Introduction

This past week I got started playing Serfdom and Sorcery, a text-based Fantasy Adventure game played on Discord servers of all places, and hooked into several blockchains, including Hive, which is how I got reeled into playing it.

Logo courtesy of PsyberX

Also, I am writing about game play. Although Serfdom and sorcery is a play to earn game, it is a game, not an Automatic Crypto Machine. This article is about playing the game, and things I have learned about the game and is NOT financial advice. Do your own research. Treat this game as a game, and you’ll find it a fun, casual game to play.

Return of the MUDs

Although I never played Zork, the GrandPappy of text-based adventure games, I did play in a MUD (Multi-User Domain) back in my middle-college years, when people, like me, used a modem and a phone line to dial in to a server to access bulletin boards and games. I don’t recall the name of the MUD I played on, this was back in the early ‘90s, before the advent of Meridian 59, the first graphically-based MMORPG. I also don’t know what code-base was used for that MUD. It could have been running on any number of code-bases that were popular at the time, like DikuMud, or SMAUG. If I had to guess, it would be DikuMud, though. Surprisingly, DikuMud is still being maintained and updated, with version 3 having been released a couple of years back.

Serfdom and Sorcery is reminiscent of these early MUDs in that it is a text-based adventure, with a number of different activities that players can pursue to advance their gameplay. Plus, having blockchain tokenomics, it is a free, yes free, play-to-earn game. However, for me, I am focusing on the play part and not the earn part. Games are meant to be relaxing, fun, and something to spend money on. Unless you are the game developer, then you want people to play, so you can earn money.

Some of the Basics

First off, gotta give kudos to SketchyGamer for putting together a good starter guide. You can check it out at – @sketchygamerguy/the-first-day-guide-to-serfdom-and-sorcery. This guide has a lot of the commands you will need to know, as well as some basics on getting started.

Doubloons, listed as DBLN on Hive, wax, and elsewhere, is the main currency for SandS, as is rewarded from a variety of in-game activities. You also use it to buy in-game items that will assist your game-play and advancement.

Some additional commands added recently include -
!panforgold – this command has an extremely smal chance of dropping a piece of gold that is worth 500K DBLN. So far this command has refused to yield up that golden piece of treasure.
!scavenge – has a chance to drop a resource such as wool or steal, or a few DBLN. It can also injure you.
!forage – like scavenge, and can also provide a point of HP (Health Points).
!planttreeoflife – plants the seed for the tree of life. This tree can grant some cool perks.
!waterlifetree - must be down once every 24-48 hours after planting to maintain/gain perks. And it isn’t cheap, designed as a DBLN sink. If you miss a watering, it will begin to wilt and lose perks.

Of the regular commands, visiting the shaman (!visit_shaman) is fairly important, as it refills (not add) your HP to 300. I use it when my HP drops to about 10. If you die, it can revive you. It has a 24 hour cooldown.

Things I’ve Learned

The !quest command sets you on a quest, and, supposedly, you can abadon a quest you don’t like with the !resetquest command, however I think that only works if you haven’t issued the !attack command after using the !quest command. I tried resetting a quest once after I found the MOB I attacked for the quest was more challenging than I liked, and it didn’t reset. That could be a bug, hard to say, though. I had to wait until I could visit the shaman to bring my health to full before I could finish the blighter off without spending DBLN on healing.

screenshot - start and finish of a quest

Also, I have noticed that killing MOBs from a quest yields less experience than non-quest MOBs, but they do drop a healing potion, which helps with progression. Quest MOBs also seem to drop more DBLN than their non-quest counterparts. Your mileage may vary. My general plan for quests is to start one prior to my shaman cooldown completing, then visit the dude to heal back up, and complete the quest for the potion drop. Something to consider as you pursue your adventures.

Two things you should buy early on – the Forge and the Hovel. You’ll need the forge to craft tools you need for your class, and the hovel protects up to 10K DBLN in most, but not all, circumstances. For instance, wardogs bypass hovel protection for your DBLN. The hovel also heals you for a small amount of HP...as long as you aren’t dead. Don’t die! Both of these items are a bit pricey when you start, but well worth it. It’s up to you on how you decide to play the game.

Energy Management

Recently the Dev team changed how energy works, expanding the list of tasks that sue energy and the amount of energy used.

screenshot of energy and tasks usage

The tasks expanded from the Class based commands such as !hammer for combar, !harvest for Nature, and whatever the equivalent is for Pillager, to include the commands all players can use, including !mine, !scavenge, !fish and so on. It was also stated that if you run your energy to ZERO, you will need to buy a potion to refil it. I am not sure if that means energy will stop regenerating at 1 point every 5 minutes if your energy does it 0. And I don’t think I am going to test it to find out.

FOMO

I actually found myself struck with a bit of FOMO – that Fear of Missiing Out – a few days into it. You see, there are in-game items that are limited in quantity that have a significant impact on player advancement, like castles, which are limited to 300 and cost ALOT of DBLN. Don’t let FOMO drive your decisions in playing this game. Just have fun with it. After all, it is a game.

Where I Am At

Currently I am level 8. I have a hovel, my forge is at level 2, so I can make iron tools, 1 raven for gathering healing potions (after all, ravens like shiny stuff, and potions can be shiny), and bought the anvil for a bit of passive DBLN. That last may not have been a good idea. However, that’s okay. I am sure it will work out favorably in the long run.

screenshot of my stats

My routine is to beat up a few MOBs, mainly for XP to gain levels, do some of the various non-combat tasks, and improve my combat abilities with upgrade commands for attack and defense, and send my raven out for potions so I can keep advancing through the game, and stake DBLN in game. Staked tokens can’t be pillaged.

screenshot of attack/defense upgrades in inventory

That’s about it. There is a Cave Adventure in the game that I haven’t had the time or resources to explore, however sharmanhd has done some spelunking and you can check out his adventuring at – @sharmanhd/tjcnfbnojg.