I guess having never been one to seak the badge over the skill it made a lot of sense to me. But, understood.
Haven't started reading yet, I was too busy fighting all week;)
How are your skills?
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Le-Loup
- Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:08 pm
- Location: New England Australia
- Contact:
Re: How are your skills?
This is a skills list made up for our group members. My skills go beyond this, but this is a basic list.
Woodsrunner’s Skills.
This is a list of basic skills in which I personally would expect an 18th century woodsman or woods-woman to have some experience with.
• Flint & steel fire lighting
• Wet weather fire lighting
• Fire-bow fire lighting
• Flintlock fire lighting
• Flintlock use, service & repair
• Field dressing & butchering game
• Blade sharpening
• Tomahawk throwing
• Making rawhide
• Brain tanning
• Primitive shelter construction
• How to stay warm in winter with only one blanket
• Cordage manufacture
• Moccasin construction and repair
• Sewing
• Axe and tomahawk helve making
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Evasion
• Tracking
• Reading sign
• Woods lore
• Navigation
• Primitive trap construction & trapping
• Open fire cooking
• Fireplace construction
• Clothing manufacture
• Drying meat & other foods
• Knowledge of plant tinders & preparation
• Knowledge of native foods & preparation
• Knowledge of native plants in the area and their uses for other than tinder and food.
• Scouting
• Basic first aid
Woodsrunner’s Skills.
This is a list of basic skills in which I personally would expect an 18th century woodsman or woods-woman to have some experience with.
• Flint & steel fire lighting
• Wet weather fire lighting
• Fire-bow fire lighting
• Flintlock fire lighting
• Flintlock use, service & repair
• Field dressing & butchering game
• Blade sharpening
• Tomahawk throwing
• Making rawhide
• Brain tanning
• Primitive shelter construction
• How to stay warm in winter with only one blanket
• Cordage manufacture
• Moccasin construction and repair
• Sewing
• Axe and tomahawk helve making
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Evasion
• Tracking
• Reading sign
• Woods lore
• Navigation
• Primitive trap construction & trapping
• Open fire cooking
• Fireplace construction
• Clothing manufacture
• Drying meat & other foods
• Knowledge of plant tinders & preparation
• Knowledge of native foods & preparation
• Knowledge of native plants in the area and their uses for other than tinder and food.
• Scouting
• Basic first aid
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
Re: How are your skills?
Wow. That's quite an arsenal of skills!!! And welcome to the forums by the way!Life before Death.
Strength before Weakness.
Journey before Destination.
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Le-Loup
- Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:08 pm
- Location: New England Australia
- Contact:
Re: How are your skills?
Thank you Dirhael. It is good to share with like minded folk.Dirhael wrote:
Regards, Le Loup.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
-
Brandwyn
- Wanderer
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:25 am
- Location: Rohan (or central Florida)
- Contact:
Re: How are your skills?
Great list Le-Loup! (Although I would add horseback riding to the list – but then I AM biased that way. Grin!)
This thread reminds me of an AD&D campaign I participated in during college many, many years ago. We had to create a character on paper that represented exactly who we were in real life and could only have with us what we actually had on our person at that particular moment. It was supposed to be as if we had gone into the dorm room and walked through a door that actually teleported us into the world of AD&D.
In that, we had to inventory all of our skills and try to give them as accurate a numerical value as we could. I was pretty surprised to find out I knew way more – AND WAY LESS – than I had thought initially when I started making up my character.
It was great fun though, playing yourself in a medieval world, with the knowledge you have now and getting into character when running into monsters and other things one would not normally encounter in modern times.
Anyway, in answer to the question at hand, I grew up in the back woods of lower Michigan on a small farm (well a couple of different farms in the same general area) right up against a National Forest and I spent nearly all of my time outdoors when it wasn’t too freaking cold to be outside. I loved to follow streams up and down and study the footprints and animals, bugs and water creatures that depended on that stream for life. I spent hours sitting perfectly still, trying to make the birds and chipmunks and other animals think that I was just part of the scenery so they would come out and I could watch them. I literally got to see a full-grown male beaver come up out of the water right at my feet and stare at me, trying to figure out what I was. He was so close I could have leaned forward and touched him. Unfortunately he caught my scent or I inhaled or something and he slammed his tail down on the ground and dove into the water. But that was a very cool experience that has stuck with me my whole life. (Along with the Lynx episode that happened years later.)
So, I have a fair amount of skill in camouflage and stealth, tracking and definitely in riding. I have made fires without matches, but I sure wouldn’t say I am good at it. My parents raised rabbits for meat and so I can safely say I know how to kill, skin and gut rabbits, deer, pigs and cows – not that I could actually bring myself to do it. Oh and that goes for cleaning fish too. Done that way too many times and I don’t like catching them or eating them. Bleh!
I have sewn a variety of garments both by machine and by hand but I am not a seamstress or expert at it. I have dabbled at leatherwork in the past and am just now getting into working with it much more seriously, but I don’t know how to tan hides. I would like to learn that though.
