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| Graveyard Keeper How to Make Money Early Game |
Learn Graveyard Keeper how to make money early game with proven strategies — from burial certificates and resource sales to farming, crafting, and smart vendor interactions.
Jumping into Graveyard Keeper can be intimidating — especially when you’re low on funds in the early game and need coin to unlock buildings, research tech, or just survive between weeks. Money is the lifeblood of your graveyard ministry, village relations, and quest progression, and understanding how to make money early game can mean the difference between slow survival and swift advancement. This guide breaks down practical, verified strategies to earn silver quickly, use your resources wisely, and set up passive incomes that carry you into the mid and late game.
Why Earning Money Early Matters
In Graveyard Keeper, silver isn’t just for cosmetic upgrades — it’s essential for:
- Upgrading the church and graveyard rating
- Researching new workstations and technologies
- Buying seeds, tools, and teleport stones
- Advancing NPC questlines
- Expanding production capabilities
Without steady income, your progression slows, quests stall, and you’ll struggle to expand beyond the basics.
Fortunately, there are multiple ways to earn money early — some instant and consistent, others investment-based and scalable.
1. Burial Certificates: Your First Reliable Income
The most accessible and consistent early income comes from burial certificates — a direct reward from performing your core job. Every time you bury or cremate a body, you get a certificate you can sell for silver.
How It Works
- Every corpse buried or cremated yields a burial certificate
- These certificates can be sold to Horadric at the Dead Horse Tavern
- They require no upfront crafting or tech investment
Tips for Maximizing Burial Income
- Focus on maintaining a steady flow of corpses each day
- Use the crematorium early if your graveyard rating penalty is a concern
- Sell certificates in bulk to minimize wasted trips
This method is especially reliable in the first few days when other revenue streams aren’t available.
2. Sell Natural Resources — Wood, Stone & Coal
Another core early-game tactic is selling raw materials you gather while exploring. Many villagers will buy these basic resources for quick cash.
Key Materials to Harvest
- Wood: Chop trees and sell firewood to villagers
- Stone: Mine stone and sell to Cory, the mason in the village
- Coal: Mine coal deposits and sell to the blacksmith
Smart Tips for Resource Sales
- NPCs have limited money pools — selling too much at once lowers prices for several days.
- Try selling only a few pieces per trip (e.g., 3–6 pieces) to avoid price drops.
- Mine strategically: stockpile fuel and tools so you aren’t left stranded without energy
While not the most lucrative per item, this method provides consistent daily income early on and pairs well with burial certificates.
3. Basic Farming & Crop Sales
Once you unlock the garden from the merchant, basic farming becomes not only a food source but a reliable income stream.
Best Early Crops
- Carrots and Wheat: Fast growth and easy to process
- Flour & Bread: Some crops can be processed into goods worth selling
Selling Strategy
- Sell to farmers or tavern owners in small amounts so as not to exhaust their silver
- Rotate crops based on what seeds are cheapest and quickest to grow
While farming takes a few days per growth cycle, it’s a scalable way to earn money repeatedly once you have the setup.
4. Craft and Sell Goods — Iron & Simple Parts
Crafted goods often sell for more than raw materials — and early on, one of the most effective methods is turning mined resources into useful products.
Try This Early Craft Loop
- Mine iron ore near your house or the swamp
- Smelt iron into ingots at the furnace
- Craft tools, simple iron components, or nails
- Sell these items to the blacksmith (Krezvold)
People in the village pay premium prices for crafted goods — especially tools and furnace products — compared to raw materials.
Pro Tip: Don’t sell too many crafted items to a single NPC at once — rotating buyers keeps prices higher.
5. Wine Making (Early Mid-Game)
Once you unlock grape farming and the vinery — often after finishing certain questlines — making wine becomes one of the best early-to-mid game money makers.
Wine Production Steps
- Plant grape seeds and grow grapes
- Use a vine press to make grape juice
- Ferment grape juice into wine
- Sell wine bottles to Horadric (silver quality) or the Merchant (gold quality)
Why Wine Works
- Silver-quality wine sells well even early
- Processing crops adds value beyond raw produce
- Over time, wine becomes one of the most profitable items you can make and sell
Be careful not to bulk-sell too much at once — NPCs have limited money and prices drop temporarily.
6. Sermons & Church Donations
If you improve your graveyard and unlock the church, sermons become a steady, scalable income — even in early play.
How It Works
- Each sermon performed yields silver (donations from churchgoers)
- Higher church and graveyard ratings increase the amount of silver earned
- Combo prayers (available by research or purchase) boost donation amounts significantly
This method turns faith into funds — something many players overlook while focusing on harvesting and crafting.
7. Selling Food Items & Special Goods
Certain cooked foods and crafted packages sell very well — sometimes better than raw resources.
Examples of Profitable Sellables
- Packaged meat (requires a food stamp from Snake or Royal Services)
- Quality vegetables and processed foods to the tavern owner
- Seasonal or event foods (e.g., burgers and beer at the Inquisitor’s events)
Though food crafting may require unlocking workstations and recipes, when available it provides a rich supplemental income.
8. Smart Vendor Rotation & Pricing Tricks
Understanding vendor mechanics is a subtle but critical part of earning early game money efficiently:
Vendor Tips
- Every NPC has a finite amount of money — selling too many goods at once will temporarily depress prices.
- Rotate where you sell items (e.g., sell stone to Cory, crafted parts to the blacksmith, food to Horadric)
- Spread sales over multiple days to maximize income without triggering price drops
This selling discipline ensures small resource sales convert into bigger long-term profit.
9. Progress Quests That Pay (Indirectly or Directly)
While many quests simply drive the story forward, some quests provide cash rewards or unlock valuable income streams like gardening or tavern interactions.
Strategy
- Prioritize quests unlocking workstations and vendors
- Some NPCs reward you with silver directly at completion
- Completing questlines with the Merchant or Inquisitor accelerates early incomes
Use quests as both progression tools and money makers.
Ready to start earning silver in Graveyard Keeper?
Prioritize burial certificates, early crafting and resource sales — and consider wine production and church sermons once available to build a steady income stream!
Conclusion
Graveyard Keeper how to make money early game isn’t a mystery — it’s about understanding the economy and exploiting the sources available to you from day one. The key elements are:
- Consistent income sources like burial certificates and resource sales
- Value-added crafting such as iron parts and wine
- Smart vendor interactions to avoid price caps and maximize profits
- Progressive systems (church, quests, farming) that unlock deeper revenue streams
By combining these strategies — and not selling everything to the same NPC at once — you set yourself up for steady silver and long-term success in your graveyard and beyond.
