Beginner's Basics

Character Creation
The Character Creation was reworked during 0.4.4, and the Advanced Color option and some colors selections were removed. Other info may be correct.

Character creation is fairly simple. There's a choice of gender, but the only difference it makes is in the width of eyelashes, which can be changed. The other choices to make are as follows:

Hair: long, medium, ponytailed, short, buzzed, or bald; and color.



Eyelashes can be narrow or wide, and the color chosen.



Back item: none, backpack, great sword, shield, lute, bow, staff, crossed swords, or hammer, and if so, the color.



Chest: nothing over the plain shirt, vest/waistcoat, button-up shirt, breastplate, or chain shirt, and if so, the color.



Accessories: none, potions, book, mace, daggers, wand, axe, or short sword, and if so, the color.



Skin: color.

Eye: color.

Shirt: color.

Leg: color.

Feet: color.

Hat: no hat, cap with feather, derby, horned helm, or turban, and if so, the color.



Cloak: toggle having one or not, and if so, the color.

The initial color offerings are conventional, as shown here with the leg color presets, but can be refined to anything by clicking into the advanced color selector. Click on the color dot next to the item to color, and choose a preset, or click the small toggle button in the lower right corner to bring up the advanced color selector.



Name: type in a name. (It becomes part of the save file name.)

Movement and Controls
The game follows the usual WASD controls. Inventory can be accessed or dismissed with the E key. Other keyboard shortcuts can be found under the Controls button on the main menu. Note that the buttons on-screen in the lower left DO NOT match the keyboard shortcuts, for example, B on the screen opens the Recipe Book, but on the keyboard toggles Build Mode. The Recipe Book keyboard shortcut is K.

The main menu has the following options:

Resume returns you to your current game, and turns the clock back on.

Controls brings up a handy list of keyboard shortcuts.

Options concerns the respective volumes of music and sound effects.

Title Screen takes you to the title screen, from which you can only come back to this page.

Exit Game is the only way to exit the game from within the game.

Advancing through the game tutorial uses the space bar.

First Steps
Travellers Rest begins with a Tutorial popping up pretty much every time you do anything, which gives you useful but incomplete information. You must hit the space bar to move the tutorial box out of the center of your view, and to do whatever it has told you to do. It remains in the upper right corner of the screen until you reach another point on which it has instructions. It can be temporarily dismissed by clicking the X in the upper right corner. It will reappear when you need to do another unfamiliar task. The Tutorial can be skipped upon subsequent playthroughs.

Some windows can be dismissed by clicking their button again, others require using the Escape key. You must escape out of everything you have open before the escape key will give you the main menu.

Time -- Time passes very quickly - one second is one minute in the game and the only way to pause is to bring up the game menu (changed as of 0.4.4). Since Time Marches ON, it's a good idea to glean as much as you may from this wiki, so you won't spend in-game time on dithering. Keep an eye on the clock in the lower right corner, and an awareness of how long it takes you to accomplish your tasks. With practice you will get faster, and be able to get more done, but try to head for bed before 2:30 AM  in order to not pass out at 3. If you pass out, you won't wake until 11 AM rather than the usual 6:00.

Pause -- The only way to pause the game is to use the Escape key, which brings up the main menu (changed as of 0.4.4). This is useful for taking a breather, but doesn't allow you to see into anything inside the game. The only way to see your in-game data from outside of the game is to look at your saved game file in a text window. The path is C:users\(username)\AppData\LocalLow\Louqou\TravellersRest\GamesSaves\(game)

Equipment -- These are the items you carry with you, found on the bar at the bottom. Only one can be selected at a time. You begin with a spade, for tilling your farm, a scythe for harvesting your farm, a mop for cleaning the common room floor and, more importantly, for expelling unruly customers, and a stack of logs to use as fuel in the fireplace and eventually in the machines. Fuel can be stored in Inventory or in Chests and used from those places. Whenever you pick up something, it will be placed in your equipment bar, until the bar is full, and then will be placed in inventory.

Quests -- Along the left edge of the screen is a tab with a question mark. This lists quests as they come in, and informs you of progress on those quests. The first quest is to serve 6 customers.

