The very first time I set eyes on Archie Grim, I had no idea what he'd come to mean to me. People don't often like to hear about the love between two men, but he was my best friend and I'm not ashamed of admitting it.

He was just arrived here on this god-forsaken island, still in his oranges and trying to kill one of those mountain wolves with an axe he'd cobbled together. He was bleeding and limping, but fighting hard. Most times I'd have stuck a bullet in his head along with that of the wolf and taken what he had, but I could see he had nothing, and nobody, so I shot the wolf and called it good.

Archie was a young fella, not much younger than me, mind, and he'd been sent here for nothing at all, same as the rest of us. Until that day, I'd always walked alone and kept myself to myself. Seemed safer that way, after all, here on Scum Island, nothing is forever. Something about Archie Grim gave me pause though.

I decided to let him bide until he was healed up, he'd got some pretty nasty bites from the wolf, and by the time he was fit to run, we were running together.

By god, we had some adventures - wrestling bears, gun fights in old military bunkers, trapped by puppets on a roof, being chased by some crazy giant mechanoids.

I can tell you in all that time we spent in each other's company, I never got tired of Archie Grim. He was the best friend I ever had and we saved each other's lives more than I can count.

I guess you might be wondering why I say 'was' instead of 'is'?

We were nosing around some wooden base we found, it was all quiet, we thought maybe abandoned and wondered if we might shelter there some and perhaps find some stuff left behind. I took the lead, as is my nature, and tried the door. It opened and just as I was about to step inside, Archie pulled me out of the way and pushed ahead. Sure... the previous owners had left something for us. A mine just inside the door. Archie took the blast full in the face and I was thrown back, disorientated but alive.

There was nothing to do for him as he died but hold his hand and swear I'd find him again.

See... I'd heard rumours that on this island, nobody really dies. People are recycled, put into new bodies and put back into this place to suffer forever and begin again.

I put up a sign by the nearby road 'Here lies Archie Grim' and set his favourite things in a box, buried it in a nearby bush. Every week I'd walk back and check to see if he'd found the sign and destroyed it, or found the box and taken his stuff and each week, I was disappointed.

The weeks turned to months and in turn, the months into years. I still walk alone and in hope that one day, I might find my friend, Archie Grim, or at least find that someday, his stuff is gone and know he's alive.

I have put a sign and a box in each square on 60% of that map - the warmer 60%, because Archie would never go up where it was cold again after that first wolf attack.

Will you let me know if you see him? Tell him I'm looking for him?

Baz.

Yeah... event night is finally back after all the kerfuffle of 0.8 update release. This coming Saturday, the 17th December sees an event we named 'Run Rabbit, Run!'

The premise is simple. Everybody can all enter (although it's not obligatory) and must be ready for a teleport when we shout out in global in-game chat. Each person coming must put aside all earthly chattels (come naked and carrying nothing at all) and we provide all equipment necessary.

It might sound kinky so far, but it's definitely not (unless Dia is there). We get on public voice in the Discord channel (again, recommended strongly, but not obligatory). The good bit? Prizes!

Why not have a go? There's no risk at all, you get your fame points reinstated if you are down after the event, you get teleports to and from the event. All you gotta do is put your stuff away and stand somewhere safe (because that's where you'll teleport back to afterwards). You don't have to be good to play... just willing to have fun.

And the best part of all is that you get to know people in the community and see that they're not so awful after all 😀

Join us this Saturday for 'Run Rabbit Run'... more details provided on the night. Emoti that post in the Discord Event Club channel to let us know you're up for it! <3

Hey! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Everywhere you go
The cars are piling high
the killings go on by
And when up north all you see is snow (ho ho)


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere in town
If you're hoping to get presents
You're obvious out of sense
Cus all you get is shot and then you're down


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
It definitely is not Lent
So we're leaving some stuff around
In a box just on the ground
Every five days or so and call it Advent

Are we good to you or what?

If you're not yet on Fully Loaded's UK Scum Survival Server (PVP) then you're missing out, come join our Discord and meet the community

Good day everybody! It is fair to say that we're pretty sure 0.8 is on the horizon! My money is on today and several people have already said they'll eat their hat if it's not today. My hope is it's a helmet and it keeps them busy while I'm tripping the light fantastic on Scum's brand new 0.8 release.

For those of you not yet in the know, Scum is a survival game and the 0.8 release is a step closer to the full 1.0 release. The journey has been a long one. Early access to the game began in August 2018 and now, more than four years down the line, we're edging closer to the finish line.

But hey! What's the rush? Us Scummies are here enjoying the journey (so far, anyway) and are eager to know what this new release will have in store for us.

Here's what I can tell you...

FAME POINTS

The Fame Point system has been reworked. This means that it will no longer cost fame points to respawn when you die (that has moved to another currency... more later). It means you will need fame points to buy items at the traders, but that you will also earn them for selling items at the trader. It would seem that the system is not yet quite right as it doesn't tell you at the trader how many fame points are required for each item. It also doesn't tell you in the trader screen at all that you don't have enough points, it just doesn't sell you the item. Later, when you stop trying and back out of the overlay, you can see it has been telling you, but under the trading screen overlay. Just a head's up there, nothing we can't learn to deal with I'm sure.

