Flavour: umbrellas and an early quest.
My day is about to evaporate so I'll just record this here over my cereal.
I hadn't given much thought to weather effects in FOE, unlike Soulthieves where weather and seasons are important factors. FOE doesn't have a calendar, only a day counter, and the Land of Mirth isn't specifically a volcanic island in a polar sea, having an even more contrived topography. I hadn't even given serious consideration to rain.
But there should probably be rain. And, along with that, the risk of water damage at random times while you're in the overworld.
So you should have an umbrella.
I already intended to have umbrellas in Soulthieves, so this isn't very far-flung. This in fact gives me a chance to work out how I want umbrellas to behave. An umbrella has to be equipped in your Tool slot, and even when you equip it, you have to activate it with the use command to open it. I'm thinking there might be a random chance that a gust of wind will destroy your umbrella. It wouldn't be an umbrella otherwise. You could also use umbrellas elsewhere, for example to protect your items against water-based attacks. But in combat your open umbrella might get destroyed, too.
If there will be umbrellas, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a way to acquire one early on. It would be pretty cruel otherwise (even if appropriate for a roguelike). So I added a new NPC to Chuckleburg, Maeve the village backbencher and the wife of the village leader, Russell. She assigns the fresh meat quest: go get her some fresh meat for dinner. This gives you a chance to practise your Hunting skill some and, if you're a noob, to learn some basic combat mechanics and how to initiate hostilities with otherwise nonhostile creatures. It'll also teach you about food decay and force you to learn how to economize your time to return with the corpse before it starts to rot. She gives you 24 hours to accomplish this, which seems generous until you realize your Hunting skill would be rather low that early in the game, so the chances of your kills yielding corpses will also be low.
Your reward will vary depending on the quality of the kill. She'll give you a little money if you bring her a squirrel or a chipmunk, some bona fide bush meat. She'll give you a little more for a whippoorwill, mostly because there's a little more meat. A rabbit is better, though, and she'll give you twice as much money.
If you want the better prizes, you have to bring back better meat. If you bring her a turkey, she'll give you an umbrella. If you bag a deer, she'll give you an artifact umbrella, the Hurricane Holiday. It's an umbrella, yes, but it's indestructible. Obviously the turkey and especially the deer are correspondingly the hardest kills, and they won't go down without a fight. If you intend to get the deer, you may have to gain experience elsewhere before accepting this quest. You only have 24 hours, after all. Luckily I give you plenty of simple quests between Chuckleburg and Gigglary to help you get that experience. Of course, successful completion of the fresh meat quest will yield experience as well.
How does meat translate into umbrella? Don't overthink it. It's an early quest. It doesn't have to make the most sense. It just has to provide what you need. Besides, she's your neighbour, so it's all a give and take with the hero of Mirth. In any case, you're okay with it, because for an old lady she's pretty hot. (Yes, you think so even if you're a girl.)
Hanyway, gotta go.
I hadn't given much thought to weather effects in FOE, unlike Soulthieves where weather and seasons are important factors. FOE doesn't have a calendar, only a day counter, and the Land of Mirth isn't specifically a volcanic island in a polar sea, having an even more contrived topography. I hadn't even given serious consideration to rain.
But there should probably be rain. And, along with that, the risk of water damage at random times while you're in the overworld.
So you should have an umbrella.
I already intended to have umbrellas in Soulthieves, so this isn't very far-flung. This in fact gives me a chance to work out how I want umbrellas to behave. An umbrella has to be equipped in your Tool slot, and even when you equip it, you have to activate it with the use command to open it. I'm thinking there might be a random chance that a gust of wind will destroy your umbrella. It wouldn't be an umbrella otherwise. You could also use umbrellas elsewhere, for example to protect your items against water-based attacks. But in combat your open umbrella might get destroyed, too.
If there will be umbrellas, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a way to acquire one early on. It would be pretty cruel otherwise (even if appropriate for a roguelike). So I added a new NPC to Chuckleburg, Maeve the village backbencher and the wife of the village leader, Russell. She assigns the fresh meat quest: go get her some fresh meat for dinner. This gives you a chance to practise your Hunting skill some and, if you're a noob, to learn some basic combat mechanics and how to initiate hostilities with otherwise nonhostile creatures. It'll also teach you about food decay and force you to learn how to economize your time to return with the corpse before it starts to rot. She gives you 24 hours to accomplish this, which seems generous until you realize your Hunting skill would be rather low that early in the game, so the chances of your kills yielding corpses will also be low.
Your reward will vary depending on the quality of the kill. She'll give you a little money if you bring her a squirrel or a chipmunk, some bona fide bush meat. She'll give you a little more for a whippoorwill, mostly because there's a little more meat. A rabbit is better, though, and she'll give you twice as much money.
If you want the better prizes, you have to bring back better meat. If you bring her a turkey, she'll give you an umbrella. If you bag a deer, she'll give you an artifact umbrella, the Hurricane Holiday. It's an umbrella, yes, but it's indestructible. Obviously the turkey and especially the deer are correspondingly the hardest kills, and they won't go down without a fight. If you intend to get the deer, you may have to gain experience elsewhere before accepting this quest. You only have 24 hours, after all. Luckily I give you plenty of simple quests between Chuckleburg and Gigglary to help you get that experience. Of course, successful completion of the fresh meat quest will yield experience as well.
How does meat translate into umbrella? Don't overthink it. It's an early quest. It doesn't have to make the most sense. It just has to provide what you need. Besides, she's your neighbour, so it's all a give and take with the hero of Mirth. In any case, you're okay with it, because for an old lady she's pretty hot. (Yes, you think so even if you're a girl.)
Hanyway, gotta go.