Letters
| Letters | |
|---|---|
| Type | Mechanic |
The mailbox beside the farmhouse is how the valley talks to a farmer who is out working. Letters appear first thing in the morning, either on a fixed day of the calendar or the day after some condition has been met, and they carry quests, recipes, shop announcements, festival reminders, gifts and a good deal of the game's quietest storytelling. Most of the early tutorial arrives this way, from Evelyn explaining that spring crops die when Summer comes to Robin announcing that she now stocks a Wood Chipper. As friendships deepen, villagers start posting presents unprompted, which turns a well-liked farmer's mailbox into a small daily income. Nearly every letter is kept in the collections tab afterwards, so none of the writing is lost once the envelope is closed.
Overview
Opening the box reads whatever has arrived, one letter at a time. A letter with something attached hands the item over as it closes, dropping it straight into the backpack when there is space. When there is not, a window appears offering the chance to make room, and walking away from that window forfeits the item altogether, which is the one way mail can genuinely be lost. The Ginger Island farmhouse has a mailbox of its own, so a long stay on the island does not mean a backlog at home.
Three senders write on their own stationery. Letters from Sandy, the Wizard and Krobus each arrive on a themed background, which makes them easy to spot in the collection later.
The first year is where the mail does the most work. Willy writes on the second morning of Spring to say he has something waiting at the beach, which is how the fishing rod arrives. Morris follows a few days later with a corporate apology for the landslide his drilling caused, and the Mines open the same day. Robin posts a notice about her missing axe, Pierre writes to say he is now selling fertiliser, and Evelyn sends a gardening tip that doubles as a warning about the season change. After that the requests start: Jodi wants a Cauliflower, Pam wants a Pale Ale and will not accept ordinary Beer, Demetrius wants a Melon for a study, George wants a Hot Pepper for his knee, Marnie wants Amaranth for her cows, Linus has lost his berry basket, Caroline wants a Pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern, and Willy sets a challenge to catch a Squid in the winter ocean. Lewis sends the strangest one of all, asking discreetly after his lost purple shorts.
Festival notices are the letters that repeat every year. Lewis writes the day before each event with the hours to turn up and what to bring, which is how a farmer learns that the Egg Festival runs from nine until two, that the Flower Dance needs a partner, that the Luau wants something good for the potluck and that the Stardew Valley Fair wants nine items for a grange display. Demetrius handles the Dance Of The Moonlight Jellies himself, writing to explain that the jellies pass the beach at ten at night on their way south.
Friendship letters are triggered by hearts rather than by the calendar, and they are the main way recipes reach the kitchen. George posts the Fried Eel recipe once he is a mild friend and Spicy Eel once he is a closer one. Shane sends Pepper Poppers, Kent sends Crispy Bass and later Super Meal, Clint sends Bean Hotpot, Lewis sends Eggplant Parmesan, Gus sends Cranberry Sauce, Robin sends Pumpkin Soup, and Willy sends Lobster Bisque only to a very close friend. Several heart events also end with a letter the following morning, which is worth remembering for anyone who wonders why a scene produced nothing at the time.
Repeatable gift letters are the ongoing reward for being liked. Any villager above zero friendship may post a present, and the chance climbs as the heart meter does, so a town full of friends produces several parcels a week. The contents suit the sender. Robin sends a bundle of wood and Marnie sends hay, which are both genuinely useful. George sends good-quality stone, Jodi sends fertiliser, Kent sends a bomb or a Battery Pack, and Clint sends a spare metal bar. Gus cooks something from the Saloon, Evelyn bakes, Linus shares a fish from the mountain lake, Emily sends Cloth or Wool, Sandy sends fruit from the desert, Caroline sends a vegetable from her garden, Demetrius sends a specimen he found in the field, Pam finds something in a drawer, Shane admits to having taken a treat from the back room at JojaMart, and the Wizard sends something he calls an item of arcane significance. Two senders post money instead: Lewis writes with a cheque from the agricultural fund, and Pierre sends a cash-back rebate with an apology for the form letter.
Close friendships produce a different sort of letter: an invitation. Abigail suggests coming up to her room after dark, Alex asks to meet at the Saloon that night, Sam waits outside his house, Harvey has a surprise by the railroad tracks, Penny names the bath house, Emily proposes camping in the Secret Woods late in the evening, and Elliott asks for a sunny morning at the docks. Each one sets up a scene that will not happen until the farmer turns up at the right place, so an unread invitation is a missed event rather than a delayed one. Some scenes also write back afterwards, with Haley sending a note about the cows, Leah thanking the farmer for coming to her art show and Sam reporting that the band's gig was a success.
Elliott goes furthest with it. After his final scene he leaves on a reading tour and writes home from each stop, describing Grampleton's crowds, a small first audience, a hotel room he admits is bug-infested, and a larger literary crowd in Zuzu City that asks him for autographs. One of the letters is a poem rather than a report, and the last says simply that he is eager to come home.
Notes
A second kind of letter is never delivered at all. Scattered through the villagers' homes are notes addressed to each other, readable by walking up to them, and none of them are stored in the collections tab. Clint has written a confession to Emily that he admits he will crumple up and throw in the corner. Emily and Haley's parents have written from the Fern Islands, missing their girls and reminding them to pay the electricity bill. Evelyn keeps a letter from Clara, written to be read after her death, asking her mother to take care of Alex because he needs something stable. Jodi keeps Vincent's report card from Penny and a letter from Kent, written before he came home, warning her that he might not be the man she remembers. Lewis keeps a note from Marnie suggesting he come in through the back window. Pierre keeps the letter from Morris that told him Joja had already broken ground.
Most mail is archived in the collections tab and can be reread at any time, although the stored copy leaves out whatever was attached. Two kinds are left out of the archive entirely: the note that arrives after collapsing at two in the morning, and the one that arrives after being knocked out at low health. Both exist to explain what happened and what it cost rather than to be kept.
In a shared world every farmer has their own mailbox and their own mail, since friendships, recipes and quests are tracked per player. A letter one farmhand is waiting on will not arrive in anyone else's box, and the gifts posted by villagers follow whoever earned the friendship.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
