way to market. You score what arrives whole; the eggs and the wedding cake (worth 120) break if they land hard, and a perfect load is worth 25% more. Play it at /haul or at the cart by the Village Ranch's west gate. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Master Hauler title and a golden apron. All the games: /play.

What's the Fishing Derby?

75 seconds at the day's pond. Tap the water to cast (a little short of a fish: a splash on its head scares it), tap when the bobber goes under, then hold to reel and let go while the fish runs: too tight and the line snaps, too slack and it throws the hook. Each fish scores its weight in grams plus 150; one trophy fish (the golden carp, the storm eel or the ghost koi) surfaces once a day, and landing it with nothing lost is worth 25% more. Play it at /derby or at the jetty by the Western Meadow pond, west of the village along the road. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Derby Champion title and golden specs.

What's Marigold's Oven?

60 seconds of Marigold's morning bake. Tap a dough bin (bread, honey buns or the day's pie), then an empty oven; tap the oven again to take it out. Out in the golden band it goes to whoever's been waiting longest (the bright middle is perfect and worth half again); too soon it's doughy, too late it's burnt. Fill an order quickly for a tip; keep a customer waiting too long and they walk out. One of the 3 ovens runs hot each day, and nobody walking out with nothing spoiled is worth 25% more. Play it at /oven or at the brick oven north of the bakery, on the way up to the Common Field. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Golden Crust title and a golden crown.

What's Beehive Builder?

Della's honeycomb puzzle. Drag the day's pieces from the tray onto the comb (or tap a piece, then a cell); pieces never turn. Fill a whole line, in any of the three directions, and it turns to honey and clears; several lines at once multiply, and a line through a flower counts double. Leave room: if nothing in the tray fits, the comb is full and the run ends. 36 pieces in 3 minutes; placing them all is worth 25% more. Play it at /hive or by the beehives outside the Village Ranch's west fence. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Queen Bee title and a honey-gold party hat.

What's Log Flume?

Ansel's logs come down the river, 24 in 70 seconds. Press on a log and drag sideways to steer it (oak is heavy and slow to turn); let go and it drifts with the current. Rocks bounce logs and a hard hit splits one; a log stuck on a bank or a rock is beached. At the bottom two gates saw and one is a spillway, and the golden birch is worth 50 through the starred saw. Milling every log is worth 25% more. Play it at /flume or at Ansel's chute in Hollowmere. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the River Boss title and a green logger's hat.

What's Bjorn's Forge?

Bjorn's board for the day: 4 commissions, 60 seconds at the anvil once you light the forge (you get up to 10 seconds to pick your fuel, hammer and tongs). Heat the billet in the fire, pull it onto the anvil and strike when the ring closes, one blow a beat, while it glows in the piece's sweet band. Struck too cold it cracks; white hot, or left in the coals too long, it burns out, and a blow off the beat only glances. Scale comes loose as you work: knock it off before the next blow. Forging every commission without losing a billet is worth 25% more. Play it at /forge or at Bjorn's forge in Hollowmere. Each Monday the week's top three get 💎 500 / 300 / 150, the Master Smith title and a smith's goggles.

How do invites work?

Send a friend your profile link (menu → 🎁 Invite). When they reach level 3, you each get 💎 50.