New to Dragonwilds? Start here
A sourced starting point for RuneScape: Dragonwilds, Jagex's open-world co-op survival crafting game: buying the game, character modes, the day/night cycle, and your first steps in Ashenfall.
What this is
RuneScape: Dragonwilds is an open-world, co-operative survival crafting game by Jagex, built on Unreal Engine 5. It left early access with a full 1.0 launch on 15 September 2026, on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, and is included day one with Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra.
It is not the MMO: there is no Grand Exchange, no central player market, and no trading economy in the way OSRS or RS3 have one. This section of Varrock is reference only: guides, gear and crafting recipes, not a trading tool.
Character modes
When you create a character you choose a mode: Normal (the standard way to play, with access to hard mode content and public or dedicated servers), Custom mode (lets you scale health, stamina and resistance, or turn on invulnerability, to tune the world to how you want to play), and Creative mode (unlimited resources, no restrictions).
Starting out
A new or joined character begins inside a ruined temple in the Temple Woods area of Brynmoor. The lodestone there starts inactive until you place or discover your first active one. The Wise Old Man is nearby; speaking to him continues the tutorial quest, First Steps, which is recommended for new players even though it can be skipped. After the tutorial, the first primary quest is Dragon Slayer.
Early combat targets in the starting region include small kebbits, swift deer, violent goblins and cows. For skilling, interact with the fishing and agility hotspots, use farming plots, or gather from the world directly.
The day/night cycle and world basics
A full in-game day is roughly 24 minutes, about 19 of which are daytime. Some actions take real in-game time to recover: a freshly cut tree with its stump left standing takes roughly three in-game days (about 72 minutes) to respawn.
The compass on your HUD points to nearby dragonkin vaults, kebbit burrows, your claimed bed, and player markers, with distances shown in metres. The full World Map (default key M) reveals only areas you have already explored.
Fast travel between lodestones needs the lodestone building recipe unlocked first, which requires finding a Vault Core inside a dragonkin vault.