Bushcrafting Suggestions

Because there are too many crafting/profession skills for each to have its own forum.
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Irylia
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Irylia »

It would be neat if those who don't have points to spend in multiple professions could more easily utilize bushcraft's leaning into adjacent areas so that if they wanted, they could be self-sufficient in the wilds while focusing in other areas of interest. Currently there are a lot of weaving and lithics related crafts associated, but not much in other skills. If you want to be advanced in any of these areas you would take up the main skill/profession instead, but if you just wanted to be able to get by, this might help make bushcraft the universal survivalist skill it's meant to be.

For example - there are many component parts in bushcraft that can be knapped, but none of the attachment wooden parts are available so to complete the item you still need to put points in multiple skills, not many, but sometimes even a few is too many. I think being able to get an average or crude level finished product in things like leatherworked, woodworked, cooked, or constructed recipes for some of the more simple items would be really beneficial and make sense. Meanwhile, recipes that are more solely bushcraft might be able to have higher quality levels for things like cooking or weaving. If it would help with balance - aside from quality restrictions maybe the recipes would have higher skill or recipe point requirements than their main-profession counterparts.

Woodworking:
(Most of these recipes are variations of a straight line and would be of particular interest to survivalists as opposed to some of the fancier or more advanced recipes, so while it may seem like there are a lot of them, I think it would be good to consider adding most if not all of them as bushcraft options.)
Quarterstaff
Arrow Stave
Pole
Skewer
Fishing Rod
Knife Handle
Fireboard
Large Haft
Staves (all types)
Whittled Spear
Small Totem
Wooden Mallet

Cooking:
Fish on a Stick
Oven Roasted Fish
Grilled <vegetable>
Leaf-Wrapped Foods
- Tamales (or Arad variant of this)
- Baked <fish/small land animal>
- Other examples: https://www.thekitchn.com/around-the-wo ... e-b-121651

Weaving (maybe?):
Fishing Basket Trap

Leatherworking:
(These I could see being more questionable since you have to actually trace a pattern, but what's in here is still fairly unsophisticated so I think it could pass. None of it is armor, only clothing. I found this article which might help with setting up non-town processes for leatherworking: https://skyaboveus.com/hunting-shooting ... erican-Way)
Long-sleeved Tunic
Leggings
Fur Mittens
Leather Gloves
Moccasins
Soft-sole boots
Fur Cloak
Leather Coat
Fur Cap
Fur-lined Boots
Fur-lined Leggings
Fur-lined Tunic
Fur-lined Coat
Leather Pouch/Bag/Satchel
Leather Sling
Leather Strips (to use for stitching, jewelry hanging, or binding as an alternative to cordage or thread along with a as of yet unmade potential blacksmithing item - a Leather Hole Punch).

Construction:
Piled Stone Oven (So you can cook things more traditionally, maybe this could be a permanent object unless someone knocks it down)
- a bunch of large flat-ish stones
- a campfire bundle
Leather Stretcher/Litter
- 2 poles
- 1 large piece of leather
- strips of leather, rope, or cordage for binding
Woven/Hammock Stretcher/Litter (This could be either with holes like a traditional hammock netted weave or solid if you just do bands across and around the poles. Could easily be folded with a rope for easy travel carry)
- 2 poles
- a bunch of cordage

Bushcraft:
Fish Bone Needle
<Large Animal> Bladder - used for water storage

Forageable:
Dried <banana or banana alternative> Leaves
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Rias
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Rias »

Irylia wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:23 pm It would be neat if those who don't have points to spend in multiple professions could more easily utilize bushcraft's leaning into adjacent areas so that if they wanted, they could be self-sufficient in the wilds while focusing in other areas of interest.
This is what a big part of the Bushcraft skill is supposed to be - being able to be all survival-y and provide one's own basic tools and gear and whatnot in the wilderness, without necessarily having to specialize in specific crafts (leatherworking, woodworking, etc). The quality will be a bit below average (this is equipment to get by on, not lovingly and professionally-crafted), and the pool of recipes will be limited to more survival-oriented stuff, but the list you provided seems quite reasonable for the most part.

I like the idea of making stacked stone ovens, but I think I'll have them despawn after a while if nobody's in the room to potentially be using them (we'll say they eventually crumble and fall apart, or something). Always that worry of the world becoming flooded with permanent items everywhere. If I've learned anything from my experience, it's that if players can, someone will.

