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Okay, you've made it through the Tutorial on Haven... you picked the Southern Isles of Freedom Kingdom as your homeland... you've come to settle down on the island of Independence... and you chose Haven's Landing as your starter town. Now What?? Your time as a new player in Haven's Landing is supposed to last for weeks, if not months. There is absolutely no rush to get "out there." There are freebies and plenty of resources in the area to really skill up and prepare your own starter supplies before you strike out - either by land or by sea. Spending a lot of time preparing in a starter town might not be for everyone - but don't dismiss Haven's Landing without checking it out first... Here are some key aspects of Haven's Landing, on Independence island, that might be worth considering for a player new to Wurm: • Newbie Square • You first spawned into Haven's Landing in a town square with the settlement token in the middle (aka "Newbie Square). From here you can access 3 different areas with free, easily acquired resources. South from the Square is a public iron mine with forges and crates firewood available to anyone. Rock and Iron are the best places to start leveling up your mining - plus you'll end up forging a bunch of iron pieces for starting stuff, like a small cart or a large cart or your first set of starter tools that can be upgraded. From Newbie Square to the west is a public thicket, usually stocked with a variety of the wood types that live in Wurm. If there are no trees growing in the thicket area, it's because someone else has recently come through and needed the wood.... but don't worry! The area around Haven's Landing is a thick forest, so there will always be enough wood for you. To the east from Newbie Square is a digging area. I don't know if that dirt is infinite, but it really seems that way! You can practice digging, not just to raise your skill, but also to get practical experience with the terraforming mechanics. (You're gonna need them later). • Farming & the Textile Courtyard• Head north out of Newbie Square and on your left you'll pass by the first of 2 public farm fields. This one is the smaller one. Both fields are open to public use - generally if you harvest something, it is polite to replant that thing (for you or for the next person). You can keep yourself fed, start collecting cotton & wemp, and start collecting your own "starter seed set" for then day you have a farm of your own! By the time I departed from HL, I had gathered enough seeds to start my own farm off with about 45-50 tiles worth of crops. At the smaller field, you will be facing a little courtyard area with the Samling Manor in front of you; and to the left is the textile house with free access to weaving and tailoring tools. On your right will be the Haven Stronghold building - an open hall for general purpose & meetings & RP if that's your thing. In front and to the right (across the "intersection") are the Freedom Apartments (more on those below). Take a right (Apartments on your left & Stronghold on your right) and then at the fountain, take a left around the Apartments... further down that road, you should find the Bigger of the public farm fields on your right. If you don't already see crops that you want to farm, gather seeds by going out about the area & forage/botanize grass tiles to collect seeds to cultivate. • the Freedom Apartments • One of the best free features of staying in Haven's Landing for a time. The Apartments provide a whole building full of free beds for new players to sleep (log off). When Wurmians use a bed to log out, they earn sleep bonus time until their next log in. Typically, a player can have up to 5 or 6 hours of Sleep Bonus accumulated. You can toggle your SB on and off; when it is "on" you will have a buff earning 3x stamina regen and 2x skill/characteristic gain. As you can imagine, accumulating and then consuming your SB at the right time can be a very effective leveling buff! As an additional note, since Independence is a PvE island, stealing from other players is not allowed - so you can feel free to make use of the storage containers found inside the Freedom Apartments, too. Pick a room and find an empty chest or empty shelf on a rack and the items you store there will only be removable by you. • Merchant's Row • If you hadn't turned left around the Apartments, and had instead continued east past that fountain, you would have followed that main road to where it intersects with Silver Mountain Highway. The end of the main road there (aka "Merchant's Row") is typically full of merchants kept stocked for newbies & for locals who come up to HL to do their "shopping." You can (1) sell items to the settlement token in Newbie Square, or (2) forage all over the place to randomly find some coin. It's not a lot at first, but it will get you going. You'll get bigger coin from foraging, but it's a random lucky chance; selling things to the token guarantees coin, but it will be lower amounts. Players cannot sell things to merchants, but buying items from the merchants uses the same process as trading with another player - so interacting with the vendors on Merchant's Row can give a new player some practice with the trading window and game mechanic. • Silver Mountain Highway • If you are standing at Merchant's Row, you are at the end of Haven's Landing's main road and the intersection with the Silver Mountain Highway (SMH). Although Haven's Landing (like all starter towns) has an unusually large perimeter area, the SMH marks the eastern edge of what is generally considered "in the town" versus "in the perimeter." The highway runs north-south, and connects many of the South-East Independence area, deeds, and communities. Although there are plenty of interconnecting roadways and smaller highways networking through Southern & South-East Independence - the East Crystal Highway (ECH) is the only one other large north-south highway. The East Crystal Highway (ECH) can take you from the areas of South-East Independence the whole way up to the major roadways to access areas on the northern coast. The ECH also provides connections to some of the large east-west highways needed to access to the western half of Independence by land. However, as a low level character, most