Book of Travels: Character Creation Guide

This guide will take you through the steps of character creation for Book of Travels in the same order as they appear in-game, showing you what to expect and filling you in on what the choices mean and what effects they’ll have. Before we get into that, let me cover a few basics.

The game currently operates in four regions; US West, US East, Asia and Europe. Each character is locked to a region but can access any server in that region. Servers are small and temporary so don’t worry if you can’t find one with a familiar name. If you aim to play with friends, you’ll need to create characters in the same region and, for any given session, choose the same server to play on.

Your character starts at level one and will level up via experience as in many other games. For each level, your character has one knowledge point. Knowledge points are used to memorise skills from your skill book, making them available for use. You can have as many skills in your skill book as you like but the amount of skills you can have available at any time is limited by the amount of knowledge points you have. While you can freely change which skills are memorised, some skills level up through use and removing them from memory loses this progress.

The first and foremost choice to make when creating a new character is that of the Form. The concept of the Form in Book of Travels is somewhat analogous to the concept of character classes in other games in that your Form determines some things about your character’s appearance, personality and capabilities. Unlike the average RPG, however, Forms are broader, more varied and encourage much deeper engagement so far as role playing is concerned.

Currently the game includes twelve Forms from the game’s primary race; Asken Folk. Other Forms and races will eventually be added to the game. Each Form has a Wind Affinity and two associated Talents. There are four Winds; North, East, West and South. Most skills in the game are associated with one of these Winds and your character can much more easily memorise skills of the Wind for which they have Affinity. There are four Talents; Social, Spiritual, Mechanical and Physical. Talents are used to complete Endeavours which are tasks that require a collaborative skill check. You can read more about Winds and Talents in the Skills section of this guide.

In addition to determining your Wind Affinity and preferred Talents, your Form determines your character’s base appearance as well as the available selection of personality traits and starting skills you get to choose from in later steps of the creation process.

The Goodward has a pure heart and simple tastes. Harmony and safety are important factors to a Goodward and they enjoy providing such happiness to others. But this is also a character whose curiosity may lead them far from the calm and order they so enjoy.

Somewhat eccentric, The Reachant naturally absorbs the wisdom of the world and is conscientious in their collection of truths and teachings. Usually restless, their journey is one of spirituality and personal betterment, and they enjoy mastering crafts.

The Gleaner is resourceful and self-reliant – their independence knows no laws and may take a rogue turn. Quick wits and self-sufficiency make The Gleaner a collector of both material and immaterial wealth, but whether they gauge the value of what is amassed is another matter entirely.

Tempering strength with kindness and kindness with strength, The Enfolder’s guardianship and servitude never detract from their grace and individuality. Their might comes with the sensitivity of one much invested in their kind.

While The Crested shows no vanity, they are naturally dignified and uninhibited about their sophisticated ways. Their ease and clear mindedness finds them accomplished in many arts and well placed to succeed in all kinds of company.

The Ribboned’s love of home and nature manifests a spirituality that makes profound connections with all things living. Home and community are where The Ribboned is most energised, but their grounded, centred soul means they take both in heart when travelling.

Likeability is not The Larker’s goal but merry times are in the offing when The Larker is around. Adventures come in many forms and are rarely serious – so long as leisure and idle times abound, a Larker’s day is as it should be.

The Veiled is at once inconspicuous and remarkable, holding to the edges of activity where they absorb goings-on from a place of detachment and stillness. But obscurity comes with mystique, the allure of which makes this solitary watcher an enigmatic type with a quiet penchant for power.

The Mirther is creative and embodies honesty and youth. They echo rural Romantic archetypes such as shepherds, wandering musicians and artists. They are a daydreamer and find much mirth in or out of company.

The Dimmed is an older, wiser type whose light shines less brightly. Their stoic attitude in company does not temper their thirst for exploration, especially when the quest is enlightenment.

The Mosswalker has feet that are deep in the earth and finds magic in all things mundane. They live a relatively ordinary life but their values are wide and true, making them something of an unconventional, Bohemian type.

