Mods / Wilderlands Spawnbound

Tags:
Author:
Thalius
Side:
Both
Created:
Mar 13th at 7:12 AM
Last modified:
Jun 13th at 6:50 PM
Downloads:
651
Recommended download (for Vintage Story 1.22.0-pre.1 - 1.22.3):
Wilderlands Spawnbound 1.0.3.zip  1-click install

Wilderland Spawnbound

 

Spawnbound introduces a survival-based exploration progression system to Vintage Story.

When a Seraph first enters the world, they remain strongly bound to the place of their awakening. Venturing too far from this origin begins to strain that connection, causing temporal instability to build. The farther you travel from your origin, the more dangerous that strain becomes.

But this bond is not permanent.

As you survive and endure the world, the pull of your origin gradually weakens. Over time, you become less constrained by the place where you first arrived, allowing you to wander farther and farther.

In this way, Spawnbound treats “spawn” as more than just a necessary function of the game. The spawn location—whether the server default or a customized point—is the place where the Seraph is temporally anchored to the world, and they are sensitive to straying too far from it when young. The longer the Seraph survives, the less sensitive they become, while death restores that sensitivity.

This creates a natural progression where exploration must be earned through survival, and strongly encourages the development of a secure base and spawn community that prioritizes not dying.


Core Idea

  • At the start of a world, players can only safely travel a limited distance from where they first spawned.
  • Travel beyond that distance and temporal instability begins to drain steadily. The farther you push past your current range, the stronger the effect becomes.
  • Survive long enough and that boundary expands. As players remain alive, they advance through exploration tiers that gradually increase the distance they can safely travel from their place of origin.
  • Eventually, those who endure long enough can travel freely without the pressure of instability.
  • Death carries a cost. When you fall, the weight of distance returns, reducing your exploration tier and drawing you closer once again.
  • Setting a custom respawn location with a temporal gear also changes/updates the player's origin to the new location, from which your exploration tier then orients itself.

Configuration

Spawnbound generates a configuration file on first launch:

ModConfig/WilderlandsSpawnbound.json

Server administrators can customize:

  • Exploration range for each tier

  • Time required to advance tiers

  • Instability drain scaling

  • Performance update intervals

 

This allows Spawnbound to fit a wide range of playstyles, from harsh survival servers to slower-paced exploration worlds.


Design Philosophy

Spawnbound was created as an alternative approach to “hardcore” gameplay that avoids permadeath or heavy stat nerfs that can make the game frustrating or unplayable. Instead of weakening the player, Spawnbound limits how far they can safely explore early on, effectively binding them to the area around their base until they have survived long enough to earn greater freedom. This creates meaningful risk and consequence without removing the player from the world or crippling their abilities. As players endure and progress, the pull of their origin gradually weakens, allowing them to push farther into the wilderness. The intent is to create an experience where survival is rewarded and death punished in a meaningful way, wherein freedom to explore safely must be earned through survival. Players that have not earned this right are still free to travel at will, but must contend with instability if ranging outside their origin's safe radius.


Community & Support

If you have issues, suggestions, or feedback:

Please post in the Wilderlands thread in Vintage Story's official Discord server.

Interested in following development more closely?
Join The Wilderlands Community Discord server.


 

Other Wilderlands Modules

Mod Version Mod IdentifierFor Game version Downloads Released Changelog Download 1-click mod install*
1.0.3 wilderlandsspawnbound
1.22.0-pre.1 - 1.22.3
184 Jun 13th at 6:50 PM Wilderlands Spawnbound 1.0.3.zip 1-click install

- Fix for player data still not persisting across login/out on servers.
- Also added commands to check tether status. Type "/help spawnbound" to see list.

1.0.2 wilderlandsspawnbound
1.22.0-pre.1 - 1.22.3
65 Jun 9th at 2:12 AM Wilderlands Spawnbound 1.0.2.zip 1-click install

- Attempt to fix an issue with player data not being handled correctly on multiplayer server.

1.0.1 wilderlandsspawnbound
1.22.0-pre.1 - 1.22.0
369 Mar 14th at 2:39 AM Wilderlands Spawnbound 1.0.1.zip 1-click install

- Player origin was not updating when temporal gear was used to update personal spawn point. Fixed.

1.0.0 wilderlandsspawnbound
1.22.0-rc.1 - 1.22.0-rc.2
33 Mar 13th at 7:22 AM Wilderlands Spawnbound 1.0.0.zip 1-click install

Initial release. Stable in testing, but expect some possible issues.


13 Comments (oldest first | newest first) (threaded | flat)

DatVegan, Jun 10th at 8:17 PM

I love the idea  of this mod, but can't play with it. With this mod enabled, I just lose a set amount of temporal stability no matter if I leave the ''starting area''. Even tested it while standing still, it jjust still declines. I do  have a considerable modlist, but to my konwledge nothing that edits temporal stability (except your other mod)

TempestMelody, Jun 5th at 4:34 PM

does this work for 1.22.3?

Thalius , Jun 5th at 5:03 PM
@TempestMelody: does this work for 1.22.3?

It should. Seems to be working fine for me, and no one has reported any issues.

Swiftthistle, May 11th at 1:14 AM

Great mod! Can you add a way to track one's current tier in the Character Menu?

Thalius , May 11th at 1:42 AM
@Swiftthistle: Great mod! Can you add a way to track one's current tier in the Character Menu?

I'll look into it. It's a great suggestion!

Thalius , Mar 14th at 8:32 PM

SadGeg Understood. I'll see what I can do. Main issue is, I've been trying to get my mods to "completed" stage for 1.21 so I can update to 1.22 and not have to worry about updates/support for 1.21 versions moving forward. This mod is very new, and likely to have bugs I've not forseen yet. If I do release a 1.21 backport, I don't want to do so until I am positive the 1.22 version is stable and bug free. Much will depend on any issues that pop up over the next ten days, and what I need to deal with when I can get back to messing with it.

SadGeg, Mar 14th at 5:48 PM

I would also love to see a .21 port, if the motivation finds you!

With how girthy my modlist is, I personally won't be making the jump to .22 for quite some time.
But I'll definitely be checking out this mod when I do!

Thalius , Mar 14th at 3:20 AM

AgentOfChaos Not sure. I've moved on from 1.21, but I might be able to take a look at a possible release for 1.21 in a week and a half or so. Life is about to get very busy for me for the next 7-10 days.

AgentOfChaos, Mar 13th at 5:51 PM

Any chance of a 1.21.6 backport?

Thalius , Mar 13th at 12:12 PM

AgentOfChaos This mod does accomplish that as well. Tethered within a narrower range (and server owners can configure that starting range as tight as they like), players will spend a lot more time early on in the starting zone, encouraging more centralized server community development that will expand outward over time as players "earn" the ability to explore further without the instability hit.

Also, one should never underestimate the impact a true death penalty will have on how players approach the game. When you truly NEED to survive, you play entirely differently. Infrastructure designed to protect and allow safe travel becomes a must, not a cosmetic, creative luxury. 

AgentOfChaos, Mar 13th at 7:38 AM

This is great! I've always felt like there should be a limiter on servers to slow down progression and on single player too!