of your immediate needs can be met by resources in the general area of Haven's Landing, and in areas along the Silver Mountain Highway. My personal suggestion is - don't wait until you need a resource to go find that resource. Take some time early on to explore and locate resources (when it doesn't matter too much if you accidentally get stuck or die). Leave as many unnecessary tools and items as you can spare on "your" shelf or in "your" chest in the Freedom Apartments, since you travel faster when you aren't carrying a ton of weight. Try and locate resources like clay and tar pits and mines that are open to the public. Locate likely places to go fishing, as well as larger "wild" areas (like public forest land, and areas of steppe biome tiles) where animals for combat and animals for domestication spawn. Once you've located useful areas, you can build your first cart in Haven's Landing, and use it for resource gathering day trips. • Haven Market Docks Highway • From the intersection with Merchant's Row, head north on the Silver Mountain Highway. The next major intersection you come to is where the Silver Mt Hwy crosses the Haven Market Docks Highway (HMD Hwy). This major east-west local highway is generally considered the northern edge of "in Haven's Landing" versus "in HL Perimeter." Heading west from the intersection with SMH, the HMD Hwy has a larger public stone & iron mine on the right, following signs and a stone pathway). You will also occasionally pass open areas to forage & botanize, as well as bushes and trees to harvest. Like with the crops, it is generally a good idea to replant any tree that you cut down - especially trees from an obvious grove or thicket (all one type of tree). Activate a sickle to see if any trees have a "sprout" to cut off before you get to chopping; when the tree stump has been destroyed the tile will revert to a default "grass" tile. Activate a sprout in your inventory, right click the tile and chose "plant" to replace the trees you have chopped for lumber. A popular way to "practice" combat is to chop down trees with a weapon instead of a tool. Activate your sword, axe, etc and use that to chop to level up your combat skill as well as your weapon skill. As a note - wasting resources is typically frowned upon by other Wurmians, if you are not interested in the lumber you will be chopping while leveling combat using this method, ask a friend - or in Local chat - if they would like to follow behind you logging. Many Wurmians would rather have a pile of low-level logs than see a field of felled trees and logs left to rot, and already decaying. Some weeks, the magic materials man will have visited Haven's Landing - look for a random pile of crates, chests, barrels, and a cart pulled by two bulls. There will be signs point out the loot - the containers should be unlocked & you never know what free things will be inside! Continuing west, you will pass behind the Samling Manor and the hill-top Gateways Inn on your left. At the time I'm writing this, on your right, will be the Do Drop Inn Tavern which sometimes has a visiting merchant. If any mean creatures try to attack you, there's a guard tower a little further west as the highway beings a descent from the mountain side toward Crystal Lake (don't forget to say "help" in local chat or the guards won't hear you). And finally, you will cross into Haven Market Docks as you reach the shore of Crystal Lake. Keep following the local roadway northwest around the shoreline and you'll enter CLUB Market. Here you will find merchants, animals, and bulk items for sale! Take your time at the Market & figure out the banner-color-key-system that is frequently used in markets all over Wurm lands. • Haven Landing's Perimeter Lands • As a final note, the deeded land of Haven's Landing contains most of the buildings and resources mentioned in this guide. But some of these features are build at the town's edges and the beginning of Haven Landing's Perimeter Lands. The perimeter of a deed is an "outer boundary" area that is a minimum of 5 tiles wide, but can be expanded by a deed's mayor purchasing additional tile widths. Although perimeter lands are not deeded land, and follow the rules of any wild, public land in Wurm - many Wurmians generally regard perimeter lands as a buffer area or "neutral zone" best left alone out of respect for the deed's citizens and owner, especially if the deed is likely to expand in the future. However, for a starter town like Haven's Landing, the perimeter lands work a little differently. Since a starter town is owned by Wurm, and intended to provide public housing and public resources to all Wurmians, the perimeter area of a starter town is considered land free for anyone to use. Haven's Landing Perimeter Lands cannot be deeded, but the land does allow building and fencing, as well as all other available player actions. Players who are not yet going to stake a deed (for a variety of reasons) can make a "free claim" in the HL Perimeter. This system of claims works based on "first come, first served" plus the ol' "if you can keep it, you own it" way of thinking. Wurmians living in Perimeter Lands typically try to avoid setting up their claim immediately next to tiles already occupied by a perimeter tenant, and treat each other's fences with a healthy amount of respect. Many players use Perimeter lands as they transition from "newbie" to "low level player." Once you are ready to expand a bit, build your own bed, upgrade from a small cart to a large cart, and get an animal or two - it may be time to move from apartment living to perimeter living. Most low level players start out by building a 1 tile "starter shed" which fulfills the requirements to craft a bed. Another option is the slightly more generous 2x2 "starter shack." The key to living in Perimeter Lands is twofold - 1) you are living without deed permissions and protections, so make sure any container or doorway that strangers can access has a lock attached, and 2) anything off-deed is subject to constant decay, which means you will need to stay vigilant about repairs. Personal tip: don't just repair - improve! Higher quality level reduces the amount of decay that you'll be dealing with. And with that.... you're ready to get out there and explore Wurm! Good luck & safe travels.