Striding and far from domestic, The Weatherer’s spirit is forged by exposure to elements literal and metaphorical. Their unequivocal thinking and broad experience finds them well placed in exploration and adventure.

Player Character images in this section supplied by a contributor.

The next choice to make concerns the upbringing of your character. In what kind of environment were they raised? There are fourteen available backgrounds as explained by the following image.

Backgrounds don’t appear to have any game-play consequences yet but may in the future. On this screen you can also choose an age and gender and compose a more detailed background story for your character.

Book of Travels has seventy different personality traits to choose from but your available selections will be tightly constrained by your choice of Form. Every character must have two positive traits and one negative trait. Each trait has a specific in-game effect but some of these effects are still in development. Be sure to check in-game to see whether your chosen traits will work.

Athletic

• You lead a life of physical conditioning and activity – you move quicker in water than other folk.

Calm

• You excel at managing your energy and tend to choose the middle ground rather than all-or-nothing solutions – you gain more energy from food and drink than other folk.

Careful

• You have a risk-averse nature and a habit of keeping your guard up – you get a notion when dangers draw close.

Caring

• You show genuine concern and empathy for others – your healing of those others than yourself is uncommonly potent.

Charmful

• You have a way of presenting yourself in a pleasant and delightful manner – slightly better trading. (increase value of own goods)

Contemplative

• You devote yourself to intellectual and spiritual meditation – you gain knowledge from losing a life petal in combat.

Creative

• Yours is an imaginative mind with a knack for finding original ideas to solve problems – you consume less reagents for Knots that do not share your wind affinity.

Cryptic

• Others find your ways mysterious and puzzling – the effects from the tea you brew last a bit longer than normal.

Cunning

• You never let your decisions get clouded by emotion or prejudice – you get a notion when night is approaching.

Eager

• Yours is an enthusiastic soul that is more than willing to go the extra distance – you can run faster than other folk.

Empathic

• You are good at comprehending the feelings and needs of others – you’re accepted into a party a little faster than other folk.

Focused

• You are able to fully concentrate on the task at hand – you brew tea quicker than other folk.

Forgiving

• You believe that everyone deserves not only a second chance, but a third one as well – you gain knowledge when someone leaves your group.

Humble

• You appear modest in the way you present yourself to others – you attract less attention from robbers.

Imaginative

• Your soul breathes creativity and inventiveness – you get a notion when a Sefra is near.

Learned

• Dedication to study, research or other supernatural means grant you superior general knowledge – you retain some of the knowledge of honed skills when you forget them.

Lucky

• When things come down to dumb luck, things tend to swing your way – you get slightly better rolls when playing Passage.

Observant

• You are naturally adept at observing your surroundings – you can see collectibles glimmer more often.

Optimistic

• In spite of the odd setback, your heart is committed to hope and progress – you gain even more knowledge when winning against bad odds.

Passionate

• Your ‘Can Do!’ attitude towards your companions removes many obstacles in your way – you and your companions run faster when members of a party.

Patient

• You are willing to wait for what you need – you have a chance to catch better fish.

Peaceful

• Guided by your inner compass, you accept yourself and the world around you as they are – when resting by a fire, you gain more energy than other folk.

Practical

• You know how to prioritise and disregard useless and unimportant details for the sake of reaching more important goals – you travel faster on roads than other folk.

Reflective

• You can contemplate for days, dissecting each thought to get to the truth – for a time after leaving a group, you gain more knowledge.

Relentless

• You are untiringly committed to the task at hand and never accept failure as an option – your ghost form is visible for longer after using emotes.

Respectful

• You are convinced of everybody’s equal worth – you have a higher chance of receiving a blessing from endeavours.

Restrained

• You may use fewer reagents to brew tea of your own wind affinity.

Romantic

• You value the twosome ideal greatly, and strive to come as close as possible to fulfilling it – you gain more knowledge in parties of two.

