Your first days in Wurm Online

Frequently asked questions (A quick guide for new players)

I’m out of the tutorial – but where am I now?

The tutorial portal sent you to the starter town of the island you selected. This town is a protected environment, perfect for you to get acquainted with the game. To see a map of the island you are on, press “M”. On the map you will see a little purple house icon, showing the location of the starter town. Moving your mouse pointer over that symbol will show you the town name. (The island of Xanadu has several starter towns. To determine which of them you are in, double click anywhere on the ground next to you and you will see a message in the “Event” tab, saying something like “This is within the village of Glasshollow.”

How do I move and look around?

In the tutorial you already learned how to move around using the arrow keys or the W,A,S,D keys. Please remember you can also look around by holding down your left mouse button while moving the mouse.

How do I switch to 3rd person view?

There is no 3rd person view in Wurm Online! Just like in real life you only look through your eyes, so there is only a 1st person view! However, if you want to know what your character looks like, you can open a special character window: open the main menu (by pressing “Esc” or the letter “O”), then select “Hud settings” and enable “Character window”. Please note that the character window can be resized to show a larger view of your character.

Can I jump?

No, there is no jumping in Wurm Online – and it is usually not needed. You cannot pass obstacles (like fences) by jumping over them. (There is a risk, however, to “fall” over fences if you accidentally fall down a steep slope – so be careful not to get trapped in an enclosed area.

I am walking very slowly. How do I run?

There is no “run” mode in Wurm Online. Your movement speed is determined by the weight you are carrying and the the terrain you are walking on. If your character appears to move extremely slow, you are probably carrying too much weight, or you may accidentally have enabled “climb mode”. To find out about your current weight, open another character window by pressing “C” and move your mouse pointer over the little weight symbol in the upper left corner. The tooltip window will show your total weight and also inform you about speed penalties. To find out if you are accidentally climbing instead of walking, use your “quickbar”: open the main menu (by pressing “Esc” or the letter “O”), then select “Hud settings” and enable “Quickbar”. The first icon of the quickbar toggles Climb Mode. (While playing Wurm Online your skills and body characteristics will continue to rise, and you will eventually be able to carry more and more weight without getting slower!)

Why don’t I regain stamina?

Stamina (the green bar in your healthbar window) is decreasing while you are walking, swimming or performing actions. As soon as you stop your current activity the stamina bar will slowly fill up again. (How fast it fills up depends on the level of your hunger and thirst, as shown by the hunger and food bars.) There are a few cases when your stamina bar will fail to refill: for example if you are in “Climb Mode” (see above) or swimming in deep water.

I see creatures around me. Are they dangerous?

The world of Wurm Online is full of creatures! Some are hostile and will attack you if you come too close. Others are harmless and peaceful. To check just move your mouse pointer over the creature – if you see a red outline around it you should be careful: this creature is hostile and can attack you! Harmless creatures have a blue outline.

A creature attacks me. Can I survive?

During your first couple of days you should try to avoid any hostile creature (showing a red outline) by just not moving close to them. However, should you accidentally have approached a dangerous animal and it starts to attack you, try to run away! If you have been hit you will be slowed down for a little while, but soon you will be able to move normally again. Please note that most hostile creatures are not able to swim (with a few exceptions, like brown bears, crocodiles, and of course marine animals), so it is a good idea to stay near the coast or lake shore and try to escape into water. Also: you should wear the leather armour you found in your inventory.

I see towers and tower guards. What are they?

Guard towers are scattered around the islands; they are there to protect you! Around each of them you will find a number of special NPCs (“Non-player characters”), the tower guards. You can call out for them to help you against hostile creatures, but only if the creature is not too far from the guard tower (technically: within 20 tiles) and the creature has been “targeted” by you, i.e. it already attacked you and thus appears in your “target window”. To call the guards use your “Local” chat tab and enter “help” or “guards!” (without quotation marks). If the creature targeted is within tower range every call for help will alert 2 of the guards to run and attack it. After a cooldown time of 10 seconds you can call again and alert the next 2 guards to join in. (A guard tower can have a maximum of 6 guards; usually there are only 5.)

