case #1: day one

ROB RUN beginner guide: your first hour

This is the order that works for most new players in the first Early Access week, built from Kefir's own posts and launch-week videos. Prices change with patches; where a number comes from one player's video, it says so.

Where do you start in ROB RUN?

Every character starts at the bottom of what Kefir calls the power pyramid: "fresh out of prison with no cash and nowhere to live", sleeping at Lenny's motel. That tier is literally named Hobo. The tutorial walks you out of the prison; in the playtest you left through a hole behind a poster and came out at Lenny's place, the safe hub with the bar and the roulette table.

From the hub you travel with the buttons at the bottom of the global map: Home, Sales Center, Hub and Looty Bay. Looty Bay is the coastal city where the robbing happens.

How do you make your first money?

1. Go in as a civilian. You only become a criminal when you put on a mask. Until then you can walk around, scout stores and plan escape routes. Two players say that if someone kills you while you are unmasked, you keep your gear.
2. Search dumpsters. Bins give cash and small valuables (laptops, toasters, the odd necklace). Kefir raised the cash found in dumpsters on launch day, 4 November.
3. Get a weapon. On 4 November Kefir made the basic pistol cheaper and added more starter weapon spawns around the city. They tested handing out a pistol after every death and decided against it: you work your way up from nothing.
4. Rob something small. A gas station, pharmacy or corner store with a back door. See the heists guide for alarms and hostages.
5. Sell and leave. Fences are the money symbols on the city map, and you must be masked to sell. Then drive out through a city exit. Details in selling loot.

Tip from launch week: leave the city between runs. Coming back in resets you to civilian.

What should you buy first?

The Black Market sells gear, vehicles and construction items. You reach it from the laptop in your base or at Lenny's bar. Items must be unlocked before you can buy them (the unlock tree is the Shipments window), so each item has an unlock cost and a price.

• A bigger bag. In the playtest the sports bag added 12 inventory slots, cost 5,000 to unlock and 250 to buy. More slots means fewer trips to the fence.
• Lockpicks. They open back doors and locked rooms without breaking anything loud.
• A light vest and meds once the bag is sorted. There is no limb damage; you heal with med kits.

Playtest prices are a guide only; Kefir changed several prices at launch.

What is Lenny's debt?

Lenny is the bartender and motel owner at the hub, and he keeps you on a debt. His in-game line warns that if the debt is not paid you are "getting shanked in the slammer", and one player on launch week was asked for a million. What paying it off unlocks is not documented anywhere official yet; we will add it when it is. Lenny's bar also has a cash stash where you can keep money between runs, with a limit on how much it holds.

What comes after the first hour of ROB RUN?

The next goal is land. Since 4 November, Tier 1 settlements and land rentals cost documents instead of cash, which makes the first plot easier to reach. A plot gives you a base to store loot, launder money and run businesses. Read land and settlements next, then base building. Keep in mind that the server wipes every seven days (what a wipe takes).