Thole Wiki
Thole is a game about settling wild country with other people. You fell trees, build a cabin, farm, hunt, tame horses and dig for what's under the ground, and everything you build stays in the world for everyone to see. This is where to look up how it all works.
The name is an old word for holding out through hard times. A thole is also the wooden pin a rowboat's oar pulls against, and it rhymes with pole.
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Find your way around
Getting started
- Your first dayWhat to do when you first show up at camp.
- ToolsThe axe, pick and spade you need to work, and how to make your first ones with nothing.
- Your backpackWhat you're carrying, how to use it, and how to set it down.
- Food, water and staying warmKeeping yourself going: the bars, eating, drinking, the cold, sleeping, and dying.
- The map and getting aroundLandmarks, coordinates, the day, and how fast you move on different ground.
- Voice chatTalking out loud with the people near you, and how to set it up.
- Playing togetherThe code of conduct in short, and where to find the terms and the privacy policy.
- Reporting a problemHow to tell us when something is broken or doesn't work the way it should.
- ExploringWhat's out there past the camp, and what each kind of find is good for.
- The AtlasThe map of everything settlers have seen and built, day by day.
- Your record and the LanternEverything you do out here is counted, and the paper prints the news, the weekly boards and the records.
Building
- BuildingFloors, walls, roofs and everything else, what it costs, and the rules.
- Settlements and trustStaking out your own ground, who can work it, and keeping it.
- WorkshopsThe saw pit, the forge and the well, and what you make at them.
- Paving and garden bedsCobbles, flagstones, gravel, boards and the rest, and a bed for your flowers.
- Around the yardBenches, a hitching post, signposts, barrels and the odd scarecrow.
- Stock yardsSomewhere tidy to keep your logs, stone, ore and boards.
- FurnitureA bed, chairs, a table, a chest and the rest of what goes inside a house.
- The forge and smeltingTurning iron ore and coal into iron bars, and bars into fittings, tools and more.
Getting around
- Carrying, piles and cartsHow much you can carry, and how to move the rest.
- HorsesWild herds, winning one over, riding, and putting it to work.
- BridgesA bridge is a proper job. It takes a lot of timber, some iron, a good hand at building and time.
- BoatsRafts and rowboats for the lakes and rivers, and a sailboat for the open sea.
Food
- FarmingTilling, planting, and what grows how fast.
- Foraging and flowersHunting through the long grass for seed, and growing flowers round your place.
- CookingTurning raw food into a real meal.
- FishingRods, nets and bait, what lives in which water, and why it pays to go out to sea.
- Farm animalsBringing in a stray herd, feeding them, pens and young ones, eggs, milk and wool, and the ox.
The seasons
- The yearSpring, summer, autumn and winter: how long each lasts and what changes as the year goes round.
- The coldHow the cold gets at you, what keeps it off, and what being numb with cold means.
- Keeping warm in winterFirewood, the woodpile, a warm house, hot drinks and snowshoes.
- Starting in winterTurning up in the cold months: what the camp lends you, the stew pot, and earning your keep cutting wood.
- Getting ready for winterWhat to do in autumn: the harvest before the frost, a root cellar, hay for the animals, and how the cold treats food.
- IceFrozen lakes: walking on the ice, thin ice, fishing through a hole, cutting ice and the icehouse.
- Getting around in winterSnow underfoot, packed trails and shovelling, toboggans and horse sleds, and the wild in winter.
- Neighbours in winterShared woodpiles and warming halls, looking in on someone's place, taking a newcomer in, and midwinter at the camp.
- Sugaring off and springTapping maples for syrup at the end of winter, the ice going out, mud season, and planting again.
The wild
Mining
Trade
Skills
Everything you do trains a skill, and every level makes that work quicker. How skills work.
Things you'll carry
- Logs
- Planks
- Stone
- Iron ore
- Coal
- Iron bars
- Gold ore
- Garnets
- Bread
- Cooked meat
- Wild berries
- Canteen
- Bow
- Iron sword
- Lantern
- Hide coat
Thole is an early test. Have a read of the code of conduct, the terms of play and the privacy policy, or the short version in Playing together.