I know how to make bowls out of porous rocks and mud, or whatever fruit shell, coconut shell, tree bark is at hand. I am good at finding water in a deciduous forest but probably wouldn’t survive in a desert or arid lands for long. I also grew up in an area in Michigan known for sink holes and quicksand pits – only they don’t look like quicksand, so I know how to watch out for those obstacles.
I know how to find food from unlikely sources such as beetles and earthworms and make candles from beeswax and string from fibrous plants like river reeds and flax stalks.
I can build shelters from deadfall and leaves, but I suspect I could learn a lot more about that. I generally have a good sense of direction and can find my way around in the woods without a compass normally.
Fishing – I am lousy at it – really terrible, but I am cool with that! Hunting I have limited experience with. I could do it if I needed to in order to survive, but until that time arrives, I am not likely to improve on this skill.
I am ok with a bow – recurve or longbow or horseman’s bow. But I could use a lot more training in other weapons and hand-to-hand fighting as well as a lot more practice shooting and throwing weapons to improve on this skill. I have had some training in self-defense. I also know how to fall off of a horse without breaking myself too much. (An important skill if one rides horses…)
Open fire cooking – ask Ringulf!
Drying food and herbs – pretty good
Plant recognition and Herb lore – decent but I need to learn more, which ties into first aid with which I am pretty good, but want to learn a lot more about herbal medicine and herbs with cooking.
I used to go out with my brother when he set traps for muskrats, so I know the principle, but I never did it myself, so I am lacking in practical application.
I also have had some training on trail marking – setting trails for others to follow deliberately, as well as hiding your trail. I am good at the former and not so good at the latter.
Overall I could use improvement in every area, but if civilization were to break down today, I like to think I have the skills to survive, if not thrive in a primitive environment. First thing I would do is head out of the city / suburb area and into the wilds – away from the bulk of the people that would be out there trying to bash my brains in and steal my stuff.
(Sorry this was so long – I have always been accused of being overly verbose.)
This thread reminds me of an AD&D campaign I participated in during college many, many years ago. We had to create a character on paper that represented exactly who we were in real life and could only have with us what we actually had on our person at that particular moment. It was supposed to be as if we had gone into the dorm room and walked through a door that actually teleported us into the world of AD&D.
In that, we had to inventory all of our skills and try to give them as accurate a numerical value as we could. I was pretty surprised to find out I knew way more – AND WAY LESS – than I had thought initially when I started making up my character.
It was great fun though, playing yourself in a medieval world, with the knowledge you have now and getting into character when running into monsters and other things one would not normally encounter in modern times.
Anyway, in answer to the question at hand, I grew up in the back woods of lower Michigan on a small farm (well a couple of different farms in the same general area) right up against a National Forest and I spent nearly all of my time outdoors when it wasn’t too freaking cold to be outside. I loved to follow streams up and down and study the footprints and animals, bugs and water creatures that depended on that stream for life. I spent hours sitting perfectly still, trying to make the birds and chipmunks and other animals think that I was just part of the scenery so they would come out and I could watch them. I literally got to see a full-grown male beaver come up out of the water right at my feet and stare at me, trying to figure out what I was. He was so close I could have leaned forward and touched him. Unfortunately he caught my scent or I inhaled or something and he slammed his tail down on the ground and dove into the water. But that was a very cool experience that has stuck with me my whole life. (Along with the Lynx episode that happened years later.)
So, I have a fair amount of skill in camouflage and stealth, tracking and definitely in riding. I have made fires without matches, but I sure wouldn’t say I am good at it. My parents raised rabbits for meat and so I can safely say I know how to kill, skin and gut rabbits, deer, pigs and cows – not that I could actually bring myself to do it. Oh and that goes for cleaning fish too. Done that way too many times and I don’t like catching them or eating them. Bleh!
I have sewn a variety of garments both by machine and by hand but I am not a seamstress or expert at it. I have dabbled at leatherwork in the past and am just now getting into working with it much more seriously, but I don’t know how to tan hides. I would like to learn that though.
I know how to make bowls out of porous rocks and mud, or whatever fruit shell, coconut shell, tree bark is at hand. I am good at finding water in a deciduous forest but probably wouldn’t survive in a desert or arid lands for long. I also grew up in an area in Michigan known for sink holes and quicksand pits – only they don’t look like quicksand, so I know how to watch out for those obstacles.
I know how to find food from unlikely sources such as beetles and earthworms and make candles from beeswax and string from fibrous plants like river reeds and flax stalks.
I can build shelters from deadfall and leaves, but I suspect I could learn a lot more about that. I generally have a good sense of direction and can find my way around in the woods without a compass normally.
Fishing – I am lousy at it – really terrible, but I am cool with that! Hunting I have limited experience with. I could do it if I needed to in order to survive, but until that time arrives, I am not likely to improve on this skill.
I am ok with a bow – recurve or longbow or horseman’s bow. But I could use a lot more training in other weapons and hand-to-hand fighting as well as a lot more practice shooting and throwing weapons to improve on this skill. I have had some training in self-defense. I also know how to fall off of a horse without breaking myself too much. (An important skill if one rides horses…)
Open fire cooking – ask Ringulf!
Drying food and herbs – pretty good
Plant recognition and Herb lore – decent but I need to learn more, which ties into first aid with which I am pretty good, but want to learn a lot more about herbal medicine and herbs with cooking.