BANK/CURRENCY

You are spawned (screaming and falling as usual) into the game holding a starter bank card - not quite sure why yet - maybe it will hold money when 0.8 is released? Who knows? Anyway... you should visit the bank and trade it in for a basic card (costing 100 scum dollaz) or a gold card (costing 500). This card allows you to withdraw money from your bank account at ATMs. The basic card has a 1 digit pin (so anyone stealing it has a 1 in 10 chance of guessing the pin and they get 3 tries at the moment). The gold card has a 2 digit pin and they also get 3 tries. Better odds!


Once you have a bank card you can convert cash into gold (I know, multiple currencies smack of free games on your phone, but hey ho...) You trade 1000 cash for 1 gold. Gold allows you to respawn when you die. You can get into debt to respawn but it only buys you limited time during which you must come up with the dosh or you get perma-deaded. Yes. Perma. Deceased. Start over, new character, all your boxes and cars are locked against you and I can assure you, the admins at Fully Loaded will not be popping over with our lockpicks to open them up for you again, so please... git gud!

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

They put our very own Chernobyl onto the map. Yup, that's right! We have nuclear fallout going down complete with hazmat suits (two types - one bright yellow but allows you more inventory space and to wear more clothes with it, the other vintage, lovely dark green better for camo, less inventory space, no clothes with it), Geiger counters/scanners, a huge area to explore (it's spooky as shit) and apparently, incredible loot, although the main fascination initially was with the actual exploded reactor which of course meant death. I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about that in our own time.

MODULAR BUILDING

Modular building is finally here! This means you can build your base and not be restricted to the 3 sizes of cabin. It looks great, tbh, stairs can be placed meaning you can build as high as you like. Ramps are available so you can make your own garages and they are all upgradeable as per the old system. These modular parts are accessible via the new 'Building' tab in the inventory window. Coolio. Walls remain as they were before.

GARDENING/FARMING

Gardening has taken root.... it has been called farming but it isn't. In my book, if it takes place in a container, it's gardening, not farming. Of course, nobody has had time to raise a crop yet, so it's unknown how easy/hard/profitable it could be. There is a new skill for it though! In the intelligence section for some reason - although anybody who met Alan Titchmarsh could assert that intelligence is not required to rear you some lovely crops.

MODULAR VEHICLES

Finally, finally, modular cars. Ok... I get the idea this will be relatively easy once we get the hang of it, so here's what I figured out so far. You can find a car, it may not have all its parts. You can find parts for the car if you're lucky and install them yourself if you can find/buy a jack to raise the car on. Alternatively, you can take your car to the mechanic, drive it in, pop it up on his ramp and then buy the items from him. They will be installed automatically (I think). Don't buy the parts before you put your car on the ramp or you just end up carrying around a piece of car with no way of putting it on the car.

In the test server you can't see a car in the inventory window... what does this mean? Does it mean cars have no storage? Does it mean you have to buy storage for your car before you can see it in the inventory window? Does it mean you can't lock your car? Who knows, Scummies, who knows? I'm sure this will change or become clear once we're playing.

SUMMARY OF SCUM 0.8 RELEASE

Overall, it should be very interesting. Would it pee me off slightly not to be able to buy a sporran bag because I didn't have enough fame? Of course. Do I wonder what my reaction would be if I walked into Next in real life and asked to buy a bag and they asked how many Twitter followers I had? Oh yeah, baby, oh yeah.

The fact remains, I'm excited to see how this plays. Change can be scary but so is the nuclear fallout area and we're all looking forward to that, I'm sure!

I hope you enjoyed my little summary... would be good to hear your thoughts too. Either leave a comment (moderated, so skip the shite) or join our Discord and the conversation with the community... Fully Loaded Scum Server UK Discord Channel

If you want a lovely sneaky peek at one of the best godarn streamers out there to see what he got up to in the test version of Scum 0.8, go see Stuart at Phantom Control Gaming

I heard round these parts ain't easy to find no place to just chill your bones, but lucky for me, yest'day, I saw something looks promisin'.

Found me a speakeasy bar, ain't easy to get in mind you, c'ain't be carrying no weapons, no nothing, 'cept some money. I ain't shittin' you when I say they made me go in that place buck naked... as the day I was born.

Some mean lookin' guy guarding the place with a gun in his hand too. I were mighty careful o'what I said, I can tell ya's.

Was whiskey-a-plenty to wet your whistle and oooo-eeeee, the ladies there were somethin' else. Damn fine titties! Damn fine!

Seems like there were something else on offer, but to find out what, I woulda had to hand over 100 of yer Scum dollars to them dancing girls. Sounded like fightin' to me. Lots of grunts and shoutin'. Has me wondrin if there's some kind of competition, fisticuffs... bare-knuckle kinda thing?

Imma gonna head on back there on Sat'day. Bout half past the ninth hour, how 'bout you join me and we find out what's crackin' off at that dive?

