Getting owned everytime (SP)

[SkyTrickster]

So I got this game during the sale on steam, and it's really cool although what to do exactly?

I wander around, gather some quests and some 20ish men will join me from villages, but bandits just keep coming, and eventually overwhelm me and I have no chance. Also when I have done all the easy quests in the taverns, there is little left. I asked every count and king in all my cities in my area, but noone wants to give me something. So I'm just wandering around the land, killing some bandits and finally the bandits killing me because I can't replenish my troops fast enough...

[Killergold88]

there is alot of patients in the begining, what i did was gain some renown by fighting off increasingly larger sized bandits, dont be afraid to run on the map if you dont think its going to not end well, once you have a little bit (i also recomend getting "heroes" at the taverns) go to a nation that is at war with another, one of their quest will basically sound like this "oh well your good at fighting huh? (from renown) well my big boss man (king) needs mercs, we'll pay! yes or no?" join them and just keep on building up, try to not slug it out with the other nations armys yet some of them like kings can have stacks of 500+ and thats bad news, even a small stack of 40 can be bad news in the begining, just keep basically getting paid to pound bandits (still dont be afraid to run to a city or castle if you feel outnumbered) gain more renown, gain more troop slots, eventually the "marshal" will send you a note saying he wants you to follow him around, do it, he'll give you missions, doing these will increase your renown, making you able to gain more men, once you feel comfertable with your troops try to engage an enemy thats engaged with your employers and see how it ends, this will also net you some good begining loot if you win, also join tourneys and bet on yourself, it will net you some good cash (if you win) and renown withought the concequences of losing your army, ive aslo just bought the game not long ago and i just recently became a lord to a nation after i personally stayed merc with them for about 4 months in game, eventually pledged my alligence to the king and i now have 3 fiefdoms that net me about 5k a week after my 2k payment for my little band of 80 troops (hey i can take on a marshals army with these guys and win so 2k is cool with me )

sorry for the length, hope it helps

Edit: forgot to mention, this is for warband "native"

[Tankfriend]

You can also look for quests when talking to village elders or (if you don't mind finding and going to them manually all the time) guild representatives in cities. Especially the latter are virtually guaranteed to offer you missions in one form or another (goods transport, escorts...), though they're never too profitable.
If you're good at handling your character in combat and you're sufficiently leveled, you can also consider joining normal arena fights or even join up with a tourney. Especially tourneys are extremely profitable both in hard cash (if you bet on yourself winning) and renown, which tend to make things a lot easier everywhere.

[alexanderswift]

Stick with it!

Is the best advice I can give. It takes a while to get the hang of, there's a bit of a learning curve. I had the same trouble at first, becoming a mercenary for a kingdom is useful too as they'll pay the majority of your troop's wages for a month. If there's a war you have to help out but often there won't even be. Tournaments are a great way to earn some coin early on, and a good way to practice with different equipment.

[Nosjack]

Playing warband I just discovered the guild masters and their missions. Which can be extremely helpful early on.

I think I got 1k denars and 2k EXP from just hunting down a group of deserters, and I got 1k EXP just for escorting a caravan.