P.S. Skewered fish and campfire bundle recipes are available to all, no learning them required.
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Rias
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Rias »

I've already started making a bunch of woodworking recipes learnable via Bushcraft (see list below) and I'm about to add other recipe types, like leather stuff. I did however also make quality levels harder to achieve (more skill required per "tier") to balance Bushcraft's diversity. On top of that, I'm deciding what I want to cap it at - certainly Average(+0) at the highest, possibly -1 for most. Bushcraft is meant to be the "make serviceable stuff to get you by outside civilization" skill, rather than making "nice" things. So for the bushcrafty character who wants to make their own high-quality bow, for instance, they'd have to invest specifically in the Woodworking skill to do so.

The following wood recipes, all previously accessible via Woodworking, are now also available via Bushcraft:

small haft
large haft
pole
quarterstaff
rod
shovel head
arrow stave
bolt stave
awl-handle
bark sheet
walking stick
whittled spear
chisel handle
cudgel
dowel
fireboard
spindle
scythe haft
knife handle
mallet head
small peg
skewer
stake
small stopper
tiny wedge
block
flatbow stave
spile
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Irylia
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Irylia »

Awesome! Thanks for the quick attention. I think this will help bushcrafters a ton and flesh out the skill from where it was previously.
Valmorian
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Valmorian »

nothing like making your own drinks! what about the ability to press berries for juices, like juniper and emberberry. You could buy flasks and such to put them in from glasssblowers or something, if glassblowing is a thing. Could buy sugar or other herbs to mix into it. I've never done any research so I'm not sure. but I don't guess it'd be much harder than filtering out the skin and seeds leaving you with the juice. maybe could make jams and jellies.
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Rias »

Some basic bushcrafty food and drink ideas would be great. Gotta eat while you're out there surviving, right?
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Irylia
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Irylia »

I'm probably way overthinking this, but it would be helpful to know what the anticipated wilderness-growing plants will be so we know what to work with. Currently there are plants out there visible via survey but I'm not sure which of those are intended to be implemented, edible, or have other uses. Are some basic fruits and vegetables going to be available in the wilds or will they have to be grown? Are you anticipating these recipes being mostly carnivorous? Do you want made-up ingredients or things to be mostly based on our world? If you do have made up ingredients... can we get some kind of equivalent so we know how it might be used?

I can suggest a few potential ingredient sources:
- potatoes
- onions
- tomatoes
- berries of all kinds
- squash/gourds
- pumpkins
- beans of all kinds
- legumes
- nuts
- herbs of all kinds
- peppers of all kinds
- some tree fruits (apples, peaches, pears, plums, lemons, limes)
- tree saps
- clams
- mussels
- crabs
- hunted meat sources
- fish meat sources

I could go on, but there's a really decent list at the bottom of this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenou ... e_Americas

Recipes will depend on what you want to allow as far as guidelines and cooking structure. Do you want things to be as simple as possible, as real as possible, or some mix of the two? I'm guessing you want more than just "dried <meat>" and "boiled <vegetable>" kinds of things, but recipes that are still easy for those wandering around making it. Some dishes might require tools to make, so will there be semi-permanent/permanent wilderness camps for bushcrafters to use so they don't have to haul things around with them and can stay traveling light? Anyway, just some thoughts. I can throw basic recipes at you, but I'd like to know more about what direction you want to go first.
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Lexx416
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Lexx416 »

I'll try to do a write up for Bushcraft cooking today or tomorrow, if I can find the time! =)
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
Valmorian
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Valmorian »

was trying to figure out where to post this, so hope this works.
Could we get a survey keyword option? like survey fish for instance. could see how many fish you can see or use your general knowledge to estimate how much fishing you could do.
I ask this because I spent an hour or so going beside the rivers and lake trying to find flint alternating between forage flint, and forage stone because I wasn't sure which to use. to later come to find out that the answer was neither. There isn't really a way for a player to know if the command they type after forage is a valid foragable thing, and having a character with bushcraft the character would know much more than I did. or you could have it that when you survey you could have a command like survey extra that would tell you what you know about that type of environs, and what might be found there that you don't see right away. The info on that can depend on your bushcrafting skill.
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Re: Bushcrafting Suggestions

Post by Lexx416 »

Rather than recipes specifically, I figured I would write up some stuff on methods of primitive cooking. I think recipes could probably be purchase through Bushcraft, but remain fairly similar to normal Cooking recipes, since the difference is just really the method.

Bushcraft Cooking Methods

The following are some methods for cooking in the wilderness, that allow for someone to travel lightly. They should produce average at best quality foods most likely, and all involve a little more prep time than conventional cooking. This could even be a general ability (Survival Cooking, Wilderness Cooking, Bushcraft Cooking, etc.) that unlocks all of these options, versus using actual Recipe points, to allow survivalists to keep their limited Bushcraft recipe points for actual recipes, perhaps with a requirement of 50 or 100 bushcraft.

