Your family and animals in Mountain Shadow
Your family in Mountain Shadow has eight people: Father, Mother and six children. The eldest child is 13 or 14 at the start and the youngest is 3. The youngest tells the stories in your Story Book. You also bring two goats, and later a pup comes to the door. Nobody in the family ever dies or gets hurt: the worst that can happen is a season in bed.
Who is in the family?
| Who | Age at the start | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Father | 40 | Every job |
| Mother | 37 | Every job |
| The eldest child | 13 or 14 | Every job, like a grown-up |
| Four middle children | Between the eldest and the youngest, all different | Light jobs from 7, ice fishing from 10, every job from 13 |
| The youngest child ("the little one") | 3 | Animals and Rest |
The children's names and your family name are drawn new in every game. So are the children's ages in the middle, whether each child is a boy or a girl, and each person's favourite job.
What can children do at each age?
| Age | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Under 7 | Animals, Rest |
| 7 to 9 | Also Fish, Berries, Wood, Plant, Dig potatoes, Hay, Build (with a grown-up), Visit, Watch |
| 10 to 12 | Also Ice fish |
| 13 and older | Also Fell trees and Traps. Works at full speed and can lead a building |
A child works at 70 % of a grown-up's speed, and at 50 % when making hay. If you pick a job that is too heavy, the ring says When you are bigger!. Every job is on the jobs page.
Favourite jobs and stars
Tap a person to open their card. It shows what they are doing, whether they are Warm or Cold, Full of energy or Tired, their stars and "Loves:" with their favourite job.
- Favourite job: one of Fish, Wood, Berries, Hay, Animals, Watch, Build, Plant or Visit. They do it 25 % faster.
- Stars: a person earns up to 3 stars in a job by doing it a lot: after 1, 3 and 6 minutes of work in total. Each star makes them 10 % faster at that job.
So the same person on the same job, season after season, gets better and better.
Tired and in bed
| Condition | What it means |
|---|---|
| Full of energy | Works at full speed |
| Tired | Works at 60 % speed |
| In bed | Rests for a season and can't work |
What makes someone tired?
- Cold. In a cold season, a person who works far from the warm home slowly gets cold. After about 15 seconds of the coldest weather, they turn tired. See cold days and the big storm.
- Not enough food or wood. If the food or the firewood runs out at the end of a season and help is needed, everyone gets one step more tired. Bark bread alone does not make anyone tired.
What makes them well again?
- Rest: a tired person who rests for at least half a season is well again.
- A good season: when the piles were enough, everyone gets one step better at the end of the season. With a Sauna, two steps.
Growing up
At every sun festival, everyone in the family is a year older. The festival tells you, for example, that the little one "is now 4 years old!". When a child turns 13, they can do every job, but they also eat like a grown-up: 2 food in each season instead of 1. The winter piles grow with them.
Your animals
| Animal | How it comes | Hay in each cold season | Gives in a full season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goat (2 at the start) | Walks with you on the trek | 1 | 2 milk |
| Dog (the pup) | A story: a pup scratches at the door | None | A friend |
| Cow | A story: a cow walks all the way from Åsele | 3 | 5 milk |
| Hen | A story, in some games | None | 1 egg |
- Milk only comes when someone does the Animals job.
- In the cold seasons, milk only comes if you have a Barn.
- Without a barn, the animals eat 25 % more hay in the cold.
Tap an animal to see its needs: Hay to eat, Someone to look after it and A warm barn. A tick shows each need that is met.
The pup
In the first dark winter or the year after, a thin grey pup scratches at the door. It gets a name, and it shows up in many stories after that. A cow from Åsele comes in a story too, and in some games hens come as well. Read more in the Story Book.
See also
- Jobs: what each person can do.
- Buildings: the barn, the sauna and a warm home.
- Tips for new settlers: who should do what.
- More farm animals? See the Bloom Haven guide. More northern life? The Lofoten Catch guide.
- Meet your family: play Mountain Shadow.
