More plants

[TarjaS]

There aren't that many plants in boreal forests in winter, but there are at least two that could be added.

Juniper berries are edible in small quantities, although I know from experience that they taste really bad (had some as a child, on several occations as if one time wasn't enough). However, if slightly more complex cooking options were to be introduced, juniper berries could be used as spices.

Another one is Labrador Tea. As it's a two-year plant, it has leaves also in winter. Somewhat poisonous (bad for your kidneys), it has still been used both internally and externally. It could be another option for desinfecting and wound dressings (it has been used for both). It can also be used for tea, but I don't think there are any specific benefits in that (not to mention the use in beer, which apparently leads to a totally horrible hangover due to the effects of Labrador Tea's toxins on your central nervous system). External uses would probably be a better idea.

I was also thinking about the mechanics of introducing something poisonous in the game. It wouldn't work, if the game told you what it was, because then you could avoid it outright. There would need to be some sort of learning process, so that first you'd only be shown that you can collect the item. After you had somehow figured out what it was, a text would show its name on later occasions you find a similar item. Books would probably be the most convenient way of giving the necessary knowledge, so that only after finding a right kind of book you could recognize certain items and their uses.

[Boston123]

There is evidence that TLD actually doesn't take place in a Boreal Forest, but instead a Temperate Rain Forest.

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=4090&p=23251#p23251

[Patrick Carlson]

Thanks for both the original post and the link to the forest discussion. Lots of interesting info in there to think through.

I like the idea of learning about/decoding the existence of toxic plants. A more subtle natural threat than a blizzard, for sure.