Why does the stupid throwaway characters live the longest?

[Owlant]

Hey all,

Anyone else find this?

You create a character carefully, choosing a play style, a back story, desires and personality. You research the perfect Finnish name... And go into the world and.... Died at 16 winters old, having spent 30 days of adventuring life. Lucky Robbers or bear or wolf...

Meanwhile Potaaaaaaaato man is currently random build and living his best life of 3 years+.

 

[PALU]

Nope (but I haven't created any throwaway characters, except, sort of, the ones for the runaway slave start, where you lose 20 or so before you actually get away alive with one).

I don't think I've lost any characters to robbers, because they usually beat the crap out of your character and then dump it. Wolves, yes, Njerps, yes, most, bear I'm not sure. However, I never attack bears or wolves as they're too dangerous, and I'm careful with Njerps (always losing eventually, though), returning home to gear up before engaging them (unless it's a random encounter, in which case I try to retreat). Also, I don't engage Njerps in spruce forests.

[user1805]

I dont think so. When i created a new character i also clicked as long as the stats are acceptable. Also a guy who isnt able i.e. to see more than 5 meters would not really go adventuring but better do some housework at the village.
What i would appreciate instead is that not so many skills are so high in the begining what makes the learning time longer. It seems realistic to me for 16 year old person.

Think you are wandering some forest and see a bear in 500 meters? When in the game you think 'never mind' and attack the bear .. you die. Surprise? Bears in reality are able to kill a big wild bull with one strike. Thats a bear. Bear hunting afaik in those times would need a group of experienced men with long spears. Thats about what i do in the game. I get some NPC comrades. Also dogs will not really do here as the bear tends to run away meanwhile. The bear is fast and only the dogs can follow when they loose the support of the adventurer. When the adventurer reaches the dogs maybe all dead.

As soon as you begin to think what someone can do in the situation in reality your charactes stop die so much.

Interesting thing is, did someone check what robbers would do as you appoach them without any valuable stuff? Also not a good idea But interesting what would happen in the game.

[Owlant]

I was listing them as joke examples.

I had died from robbers because my character had all their tools stolen and I starved to death in winter before I could find a village to replace them or any big game also from having poor healing; bleeding wounds which I couldn't staunch.

I die mostly from starvation, I don't min max characters and I play like they would with their skills. A Drik would be craftier at trading than a Owl Tribe. So I tend to let those characters make a better deal with items. An Owl Tribe may over pay for items. "That was generous." Yes it makes the game harder and I am choosing to make it so but I think it builds a better story. It balances out, the others all have their areas of expertise. 

Eastern Tribes who see Njepz rarely, will stumble on them thinking they are friendly. Intending to ask the way to village or trade. Only for the first couple of time then that character learns.

I have even refused to build houses or types traps until I am a certain skill level or friendliness to a Village. It is a case of "being taught the ways". Again, I did suggest having this in game and Sami agreed; I do not think a Drik 16 year old maid would know how to build a home.

I ask you guys to try it. Don't min max. Build a character on random, make stupid decisions and amazing stories! Share them below! 

[PALU]

I've played various types of characters, from an enormous Kaumo warrior (eventually doomed by an unlucky hit and possibly some questionable decisions when he was already losing after having wiped out about a third of the Njerp villages), a minute Owl tribe girl (as small as I was able to make the character, aiming for a low strength as well), quick as greased lightning, but struggling mightily with heavy work (one slender trunk at a time),  eventually one shot by a Njerp, to an escaped slave (resulting in essentially random stats, I think, who kept fainting all the time when hit, which wasn't good when the injury was caused by an attacking wolf). I'm currently playing in the "make the roll and take it" territory, resulting in an about average character.

[Owlant]

I am currently playing:

A hapless Seal Tribe lad, trying to actually head to his home land and hunt his own seal pelt as a rite of manhood. Skilled with a net and fishing rod, but awful at everything else including hunting and trade.

A Owl Tribe pilgrim, traveling to all the tribes and befriending most villages. Is known to gift away a lot of good stuff. Doesn't kill. Good with Spirits. Travels with a flock of sheep.

A trader Drik lady, small but great with trade. Has kotas set up along the river to trade goods she makes for furs, to sell onto Foreign Traders and more. She does love jewellery however and will often trade for that instead.

