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.
Martial artists spend hours training their bodies and minds, sharpening these to a razor’s edge. 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:
Why did you choose to become a martial artist? What is it that drives you to spend so much of your time learning and training in martial arts? Is it your own lofty ambition, or your family’s wishes, or a dictation of the law of your nation? How you feel about this reason may inform other aspects of your Character.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The state demands all those with potential to learn for the good and safety of the public. To serve as agents of the state. |
| 2 | You study to earn fame riches as a performing fighter. |
| 3 | Your family has always sent their children for training, as it helps not only their body and mind but also their soul. |
| 4 | You study in the hopes of learning enough to help train your village to stand against the local bandit raiders. |
| 5 | You will be the greatest fighter who has ever lived. |
| 6 | You wish to be a hero like in the storybooks you read as a child. |
Where did you go to learn? Consider how you got your education, was it in formal training, via single instruction under a master, or maybe you were self-taught? Did it require any proof of ability or donation to start? Did they teach you only fighting or something alongside it? Did you have friends or rivals? Who learnt with you, were you the only student, or did you study with others, maybe even competing for the ability to progress? This may inform how you answer the other questions.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You wandered with a travelling master, who taught you all you know on the road. |
| 2 | You studied in a school located by hot springs, here where the four outer elements mingle, you studied how to channel them with your body. |
| 3 | You were self-taught from hours spent training in secret, or from studying and replicating the moment of animals. |
| 4 | You studied in a school that taught philosophy alongside martial arts. Often debates may be ended with a sparring match. You made a number of rivals in your time. |
| 5 | You learnt from the spirits from another Realm, who tutored you in your dreams or in your trips to the local woods or graveyard. |
| 6 | Your parents were martial artists of some repute who taught you in secret, in a hidden alcove of the basement. |
Who was your teacher? Did you have any teacher? If so, were they one person or many? If there were many, did any one teacher pay you special attention, or did you have a favourite? Also, if it was many did they have any specialisms? How did they teach you, was it in stories, practical lessons, or through other means? What was their personality like, were they strict or lenient, caring, or harsh, thorough or light on details? Did they impact your own behaviour or fighting style with theirs?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You had no teacher, only yourself to push you onwards. |
| 2 | You were taught by a whole faculty of teachers each a master of a specific style of fighting. |
| 3 | Your parents taught you everything you know, prioritizing the peaceful uses of the craft. |
| 4 | Your master was cruel in his instruction. You completed your training after you bested him in combat. |
| 5 | You learnt from the entities from another Realm though their reasons remain a mystery. |
| 6 | You teacher was a wandering martial arts master, who saw something in you. They took you on as their first and only pupil. |
What inspires your personal style of fighting? Is there something that inspires you chosen style of martial art? Is it the style taught to you by your mentor? Is it something that takes inspiration from a legend or some creature? Why do you identify with this inspiration? Is it because of an aspect of your backstory, or merely an alignment in your personality or methods? How much do you look to this inspiration when in a moment of stress or when stuck on a decision?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I need no inspiration. I have only myself and my skills to believe in. Anything else is a disappointment waiting to happen. |
| 2 | The raven inspires you. For both its ingenuity and cleverness as well as its gracefulness in the air. |
| 3 | My master’s teachings inspire me and how I fight. I seek to honour their memory. |
| 4 | My faith inspires me to fight no matter how hard it may get and to always believe in a better tomorrow. |
| 5 | The dragon inspires me, I constantly seek to emulate its fluid motions and the power of its strikes. |
| 6 | The legendary hero of my village inspires me, in all my actions and in my style of fighting. It having been passed down for generations in my village. |
How has your training shaped you? Consider the above answers and your Character concept when answering the question. Potentially also consider how often you may look to your training for answers to problems you encounter and if they have an impact on your outlook on life? Finally consider with all of the above, what does your martial art and the training required to learn its specific techniques say about you? How does it reflect the background and nature of your Character?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | It has made me more peaceful. Just because I have trained myself to be able to perform acts of violence does not mean I should. |
| 2 | It has made me more brutal. Weakness is the cause of so much pain in the world. So, I must become stronger to leave it behind. |
| 3 | It has made me a more spiritual person. Often, I look to my faith or philosophy for answers to problems I face. |
| 4 | It has made me more protective. If I have the strength to take the blow, why should I not take the blow for another. |
| 5 | It has given me confidence. I know my strengths and believe I can grow and overcome my weaknesses. |
| 6 | It has made me more wary. I have learnt rarely are things in this world as they appear at first glance. |
| 7 | I often find myself looking back to my past lessons and repeating their wisdom as my own. |
| 8 | It has made me bolder. Sometime action is required for change to occur, and we must be the impetus for that action. |