How can I find a safe place for the night?

The safest place during your first hours is the starter town! Explore it and get acquainted with the game. After leaving that safe haven you should always look out for hostile creatures and try to avoid them. When it comes to creature behavior there is no difference between day and night – however you may not be able to see them soon enough in the dark. Thus, it may be wise not to travel at night time, as long as you are brand new. Should you come by a developed area with houses, fields and fences, chances are high you are inside a player settlement, a village or town. These often have a special kind of guards: spirit templars. They look like transparent white ghost warriors, and they will attack any hostile creature within the area of the settlement. This would be a safe place to stay!

I died! What can I do now?

Dying is something to be expected during your first days in Wurm Online – so don’t be worried. You will lose a small percentage of your current skills (which aren’t very high yet anyway), and some of your inventory items will be missing. They remain with your your corpse and can be retrieved later. (The items are safe for quite a while; nobody will be able to take them as long as the corpse is lying on the ground – typically a couple of real days.) When you die, a window will appear asking you where you want to respawn. You always have the option to respawn at the starter town, and – if you dropped your explorer tent somewhere – near your tent. (That’s why it is a good idea to drop your tent if you are staying at a place far from a starter town for a while.)

How do I find water and food?

You may have noticed that your water and food bar are slowly decreasing while you play Wurm Online. Don’t be worried too much: you cannot die from hunger or thirst! However, having full bars is always a good thing, because the lower they are the slower you will regain stamina. Drinking water regularly is more important than keeping your food level up, because your body is able to “fast” several times if you become too hungry. “Fasting” will restore your food bar (while lowering your nutrition value; but you don’t have to worry about that for the time being). Getting water is easy: just find a well or fountain, or go to the sea coast or any lake shore and drink! (Yes, you can even drink sea water!) Getting food is a bit more difficult. You can either forage for vegetables or berries (which are not very nutritious), or try to cook a simple meal from fresh meat (look for animal corpses) and vegetables, using a campfire.

How do I travel? Can I teleport?

Later on, when your skills have increased, you will be able to ride horses or drive carts. For now, you will probably just walk! (Technically, even as a new player you could ride a cow – but they are pretty slow.) There is no “magical” way of fast travelling in Wurm Online, so: no teleporting. (One exception: When you decide to join an existing village, you will have a one-time option to teleport to that place.) For travelling you can use your in-game map to see what the area looks like (press “M” to open it), but on the official Wurm forums you will find a “community map” of your server, which is a lot more detailed and offers a great deal of information.

Can I see my current location on the map?

The world of Wurm Online is based on a medieval setting, so there is no such thing as a GPS! Thus, you cannot see your current location on an in-game map. The challenge of finding out where you currently are is an interesting part of the game experience. Use the community map and try to find a landmark or a settlement close to you, then try to identify it on the map. Or: talk to other players around you and ask them where you are.

How do I find my way from … to …?

You can always use the map, as explained earlier, but if you are lucky you will find one of Wurm’s highways. The highway system consists of a network of player-built multi-lane roads having “cat’s eyes” (rows of green lights in the center of the highway) and “waystones” (road signs). If your destination is a settlement that is connected to the highway network, you can easily find it by right-clicking one of the waystones and search for the route. If you pick the settlement name from the list, every waystone will show you the direction and distance to your destination. (Distances are given in “number of tiles”, where each tile has a size of 4 x 4 meters.)

How do I talk to other players?

Characters that are close to you will appear in your local list (to the right side of the Event Tab). You can chat with them by using the chat tab named “Local” (usually the first tab in the chat window). In order to type a chat line just press “Enter” and then type your line. Send it to the local area by pressing “Enter” again. If you have questions about the game and need help with game mechanics, you are welcome to use the chat tab named “CA HELP”. (Just click on the tab, then ask your question in the same way as explained earlier.) There are two more chat tabs that can be used to communicate with other players – but they usually have to be opened before you can use them. Typing “/shout <message>” will open a chat tab called “Freedom” and will send your message to all players on your current island (provided they are reading that chat). Typing “/gshout <message>” will open a chat tab called “Gl_Freedom” and will send your message to all islands (technically to all islands within your current kingdom). Both tabs will stay open, so you can continue chatting there. Finally, you can open a private chat with another player by typing “/tell <name>”, inserting the proper character name.