Fireplace - Right click on the fireplace to open it. Make sure it has plenty of fuel, that is, twigs, logs, or coal. For a full day of serving customers, start with about 5 logs. The I/O switch toggles the fireplace on and off. Turn on the fireplace when the lights come on at 7 PM to keep your customers comfortable. Check the fuel every morning, and turn it off when all the customers are gone, before you go to bed.

Reputation/Levels - The Reputation bar at the top of the page shows your reputation going up as it happens. It's the cumulative experience of your customers, granted at the time they leave the tavern. It is what determines your level, for purposes of unlocking tavern features.

XP - XP goes toward advancing your skills at crafting or money or farming, as you choose from the XP advancement tree, which is reached by clicking on the X in the box on the lower left part of the screen.

Tech -- Next to the X button is T for opening the Tech trees. At the time of writing, tech applies to Brewing, Cooking, Building and Farming. Social and Magic tabs are marked as "Coming Soon!" when clicked on. The tech trees are where you choose what recipes to add next. They regulate what you can buy from the mailbox/catalog. To the right of the tree tabs are colored numbers which indicate your current skill points in Physical, Mental, and Nature. The point costs of each talent is indicated in its box on its tree.

Inventory -- This is where your stock is stored, especially if your equipment bar slots are full. Inventory is not immediately equipped for use, but items in it can be moved to chests or machines without needing an empty equipment bar slot. A tab on the right will organize your items so they are easier to assess quickly. Chests have these tabs as well.

Calendar -- This brings up the calendar, which is currently very limited. The current date glows yellow. Once Customer Events is unlocked at level 9, a red dot will appear a few days in advance of a visit of a Very Important customer, whose presence affects the reputation points you receive. Good food, service and cleanliness can improve points received by 3 to 5 per customer. No indication is given of which customer is the VIP.

Recipe Book -- This is opened with the B button (but the K key, not the B key). It shows you the recipes you know without having to open the applicable machinery. It applies across brewing, cooking, and building, and, when open has tabs on its right edge for you to choose the relevant recipe list.

All of the windows for the buttons in this box can be open at the same time, though they overlap one another.

Tabs coming off the right side of this button box show a green dish for the Tavern Vision view,  and a white table for entering Build Mode. Tavern Vision is convenient especially in the early game, particularly if you get flustered by noisy crowds. It points out dirt on the floor and tints very dirty tables green. Build mode allows you to place furniture, décor and machines. It toggles easily by using the B key.

Below the button box is the money tracker and the points bars for Physical, Mental and Nature. These points also appear as colored numbers next to the category tabs at the top of the Tech trees. These are what you spend to gain talents on the tech trees. The costs for each talent are shown in colored numbers representing the points needed, but some talents can't be taken until the relevant level and room are unlocked. You gain points by crafting, that is, using the tech you have.

On the lower right edge of the screen are boxes which give immediate feedback about temperature, comfort score and cleanliness.

Finally, in the lower right corner are the Open/Last/Closed indicator, the clock, and a vertical green bar.



Character Advancement
Characters advance in three principal ways (four if you count the accumulation of wealth).

Reputation
Reputation is really a measure of the fame of the tavern, not the character's personal advancement, but as each level of Reputation is attained, the character gains access to additional capabilities and items. Reputation is gained by serving customers in a pleasant environment.

Experience Points
Experience points (XP) allow the character to improve themselves by making their activities more efficient or effective. At Reputation 3, experience points may be spent to improve cleaning speed, the ability to get a good bargain, crafting speed and yield, farming yield, and bartending speed. Experience points are earned by completing quests. These include the initial getting started quests as well as the completion of special orders (available at Reputation 4).

Skill Points
Skill points allow the character to acquire additional talents from the Tech Trees which provide recipes for food, drink, and craftable furniture as well as the ability to grow different kinds of crops in the farm area. Skill points are separately accumulated for physical, mental, and nature skill abilities, and talents will typically require spending skill points of either two of these types or all three. Skill points are earned by exercising the talents one already has, by brewing drinks, cooking food, harvesting crops, or building furniture.