CLOK BBS

Hi everybody!

Admittedly, this is a bit of a scatterbrained late-night thought, but I keep coming back to it, so I wanted to kick it out there into the ether, just in case it's one of those easy butterflies that serves as a nice developmental distraction.

So-- Cogg's bushcraft system was neat. The hand-woven cordage, the flint knapping, all of it. I dug it. I liked it. It made the wilderness lifestyle very pleasing to take part in, and it was pretty pleasing to take part in in old Clok as well.

I don't know how viable it is, but if the bushcraft system could be reintroduced somehow in an uncomplicated capacity, I think it'd be a great way for a lot of folks out there to vibe and RP while logged in in the early days like these. It has a lot of satisfying loops that would help kill people's time.

-Finding a nice cozy home campsite
-Exploring your local surroundings
-Cutting up wood to keep your fire going
-Foraging edibles/hunting to prepare for extended resource gathering trips
-Cooking/Preparing travel rations
-Hunting down and Harvesting resources to make clothing/equipment/weaponry
-Processing those resources into a useable state
-Making aformentioned clothing and equipment
-Marking/patrolling your territory
-Defending your claim
-Passing the time with instruments, carving, writing and exploring your local environment
-Setting up smaller outpost campsites and hidey-holes. Your own bush telegraph, if you will.


Simply put? I keep getting called to do the campsite wild-man thing. I think the combination of being able to hand-weave wilderness clothes with thornleaf/barkcloth/stingnettle would go far. Same goes for knapping flint and other things of that nature. The same, of course, goes for repopulating some hunting/forageables, but I feel like there's already enough out there in the game that people can make due in that regard for now ,nice as it would be.

Really, the bushcraft system itself would just be nice. I'd love to hear peoples thoughts, and whether this would be as quick to introduce as I think it might be. Quick compared to some other things like skill and ability overhauls, that is to say. I know that perception and reality can be sort of hard to connect. I don't want to distract from more important priorities by any means.

Simply put? The thought keeps popping up. So I wanted to put it here.

Thanks for your time, and hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm a little biased, but I absolutely LOVED how bushcraft and survival play in Cogg worked (with two exceptions - it would have been nice to be able to make travel food that was a little more weight efficient, and being able to make clothing), so I really hope we get to see it back here in some way. I'm not hugely in favor of giving folks ways to "stake claims" out in the wilderness (just because it feels like it'd go counter to the design intent of herding players towards cities as centralized hubs).

But I'd love to see ways to leave signs/messages for people (maybe from pre-generated messages, like a mundane, localized version of Commune), clothing production (ideally that has a different aesthetic vibe compared to properly tailored clothing), better cooking (cooking meat one at a time is pretty fiddly), ways to carve alternatives to buckles and rivets for leatherworking use.

The thing I think about quite a fair bit is mostly (and this was something I thought about quite a bit for Cogg too)- "What skill should this use"? We don't currently have a dedicated "bushcraft" skill, so maybe an ability that unlocks weaving/tailoring, knapping, and carving recipes that are super limited in scope (for the skills that have "civilized" uses, like weaving, tailoring, and wood carving), with lower skill thresholds so you can't just Bushcraft your way to the same skill level as dedicated artisans who are doing tailoring, weaving, and woodworking?

Lysse wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 1:05 pm I'm a little biased, but I absolutely LOVED how bushcraft and survival play in Cogg worked (with two exceptions - it would have been nice to be able to make travel food that was a little more weight efficient, and being able to make clothing), so I really hope we get to see it back here in some way. I'm not hugely in favor of giving folks ways to "stake claims" out in the wilderness (just because it feels like it'd go counter to the design intent of herding players towards cities as centralized hubs).

But I'd love to see ways to leave signs/messages for people (maybe from pre-generated messages, like a mundane, localized version of Commune), clothing production (ideally that has a different aesthetic vibe compared to properly tailored clothing), better cooking (cooking meat one at a time is pretty fiddly), ways to carve alternatives to buckles and rivets for leatherworking use.