Can I join other players?

Of course you can! In fact, you are encouraged to do so. Joining a group of other players will make your new life in Wurm Online so much easier. Try to use the official forums or the “Freedom” chat to look for settlements recruiting new villagers, or just ask around.

I want to be on my own. How do I start my own place?

Of course you are also welcome to start out as a lonesome hermit! This may be harder, but on the other hand will provide an interesting challenge. Begin by finding a suitable place with some trees (for wood) and some rocky slopes (for your first iron mine), preferably not too far from water. (Also read the answer to the next question regarding rules and code of conduct.) Then start by chopping some wood, make planks and shafts, and mine some iron. (You can also use the “Rummage” option on rock tiles to look for low-quality iron rocks.) To open a mine, you need to find a rock tile. Activate your pickaxe, right-click the rock tile and select “Tunnel”. Repeat until a tunnel entrance opens – then continue mining until you find an iron vein. This can take some time! Once you have enough planks and nails you can start building your first little wooden shack!

Can I settle anywhere? Are there rules for placing my first shack?

Technically, the game will allow you to settle almost anywhere – unless you are on someone’s property. You will not be able to chop trees, open a mine or build your first shack on land that has been claimed (“deeded”) by another player. To check if the land you are on is already claimed you double-click the ground near you. If you see messages like “This is within the village of xxx” or “This is within the perimeter of xxx” you cannot (or should not) build your place there. It is also not allowed to build a house on a highway. Apart from that, there are some unwritten and self-evident guidelines of politeness and courtesy. For example, it usually is frowned upon if you settle too close to other players’ structures or property without asking. Generally, if you see houses and structures around, try to talk to the locals and make sure it is ok for you to settle. You don’t want to annoy your future neighbours, do you? As a general rule: try to be as polite and considerate as you would be in real life. If you are unsure, always ask.

What is a “deed”?

Technically, a deed is a document of land ownership. In Wurm Online you can purchase an area of land for in-game silver, usually for the sake of founding a settlement. This specially protected area is therefore called a “settlement” or a “village”, but most commonly referred to as a “deed”. So, while technically the “deed” is only the document you own, you will usually hear Wurm players talk about the land they own as their “deed” or about things happening “on deed” or “off deed”. Having a deed gives you a number of benefits: control over actions other players may perform, the ability to hire “spirit templars” as guards, easy access to your in-game bank account, no decay on structures, fences, lamps and decoration, a safe place to respawn, the ability to brand and protect animals, and many others. Founding a deed is simple: just use the “deed stake” you found in your inventory and fill in the various forms. Placing a minimum sized deed requires you to have at least 4.21 silver coins on your bank account. This money will be used for deed foundation, and it includes the upkeep for 3 months (1 silver per month).

How can I chop trees?

You activate your hatchet (by double-clicking the hatchet in your inventory), right-click a tree and select “Cut down”. Repeat this until the tree falls and you see a “felled tree” on the ground before you. In order to use its wood (for the creation of wooden planks, for example) you must then chop the felled tree and produce wooden logs (use your hatchet on the felled tree). Please note: “Activating” a tool is not the same as “equipping”. Tools to be used in crafting must always be “activated” (by double-clicking), whereas weapons, clothing, pieces of armour or jewelry are “equipped” (using the right-click menu).

How do I craft items?

Usually, crafting items is done by combining various parts and components, sometimes using a tool. (For example: to make a hammer you would first use a small anvil and a glowing iron lump to make a hammer head, then combine that with a wooden shaft.) You can open a “crafting window” (press “B”) and a window with “crafting recipes” (press “N”) to help you with the process of crafting.

My actions seem to fail very often. Why does making things take forever?

When trying to craft items you will notice that you fail very often and have to repeat the same action again and again, until it finally succeeds. This can be annoying, but it is normal for a beginning player. The reason is that your crafting skills are still very low! If you open the “skill window” (press “F2”) you can see a complex list of skills. These skills determine how well you can perform certain actions, how long they will take and how successful your actions are. The higher the skill the better you perform! While you are using your skills they will gradually increase, and you will become more and more successful until you become an expert.

