Histories
Oct 23, 2018 20:41:36 GMT -6
Post by Xornik on Oct 23, 2018 20:41:36 GMT -6
Histories
Optional Roleplay Backgrounds
Optional Roleplay Backgrounds
Histories give no mechanical bonuses and are purely for fleshing out the fluffy parts of a character's history and background.
Most histories are about who the character was growing up in their place of origin and may not be applicable to every character.
Many of the histories will have no effect on the character's adventuring life, but may give them things to talk about to other characters they meet and interact with along the way. Though they have no tangible effect on gameplay, histories not only allow you to better delve into your character's backstory but also gives the SM tools to work with when dealing with your character in their campaign.
Players get 14 History dots (Or 2 * the amount of background dots they get) to spend on histories if they choose to, some SM's might offer incentives for fleshing out their characters this way - see Plot Points below.
Players status in some areas that Histories cover may increase or decrease as the campaign goes on, but at the start of the campaign they are purely indicative of the lives leading up to that point.
Career | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | Get a job you mooch. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You used to work part time at a drop-out level job. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You've had a few stints at a decent jobs that have eventually helped land you the next one. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You've got a good work-ethic and worked a respected job in a desirable field. You might have even been a manager or supervisor. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You can't help but rise up the ranks at your places of employment, going from promotion to promotion wherever you go. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You resume is unparalleled. You might have ran a successful company and sold it. Or maybe you still do on the side. |
Dining | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You've always eaten terrible. Junk food and Snacks in non-snack sized portions mainly. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You'll eat almost anything - uncooked and raw things aside. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You try to avoid fast food, and cook most things yourself. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You've got a strict set of dietary requirements that you adhere to, You cook frequently but also often eat at restaurants. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You've got a taste for the gourmet, you no longer cook for yourself as you're always dining at fine establishments. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You had a personal chef. You wouldn't eat anything he didn't hand make you organically fresh that day. |
Education | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You're not a berk if you have street smarts right? You never completed any school, aside from maybe kindergarten or pre-primary. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You attended and graduated elementary/primary school. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You made it through Middle school with the customary amount of curricular study. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You've graduated High/Secondary School and are free from compulsory schooling in many places around the wheel. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | Somehow you made it through Tertiary education and have some sort of certificate, diploma or degree. It could be in anything though. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You went -back- to school or never left. You've got a postgraduate qualification and some fancy letters besides your name. |
Friends | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You are one lonely individual. Who needs friends right? | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You keep in touch with a few friends from your childhood. They don't really drop by. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You've got your squad that you hang out with on the regular. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You've got a few different friendship circles and social groups that you're a part of. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | Not to brag, but you're a bit of a social butterfly. You've always got a full calendar of invites | ||||||||
●●●●● | You're friends with everyone and they all seem to treat you like you're 'totes besties'. |
Hobbies | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | Wow. No hobbies? You really are boring. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You've got a thing you like doing. Or used to like. It's not really much of a deal. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You still enjoy your hobby and still partake in it on a semi-regular basis | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | Your hobby makes you grin wildly whenever it comes up, you're all too eager to introduce it to a friend or show someone your collection. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | Passionate about your hobby is how people would describe you. It's near impossible to separate you from it. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You're obsessed and consumed by your hobby. It drives you in life and the associated fandom worships you. |
Recklessness | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | Stayed on the straight and narrow your whole life. Laws exist for a reason. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You have snuck out once or twice, nothing major. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | Engaged in a few minor Illicit activities in youth. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | Regularly acted in illegal behavior. Don't see why you should follow the rules. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | Deliberately set out to break laws and knew how to avoid getting in trouble for it. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You've probably served time in some sort of penal institution, but likely thrived on the inside and haven't learned your lesson. |
Relatives | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You have no family. Maybe your parents were tragically killed by bandits, they could have all just died of old age, or perhaps your mother abandoned you before you were born. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You've got the remnants of a Family that you don't really keep in touch with , a parent and sibling or two kicking about somewhere, and maybe a few distant cousins in another sphere. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | Immediate family is still around there's just been a bit of family breakdown. You don't call your mom as much as you should and you bicker and fight with your siblings. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | Hey! You've got Grandparents somewhere, maybe you should visit them? Your relationships with your immediate family are pretty good and you still sometimes meet for the Holiday season. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | Extended family ahoy! Second Cousins, Grand Uncles, Half-Step-Sisters-In-Law-Twice-Removed! You've got all sorts of relations, and you get on well with most of them. Excluding -that- Aunt of course. | ||||||||
