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 page covers the basics of play. Other features of the game are left for you to discover.
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.
The grid shows the nine squares around you and everyone in them. 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 square's resources sit in its bottom-left corner. The number is how many units are still left to gather.
Your coordinates sit beside the MAP button, which opens the full island. On the map, press SET DESTINATION, click a base, then press GO to walk there automatically. The map also lists your faction's standing orders and wars.
Bases are walled compounds scattered across the island, each holding structures the owning faction can use. A base is either held by a faction or unclaimed. It changes hands when an enemy breaks its gate down and claims it. While the gate stands, no enemy can enter. Logging off inside a base your faction holds keeps you safe from attack.
Each base has one gate, and it is the only way in. Attack it with a weapon to lower its HP; pickaxes and scythes deal only 1. Outpost gates hold 2,500 HP, larger holds 5,000.
Each wood spent on a gate adds 10 HP, up to its maximum. Fortifying a gate at 0 HP claims the base, and everything in it, for your faction.
The forge crafts weapons, armor, tools, and consumables, and repairs broken gear. Your smithing and alchemy levels decide which recipes you can use.
A vault holds 9 items, shared by your whole faction.
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 | Raises your critical chance when harvesting grain, dewberry, or blackroot with a scythe. A normal harvest yields 1, a critical yields 2d6. |
| Magick | Raises your critical hit chance with staves. Critical staff hits deal or heal double, green crits inflict sickness, and red crits shatter an enemy staff. |
| Melee | Raises your critical hit chance with melee weapons. |
| Mining | Raises your critical chance when mining with a pickaxe. A normal strike yields 1 metal, a critical yields 2d6. |
| Perception | Reveals more about other players when you inspect them. Detects traps, blood trails, poisoned food, and cloaked enemies. Sets a spyglass's range. |
| Ranged | Raises your critical hit chance with bows, crossbows, and spears. |
| Smithing | Unlocks crafting recipes and repairs at the forge. Higher levels unlock better gear and add durability to what you craft. |
| Stealth | Makes you harder to detect while cloaked. Determines whether your traps and poisons go unnoticed. |
| Woodcutting | Raises your critical chance when chopping with an axe. A normal swing yields 1 wood, a critical yields 2d6. |
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 one, which needs smithing 10, or 20 for superior gear. Cloaks cannot be repaired.
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axe | 3 Metal | Chop trees for wood. Doubles as a 1d6 melee weapon. | Smith 5 |
| Pickaxe | 3 Metal | Mine ore for metal. 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, up to one square away. Spends one arrow per shot. | Smith 10 |
| Crossbow | 3 Metal | Ranged 1d6, up to one square away. Spends one bolt per shot. | Smith 10 |
| Dagger | 1 Metal | Melee. 1d6 damage. Can be poisoned. | Smith 10 |
| Spear | 3 Wood | Melee 1d8, or thrown for 1d10 up to one square away. A thrown spear drops on the target's square. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 5. | Smith 10 |
| Sword | 3 Metal | Melee. 1d8 damage. Can be poisoned. | Smith 10 |
| Warhammer | Melee. 1d12 damage. Not craftable; carried by trolls. | - |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | 3 Metal | Equip to absorb damage. 50 HP. | Smith 20 |
| Armor+ | 6 Metal | Superior armor. 100 HP. | Smith 25 |
| Shield | 3 Metal | Raise to block attacks. 50 HP, and it shatters at 0. Moving lowers it. | Smith 20 |
| Shield+ | 6 Metal | Superior shield. 100 HP. | Smith 25 |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antidote | 3 Dewberry | Cures sickness, your own or a faction member's on your square. Stacks to 10. | Alch 15 |
| Poison | 3 Blackroot | Applies to a sword, dagger, spear, arrows, bolts, rations, or a tonic. A poisoned hit or meal makes 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 | Drink to heal yourself 2d6 HP, or give one to a faction member on your square to heal them 2d6, or revive them if downed. Healing to full also cures sickness. Can be poisoned. Stacks to 10. | Alch 5 |
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloak | 3 Blackroot | Use to turn invisible, use again to reappear. Your stealth against a foe's perception decides whether they see you. Attacking does not break it, but being attacked destroys it for good. | Smith 25 |
| Spyglass | 3 Metal | Reveals players on the map within 3 squares per point of perception. | Smith 25 |
| Trap | 3 Wood | Lay on your square. The next enemy to enter takes 2d6 damage and springs it. Stealth keeps it hidden. | Smith 15 |
| Warhorn | 3 Wood | Alerts every faction member within 50 squares, giving your direction and coordinates. Also draws nearby monsters to you. | Smith 15 |
Staves are found, never crafted. They reach one square in any direction, and Magick sets their critical hit chance.
| Item | Recipe | Use | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Staff | Strikes one adjacent enemy for 1d6 damage and destroys 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 yourself or a faction member 1d4 HP, or revives a downed faction member. | - |
Every Monday at midnight Eastern, nominations open for 24 hours. Each faction member may cast one vote for anyone in their faction, and may change it until voting closes. The top vote-getters - up to 5 per faction - are elected captain for a 7-day term. If a faction casts no votes, its current captains keep their seats.
Voting Opens
Cast Votes
Elected as Captains
Term Length
Captains lead their faction. They have 100 HP instead of 50, and they issue the orders that direct a war. Check your map for standing orders; following them earns you XP.
On the full map, a captain presses SET ORDER and clicks a base to flag it for capture. The base is then outlined in white for every faction member. Each captain has one order at a time, and clicking the same base again rescinds it.
Captains vote to declare war on another faction. War begins once more than half of the current captains name the same target. During wartime, defeating enemy players grants XP. War ends only when captains withdraw their votes below that majority; it carries over to the next set of captains, and an election does not end it.
Leveling up takes 5 XP for every level you currently hold, and grants 10 skill points. You earn XP by following captain orders and by fighting in wartime.
