Getting started
Last Call of the Wild is a roleplaying game you play in your browser. You write your character's part in stories with other players, in places you can walk between.
Your first steps
- Sign up for a player account. Your player name is for you; your characters get their own names.
- Go to My characters and make a character. Fill in their profile and send them in for staff to approve.
- Once they're approved, pick them in Playing as at the top of the page.
- On the front page, press Enter on an area to step into the world, then follow the paths to look around.
- Find a place you like and start a chapter, or join one that's already open there.
How it works
Getting around
The world is split into Areas, such as a town or a district. Each area holds Places: the individual spots your character can stand in, like a street, a shop or a flat.
Places are joined by Paths. Follow a path to walk your character to the next place. To start, press Enter on an area on the front page. Where shows where everyone is.
Playing a story
A story is a Chapter. Any place can hold several chapters at once, so you never have to wait for a quiet spot. Start one, or join an open one you find there.
Each post you write in a chapter is a Passage. Most chapters take turns, and the page tells you when it's yours. Your open chapters sit in tabs along the top, so you can play more than one at a time.
When a chapter finishes, it becomes a Manuscript and goes into the Archives to be read again later.
If you're coming from a MUSH
You'll feel at home. You move a character through places and paths, and play out stories by posing, just like on a MUSH. The difference is that it all happens in your browser: there's nothing to connect to, and nobody needs a client or a command line.
What's the same
- A world you walk around, made of linked places.
- Characters with profiles, a roster, and staff who approve them.
- Stories where each player poses their own character, often taking turns.
- Finished stories kept as logs you can read later.
What's different
- A place can hold many chapters at once, so a busy spot never drowns out a quiet one.
- You can play several chapters at the same time, in tabs, and the page tells you when it's your turn.
- There are no commands to type. You write in a box and press a button, and everything else is a link or a menu.
- You aren't logged on and "idle". Your game is waiting for you whenever you come back, and alerts tell you when something happens.
Words you know, and what we call them
- Room
- Place
- Exit
- Path
- Scene
- Chapter
- Pose
- Passage
- Scene log
- Manuscript, in the Archives
- Messages
- OOC channel
- OOC Chat
We write in the present tense, the way you would on a MUSH: "Lucia pushes open the door and looks around," not "Lucia pushed open the door."
If you're coming from a forum
Writing a reply to someone else's post, then waiting for the next one, will feel familiar. You can take your time, and nobody has to be online at once. What's different is that the game is also a place: your character stands somewhere, and the story happens there.
What's the same
- You write a post at your own pace and the others answer when they can.
- Stories are kept, in full, to read again.
- There are boards for news and wanted ads, much like a forum's sections.
What's different
- Your character moves from place to place, so you find stories by walking around, as well as by browsing.
- Everyone in a chapter is a character in it, and each passage is written as that character.
- Most chapters take turns, and the page shows whose turn it is.
- A chapter can be live, with several people posting within minutes, as well as slow.
Words you know, and what we call them
- Thread or topic
- Chapter
- Post
- Passage
- Forum section
- Place (and area for a group of them)
- Private message
- Messages
- Archived thread
- Manuscript, in the Archives
One habit to change: we write in the present tense, like a MUSH, not the past tense many forums use. Write "Lucia pushes open the door and looks around," not "Lucia pushed open the door."
Your characters
You can have more than one character, and switch between them with Playing as. The Roster lists characters waiting for a new player.
Talking out of character
Messages are private notes between players, outside the story. OOC Chat is the open chat for everyone, and the Boards hold news and wanted ads.
Getting help
Staff look after the game. If something in a chapter worries you, use its Report link and staff will take a look. Everything else lives in the Menu at the top.