Getting started
Your first hours
From waking in Privateer's Hold to a bow in your hands and coin in your purse.
Every character wakes in Privateer’s Hold. Online, that dungeon is yours alone; nobody else is in it. Everything after it is shared with other players.
Before you take a step
- Open your pack with F6 and see what you have. By default your skills decided your starting kit (see Starting gear), and everyone has an iron dagger. Equip the weapon your best skill gave you, or any bow and arrows from your history answers, otherwise the dagger.
- Draw your weapon. The key is Z on a US keyboard but Y on a German-style (QWERTZ) one, because the game reads where the key sits, not what is printed on it. See Controls.
- Quicksave with F9 (offline). Get into the habit before every fight.
Clearing Privateer’s Hold
- Crouch with C as you move. Crouching is how you sneak, and it trains Stealth for free.
- Click every locked door. A failed attempt still trains Lockpicking.
- Fight rats and bats with whatever you have, and keep spells, arrows or anything else you run out of for enemies that hit hard.
- Take everything you can carry. It is your first money.
Where to go when you get out
Open the travel map with V. Online, the big cluster of player names on the southern coast of the Daggerfall region is Daggerfall city, the busiest hub. Travel there from the map. See Travel and horses for how travel works.
If you would rather start somewhere quiet, any nearby town with a General Store, a Pawn Shop and a weaponsmith will do.
Your shopping list
| Need | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sell your loot | General Store or Pawn Shop | Starting money |
| A weapon that suits your skills | Weaponsmith | A bow also needs 50 or more arrows, which are used up as you shoot |
| Rations and a Campfire | General Store or Pawn Shop (always stocked) | Food, and a place to rest and cook |
| A bed | Tavern | Rest and heal |
Then start earning
- Ask for work in shops and taverns (talk with F).
- Keep using your primary skills: they are what levels you up. See Levelling and skills.
- Ignore the main quest letter for a while. Nothing bad happens if you take your time.
When you level, open the character sheet with F5. The level-up only happens when you look at it. See why.
Look it up
- What the first monsters can do:
Rat and 
Giant Bat. - What you can buy and sell: Items.
- Once you have spare gold, see Banking, loans and letters of credit.
Category: Getting started