Fray is a massively-multiplayer online game about three factions vying for power and territory on a primordial island. Create a character, swear fealty to a faction, and work together to survive the dangers of the island and sieges from your enemies.
This info page will teach you the basics of Fray gameplay. Grasping these basics will help you become a valuable member of your faction. There are also more other features of the game not presented here, but which must instead be discovered through play.
You can play with the mouse, the keyboard, or both.
To move, click any square next to you on the grid, or use the W, A, S, and D keys (the arrow keys work too). Hold a direction to keep walking, and press two keys at once to step diagonally. Press Enter to send a message in chat.
To act on the world, pick a target from the target selector, select an item from your inventory if the action calls for one, then press an action button beside the grid. Only the actions that suit your chosen target and item are available.
Your grid is the nine squares around you - the terrain, the players, the monsters, and whatever else shares your ground. Players and monsters appear as dots. The color marks allegiance: lavender for Crown, gold for Chain, seagreen for Hillfolk, and white for monsters. Your own dot carries your faction's color. Click any adjacent square to move there.
A tile's resources sit in its bottom-left corner. The number is how many units are still left to gather.
Press MAP for the full island view. From the map, TRAVEL walks you to any base on its own. The map also shows your coordinates and any standing captain orders.
Bases are walled compounds scattered across the island. Each one belongs to a faction and holds structures that faction can use. A base changes hands when an enemy breaks down its gate and claims it. While the gate stands, no enemy can get inside. Shelter in a base your faction owns and you are safe from harm while offline.
The gate is a base's only entrance and the key to taking it. Strike an enemy gate with any weapon to wear it down. Once it reaches 0 HP, anyone can fortify it with wood to claim the base for their faction.
Spend wood on a friendly gate to raise its HP - each piece makes it harder for enemies to break through. Fortifying an enemy gate that has been beaten down to 0 HP claims the whole base for your faction.
The forge turns raw materials into weapons, armor, tools, and consumables. Your smithing and alchemy levels decide which recipes you can use.
Every base has a vault that holds up to 9 items, shared by your whole faction. Use it to stockpile supplies, hide rare loot, or arm up for war.
When you create your character, you choose a faction. This choice is permanent.
You begin at level 1 with 10 skill points to spend. Every level after that, up to level 20, hands you 10 more. No single skill can climb past 30. Leveling up costs 5 XP per level you currently hold.
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Alchemy | Unlocks tonics, poisons, and antidotes at the forge. Higher levels brew larger batches. |
| Farming | Increases your yield when harvesting grain, dewberry, and blackroot with a scythe. Critical harvests bring in extra. |
| Magick | Increases your critical hit chance with staves. |
| Melee | Increases your critical hit chance with swords, daggers, axes, and warhammers. |
| Mining | Increases ore yield when mining with a pickaxe. Critical strikes turn up extra ore. |
| Perception | Reveals more about other players when you inspect them. Helps you spot traps and cloaked enemies, and makes a spyglass sharper. |
| Ranged | Increases your critical hit chance with bows, crossbows, and thrown spears. |
| Smithing | Unlocks crafting recipes and repairs at the forge. Higher levels unlock better gear. |
| Stealth | Makes you harder to spot while cloaked, and helps your traps stay hidden from those who would trigger them. |
| Woodcutting | Increases wood yield when chopping trees with an axe. Critical swings fell extra. |
Unless noted otherwise, items are crafted at a forge inside a base. Your inventory holds 6 slots. Weapons and gear wear down with use and eventually turn [broken], which stops them working. Spend 1 metal at a forge to repair a broken item (smithing 10 required).
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axe | 3 Metal | Chop trees for wood. Doubles as a 1d6 melee weapon. | Smith 5 |
| Pickaxe | 3 Metal | Mine ore from mines. Doubles as a 1d4 melee weapon. | Smith 5 |
| Scythe | 3 Metal | Harvest grain, dewberry, and blackroot. Doubles as a 1d4 melee weapon. | Smith 5 |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow x10 | 1 Wood | Ammo for bows. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 100. | - |
| Bolt x10 | 1 Metal | Ammo for crossbows. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 100. | - |
| Bow | 3 Wood | Ranged 1d6. Requires arrows. | Smith 10 |
| Crossbow | 3 Metal | Ranged 1d6. Requires bolts. | Smith 10 |
| Dagger | 1 Metal | Melee. 1d6 damage. Can be poisoned. | Smith 10 |
| Spear | 3 Wood | Melee 1d8, or thrown for 1d10 ranged. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 5. | Smith 10 |
| Sword | 3 Metal | Melee. 1d8 damage. Can be poisoned. | Smith 10 |
| Warhammer | Melee. 1d12 damage. Cannot be crafted. | - |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | 3 Metal | Equip to passively absorb damage. 50 HP. | Smith 20 |
| Armor+ | 6 Metal | Superior armor. 100 HP. | Smith 25 |
| Shield | 3 Metal | Raise to block attacks. 50 HP. | Smith 20 |
| Shield+ | 6 Metal | Superior shield. 100 HP. | Smith 25 |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antidote | 3 Dewberry | Cures sickness. Stacks to 10. | Alch 15 |
| Poison | 3 Blackroot | Coat a weapon, arrows, bolts, rations, or a tonic. A poisoned hit or poisoned meal leaves the victim sick. Stacks to 10. | Alch 10 |
| Rations | 3 Grain | Eat to heal yourself 1d6 HP. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 10. | - |
| Tonic | 3 Dewberry | Heal another player 2d6 HP, or revive a downed one. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 10. | Alch 5 |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloak | 3 Blackroot | Turn invisible. Attacking breaks it. Your stealth and a foe's perception decide if you are seen. | Smith 25 |
| Spyglass | 3 Metal | Reveal a stretch of the map and the players on it. Perception sets its range and detail. | Smith 25 |
| Trap | 3 Wood | Lay on your tile. The next enemy to step there takes 2d6 damage. Stealth helps it stay hidden. | Smith 15 |
| Warhorn | 3 Wood | Sound a blast heard by your whole faction. Only works during a war. | Smith 15 |
Staves are rare relics - found, never forged. The Magick skill sharpens your critical hits with them.
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Staff | Strikes one adjacent enemy for 1d6 dark damage and rips away their cloak. | - | |
| Green Staff | Strikes one adjacent enemy for 1d6 damage. A critical hit also leaves them sick. | - | |
| Red Staff | Strikes one adjacent enemy for 1d6 damage. A critical hit shatters one of their staves. | - | |
| White Staff | Heals an adjacent ally for 1d4 HP, or revives a downed faction member. | - |
Every Monday at midnight EST, nominations open for 24 hours. Every faction member may vote for one player to become captain. When voting closes, the top vote-getters - up to 5 per faction - are elected captain for a 7-day term.
Voting Opens
Cast Votes
Elected as Captains
Term Length
Captains lead their faction. They are hardier than common folk, and they issue the orders that direct a war. Check your map for your current orders - following them earns you XP.
A captain can open the full map and click an enemy base to issue a capture order. The base is marked with a white square on the map for every faction member. Clicking it again rescinds the order.
Captains can vote to declare war on another faction. War begins once a majority of captains name the same target. During wartime, defeating enemy players grants XP. War ends when enough captains withdraw their vote to break the majority, or when a new election cycle begins.
Leveling up takes 5 XP for every level you currently hold, and rewards you with 10 fresh skill points. You earn XP by following captain orders and by fighting in wartime.
Music by co.ag.
