by Cookie » Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:20 am
Welcome to the game, Max.
There are plenty of players and the player base has been going up. If you want to know how many are on at any one time look on the bottom of the home page. There are 85 players right now for example, when it is late for the European crowd and a very dark night, so fewer than usual players.
The map is very big in Haven and Hearth and as a new player you will probably end up in the wilderness, in a random spot beside your hearth fire. Your hearth fire is portable so you can pick it up and start exploring using it for a source of light. The only three hazards in Haven and Hearth are bears, who will attack you, knock you out and take your hit points and then hopefully wander away so you can recover; water, should you be injudicious enough to get the swimming skill and ever try it out; and other players who in a few rare cases like to murder anyone they see on random impulses.
If you have friends that you want to join you create a hearth secret and tell them what it is. They tell Mr. Holmes in the character creation room and he gives them a staircase where they can join you beside your hearth fire.
Other wise to find people you can play with you can look for your neighbours on the frontier -that may require a lot of exploring, or try to meet people through the forum, or on irc.
If you haven't done so, read Jackard's guide for newbies in the "How Do I" section of the forum. I think it is the third post down. There is a sticky on it so it stays in the same relative place.
Hope you have lots of fun!