I'm having the same problem (trying to play the game for the first time  )

I'm running Windows 7 (64-bit) with an NVIDIA graphics card (Updated).

While trying to start the tutorial, the game keeps crashing after a little while (different spans of time on different settings if I'm just walking around - seems longest on the best settings honestly, so I doubt overtaxing the system is the problem ), but will crash instantly if I try to talk to an NPC.

In the error log folder, it basicly just has the same thing over and over:

Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >/paws/base/maps/leather/top_left_1.png<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >/paws/base/maps/leather/top_right_1.png<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >/paws/base/maps/leather/bottom_left_1.png<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>

...

Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >Scaling Field Background<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >Scaling Field Background<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >Scaling Field Background<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >Scaling Field Background<
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, <..\..\src\common\paws\pawsimagedrawable.cpp:69 pawsImageDrawable::PreparePixmap SEVERE>
Tue Jun 07 01:30:54 2011, Could not open image: >Scaling Field Background<

Plus some sound errors because I was trying different sound settings before I read that the 'software' option doesn't work for windows