Travelling At Night Starter builds for the Introduction demo

These starter builds are teaching tools for Travelling At Night’s public demo—Antibes and Sanitarium Aujourd’hui, live since 10 August 2026. Each package pairs a Career, a primary Passion, and three priority skills. They assume combat-free play, Vincent as the only demo companion, and a goal of learning crafting, outfits, Footnotes, Dread, and Trace before you board the train toward Mimata.

1) Clinic Compass — Physician / Compassion / Dignity–Spivvery–Curiosity skills

Thesis: Be taken seriously inside the sanitarium while staying human.

Invest Memories into Dignity first, Spivvery second, and an occult flex (Skolekosophy or Nyctodromy) third once clinic talks stabilise. Curiosity can share Passion space with Compassion if Footnotes pull you to diagnose the cosmic. Wear Respectable outfits for Dr Aubiere and Fraser Strathcoyne; swap for weather-wise coats in Riviera rain. Recruit Vincent as soon as story allows—he is an old Légion comrade in orderly whites and aids rolls. Craft Dread-management rites when doom climbs. This is the gentlest first clear for players new to Secret Histories.

2) Riviera Notebook — Writer / Whimsy or Melancholy / Sophistication–Charm–Spivvery

Thesis: Talk your way through Antibes’ books, cafés, and poets.

Prioritise Sophistication and Charm; keep Spivvery alive so you eat. Visit Librairie des Heures, Chez Felix Pompon, Jean Bernard, Leopold, Philomele, and Zélia without turning every chat into a Trace spike. Use Footnotes to expand literary Memories. Whimsy keeps gloom playful; Melancholy leans haunted. Skip heavy Conjurer crafts until a second run unless a Nenah lead demands them. Ideal for Disco-like fans who want dialogue density first.

3) Threshold Clerk — Exorcist / Sorrow / Skolekosophy–Dignity–Bosk

Thesis: Treat the unclean as work, with church as home base.

Live around St Reparata and Father Jaume. Bank Skolekosophy early, Dignity for institutional doors, Bosk or Nyctodromy for liminal weirdness. Holy-aspect crafting should be on your checklist. Expand painful Footnotes carefully—Sorrow plus trauma can raise Dread. This build teaches occult literacy without Appetite chaos. Pair with the manage Dread guide from hour one.

4) Midnight Marketeer — Conjurer / Appetite / Nyctodromy–Spivvery–Bosk

Thesis: Chase thin places, strange crafts, and spectacle.

Accept higher Dread risk. Learn craft stations beyond the church; experiment toward tools like a Midnight Mark when the skin of the world thins. Spivvery funds the act; Nyctodromy and Bosk open weird checks. Keep Trace in mind— Appetite performances draw eyes. Save this for run two if you are new; use it first if you already speak Weather Factory’s language. Cross-read Career tier list notes on Conjurer volatility.

How to run any starter

1. Lock Career + Passion at creation; write the three skills on paper or in the Build Planner.
2. Follow How to play for the loop.
3. Use Antibes walkthrough for routing, not as a script that overrides roleplay.
4. Recruit Vincent when ready; do not postpone forever.
5. Craft at least once; change outfits at least twice; expand at least two Footnotes.
6. Finish the complete demo checklist before judging the build.

Remix rules after one clear

Change only Passion first, or only skill order first, so you can attribute differences. Swap Career on the third run. Compare which Nenah leads appeared, which NPCs opened, and how often Dread forced retreats. Starter builds are scaffolds, not meta law—tier pages explain when to break them.

What these builds deliberately ignore

Full-game companions Lalla Chaima and Corso Reverte, deep faction endgames, and nineteen-outfit min-maxing. Demo outfits are a truncated set (six). Do not invent combat rotations; there is no combat. Do not hoard every Memory for a fantasy late-game skill that the Introduction will not test.

Linking out

Deep systems: Crafting, Outfits, Dread & Trace. World context: Companions, Antibes NPCs. Optimisation language: Skill priority and Passion picks.