Starting Out Guide

Starting out...

**Important concepts to keep you alive:**

* Hydration, Nutrition, Energy, and Breath
	+ Drink, Eat, Rest, Breath

* Work and using Energy
	+ Do NOT tire yourself out, Stay hydrated! Overworking Will Kill You!
	+ Everything you do that exerts an effect on the game world uses work and energy.
	+ Working and using Energy can rapidly reduce hydration.
	+ Drink before you are thirsty and always have water nearby when working.
	+ Maximizing productivity, speeding up tasks, and reducing energy loss are all important strategies.
	+ More practice, better tools, better quality materials/tools all increase productivity and reduce energy loss.

**Campsite and Your First Tools**

* Find a suitable location for your campsite
	+ Your first campsite should be immediately adjacent to a water source
	+ Never build or chop down trees within sight of a Gushing Fountainhead
	+ Camp somewhere with plenty of available resources
		- Water source, Food source (lots of wooded area), a little meadow for cobblestone is also useful, and away from areas controlled by PCs or NPCs.

* Shoots, Bark, and Food
	+ On Forest tiles, Forage and Gather at each tile.
	+ Use Bark sheets and Shoots to craft containers.
	+ You can craft baskets from Shoots without any tools. To use Bark Fibers you just need a Knife (see Stone Age - Burin below)

* Sticks and Stones
	+ Cobblestones and Sticks will be your first tools.
	+ Optional items: 1 antler tine and/or 1 broken antler

* Boppers and Flakers
	+ To begin your Stone Age, you'll want 1 bopper and 1 flaker.
	+ Your first tool will be a simple Bopper - you can use a single cobblestone as a bopper. You can also fashion a much better bopper using a cobblestone on a broken antler. Do the same on an antler tine to get a Flaker.

* Stone Age
	+ Use your bopper on a cobblestone to fashion a Burin.
	+ A Burin is a crude knife. You can now do most things that require a Knife
	+ Use Burin on Sheets of Bark to make Bark Fibers
	+ You can use Bark Fibers to make belts, slings, pouches, and as Tinder to start fires.
	+ Use your Bopper and Flaker on another cobblestone to craft:
		- An axe head
		- A hammer head
		- (Optional) Flat Chisel (optional for now, needed to craft a Spade later)
	+ You'll need two Thick sticks (any type) and your burin or knife to carve handles for the axe and hammer.

Your primary tools will consist of a Knife, an Axe, and a Hammer

**Resting** - The dangers of Resting at a fire

* You can build a firepit by collecting ten cobblestones and using any kind of stick. You'll need fuel and tinder for the fire and you'll need to craft a twine bow drill to light the fire... BUT before you do all that, you should understand how Resting at a fire works.
* Resting at a fire is great for restoring your Energy and health, but only if done properly.
* Resting doesn't heal or restore you directly. ***Resting increases your metabolism***.
	+ While Resting your character will require much larger quantities of food and water.
	+ Attempting to Rest without a good supply of food will make for a bad time. Don't do it.
	+ Pay attention while Resting - your character will automatically consume food and water. It can only take a few minutes to completely deplete a food stash. Be Careful!
* You don't really need a firepit yet, but if you want to produce pottery (you'll need a spade first) or do some metal crafting (still need a spade) or cook some meat (you don't need a spade to hunt, but you do probably want a bow and some arrows), then you'll want a firepit.

That should be plenty to get you started. You'll likely want some good containers to store food (food will spoil faster if left sitting out). You'll also eventually want to build a **Timber Hut** (not stone, not a cottage, not a hall... trust me, start with a timber hut first). Storing your belongings and food inside of a building will make them last even longer! Once you have established a home, you can start exploring and practicing the many crafts.

**A Final Cautionary Note:**

The game world is MASSIVE! And it's dangerous (brutal) outside of the starting area. If you want to explore, then follow these recommendations:

* Stay near water
* Walk - running will rapidly deplete your energy
* Take your time - forage as needed, keep up your hydration, nutrition, and energy at all times
* Go with someone you trust. A guide is helpful, but even just a friendly player to share the burden is much safer than going alone!
* Explore slowly, take time to become familiar with an area before venturing too far into unknown territory