What are our Design Tenets?

Nostalgia, Familiarity, Timelessness

— Highly referential of classic fantasy themes, tropes, stories, media, and 70s-80s rock album covers

— An art style that leverages the modern engine, but allows the imagination to fill in the blanks

— A world filled with places, races, and classes that feels familiar, yet unpredictable

Simple, Deliberate Gameplay

— Simple, streamlined, strategic combat; reminiscent of classic era MMOs

— Slower gameplay and progression pacing

— Persistence and ongoing involvement with the world and other players pays off over time

Community, Identity, and Reliance

— Adventuring & community are the heart of the game, and focus on single group activities and social experiences

— Classes & Skills are designed to feel familiar, with distinct identities and interdependence

— Even solo play ties into a greater/communal purpose

— World & Starting City designs focus on longevity and long-term utility in order to maintain social friction and mitigate generational stratification

World is Living, Layered, and Mysterious

— A focus on scheduled and ever-changing content & NPC behaviors

— Using time, seasonality, factions, and relationships to maintain a ongoing sense of mystery and discovery

— Many systems are stripped of hand-holding and overt explanation

— A focus on providing discoverable & unique ways to interact with the world and other players over time

Check out our FAQ for more information.

Read our Quick Start Guide to learn to play.

Gameplay & systems focus on the follow:

— An emphasis on grouping with one or more other players

— Slower player progression with emphasis on the leveling journey

— Open world design with varied levels ranges in each zone, rather than a linear theme park progression

— “Camping” and pulling in shared zones, rather than running instanced dungeons

— Combat emphasizing preparedness, tactics, and decision making over actions per minute and optimal rotations

— An emphasis on discovering, engaging with, and betraying NPC factions

— A similar fluid approach to player engagement with religion and the gods

— A large variety of tradeskills that tie into factions, player guilds, and player housing

— Spawns, foraging, harvesting, and other discoveries that consider time of day, day of the week, lunar cycle, seasons, and similar variables

— Text-based interaction with the world using dozens of verbs