How can I change the shape of the landscape?

Being able to change the landscape is one of the outstanding features of this game! The land around you is not a static environment – you can use your shovel to raise or lower the ground! This process is called “terraforming”. In a nutshell, terraforming works like this: the terrain consists of dirt “tiles” (the outlined squares you see on the ground when moving your mouse pointer over them). A tile (which can also have grass, a tree or a bush growing on it) has four corners, and each of those corners can be raised or lowered. To lower a tile corner use your shovel (stand next to the corner, activate the shovel, right-click the ground and select “dig”). You will notice that each digging action will lower the corner you are standing on by a little amount and you will find 1 piece of dirt in your inventory. (Therefore the amount that corner is lowered by one digging action is called “1 dirt”.) So, for example, if you repeat the digging action 4 times, you will find 4 pieces of dirt in your inventory, and the tile corner will be lower than before by “4 dirts”. You created a little slope! To raise the corner again, you can just drop the dirts from your inventory (right-click the dirt and select “drop on ground”). Please note: A corner does not belong to a single tile! Actually, there are always 4 tiles sharing a corner, so when you dig or drop dirt on a tile corner you will always affect all 4 tiles!

I still don’t understand digging. How do I make a tile flat?

To make a flat tile you have to know what its current slope is. Move your mouse pointer over a ground tile, and you will notice that the tile has 4 “borders” around it. Stand on one of the tile corners, look at the slope and right-click a border. Selecting “Examine” you will see a message like “The border is 16 slope up”, meaning you would need to drop 14 dirts on that corner to make that border flat. If it says “The border is 10 slope down” you will instead have to dig 16 times to flatten the border. Keep in mind, that the “other edge” (the one connected to the corner you are standing on) will also be raised or lowered by your action, so you may have to stand on the other three borders and repeat the process several times, until all four borders say “The border is level”. All this sounds too complicated? Well, there fortunately is an easier way! Just activate your shovel, stand on a tile, right-click the tile and select “Flatten”. The game will automatically try remove and add dirt to the tile corners in order to make tile flat for you!

How do I get iron?

Finding iron during your first days is important, because you will need it for many items you want to craft. There are several ways to get iron: you can either forage on grass tiles or rummage on rock tiles with a chance of finding “iron rocks”, which can then be smelted into iron lumps. Or you can use an underground mine to find an iron vein, which will give you iron ore when you mine it using your pickaxe. Most of the starter towns have public iron mines in their neighbourhood – just walk around and explore the surroundings until you find an open mine entrance with a sign saying “Public mine”. Walk inside and carefully study the tunnel walls until you find a wall segment that looks different. Right-click the wall, and if it says “Iron vein” you can use your pickaxe to mine pieces of iron ore. Then use a campfire or a forge to smelt them into iron lumps.

Should I become a premium player?

You can play Wurm Online for free as a non-premium player as long as you wish. However, becoming a premium player will grant you a lot of benefits: you can raise your skills above 20 (meaning you will be able to perform many tasks that you wouldn’t be able to as a non-premium player, like building stone houses, riding horses, using sailing boats and driving carts, becoming a priest, and many other things), you can invite citizens to your village, and your account will never be deleted even after a long period of inactivity. So, in a nutshell: If you want to enjoy all of Wurm’s features and “really play the game” you should become a premium player! The monthly cost for a premium account is 8 Euros, if you buy premium time from the Wurm shop. You can also buy 30 days of premium time for 10 silver coins at any settlement token in-game.

Where can I find more information?

The information in this short overview is brief and probably far from sufficient to answer all of your questions. Therefore, you are encouraged to use "Wurmpedia", an extensive and informative Wiki about Wurm Online. You can also press “H” in game to open a “Help window”. Type anything you want information about (for example "deed”) and you will see an abstract of the corresponding Wurmpedia article. Please use Wurmpedia frequently! Questions about the game and its rules and mechanics can also be asked in the “CA HELP” chat tab. Usually community assistants and other players will be present to answer your questions!