●●●●● | Your family is everywhere and they all keep in touch. No matter where you go, it's likely you'll bump into someone you know by blood or by marriage. Speaking of marriage, you really have to rsvp to all of those wedding invitations. |
Service | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You've never done service of any kind. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You volunteered for community projects a few times, doing your part. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You made some kind of ongoing commitment to a local organization - perhaps neighborhood watch or the scouts? | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You're an official active member in a noteworthy organization, maybe even the local law enforcement cadets. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You are serving your duty for one group for the betterment of your community on a daily basis. Perhaps as a Firefighter, Police officer or a Lifesavers. | ||||||||
●●●●● | Your are dedicated to an organization that would put you in harms way for the safety of others - likely in a Militia or Military reserve force. |
Sports, competitions and games | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You don't like these competitive things and don't see the point in them. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You know the basic rules and can follow along and join in with a little explanation from a friend. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You learned all of the rules and have a game with your friends from time to time and are a fan of a professional team. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | You play with your friends regularly against other teams. You've gotten good at it and watch others play it frequently. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You're in a local competitive league and compete in weekly matches during the season. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You engaged in a recognized regulated competition in your game or sport of choice. People watched -you- play. |
Romance | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | What is love? You don't know. Nor have you ever. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | Maybe you've only been on a few dates. Or just haven't gotten over that person who kissed you that time. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You've had many string of short relationships, but are still looking for the one, or maybe you're just enjoying yourself. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | A full commitments what you're thinking of. You've had a few long term relationships that have sadly since ended due to them not being the one/s. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You think you've found the one/s and committed to a long relationship with some form of engagement equivalent. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You've been in a committed relationship with the one/ones for you for a long time and are married or the equivalent and you're never going to give them up. You've probably got kids together too or maybe some on the way! |
Travel | |||||||||
Dots | Description | ||||||||
◌◌◌◌◌ | You've probably never the place you were born. | ||||||||
●◌◌◌◌ | You've been around the local region, seen a few cities and different towns. | ||||||||
●●◌◌◌ | You've traveled around the sphere you originated in and are eager to see more. | ||||||||
●●●◌◌ | An official tourist, you've journeyed to several different planets or spheres. | ||||||||
●●●●◌ | You carry a portable projector with for impromptu slide presentations of all the the crystal spheres that you've been too. | ||||||||
●●●●● | You've been everywhere, even places that aren't mapped yet. |
Roleplay Incentives and Plot Points
Histories are essentially just a tool to get players thinking about their character's origin in a little more detail than backgrounds do.
Though they have no explicit mechanical use, if the SM wishes to further encourage roleplay among the party they can introduce a 'Plot Point' system to work alongside D:tD's Hero Point system.
Drawing from the Cortex RPG systems among others, these Plot points are a 'story' based resource and cannot be used to gain an instant mechanical advantage in the way a Hero or Resource point can.
The SM can award players at their discretion for bringing their character's backstory and histories into play in a time when they would be relevant or sometimes just 'good roleplaying' in general.
It's worth noting that this can include not only having points in a particular history - but also a lack of points in one. While one player might be discussing their favorite sports team when visiting an arena in a foreign sphere, another might be overwhelmed by everything as they've traveled before.
Plot points accumulated by players can be spend to 'slightly' alter the current story or perhaps get threads that may lead to further story development.
A player stuck in a town unsure of where to go next might spend a few points in the hope that the SM will drop a clue.
A party who've gotten themselves into a sticky might pool their plot points as an offering to the SM, that they may have mercy and reveal something previously missed that might help them out of their predicament.
At the end of the day, it's up the SM what effect the plot points spent will do, sometimes they might even benevolently ask the players what they're hoping for and then oblige.
But of course, D:tD is set in the Grim Darkness of the Great Wheel. SM's may choose to use plot points to further illustrate the hopelessness and grim reality of the setting - deciding that using them have no effect, as in the end it doesn't matter where you came from, or which relatives you still have alive.
Some systems have unspent plot points not accumulate and allow players to 'trade them in' at the end of a session for very small amount of xp thus providing a potential small tangible bonus for increased roleplaying.
Some of the players I've played with in my past tabletop groups haven't always been the biggest roleplayers, and we have used similar tools and systems to help ease them into the RP of RPGS.
I've found the Plot points can really encourage roleplay for those who wouldn't usually get into it and I also wanted to incorporate some of the features of some smaller RPG's I've played - where players have to choose whether to spend your starting XP between having surviving family members that could support you, having a romantic interest or having nobody that loves you but starting with more worldliness.
As I said above, you don't have to use the plot points with the histories, and even if you offer histories on their own your players might not all choose to be bothered using them even if you give them the option. That's fine, even if one player uses them and nobody else does, it just gives that player a little more depth to their origin that you can draw on when being the Story Master.