Axehilt's Quick-Start Guide

What is Haven & Hearth?
Haven & Hearth is a MMORPG with a world simulation focus. You begin as an avatar alone in a strange (and sometimes hostile) wilderness, and are free to establish whatever sort of life you want, from the industrious crafter, productive farmer, hated murderer, intrepid explorer, or village chieftain.

Crafting plays a huge role. Every item in the game is created by players themselves.

Getting Started
When you get into the game, you'll see a lake with a glowing spirit thing in the middle of it. Holy crap, that spirit thing is you!
 * Left-click to Move.
 * Right-click to Interact.

To leave the room, you'll need a Body, a Name, and some starting Gear.
 * Right-click the left NPC to get a Body. Right-click again to toggle your gender (male/female.)
 * Right-click the right NPC to set your Name.
 * Right-click the treasure chest to get some starting Gear.
 * Tab toggles your inventory.
 * Left-click to pick up items, and left-click again to place them in your inventory.
 * CTRL+E opens your Equipment pane. Place items on your avatar to equip them!
 * Right-click the ladder to leave the room

Starting Locations
Currently
 * you can spawn in the wilderness
 * you can spawn near a friend if you have his hearth secret
 * you can spawn at any village with an activated Charterstone

The World
Now that you're in the game world, you can begin exploring and forging your path in the world.

This interactive map may help. The area you started in is called Ring of Brodgar. Head east far enough and you will eventually find trees (note that the other directions from the starting area are blocked by rivers/lakes.) Trees are required to build a lot of things in the game.

Player-owned property may block your path. To see property boundaries, click the white button above your minimap. (See Stake Claim for how to go about claiming your own property.)

Rivers also block your path in many directions. Swimming can be learned to cross water, but your character will drown unless you significantly increase your Stamina. Boats can also be constructed, but they require lots of trees.

Death (such as that incurred by drowning) incurs significant penalties (determined by your Personal Beliefs.)

Health, Stamina, and Hunger
The three bars next to your portrait are Health (heart icon), Stamina (sweat droplet), and Hunger (meat icon.)

Health consists of two values: Soft and Hard Hitpoints. When Soft Hitpoints drop to 0, you fall unconscious. When Hard Hitpoints reach 0, you die.

Stamina is required for most activities your character performs. Certain movement speeds will be disallowed as your character becomes more tired.

Hunger replenishes Stamina. To regain Hunger, eat food. Early food types available to you include:


 * Apples picked from apple trees.
 * Catching small animals, such as Rabbits, slaughtering them, and cooking the meat with a fire.
 * Perch, a type of fish caught by Fishing.

Improving Your Character
Your character begins with meager attributes and the most rudimentary of skills. As you play, you'll have the opportunity to increase this significantly.

Learning Points (LPs) are the basic currency used to improve your character. Any time you craft something, you earn them. Any time you want to learn something new, you spend them. Skills may have prerequisites as indicated by this Skill Tree.

Some examples of ways to earn LPs:
 * Use Branches (gathered from trees) to Build a Fire, right-click it, and Light it. (Adventuring -&gt; Build Fire)
 * Use Branches and Stone (gathered from large rocks) to create a Stone Axe. (Craft -&gt; Tools -&gt; Stone Axe, then click Craft.)
 * Learn Fishing and fish. This is the most reliable source of early food.
 * Learn Pottery, dig in shallow water to collect Clay, and construct a Kiln. (Build -&gt; Construction -&gt; Kiln)
 * Use the Kiln to craft pottery items.
 * If you locate seeds or a field which isn't claimed, learn Farming, plow some land, and plant crops.

Food Event Points (FEPs) are how you gain attributes. FEPs are points gained when you eat most types of food. When you gain FEP equal to your highest attribute, you gain an attribute point. The type of point is determined based on the FEPs you've accumulated. Food needs to have at least quality 10 to give FEPs!

Example: Joe has 15 Strength (STR). So he needs 15 FEPs to get his next attribute increase. He eats food that gives him 15 STR FEPs, and his STR goes up by one.

''Joe now has 16 STR, so he'll need 16 FEPs for his next attribute increase. He eats some more food and gains 4 Charisma (CHA), 4 Dexterity (DEX), and 8 Intelligence (INT) FEPs. This gives Joe a 50% (8 out of 16) chance of INT being the attribute gained, and 25% (4 out of 16) that either CHA or DEX will increase.''

''Joe still has 16 STR, so he still only needs 16 FEPs for his next attribute increase. This is important, as it means Joe can gain attributes faster if he avoids raising his highest attribute.''

This table shows how many FEPs each type of food gives.

Hunting, gathering, and fishing are great early ways to get a variety of types of FEPs. The Survivalist's Quick-Reference lists easy ways you can increase each attribute as a new player. As you find seeds of various types farming and cooking become great ways to increase stats as well. Some spawn locations may even have crops or seeds ready for you.