(Once more in the Queen's English??? 9.30pm UK time, Saturday, Fully Loaded Scum Server Event, teleports provided, FP restored, bring 100 scum dollars and nothing else. Anybody wearing any item of clothing or holding a weapon will be shot on sight. Do not, DO NOT, come to the event carrying anything at all. If you respawn during the event with a machete and clothes, spawn random, get rid of them before coming back to the event. I thank 'ee. To get access, you must tip the 'girls' 100 scum dollars at the beginning. You can carry it in your hand when teleporting.)

News just in... one of Fully Loaded Scum Server's supply routes has hit an unexpected problem and the four Scummers involved may be stranded.

Prisoners on the island are said to be "perplexed" and "mystified" by the news, as they had no idea there were supply routes in and out of the island. Sources have indicated that one of these black market crews, known locally as 'squads', are in possession of a great deal of valuable, top-tier merchandise of a military nature and have fallen from the radar.

It is possible they have met with trouble en-route and require assistance, or perhaps they have intentionally gone dark on comms, intending to keep the supplies for themselves.

Either way, the admins of Fully Loaded UK Scum server have announced a server-wide 'search and retrieve' event for this squad of four and the supplies they were carrying. It will take place this Saturday, 9.30 pm (UK time) for all volunteers.

It is thought possible that the squad in question have taken refuge in a highly-guarded military area, but confirmation on location is not yet possible.

The Gazette will keep you fully updated on the day.

It's with the utmost seriousness that we - the admins of the server known as 'Fully Loaded' UK Scum Server - write to you today. We have received a tip-off that this Saturday, well... the shit is going to hit the fan.

TEC-01 has indicated that the island is to be sanitised. By sanitised they mean cleared of both puppet and human assets. Intelligence has indicated that this purge will be undertaken by a few specially-trained black ops personnel with access to the kind of equipment we'd kill for.

As we're left with no choice, this will be your task. Find those operatives and kill them, before they kill you. The victors will of course have first dibs on the equipment these mercenaries are carrying. If there is no victor, they win and that is unthinkable.

More information will be relayed to you as we receive it, including their likely infiltration point. Our advice to you is to prepare: clean your weapons, get some decent ammo and prepare for your last stand.

There will be a teleport set up to the area once it is known. This not a come naked event, come geared. People who wish to stay home can do so without immediate danger, although we cannot guarantee what the coming days will bring.

Tool up and (wo)man up. We cannot allow them to eradicate us from our prison, it's the only life we have.

It has been an honour serving time with you. May your god look down on you with benevolence.

Airdropped into the island for a new contestant, they were not sure where was the safest place to keep their aquired stash. So they buried it. One evening, they told another contestant, shortly before being killed in what appeared to be an accident involving one of their own socks.

The actual location of the buried stash remains a mystery.

The last audible words uttered from the deceased from behind a stiff muffled sock was "The contours flattened after I collected the stash, inaudible gagging as I walked towards the light, I reminded myself to stay on track, the smell of the lush green leaves and the sound of gravel under foot, I walked south until I could no longer, so I walked North and then forced South yet again… this was the perfect spot.

If I buried it near, I could see in both directions. I made a map and posted it on the website.

Here are the things you need to know!

So! You arrived at our door... well, come on inside. Help yourself to something to eat.

Fully Loaded UK Scum Server has been running since early 2021 and hopes to be around for a lot longer. The server is paid for by donations from players and admined by experienced and committed players.

Here's what we think you need to know...

~ The server is fully PVP, there are NO safe zones. Even the trader zones aren't completely safe (just melee damage only).
~ Players who register in our discord server get access to a welcome pack, get paid to play (in game money, don't get excited) and can use our banking system to withdraw cash from ATMs in game.
~ Raiding is 24/7 and that means you can get raided while you are offline and asleep in your bed. This adds to realism, like... if your house got burgled, that might be while you were asleep or at work.
~ Random respawns cost the least at 100 from your bank account, sector is 500 and shelter is 1g, that's 1 gold. You have to buy gold at the bank to be able to do this. If you go too much overdrawn (2.5 thousand I think... you will permadeath which means a whole new character and all your old stuff may be locked).
~ If you get stuck, either physically under the ground or you need help in another way, you can raise a helpdesk ticket in Discord
~ Saturday night is event night when most of the community comes together on voice and in game to have fun, compete in some silly game and possibly win prizes. Find out more in the Discord.
~ We have missions, quests, treasure hunts and more on an ad-hoc basis.
~ Despite all the death (and there's quite a lot) it's a friendly community and nobody minds being asked questions.
~ The puppets are tough and plentiful, this makes it an especially tough PVP server.
~ Mechs are on and they hurt, but sometimes they're a bad shot - so keep moving!
~ Loot is low, it's also dynamic, meaning it changes a little every so often. Just like life, you'll have some days better than others. It's usually around 1.5x.
~ It's build anywhere, except if you were to block a road, runway, river etc.
~ We don't limit the number of flags you can place, the devs do (one per squad leader) we're hoping this changes in time.
~ Maximum squad size is 8 at intelligence level 5.0.

If there's anything you'd like to know that's not listed here, please just ask. We're happy to have you as part of the Fully Loaded dysfunctional family.