I'm designing a game that is completely run by players, with no player to npc involvement (other than maybe hunting wild animals). No shop keepers, no trainers, etc..

I have created an intricate world generator that works perfectly. I have an macro-map generator and a micro map generator. The macro generator is ran the first time the game is hosted. It can be edited by the host so that it's not entirely random. The micro maps are generated based on single tiles of the macro map. It all flows together really nicely and creates some gigantic, yet manageable worlds.

The skill system is pretty basic. Everytime you use a skill, the system takes note of it. Then, after so many hours have passed and you are sleeping, your character "assimilates" the knowledge of all the skills he used recently and gains skill points. The player is never aware of this change, there is no way to check how many skill points you have gained. I do this to help keep the system mystical to players and help to provide a better roleplaying environment.

This skill system has proved to have a few problems though. My current problem is allowing players to learn new recipes, or plans for item creation. I originally wanted any player to be able to make any item without having to learn recipes. I decided that this was not a good idea, because an apprentance blacksmith would inherently know how to create all items (eventhough the player might not know the combinations needed to create an item). I also think that giving players the ability to teach recipes would help apprentance craftsmen meet up with experienced ones to learn the craft. It is very difficult to build up skill in this game, so this would be highly beneficial to newer players.

So where do players initially learn recipes? I came up with an idea of having players learn recipes by chance by using skills that pertain to that recipe, or by crafting an item similar to that recipe. For example, a blacksmith crafting a knife blade might by chance learn how to make a dagger or sword blade. A carpenter might learn to make a chair while crafting a stool, etc.. A few benefits from this system would be that you would find craftsmen who have spent alot of time crafting swords would know how to make the best swords. The downside is that I still don't know how to have player's initially learn their first recipe.

Any ideas/suggestions about this would be greatly appreciated. I strictly want zero interaction with NPCs though, so a player should never seek to learn something from a trainer.

[edit]
It's worth noting that there is no class system either. Any player can use any skill, which is what makes the initial recipe learning so difficult. Might just go with having a list of basic recipes that all players know and them expand from there.