A Kaumo Trapper, big and bulking, actually weighing 271lb! He is trying to build a homestead to take a wife. He is in winter right now and planning on building some fields. He has more than enough food, traps, furs, weapons and supplies. He has built two big cabins and owns at least one of each animal. Next would be to search the world looking for the right dowry. I am thinking a silver bird.

[Tom H]

I think the next character I start will have to find and live in a village for a year before he can venture out on his own much. If he's lucky, his first village will have a simple shelter in it for him to study, so he can build his own. Otherwise, he'll have to return to the village every night for a place to sleep, until he can get a villager to teach him how to make his own shelter. He'll try to make tradable items while living there, to get some basic things, maybe some cords and rope. I hope he has some kind of ax he can use for wood crafting.

If there are no fishing waters nearby, he'll have to find another village, unless he can, miraculously, trap birds/hares for enough food. He's going to be a vagabond in the village, a vagrant who sleeps often in their unused buildings and asks a lot of questions about how to build things, make things. 

Hmm...     

[Owlant]

I think the next character I start will have to find and live in a village for a year before he can venture out on his own much. If he's lucky, his first village will have a simple shelter in it for him to study, so he can build his own. Otherwise, he'll have to return to the village every night for a place to sleep, until he can get a villager to teach him how to make his own shelter. He'll try to make tradable items while living there, to get some basic things, maybe some cords and rope. I hope he has some kind of ax he can use for wood crafting.

If there are no fishing waters nearby, he'll have to find another village, unless he can, miraculously, trap birds/hares for enough food. He's going to be a vagabond in the village, a vagrant who sleeps often in their unused buildings and asks a lot of questions about how to build things, make things. 

Hmm...   

Ever thought of having to purchase or apprentice to learn skills? Like building kotas and keeping reindeer? Going to Owl Tribe lands for a year, and offer up a few items to the Sage to "earn" the knowledge. Maybe for the Owl Tribe sage, he would appreciate a few sets of antlers and a fine or masterwork forest reindeer cloak or trade a big reindeer stag for them. AKA give the meat and fur over. 

[Tom H]

I think the next character I start will have to find and live in a village for a year before he can venture out on his own much. If he's lucky, his first village will have a simple shelter in it for him to study, so he can build his own. Otherwise, he'll have to return to the village every night for a place to sleep, until he can get a villager to teach him how to make his own shelter. He'll try to make tradable items while living there, to get some basic things, maybe some cords and rope. I hope he has some kind of ax he can use for wood crafting.

If there are no fishing waters nearby, he'll have to find another village, unless he can, miraculously, trap birds/hares for enough food. He's going to be a vagabond in the village, a vagrant who sleeps often in their unused buildings and asks a lot of questions about how to build things, make things. 

Hmm...   

Ever thought of having to purchase or apprentice to learn skills? Like building kotas and keeping reindeer? Going to Owl Tribe lands for a year, and offer up a few items to the Sage to "earn" the knowledge. Maybe for the Owl Tribe sage, he would appreciate a few sets of antlers and a fine or masterwork forest reindeer cloak or trade a big reindeer stag for them. AKA give the meat and fur over.

What I envision is a guy who spends a lot of his time doing mere subsistence fishing! It's more as though I'm being permitted to stay so long as I don't burden the village.

I would not expect a Drik youth to know about making a kota but any northern tribes' youth has probably been taking down and putting them up for a decade. But that knowledge would be useless because, where would he get so many skins?

Otoh, his knowledge of wood-building skills would have been meager. Wood crafting he'd be somewhat familiar with but wood buildings would be beyond his ken.

[Owlant]

TomH:

Yep I can imagine a lonely lad, far from home and trying to survive and learn skills.

You could always ask a hunter and pay for him to take you hunting with him to learn and get animals like reindeer.

I wish village interactions was worked on sooner, very rarely do you not end up meeting the villages and NPCs in game and it would change the early, mid and end game so much.

Asking if they have any chores they want doing? Maybe the reward is lesser but still you can do work every 3-5 days for the sage or villagers and get odd cuts. Maybe you could have seasonal jobs like: prepare the fields, plant seeds and harvest and thresh. You get a lunch of a rye bread and loaned tools. After you do, you get some reward. Sageless villages can ask you to try to heal a NPC.


In return to balance out the positives maybe if the spirits are unhappy with you: Murder etc. Then the local sage deems you cursed and no one will hire you/help you.