This Chapter’s goals are to assist you the Player in making a Narrative Background for your Character. You already would have decided on a mechanical Background in the Character Generation & Levelling Chapter, which was detailing something your Character did before they became an adventurer.
A Narrative Background is taking the elements of that chosen Background, the training and knowledge you decided to gain, and to give them a story you, your Party and your GG can call upon during play, both for Character motivation as well as future plot threads.
Creating a background is very simple grab a paper and pen, or a word document program, and write about the Character’s early life before they were an adventurer. This can be as simple as a bullet pointed list of key NPCs and moments or could be something more involved. It is entirely up to you and optional.
Once you do have something written though, pass it to your GG as it will potentially help with the Campaign, giving the main plot thread of the Campaign a chance to have greater import for your Character or providing the GG a new NPC to throw in at an important moment.
This Chapter is here to provide advice on writing a Narrative Background, provide prompts, and even example tables for answers to the prompts. This Class Playbook will also Feature some unique prompts and ideas related to the Class you have chosen to play. These tables and prompts should be used as places to help generate ideas rather than to force them, and as such, you do not have to use an prompt or a rolled result from a table if it doesn’t mesh with the Character.
So, to begin with first look back at the Background you made during Character Generation, note down in your Narrative Background document the following things:
Background’s Name. This was what you did before you became an Adventurer, it did not have to be your whole life prior, as you may have learnt the basics of your chosen Class before the first session.
As such consider how what you did in your Background related to your training to be a member of your Class.
Background’s Languages & Training. You in your Background chose to learn to use certain Weapons and Tools, as well as specific Languages. It may be wise to consider what about your Background led to you gaining that knowledge and could provide some threads to include in your Background.
Background’s Feat. Another thing you gained because of your Background was a Feat. Consider what the Feat says about the Character and their Background and how that could be incorporated into your Background’s narrative.
These may give you some ideas for basic beats your Background should cover, from there we get onto more specific aspects that will vary Character to Character.
Inventors spend years studying their arts mastering their tools and magic, as well as working on their unique inventions. These questions will hopefully help determine aspects about your Character. So, considering your Character consider the following aspects and looking to the following tables for inspiration for your own answers:
What led to you taking the path of the crafter? Consider what led to you becoming an inventor? Was it a family tradition, or perhaps due to a creative or imaginative spark? What did the people around you think about you choosing this path? Are you trying to prove yourself to someone, for financial gain, for the fame, or do you create for creations sake? This may inform how you answer the other questions.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your unbridled curiosity and creativity! |
| 2 | You seek the freedom your inventions may grant you. |
| 3 | You carry on the traditions passed down your family for generations. |
| 4 | You did not choose this path, but had it forced upon you. |
| 5 | While at school you were found to have a natural talent for the sciences or technology. |
| 6 | You were apprenticed to an old master of the art who imparted in you their knowledge and love of the craft. |
What is your preferred method/subject for crafting? What kind of crafting do you favour? Do you favour using a specific kind of tool or making a specific kind of item? Do you maybe instead prefer focusing on improving items you already have, or working on rune or gem crafting? What you prefer may inform other aspects of your Character.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You enjoy tinkering with clockwork machines as you attempt to build machines in the likeness of the natural world around you. |
| 2 | You have a love for a reliable hammer, capable of building new works or repairing goods for the common folk. |
| 3 | You prefer using leatherworking tools, as you call upon the spirits whose materials you use to protect the wearer of your armour. |
| 4 | You prefer the culinarian’s tools and creating new dishes to keep up with your party’s appetite. |
| 5 | You prefer using alchemical tools to perfectly master the fundamental elements of the world round you. |
| 6 | You use many tools, but you focus on items that will aid or protect others rather than create items of death or destruction. |
Where did you study your trade? Consider how you got your education, was it in formal tutoring, via an apprenticeship, or maybe self-taught? Did you have any specific teacher or mentor? Did it require any proof of ability? Did you have friends or rivals? How were you taught? Who learnt with you, were you the only pupil, or did you study with others, maybe even competing for the ability to progress? Did your teacher or fellow students encourage learning outside of lessons or try to teach you everything? Did they impact your own behaviour or methodology with theirs?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I went sent to a foremost school to learn about technology, magic, and science. Where I made rivals with some of the other students. |
| 2 | My old mentor was a kind smith, who created many wonders in her time. She taught me carefully and let us progress at my own pace. |
| 3 | I learnt my trade from my own practice, failures, and successes. |
| 4 | My parents taught me their secret arts over my older sibling. It caused a rift between us after our parents passed. |
| 5 | I learnt during my service in the army. I had to learn quickly to survive my time there. |
| 6 | A local doctor taught me all they knew about alchemy. They were kind but my lesson had to progress quickly and with overwhelming pressure after a plague hit the village. |
What was your first invention? Every inventor has a first idea, an answer to a question, or creation of imagination they sought to make reality. What was this first idea? How long did you spend working on this invention? Was it successful or a failure? If successful, do you use it? Is it a continual project you still modify it and work on over time, or is it finished and set aside? If a failure, what did you learn from the project? Do you still long to complete it? If so, what will it take to complete? This project may affect the look, feel, or workings of your future creations.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | A small potion that could clear pollution from a small amount of water. |
| 2 | I made a device that can record a person’s image onto a piece of paper. It however keeps breaking after every use. |
| 3 | A weapon, one rarely if ever seen in our land. I upgrade it when a clear idea comes to mind. |
| 4 | I once made a flavoring that would make anything you ate taste like your favourite meal, but I have never been able to replicate it again. |
| 5 | I made a device that can record a person’s voice or a sound from nature. |
| 6 | A small clockwork friend, he’s not perfect but I try to work on him whenever I can. |
How do your inventions interact with your magic? Consider the above answers and your Character concept when answering the question. Potentially also consider do you separate your spellcasting from your crafting or are your inventions how you cast your spells? Do the spells you chose to prepare compliment or make up for your creations? Or is it the other way around? Do your choice of spells and inventions share theming, such as the use of electricity or a focus around healing or time? Finally consider with all of the above, what does your creations and how they interact with magic say about you? How does it reflect the background and nature of your Character?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | My spells are made of minor inventions I produce on the fly. |
| 2 | I tend to focus on acquiring spells to heal others as my inventions have only ever brought harm to others. |
| 3 | My material components are stored in pouches I keep along my glove for quick access. |
| 4 | I have a different tool I use for each spell school. Each engraved with arcane sigils to assist in their spellcasting. |
| 5 | My spells tend to interact with my inventions such as lightning spells charging the coils on my backpack. |
| 6 | My magic fuels my inventions, sometimes this means I syphon power from them to cast my spells. |
| 7 | I keep my inventions and spellcasting separate, as bad things tend to happen when they mix. |
| 8 | My inventions I designed to act as my material components for my spells. |