Wolf Howl

Wolf Howl is Furcadia's annual Halloween celebration. The first Wolf Howl was held on November 2, 2002 within Meovanni Village, where all players were transformed into feral wolves. In 2005, Wolf Howl would move to the Festival Grounds.

Festival Grounds

The entry point of the map starts off in the center underneath the Wolf Howl sign. Nearby is Elenore Mephit, one of many identical skunk sisters, who will greet you and explain the different landmarks.

Southwest from the center is the dream contest area. The portals to contest entries are stylized as bubbling cauldrons.

East of the dream exhibitions is the stage, where community events are sometimes held. East from the stage is the pumpkin patch, and north of the stage is a pool where you can view the full moon. (Face the water for at least a minute and you'll become a wolf.)

Northwest from the center is a sliding tile puzzle. East from there is Cappy Shmendemen, a conspiracy theorist and photographer with a quest.

At the southeastern point of the map, you can meet the batty siblings: Baddee, Deedee, Morbee, and Sr. Nickles the Battingtoniferight. Completing their quest will allow you to play temporarily as the Darastryx, a bat-dragon creature created by Kinzart Productions.

Northeast across the bridge is Dragon's Eye Manor, a haunted mansion with many quests themed around Furcadia's staff members. East from there is the wolf den, which you can only enter if you are a wolf.

History

Above is a recreation of Wolf Howl with the patches freely available in the Patch Archive. Screenshots from Spawn of Randomism were used as reference.

Wolf Howl is generally regarded to be the favorite festival of the playerbase, but it has had a rough history.

Website

The Wolf Howl official page featured wildlife conservation information links for wolves, bats, owls, spiders, vultures, and snakes. It also hosted a flyer, a two-page magazine, and a short story by Talzhemir.

Timeline

2002

The first Wolf Howl was held in 2002 from November 2 to November 5. It took place in Meovanni Village, with a patch that made the map autumn-themed. All attendants were transformed into wolves.

There was a party and a dream contest. Some European players were unhappy that the dream contest announcement was held at night in FST.

2003

The second Wolf Howl officially ran from October 28 to November 1. It took place in Meovanni Village once again. This time, all players had a pair of monstrous bat wings, not to be confused with the bat wings that would release later. There was a dream contest, an art contest, and a writing contest. A flyer and a magazine were also made that you could print out at home.

It became clear at this point that the playerbase did not enjoy Wolf Howl. Common complaints included that the patch crashed third-party clients and that holding it in Meovanni disrupted the existing userbase there. Despite officially ending on the 1st, Wolf Howl would continue until the 6th.

2004

Wolf Howl was held once again in Meovanni from October 29 to November 2. It held a dream contest and an eCard contest.

The festival would see problems again this year with the release of the simultaneously-released Squirrel Update. New scripting options broke existing scripting options, meaning many people's contest entries were delayed.

2005

This was the first year where Wolf Howl moved onto the Festival Grounds. A dream contest was held.

2006

Wolf Howl began on October 20. A dream contest was held along with a film competition.

2007

Wolf Howl began on October 20. There were four contests this year: a dream contest, a story contest, a contest where you colored in a coloring book page, and a secondary dream contest for feral maps.

2008

Wolf Howl began in late October. The four contest topics were dreams, art, sound effects, and haikus.

2009

Wolf Howl began in late October. This year's festival ran around a Mad Science theme, with four categories: dreams, "Contraptions and Creatures", "World Domination Speech", and "Acronyms for Evil Organizations".

2010

Wolf Howl began in late October, with three contests: dreams, poetry, and a "Design a Mask" art contest.

2011

Wolf Howl began in late October, with three contests: dreams, writing, and art.

2012

Wolf Howl began in late October, with four contests: dreams, writing, special effects, and coloring.

2013

Wolf Howl began in late October, with four contests: dreams, writing, patches, and coloring.

2014

Wolf Howl began in late October, with FIVE contests: dreams, sound effects, art, writing, and photography.

2015

Wolf Howl held four contests: dreams, pumpkin carving, recipes, and sound effects.

2016

Wolf Howl began in late October. It only held one contest: a dream contest, this time requiring you to use Furcadia's new lighting and ambience systems.

2017

Wolf Howl held one dream contest. On the 29th, they held the Halloween Hijinx Trick or Treat Event.

2018

Wolf Howl began early this year, on October 6. It held a pumpkin carving contest and a coloring contest. On the 28th, they held the trick or treat event.

2019

On the 9th, they held some sort of archery contest roleplay event.

2020

Wolf Howl held a digital pumpkin carving contest and a themed poetry contest. The winners were not announced until June 2021.

2022

Wolf Howl held a dream contest.