Western Rye First-Night Checklist
A short list for the long dark.
The first night in Western Rye is where pretty screenshots go to die. Thirst, wind, and a blind remnant that hears sprinting will end a run before the story NPCs learn your name. This page is the interactive checklist. Tick what you have done. Reset when a wipe makes a liar out of you.
Read getting started if you want the prose version. This tool is the pocket version you keep open on a second monitor.
How to use the list
Work top to bottom. Water is not a suggestion. A well belongs next to the homestead you can actually close. A stove belongs indoors; cooking explains why a campfire is a backup, not a kitchen. Tools belong in your hands before the first cave; crafting is the long form.
Quiet is a habit. If you cannot tick it, you are not ready for ruins. How to beat Husks is the class you skipped. Patch is a Steam button. Updates names the day-one fixes that already unstuck a roof mission.
How to tick each box without cheating
Water means a well you can walk to, or a canteen you refilled from one. A lake view is not a hydration plan. Shelter means roof, walls, and a door that latches. Three pretty posts in the sand are a weather exhibit. Food means one cooked meal on a campfire or Homestead Stove, not a pocket of cactus you keep forgetting. Tools mean a wood axe and a mining tool you can still swing. Quiet means you walked near ruins instead of celebrating the first coyote. Patch means the Steam client is current, not that you read a rumor about a patch.
If a box stays empty because the ranch is unfinished, finish the ranch. If it stays empty because you are hunting a Marshal rumor, close this tab and drink first. The checklist is allowed to be rude.
How the list protects a posse
In co-op, one person can read the boxes aloud. Four people each assuming someone else brought water is a comedy you will not laugh at. Assign the last door. Assign the cook. Assign the person who is not allowed to fire into the dusk for fun.
Crops are not on the first six boxes because they are a calendar, not a minute. Still plant them. Farming will be angry if you wait until you are already hungry.
What the tool remembers
Ticks can stay in local browser storage. They are not an account. They are not cloud saves. Clearing the browser clears the ranch of lies. If you want a new character, hit reset and be honest.
When Early Access adds a new hour-one station, we will add a box. Until then, these six jobs are the difference between a legend and a loading screen. After you go green, ride back to the Tools Hub or start weather so the second night is boring too.
First-night checklist
Tick the jobs that keep a new outlaw alive until dawn.
Ready for night
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Does the checklist save to the cloud?
No. It can remember ticks in this browser only.
What if I skip the well?
Then the rest of the list is cosplay. Thirst ends runs that combat never touched.
Should co-op groups share one list?
Yes. Read it out loud. Shared assumptions are how posses die hydrated in theory only.
Why is planting not a required box?
Crops take four growth stages. Plant them on night one anyway, but water and a door keep you alive first.
When should I reset the ticks?
After a wipe, a new character, or any night you lied to the list. Honesty is the only feature.