The Kettle inn's chimney, topped with a steaming copper kettle, above a cobbled road that runs between a wheat field and hedges toward a distant memorial.

Brackenmoor

First playtest: the weekend of 31 October

An online world in the old style

It's built on tiles and keeps time in ticks, and you grow by your skills, not by trading your gear for the next set. Chop an oak, net a fish in the river, light a fire and cook your catch, then stop to talk with whoever's about.

At first glance it's a cosy place: an inn with a chimney shaped like a kettle, charcoal burners at work in the woods, a farm at harvest. Look closer, and it remembers things.

The first four skills

Promises

Skills, not resets

Every skill runs from 1 to 100, and 100 stays the top for good. What you earn keeps its value.

Earned, not bought

No pay-to-win. Status is never sold for real money, and the best things come from doing it yourself.

Better together, possible alone

Everything can be done on your own. Doing it together is easier, or faster.

Nobody hurts you unless you choose

Players fight each other only where they've chosen to enter a marked zone.

Around Brackenmoor