Having breakfast: some very sourdough bread with a chocolate spread from Costa Rica. Tasty, but weird. Also, feeling the autumn blues. It rains. It’s gray. Summer break is coming to an end and next week it’s back to work. I already had two calls, yesterday.
Judd Karlman was talking about character backstory on the latest episode of his podcast, Daydreaming about Dragons. I decided to write up how I got my latest character’s backstory.
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Peter is going to run a small campaign using Chubby Funster’s Ambition & Avarice 1st edition rules and Gabor Lux’s Zothay setting. I had to make a character. The cool part about Ambition & Avarice is that the “law” vs “chaos” split we see in cosmological alignment is mirrored in other such splits within the rules: “civilized” dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, human vs “barbarian” dark elf, goblin, hobgoblin, lizardfolk, orc; “mundane” brigand, knave, knight, ranger vs “magical” conjurer, cultist, priest, shaman, sorcerer. Frotz created Hisst, the lizardfolk ranger. Conti created Urs, the hobgoblin knight. And I created Magorel, the dark elf conjurer.
I imagined a dark elf like the one I played in a Skyrim game, with a fire elemental at his side, red eyes, tending towards chaos.
I started out with a quote:
“I am a High Priest Forwardal of Hekolat, Lord Initiate of the Chthonic Powers, Dark Elf Conjurer of the Highest Blood. I don’t care who you are. Your face to the ground.”
Peter asked us to write a little something about the character for him to put into his game prep. I had nothing. Elf, elementals, chaos, outside… I was out of ideas.
I picked all the spells that seemed related: *read magic*, *detect magic*, *hummingbird*, *summon animal*, *summon elemental*.
A bit later, we started chatting. Peter gave me a bit more detail on the spells. He quotes from the *summon animal* spell:
It has a cautious nature and will not fight in combat or enter dangerous areas. … You cannot cast this spell again until the current creature returns to it’s home plane.
A bit later he says:
I think the “return to home plane” for the animal is a copy/paste error, doesn’t make much sense, does it?
I like it! A horse from hell.
Okay, well... It’s not undead though. 😄
Of course not. But perhaps it does look fierce. An large ostrich from the eternal hunting grounds.
One would hope.
If hell is heaven for hell hounds, perhaps the horses look super tasty… Now I know why all my Planescape games get derailed!
Peter sends a picture of a pink plushy unicorn.
Yeah! 😆
It can look as fierce as you want it to. It’s still careful. 😄
Now “careful” reminds me of crabs…
Perhaps it’ll be a huge crab, with gargantuan pincers, delicately moving sideways through this incomprehensible landscape for 1h, trying to get back, following the soothing voice in its mind, trying not to break anything… The visuals are ready to go!
Big spider also works for me. But hey, it’s a trope.
Maybe I should force the crab theme. Garaskis, demon lady of the shore break, protector of fishermen and oyster catchers, pearl divers and the poor, lady of salt and crabs… her minions saved that poor wretched Magorel as he was about to be smashed on a rock by crashing waves, kicked out of his underground cave system for being nice. If you really worship her, she grants you that crab carapace and turns an arm into a crab pincer… but Magorel is cautious. No big promises, but sympathies. (Inspired by Fight On!) I hope this city has a harbour. And beggars. And fishermen. And a crab cult trying to recruit Magorel. “It’s time to pay back your debts, Red Eyes!”
Oh please, it’s Gabor, there are fucking beggars all over the place. And scary ones at that. Harbor, check.
We talk about the city map for a bit.
I guess if you had picked “cultist” you could start a crab cult... 😄 But then you’d also be sacrificing humanoids for power so... 😮 You could certainly be in town because you were told that there’s a Cult of Garaskis here and you want to do something for/against/with/whatever those folks.
Nooo. That’s the fate I’m trying to avoid! Let there be cultists who rescued me, I owe them my life. Let’s say: two names. But now they want me to join the cult and I’m trying to avoid doing that.
Okay, just trying to come up with that one “hook” I could put somewhere. Maybe in a big city like Zothay you think they won’t find you as easily?
Maybe they have demands. Little things I can do. Then they start pushing it. If I stall, they start threatening to reveal how my story is fake and how they rescued me.
😄
So they know where to find me, and I kind of know them, which is cool, I’m new. At the same time, this Godfather vibe. “Hey son, I helped you gladly. We’re all family in Salt Street, after all. We paid a lot of healers to patch you up, you know? It’d be a shame if something happened to the nice inn you’re sleeping in.” Or maybe: “Son, I know your love for the crab mother is true! I know it, don’t worry. But still. She’d appreciate a sign if you get my drift. Like tonight, there’s this merchant …”
Say no more! Also crabs will most certainly be in season... 😄
On my character sheet, I added a second quote:
“My name is Eric of Malboge, recent arrival in Zothay. The last time I heard of the cannibal sorcerer Magorel you mentioned was more than fifty years ago.”
And a I added a bit about Garaskis:
Garaskis, demon lady of the shore break, protector of fishermen and oyster catchers, pearl divers and the poor, lady of salt and crabs… her minions saved that poor wretched Magorel as he was about to be smashed on a rock by crashing waves, kicked out of his underground cave system for being nice. If you worship her, she grants you that sweet crab carapace and turns an arm into a crab pincer… but Magorel is cautious. No big promises, but sympathies. He knows that the crab cult is trying to recruit him. They might be useful allies in the future.
This back and forth is how I like to work.
#RPG