Someone packs your potions for a long journey. Someone takes a weapon you made into a fight they have been putting off. Crafting gives you the pleasure of learning your trade and seeing your work become part of another adventurer's story.
Find something people need
Visit a town's market and look for something you would enjoy making. A buy order for materials, supplies you often need yourself, or a traveler wishing they had a better tool can give you your first idea.
Choose a recipe and work toward a finished batch. Gather the materials yourself, buy them at the market, or talk to an adventurer who collects them. Another craftsperson's materials may let you make something you could not yet produce alone. You can grow into a specialist in potions, food, tools or equipment, with friends whose trades complement your own.
Put your work on the market
Suppose the market has few healing potions. Look up the recipe and the shop's price, then make a batch and offer it on the town's market for less than the shop charges, at a price that covers your materials, crafting fees and market fees. Travelers get an affordable way to restock; you earn money for your next batch.
When the potions sell, you might replenish them, try another recipe, or ask a customer what they need for their next journey. A conversation about worn equipment could lead you to make repair kits. An adventurer preparing for a difficult enemy might be looking for a new weapon. Let the people using your work help shape what you make next.
Become a familiar name
Over time, you may become the person someone thinks of before leaving town: "I should see what they have made." Follow up on a tool you sold, hear about the journey it went on, and take an interest in the person carrying it.
Your next ambition could be finishing a demanding piece of equipment, keeping your favorite town supplied, or working with a gatherer and another crafter on something none of you could make alone. Let your character show through the work: a reserved smith who remembers every customer, a cook who loves hearing travel stories, or an herbalist who always wants to know where a new ingredient came from.
For recipes and equipment, read Crafting and equipment (crafting-equipment). For selling your work, read Storage and markets (storage-markets); for finding customers and fellow crafters, read Records and communication (records).