Is there a browser MMO with open-world PvP and real risk?

Heraldmoor Online is a free browser MMO with open-world PvP in one place only: the Wildlands, a 105-row band of moor across the middle of the map. Anyone there can attack you, and the richest ground in the game lies on the far side.

A browser MMO with open-world PvP and real risk

How the world is laid out

The map runs in three bands. In the south is the Kingdom, safe, with eight towns and villages, banks and houses. Across the middle are the Wildlands, where players can fight each other. Beyond them lie the Hoarfells, a frozen land that is safe from players again but has no bank and only one hamlet, Candlemark, with the finest ore, trees and monsters in the game. To reach it and bring your haul home, you cross the Wildlands both ways.

The risk

The Wildlands show a level on screen, from 1 at either edge to 25 at the heart. New-player protection does not apply there. Fall, and your things lie where you dropped them for 10 minutes; for the first 3 only you can pick them up, and after that anyone can. Moorwick, the village at the Central Pass, is the last bank on the way north and where you wake if you fall.

What’s out there

Brigands, gallows wolves, ghouls, fen lurkers and the Blackbanner knights roam the Wildlands, and the Mound King, a level 74 boss, walks at Crowmound. The notice board in Moorwick posts bounties. If you’d rather fight someone without that risk, challenge them to a duel anywhere else: you both agree first, and you can stake items if you like.

How to start

Open Play now in your browser.
Pick a name, choose how your character looks, and you’re in Millhaven, the capital, across the market square from the King’s castle.
Talk to the Guide by the fountain for your first task.
To keep your character, add a password in Settings, then Account.

At a glance

Price: Free to play. Nothing in the game is sold for power.
Plays on: Any up-to-date web browser: iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Chromebook, Windows and Mac.
Download: None. You can add it to your Home Screen for a full-screen app icon.
World: 288 × 672 tiles: the safe Kingdom with eight towns and villages, the Southmarch below it with Wardbury, the King’s muster field, the Wildlands across the middle where players can fight, and the frozen Hoarfells in the far north, with the richest resources and a single hamlet.
Combat training: Wardbury’s drill yard, 5 minutes’ walk from Millhaven: pells, dummies, a quintain, archery butts and a sparring ring, with monsters graded by distance all round it.
Skills: 13 to level: Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Archery, Woodcutting, Mining, Fishing, Cooking, Smithing, Fletching, Firemaking, Leatherworking.
Horses: Every player can claim a free horse at the Royal Stables and ride it anywhere, 12 coats to choose from.
Adventure: 5 story quests, 3 boss fights for 1 to 5 players, and a town raid every weekend.
Pace: The world moves in 0.6-second ticks, the steady rhythm of classic tile-based MMOs.
Players: One shared world: trade face to face, duel, group up, chat and meet at weekend events.