M1: the Greyfen starting-area pack¶
Edition scope — 9 September 2026: Chapter One focuses on frontier advancement, basic parties, three tutorial lessons, repeatable timed gathering and crafting anywhere. Deeper RPG systems are disabled but retained for the full MMO. Six-frontier, naval, custom-equipment and extended-story designs below describe that larger world. The current roadmap takes precedence over earlier milestone/group-size wording.
Purpose: turn the village, training yard and goblin camp into a coherent first expedition. 45–60 minutes for a new player is a design target to measure, not current measured playtime.
The pack preserves the eight existing quests and their save IDs, and adds four quests, two Blender wolf variants, and the journal UX. It uses the current zone and Blender environment kit. Territory ownership, crafting and the lasting world event arrive in the revised PvE roadmap.
The route¶
| Chapter | Intended experience | Content |
|---|---|---|
| A place to begin | Learn, equip, choose an objective | Rusk's steel lesson; clearer introductory training camp, target signs and journal |
| Trouble close to home | Win a fair first encounter | Wolves by a damaged supply wagon, with room to retreat toward town |
| The road north | Read mixed enemies and choose weapons | Existing archery/magic lessons; goblin scouts before the camp; stolen supplies |
| Inside the camp | Use cover, interrupt reinforcement, help someone | Alarm post, patrol route, supply cache and captive rescue |
| The old shrine | End with a clear payoff | Existing shrine/champion sequence, stronger staging, return dialogue and Ironwood hint |
Placement follows collision and sight-line checks. The route is town → wolf clearing → north-road scouts → goblin camp → shrine → town. Ironwood remains a tougher optional continuation.
Four approved quests¶
| Quest / stable ID | Giver and unlock | Objectives | Reward and purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
Tracks by the Road / tracks_by_the_road |
Elen; after A Blade Before Breakfast | Inspect damaged wagon; defeat three hunting wolves; return | 15 coins, one healing draught. Read enemy tells and recover safely |
The Hollow Howl / hollow_howl |
Nella; after Tracks by the Road | Follow spoor; defeat pack leader; report back | 20 coins, 12 arrows. Limited pack coordination and a stronger tell |
Greyfen's Missing Stores / missing_stores |
Elen; after Goblins at the Fenline | Recover two identified supply bundles; return them | 20 coins, one mana draught. Explore cover and ranged options |
Quiet the Watch / quiet_the_watch |
Rusk; after Missing Stores | Disable alarm post; free one captive; return | 25 coins, one healing draught. Objectives beyond kills |
These are one-time server rewards. Wagon, spoor, both supply bundles, alarm and rescue have range-checked, sight-line-checked objective hooks. Lysa's rescue opens a personal cage door and shows a short exit after acknowledgement; she is not a vulnerable, server-simulated escort. A longer escort is separate scope.
Wolves: combat and Blender brief¶
Hunting wolf: wanders its clearing, turns toward a target, signals a lunge with lowered head and growl, commits along a readable line, then recovers. Pack attacks are staggered so only one wolf winds up or lunges at a target at once. A short leash allows retreat. Cover blocks attacks and protected Greyfen stops pursuit.
Pack leader: an original scarred silhouette sharing the base rig. A longer howl alerts nearby living wolves already in the encounter. Cap encounters at three active wolves rather than unlimited summons. Interrupting or outmanoeuvring it must be legible.
The editable Blender source exports two articulated quadrupeds with a shared atlas, near/far meshes and a named rig. Runtime poses cover breathing, movement, windup, lunge, recovery, hit, death and howl. The combined wolf library is 827,904 bytes, with 12,156 near or 3,246 far triangles across both variants. Each visible wolf uses one character mesh draw per selected LOD. Model workflow.
Goblin camp: make each space useful¶
The entrance reveals a patrol and alarm before combat. Tents provide cover without hiding tells. Slingers have visible positions and a flank route. The supply cache and captive have distinct landmarks. The shrine is the final focal point, with pressure and champion transitions readable during approach or retreat.
The alarm calls at most two non-respawning reserve goblins. Cutting it cancels a pending call and suppresses further calls for two minutes; existing enemies remain. A quiet camp can rearm after its reserves are gone. The road scout patrols the approach. Recent nearby contributors receive kill credit, while supplies and rescue are personal objectives. M3 later connects supplies and patrols to persistent control.
Quest journal and completion gate¶
The implemented journal gives every quest a searchable entry, progress display, giver directions and optional tracking. Recorded local verification separates completed checks from remaining human balance and hardware playtests.
- A fresh character completes the route with ordinary controls and no admin help; all eight old quests retain their unlocks and save IDs.
- Wolf attacks, deaths and interruptions play cleanly at low/high render rates, with correct facing, paw contact and LOD transitions.
- Two players progress without stealing critical quest objects; reconnect cannot duplicate rewards or strand a rescue.
- Quest text explains action, place and return giver. Ready and completed states remain distinct.
- Repeated combat, fast turns and traversal meet the documented M4 Pro frame-time target.
- Demonstrate the final pack with a playable review route, captures and a content diff.
Approved by Alex, 8 September 2026: M1’s journal, wolves, camp objectives and expedition polish. M2–M8 remain proposals.