Firepits

A firepit is a small semi-permanent 'structure' built in any area that has soil or dirt soft enough to dig; as long as a PC is in a room with one, the firepit should remain active, but should be janitored away fairly quickly when a PC is no longer present. A firepit should also be BURYable. A firepit is essentially just a shallow pit in the earth (free of forest duff), a ring of (not river) stones, or a combination of the two. The method should generally be to dig a shallow pit, and to simultaneously build a fire within it. As such, this should probably take a decent amount of RT to do, and should require firewood and kindling. Upon completion, it should produce an Unlit Firepit, which can then be lit.

The biggest difference between a firepit and a small campfire should be the production of hot coals, as cooking directly over a campfire is actually not usually a great idea. So after burning for a few moments, there should be hot coals present, which essentially unlocks the following cooking methods to the PC.


Stone Cooking

This is a very simple method of cooking. This involves taking a wide, flat stone, placing it next to a fire to warm up, and placing food on it to cook. This can likely cook anything simple that a pan or skillet can make. Strips or chunks of meat, vegetables, fried eggs (though the latter two would still require a fat source, which could be obtained from hunted game). I'm not sure of the syntax required, but simply being able to forage a COOKING STONE in the appropriate area, and then placing it in or on the Firepit might suffice. A cooking stone should have a lower weight compared to a skillet, and it would be a nice touch if the stone had to cool for a few minutes after being used to cook, to pick back up.


Plank Cooking

This is a little more complicated method of cooking, which requires someone to have a slat or plank of wood carved from a log, small wooden stakes, and pieces of meat. Strips or pieces of meat are pinned to the slat/plank with the stakes (using a hammer or the back of a hatchet, or a hammer stone/foraged lithic), and the plank (with meat) is placed on the coals of a fire, allowing you to roast them. This could have a pretty high volume of meat cookable at one time. A cooking slat or plank could be used several times before it degraded into uselessness from charring.

Ash Cooking

This is an easy, but somewhat unwieldy, way of cooking that allows a person to cook food slowly in leaves. This is my personal favorite, as it creates little packages of leaves, which perhaps could be used to prolong the spoilage of meat a little bit as an added bonus.

Essentially, you just need large leaves, cordage, meat, and a knife. You would simply place meat (and optional spices) onto a leaf, and with cordage in your inventory, WRAP the leafe with cordage. The next step requires hot coals. You simply place the package of leaves onto coals, and it cooks. To get to the meat, you just hold the bundle, and CUT it open with a knife, which destroys the container.


Stick Roasting

Another pretty simple way to cook. This is just taking carved skewers, skewering meat, and roasting it over coals.

Boiling/Stewing/Etc.

Meat, vegetables, fish, and shellfish can also be boiled! This requires decent sized clay vessel (pot or vase) filled with water (salt and seasoning optional). Then, heat up a couple of rocks, and place them (tongs are fairly easy to make from split branches) in the water, to boil.

Jerky

Jerky is pretty simple! Realistically, making jerky in the wilderness requires either a smokeshack and 3-4 days, or a climate that isn't very humid. The process is to set up a tripod over a firepit that's producing a lot of smoke, tying sticks or carved staves between the three poles of the tripod (one stick to each pole, and then two sticks in a Cross or X shape over the fire directly), hanging marinaded/seasoned meat, and then covering the tripod with boughs of pine. The meat must be cut at 1/8 of an inch to allow it to dehydrate properly, and to prevent flies from laying eggs in it. It also must be as lean as possible, as fat goes rancid. This method produces, in real life, jerky that can last 1-2 weeks.

A jerky marinade can be as simple as: salt, honey, and any other spices and herbs desired.

Seasoning

Just because it's being cooked out in the wilds, doesn't mean there can't be seasonings! Simply taking different savory or sweet herbs and including them in the wrapped leaves method would make it simple to season food. Similarly, being able to take foraged herbs and spices, grinding them together, and sprinkling the seasoning on cooked meat, or rubbing it onto uncooked meat should work as well.

Other Things To Cook

Provided we have access to coastal regions again, we should be able to forage for seafood! Crabs, cockles, clams, oysters,scallops, even lobsters can all be found in shallows. Similarly, small shellfish can frequently be found in shallow rivers, which make for great, easy ways to cook!

Coconuts, similarly, are great sources of food in the appropriate environs! A coconut can he husked with a sharp stick (or with one's teeth) or rock, which provides a great source of tinder. Then simply crack a coconut with a stone, and the water within can be drank (and could provide minor nutrition). After this, simply use a small, sharp rock or knife to carve the actual coconut 'meat' from the shell. This can be eaten as is, but it can also be wrapped up in coconut husk, and squeezed over a bowl, to produce coconut milk. Coconut milk can be further processed by placing a hot rock in the bowl, to create coconut oil!
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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