The thing I think about quite a fair bit is mostly (and this was something I thought about quite a bit for Cogg too)- "What skill should this use"? We don't currently have a dedicated "bushcraft" skill, so maybe an ability that unlocks weaving/tailoring, knapping, and carving recipes that are super limited in scope (for the skills that have "civilized" uses, like weaving, tailoring, and wood carving), with lower skill thresholds so you can't just Bushcraft your way to the same skill level as dedicated artisans who are doing tailoring, weaving, and woodworking?

All fantastic points!

1) In regard to "staking claims" I was actually speaking figuratively there. Though I can totally see how that was easily misinterpreted as a mechanical suggestion. I'm also in favor of keeping people from picking permanant wilderness spots-- defeats the whole purpose, you know? I had differing thoughts on this in the past, but have since changed my mind around.

2) You pretty much hit the nail on the head in every other regard to potential suggestions I was thinking on. Specifically in regard to components for crafting aformentioned clothing-- which, I didn't realize wasn't possible without the in-town facility. Huh. I thought you could hand-weave stuff, but that must've been me misremembering the days of recipe points back in Cogg. I'm not at all surprised that that's the case, because I was bad at those. You would absolutely know better than me.

Basically, Thanks for pointing these things out! When I shot this up last night I was way too scatterbrained to properly think it all through in that regard. I was hoping someone like you would hop in here to give the genuine perspective as opposed to my half-crazed imaginings.

Zeldryn wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 4:23 pm 2) You pretty much hit the nail on the head in every other regard to potential suggestions I was thinking on. Specifically in regard to components for crafting aformentioned clothing-- which, I didn't realize wasn't possible without the in-town facility.

This is the harshest thing, I've found, doing the Lone Survivalist Thing. I did it for a few months on Cogg too on a totally new alt, and clothing and containers were 100% the biggest hang up for me (followed by armor when I went through with combat). And it's not just that you need the facilities but you also need an awl, which was never attainable with the Cogg bushcraft.

I think some of this can be solved with the reintroduction of the Snowpine Lodge (anyone who isn't a special Dunwyr edgecase that wants to dedicate themselves to the Wild Life should probably join up with them) - and maybe having some facilities that are Snowpine Lodge only (or maybe let you barter your way into using them with the barter system if you AREN'T a Snowpiner, which would help solve for the need for special crafting workstations).

I posted a fair bit on this thread here on the Cogg forums for a solution for clothing (and honestly I think you could just go through my whole Bushcraft Suggestion thread there and everything I posted there would still apply here, as a suggestion). But I think something like this that just gives you Weaving, Tailoring, and Woodworking recipes by taking an ability would be a good way to handle it, and just have the recipes use different tools so we don't HAVE to have an awl for example. And maybe unlock some stuff like scrimshaw and bone carving for making toggles and buttons out of bones and horns (with one or two Cool Fun recipes like a drinking horn or a blowing/winding horn).

Basically, Thanks for pointing these things out! When I shot this up last night I was way too scatterbrained to properly think it all through in that regard. I was hoping someone like you would hop in here to give the genuine perspective as opposed to my half-crazed imaginings.

Thank YOU for bringing it up! I've spent a lot of time posting bushcraft-forward content over the years, so sometimes I feel a little bit like I'm overposting at times. :)

A few things I've thought of before:

Antler crampons - to assist in climbing checks or just RP purposes. Just needs a pair of antlers, some leather straps or lengths of cordage.

For needles and awls, it'd be nice to take the large bones and splinter them into "rough bone splinters" that could be further worked to result in "a smooth splintered bone needle/awl" for bushcraft leatherwork or tailoring. Could also use the pieces to make arrowheads as an alternative to flint.

Then for decoration sake, aside from toggles and buttons, you could have beads and disks (antlers) that could be threaded on cordage for jewelery.