How to play

🔑 Joining the game

1. Ask the grown-up who runs your realm for your hero code. It looks like OTTER-MAPLE-COMET-4821.
2. Open the game and type your code in. You only have to do this once; the game remembers it on this device.
3. The first time, pick a name, a class, a cape colour and how your hero looks. Then press Enter the realm.
4. Next time, your hero is waiting for you. Just press Play.

Sharing a tablet? Press Not you? Switch hero on the join screen and type in your own code.

Pick your class

Your hero keeps their class. To try a different one, press 🔄 Start over with a new hero on the join screen. That starts again from level 1, so think carefully!

🎮 Controls

Keyboard and mouse

The bottom corner of the screen always shows the keys you can use right now.

Touch screens

Move with the joystick in the bottom corner and drag anywhere else to look around. The buttons on the side open your bag, chat and horse.

Xbox controller

Just plug it in (or connect it by Bluetooth) and press a button. If the buttons do the wrong things, go to ⚙️ Settings → 🎮 Controller → Set up controller.

🧭 Exploring

• The realm is big: towns, farms, forests, rivers, bridges, mountains and the sea. Press M to see where you are.
• The compass at the top shows which way you're facing, and points to the people and places you're following.
• Day turns into night. A whole day takes about 20 minutes. At night the shops close, people go home to bed and the night owls come out.
• Been to a town before? Click it on the map to travel back there. Carriages in the town squares take you to other towns for a few coins too.
• Type /home in the chat to go home.
• Things look interesting? Walk up to them and look for the E sign.

⚔️ Battles

Get too close to monsters and a battle starts. Battles are turn by turn, like a board game: everyone takes it in turns, shown in the list at the top.

• Friends nearby can join your battle. Teams win fights!
• If your health runs out, you're down. A friend can heal you or give you a potion. Each turn you roll a dice: three good rolls (10 or more), or one 20, and you get a second wind and stand up again with some of your health back. Three bad rolls and you wake up safe in town.
• Fallen while your friends fight on? Press ⚔️ Back into the battle when you wake up. Did the monsters win? Press ⚔️ Try again to go straight back with full health; they'll still be hurt from last time.
• New heroes get 🐣 beginner's luck (a little extra chance to hit) and gentler monsters until level 5. Playing on your own? The monsters you meet are fewer and weaker than when the whole family fights together.
• After a battle you get gold and experience, and you can pick what to take from the loot.
• Trees, rocks and walls give you cover, and some monsters shoot arrows from far away.

🌟 Your hero

• Winning battles gives you experience. Fill the bar and you go up a level: more health and better attacks.
• Each level you also choose a quality to improve: 💪 Strength, 🤸 Agility, 👁️ Perception or 😊 Charm. Some things in the game make you roll a dice and add your quality, so pick what suits you.
• Your bag (I) shows your gear. Click an item to wear it, use it, or drop it on the ground.
• Health comes back slowly by itself, faster with a potion or a rest at an inn.

💰 Gold and shops

• Every town has shops: the blacksmith, the general store, the stables, the tavern and more. Walk in and press E at the counter.
• Sell the treasure you find, and buy better weapons, armour and potions.
• Each town is famous for something and sells it cheaper, so shop around.
• Buy a horse at the stables to get around faster. Give it a name!
• Save up and buy a house. Decorate it with furniture (B), paint the outside, and even add an extra floor.
• Lonely on the road? Hire a companion in a tavern to fight by your side.
• Watch your pockets in busy towns… pickpockets are about!

🏰 Places to go

• Caves and dungeons: treasure chests, traps and monsters. They fill up again after a while.
• Deepdelve Mine: borrow a pickaxe and lantern, dig for ore and gems.
• Kingshold Castle: the king's hall, the library (you can read the books!), the kitchens and the dungeon.
• Saltgate: the port, with ships you can walk aboard and trade with.
• The travelling fair: a Ferris wheel, dodgems and games with prizes. It moves from town to town; look for 🎡 on the map.
• And plenty more to find for yourself: a haunted manor, a secret pirate cove, a hidden cave with a waterfall…
• Bosses are huge monsters in their own lairs. Bring friends, and lots of potions.

👪 Playing together

• Everyone in your family plays in the same realm, at the same time or on their own.
• Press Enter to chat. Everyone in your realm sees it.
• Press L to see who's playing and where. Pick up to three people to follow on your compass and map.
• Walk into someone's battle to help them.
• If the grown-up who runs your realm has switched cheats on, type /help in the chat to see them.

📖 Stories

The 📖 Story button opens the story builder. One person is the Dungeon Master: they build an adventure from cards (meet someone, find a clue, fight a monster, make a choice…), and everyone plays it together out in the world.

• Start with the ready-made campaign, The Shattered Crown, to see how it works.
• Then make your own: join the cards with arrows, give characters names and words to say, and pick how scary it should be.
• Your stories are kept in your realm's library, and you can pause one and carry on another day.

📖 Read the full Stories guide: every card, arrow, choice, dice roll and setting explained.

🆘 Stuck?

• "That code didn't work": check it with your grown-up. Capitals and dashes don't matter.
• "Ask the grown-up who runs your realm": your realm is resting for now. Your grown-up can sort it out on their account page.
• Sent back to the start? Your hero might have been opened on another device. Only one device can play a hero at a time.
• Game running slowly? Open ⚙️ Settings and set the graphics lower.
• Stuck in a wall or a corner? Type /home in the chat.
• Still stuck? Ask your grown-up; they can find help on the For grown-ups page.