Sensitive

• You are very sensitive to the presence and judgement of others – you can see ghosts on the map.

Stoic

• You are uncommonly resilient and don’t let strife or temptation unbalance you – you lose less energy from bad weather.

Subtle

• Your wily ways make you challenging for others to detect or describe – enemies have a harder time seeing you from a distance.

Thorough

• You have developed painstaking attention to detail – you have a chance to receive more Reagents when picking them.

Tough

• You have a rare ability to tolerate adverse conditions without flagging – you have slightly more energy than common folk.

Trusting

• You have a high tolerance for ambiguity and expect folk to be dependable and predictable – the healing you receive from others has greater effect.

Venturesome

• You decide for yourself when to seek new experiences, rather than following ways of the pack – you lose less energy from walking.

Vigilant

• You are constantly on the lookout for danger or opportunity – you can see enemies’ engage radius.

Arrogant

• You feel an excessive need to elevate yourself above others – you can’t see an enemy’s stats until starting combat.

Asthma

• You sometimes suffer crippling coughing attacks – you become slowed or stopped for a short duration if the stamina bar is depleted.

Bad Barterer

• You are clueless when it comes to haggling for goods – trading is more expensive when pressing the “suggest trade” button.

Bad Packer

• You are unable to wrap your head around the art of packing your bag effectively – stacks of belongings can hold fewer of the same item in your inventory.

Bad Sight

• You suffer from poor eyesight – you can’t see collectibles glimmering at all.

Dependent

• You are overly reliant on others to meet your emotional and physical needs – you have slightly less force when not a member of a party.

Disoriented

• You are prone to losing your bearings and easily get lost – you re-spawn further away from where you fainted or fled combat if you are not part of a group.

Dyslectic

• Yuo hve dififculty reding and lydyendifying how speach soonds realate to lettters and woards – kNots and leattears are scrabmbled wahen reeding.

Fast Talker

• You tend to relate a lot of information in a short time – your emotes are visible for a shorter time than normal.

Fear of Death

• You fear death much more than folk in general – you get dealt a fear effect de-buff card when you are on your last life.

Fear of Ghosts

• Spirits from beyond holds nothing but terror for you – you get dealt a fear effect debuff card after seeing a ghost.

Fear of the Dark

• For you, every night is a valley of fear – you lose more energy at night.

Forgetful

• You are absent-minded and easily distracted – your pin notes on the map sometimes appear blank.

Gluttony

• You are devoted to eating and drinking in excess – food replaces slightly less energy.

Grumpy

• You are bad-tempered and gruff – it takes longer than normal to join groups.

Insecure

• You suffer from poor confidence and feelings of low self-worth – enemy strengths signal greater threats than that of actual reality.

Lonely

• You have a deep need for connection with others – you will trigger sad emotes at random when there are no folk around to connect with.

Messy

• You lack any sense of order and keep your belongings in a cluttered mess – items do not always automatically sort themselves into stacks of the same item when collected.

Moody

• You are an incurable grumbler – when you are low on energy you are unable to use positive emotes.

Negligent

• You only focus on keeping track of the most important things in life – you may lose an item of the lowest quality when fainting.

Picky Eater

• You refuse to eat anything but the finest fare – you are unable to eat low-quality food.

Self-Sacrificing

• Carrying the burdens of others comes naturally to you – you gain a little less energy when eating or drinking as a member of a party, while your party members get a little bit more.

Shy

• Getting attention fills you with dread of embarrassing yourself – your emote icons are smaller than others.

Sleepyhead

• Waking up is a long and dreary process for you – you move sluggishly, and cannot run after logging in or after resting.

Sore Loser

• You take every setback as a personal affront – after fainting, you lose the ability to run and use any other emote than anger for a short time. Resting causes this effect to diminish faster.

Stickler

• You are physically unable to leave a mess unsorted – you may only place items next to each other in your pack.

Stiff

• Your body needs some time to warm up before reaching full capacity – running ramps up instead of being instant.