I used to go out with my brother when he set traps for muskrats, so I know the principle, but I never did it myself, so I am lacking in practical application.
I also have had some training on trail marking – setting trails for others to follow deliberately, as well as hiding your trail. I am good at the former and not so good at the latter.
Overall I could use improvement in every area, but if civilization were to break down today, I like to think I have the skills to survive, if not thrive in a primitive environment. First thing I would do is head out of the city / suburb area and into the wilds – away from the bulk of the people that would be out there trying to bash my brains in and steal my stuff.
(Sorry this was so long – I have always been accused of being overly verbose.)
Brandwyn
"They are dangerous at both ends, and - crafty - in the middle." Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows (Robert Downey Jr. in character on the subject of Horses)
"They are dangerous at both ends, and - crafty - in the middle." Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows (Robert Downey Jr. in character on the subject of Horses)
Re: How are your skills?
What I never said a word!
As for skills, I think my Beloved is far too modest, she always amazes me with the tremendous amount of outdoor and period knowlege she has and utilizes frequently. She is also an artisan of rare quality in many discaplines, is great with all types of animals not just horses, though this area is quite thrilling to see her do. (she shoots better from a moving horse than I do on the ground)And yes, she is a formadble chef in the kitchen or over an open fire, makes no difference. She had half the kingdom drooling for more at the Moot, but they all had to get in line behind me!
As for skills, I think my Beloved is far too modest, she always amazes me with the tremendous amount of outdoor and period knowlege she has and utilizes frequently. She is also an artisan of rare quality in many discaplines, is great with all types of animals not just horses, though this area is quite thrilling to see her do. (she shoots better from a moving horse than I do on the ground)And yes, she is a formadble chef in the kitchen or over an open fire, makes no difference. She had half the kingdom drooling for more at the Moot, but they all had to get in line behind me!
Last edited by Ringulf on Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Woodsman, I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks, And I fire my bow through the day.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead! We'll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks, And I fire my bow through the day.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead! We'll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
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RangerKellen
- Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
- Posts: 312
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:02 pm
- Location: Oklahoma
Re: How are your skills?
This looks like a good thread for gathering information that I can practice! Thanks!
BTW- My skills aren't too good in most of those categories!
BTW- My skills aren't too good in most of those categories!
"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
-J.R.R. Tolkien
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Le-Loup
- Silent Watcher over the Peaceful Lands
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:08 pm
- Location: New England Australia
- Contact:
Re: How are your skills?
Woodsrunner’s Skills.
This is a list of basic skills in which I personally would expect an 18th century woodsman or woods-woman to have some experience with.
• Flint & steel fire lighting
• Wet weather fire lighting
• Fire-bow fire lighting
• Flintlock fire lighting
• Flintlock use, service & repair
• Field dressing & butchering game
• Blade sharpening
• Tomahawk throwing
• Making rawhide
• Brain tanning
• Primitive shelter construction
• How to stay warm in winter with only one blanket
• Cordage manufacture
• Moccasin construction and repair
• Sewing
• Axe and tomahawk helve making
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Evasion
• Tracking
• Reading sign
• Woods lore
• Navigation
• Primitive trap construction & trapping
• Open fire cooking
• Fireplace construction
• Clothing manufacture
• Drying meat & other foods
• Knowledge of plant tinders & preparation
• Knowledge of native foods & preparation
• Knowledge of native plants in the area and their uses for other than tinder and food.
• Scouting
• Basic first aid
This is the list I made up for the woodsrunners in our group. I listed no skills that I myself am not proficient in. Having said that, there is always more to learn, improvements to be made. Some of these will not apply to Rangers on this forum, muzzle-loading skills for instance, but the other skills I think should be pretty standard for one that wishes to live, travel and survive in the outdoors.
Regards, Keith.
This is a list of basic skills in which I personally would expect an 18th century woodsman or woods-woman to have some experience with.
• Flint & steel fire lighting
• Wet weather fire lighting
• Fire-bow fire lighting
• Flintlock fire lighting
• Flintlock use, service & repair
• Field dressing & butchering game
• Blade sharpening
• Tomahawk throwing
• Making rawhide
• Brain tanning
• Primitive shelter construction
• How to stay warm in winter with only one blanket
• Cordage manufacture
• Moccasin construction and repair
• Sewing
• Axe and tomahawk helve making
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Evasion
• Tracking
• Reading sign
• Woods lore
• Navigation
• Primitive trap construction & trapping
• Open fire cooking
• Fireplace construction
• Clothing manufacture
• Drying meat & other foods
• Knowledge of plant tinders & preparation
• Knowledge of native foods & preparation
• Knowledge of native plants in the area and their uses for other than tinder and food.
• Scouting
• Basic first aid
This is the list I made up for the woodsrunners in our group. I listed no skills that I myself am not proficient in. Having said that, there is always more to learn, improvements to be made. Some of these will not apply to Rangers on this forum, muzzle-loading skills for instance, but the other skills I think should be pretty standard for one that wishes to live, travel and survive in the outdoors.
Regards, Keith.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.