Grinweld — The Thornmere Compendium

Welcome to the field guide for Grinweld, a text-first browser RPG set on the dark-fae frontier of the Thornmere. You click, the briars bite back, and over thousands of fights you grow from a hedge-born wanderer into a Legend who takes thrones in the Hollow Court.

This guide is written for players. It covers everything from "what do I press first" to the exact damage curve theorycrafters argue about at the crossroads.

New here? Start with Getting Started, then read The Game Loop and Races. That's enough to play. Come back for the rest when you hit a wall.

Three ways to read this guide

I'm new → Getting Started · The Game Loop · Races · Stats · Combat · Equipment
I want a reference → every system has its own page; see the index below.
I theorycraft → Combat (the math), Masteries, Monsters (scaling), Drops & Bonus Time, Build Guide.

The pages

Starting out

Getting Started — make a character and survive your first hour.
The Game Loop — the click → fight → loot → grow cycle.
Races — the six launch races and what each is good at.
Stats — STR, DEX, NTL, WIS, VIT and what they actually do.

Combat & growth

Combat — hit chance, the damage curve, crits, doublehit, rounds.
Masteries — the hidden skill system that makes you scale.
Leveling & XP — the XP curve and your level-up choices.
Ranks — Commoner to Legend; permanent power spikes.
Reincarnation — starting over, stronger.
Death & Penalties — what dying costs and how to soften it.

Gear

Equipment — slots, Item Class, equip requirements, sockets.
Weapons & Spells — the ten gear lines and their progression.
Armour & Shields — staying alive.
Accessories — your one always-on trinket.
Gems & Enchanting — sockets, the 21-gem catalog, fusion.
Shadow & Mythic Items — the endgame gear tiers.

The world & economy

The World — zones, the map, POIs, travel.
Economy — gold, the bank, shops, the Trading Post.
Monsters — templates, tiers, and how stats scale.
Special Monsters — the 19 special archetypes worth hunting.
Drops & Bonus Time — loot channels and the catch-up multiplier.
Quests — the Quest Board and its rewards.

PvP — open-world kills, visibility bands, cooldowns.
Clans & Kingdoms — guilds, treasuries, structures, taxes.
Idle Combat — fighting while you're away.
Social & Chat — channels, the Top Lists, alignment.
Slash Commands — quick info commands.

Putting it together

Build Guide — sample fighter / caster / hybrid / tank builds.
Glossary — every abbreviation, defined.
FAQ — quick answers.

All names and lore here are original to Grinweld. Numbers reflect the launch defaults; your server's admins can retune any of them, so treat exact figures as "how it ships," not holy writ.