Tense

• You have a hard time relaxing – you gain regain less endurance by resting.

Travel Sick

• Travelling in a rocky or wavy motion does not agree with you – you lose energy when riding a boat or train.

Uncaring

• Can’t turn the “seeing a friend die”-card to a positive buff.

Unorganized

• Your time is too valuable to waste on sorting your belongings – objects may randomly move around in your pack.

Wasteful

• You don’t measure things in ones and twos, you use pinches or handfuls – you have a chance of using extra reagents or edibles with no additional bonus.

Weak

• Heavy burdens oppress you more than other folk – wearing metal armor gives you more Burden.

Weak Framed

• Your physical frame is just not built as solidly as other folks’ – you respawn with less energy after fleeing from combat or fainting.

At this point you must choose a Skill to start with and assign a bonus point to one of your Talents. Your Talents have a base score of 1 and you can add 1 to either of the Talents associated with your chosen Form. The set of Skills you get to choose from are also determined by your Form and will belong to the Wind Affinity of that Form.

The starter selection for the West Wind (Larker, Veiled, Mirther) is Conceal Identity, Glinted Lamp and Align. Conceal Identity hides your name from others. Glinted Lamp creates a light source. Align makes ghosts visible.

The starter selection for the North Wind (Ribboned, Crested, Reachant) is Mystic’s Arm, Read Hearts and Deep Rest. The Mystic’s Arm is for pointing things out to people. Read Hearts tells you someone’s personality traits. Deep Rest is great for recovering energy.

The starter selection for the East Wind (Goodward, Dimmed, Mosswalker) is Assemble Fireplace, Affinity for Water, and Guiding Spark: Shelter. Assemble Fireplace does just that.
Affinity for Water recovers energy when wet. Guiding Spark: Shelter indicates nearby shelter.

The starter selection for the South Wind (Gleaner, Weatherer, Enfolder) is Mind of the Tactician, Read Strengths and Tricks of the Messenger. Mind of the Tactician improves your Ward when you have allies. Read Strengths tells you someone’s Force and Ward. Tricks of the Messenger lets you move faster on roads.

Don’t worry too much about this choice. These skills are all fairly easy to obtain once you start playing.

Skills are divided into a number of categories: Abilities, Actions, Passives, Knots and Teas. Most of these skills are categorised according to Wind Affinity and have an associated cost in terms of learning points for memorisation.
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Actions are the generic skills that every character can do; resting, initiating combat and raising or lowering a hood. Abilities are mundane skills such as building a fireplace, catching a fish or whistling a tune. Passives are skills that are always active. Passive skills include things like knowledge of language, proficiency with certain kinds of equipment or even an eye for trade.
Teas are a lot like potions. In order to brew a tea, you need a fireplace, the correct reagents and, of course, to have memorised the skill for making that particular tea. Some teas quickly restore energy or improve your stamina regeneration while many others grant long-lasting buffs or other useful on-going effects.

Knots are a lot like conventional spells. They can be used quickly, providing you have the right reagents, and take effect right away. Knots can have a very broad range of effects; some mundane, some fanciful, some so common as to be safe while yet others are absurd and experimental.

Eastern Wind Skills tend to involve interaction with nature. This includes skills about surviving in the wilds, animal transformations, camouflage and encouraging growth.
Northern Wind Skills tend to involve interaction with allies. This includes skills about understanding others, internal strength, healing and energy recovery.
Western Wind Skills tend to involve interaction with spirits. This includes skills about lighting the darkness, hearing the silent and seeing the invisible but also skills about disguising the self.
Southern Wind Skills tend to involve interaction with adversaries. This includes skills about trading, combat with weapons and combat with magic.

Here simply choose an eye colour and voice. Eye colours don’t do much right now but are intended to be a game-play element at some point. Your character’s voice will be heard by other players when you greet them by clicking the middle mouse button. You can also compose additional information about your character’s appearance but this won’t be visible to others.

Now it’s time to roll for your starting gear. Click the big round dice button to generate a new set of gear. Clothing will appear equipped on the left while food and other items will appear in the inventory panel in the bottom right. You can examine an item by right-clicking it and you can drag the item panel to a different place on the screen via the squares icon in the top left. Generate new gear as often as you like. If you find something you like but want to keep looking, you can store the set by clicking the ‘store’ button and retrieve it later by clicking the ‘recall’ button. Don’t worry too much about your starting gear though as new equipment is easy to obtain. Once you’re satisfied with what you have, click the ‘next’ button to go on to the next step.

Equipment can modify talents, skills, stats and carrying capacity.

• The talents are Spirituality, Physicality, Sociality and Mechanics. Talents are required to complete endeavours such as shifting a heavy stone, repairing a broken machine or convincing someone to share information with you.
• The stats are Force, Ward, Speed and Burden. Force represents how much damage you do in combat. Ward represents how much damage you can tolerate before taking a wound. Speed influences how fast you move, strike and cast spells. Burden weighs you down, counteracting your speed.
• Some items can grant abilities but these are rare and hard to find.
• Your default inventory has 16 slots for items but many items can extend this storage space. Some items will increase your “bag size”, granting you additional sets of 16 slots. Other items come with pockets. Pockets are secret slots that can store items out of sight from bandits.

Just as you did with equipment, use the dice buttons to randomly select a first name and last name from the predefined name list. As before, you can store a name you like if you want to keep looking and recall it later. Characters in the game can only have names composed in this way – it prevents anyone having their immersion broken by encountering xfioramaster18 or PM_ME_UR_FEET. You can, however, give your character whatever nickname you like.

Once you have finished creating your character, click the ‘Finish’ button. A dark window will appear to ask you how you’d like to begin your journey. You must select one of the four options in the top half of the window and one of the available directions from the bottom half of the window. You must select a direction even if only one direction is available. Once you have made your selections, the ‘Proceed’ button will light up and you’ll be ready to begin. Click ‘Proceed’ to see an introductory story scene and be spawned into the world.

Once you have finished creating your character, click the ‘Finish’ button. If you intend to journey with a friend or two, this is the time to coordinate your group. Once you click the ‘Finish’ button, a dark window will appear and ask you how you’d like to begin your journey. If you intend to spawn with your friends, you all need to make the same selections on this screen. You also all need to have created your characters in the same region and have selected the same server. Once you have made your selections, the ‘Proceed’ button will light up and you’ll be ready to begin. Click ‘Proceed’ to see an introductory story scene and be spawned into the world. If you have done this correctly, your friends will be nearby and you’ll automatically form a party with them.

• Information you compose about your Background, Personality or Appearance during character creation can be edited after you start playing any time you visit a Nomad’s Rest.

Force – Your ability to make strikes matter.
Ward – Your ability to tolerate strikes received.
Speed – How quickly you move and strike.
Burden – The cumulative weight of your suffering.

Form – The archetype of a character.
Talent – Without talent, one cannot hope to succeed in Endeavours.
Endeavour – A feat requiring a collaborative skill check.
Wind Affinity – A favourite Wind favours you in return.
Asken Folk – The most common race of the Braided Shore.
Skills – Actions, Abilities, Passives, Knots and Teas.

Actions – Resting, preparing for combat or shifting your hood.
Abilities – The most mundane of skills.
Passives – These skills are always active.
Knots – Release a knot to cast a spell for immediate effect.
Teas – Brew and drink a tea to acquire an ongoing effect.

Spiritual – A talent for mystical interactions such as communing with ghosts.
Social – A talent for interpersonal interactions such as convincing people to like you.
Mechanical – A talent for complicated interactions such as solving puzzles.
Physical – A talent for brute interactions such as lifting stones.

Energy – When you run out of Energy, you lose a Life Petal.
Stamina – When you run out of Stamina, you can no longer run.
Life Petal – When you run out of Life Petals, you die.
Reagent – An ingredient for a knot or tea.