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.
Psions spend years studying their arts mastering their unique and sometimes temperamental abilities. 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:
When did your powers first manifest? What is the event that led to your true nature revealing itself? Was there a trigger event for this manifestation or did it happen on its own? Did the event have any changes to you physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally? Did the event have any other effects in the area around you? Was the manifestation calm and peaceful, or violent and chaotic? Were others affected by this event? This may have a direct impact on your Character’s backstory and affect aspects of your Character.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | A traumatic or emotional event led to a sudden and explosive manifestation of your abilities. People were hurt and you were blamed. |
| 2 | When you were born odd events would happen around you. People thought either you were cursed, or your family was haunted. |
| 3 | One day it just happened, suddenly you woke up with strange powers. Though you may not have realized the cause of the strange events right away. |
| 4 | You were near an eruption of magical energy that awakened your latent psionics, you are uncertain if anyone else survived or were altered by this event. |
| 5 | You were forced into painful experiments, during one of these tests your psionics awakened in a violent explosion. You escaped and do not know what happened to your experimenters. |
| 6 | You parents were psions, you awakened to your powers early and they helped you understand what was going on. |
How do your powers manifest? When you manifest your powers how do you do this? Do you follow well practiced mantras or rituals? Or is it more instantaneous? Do you still perform verbal components? Do you try to be in a specific mental state or tie certain powers with certain emotions or memories? How do your powers look when you manifest them?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am never in control; my powers activate purely based off my thoughts and emotions. |
| 2 | I follow the steps taught to me, repeating the mantras to keep my focus. |
| 3 | I often move my hands in specific gestures to help me mentally focus on what I want the power to do. |
| 4 | I use verbal components for spells, as I use set trigger phase to help my focus on certain phrases or emotions tie to the power I want to channel. |
| 5 | I have an item I use to help keep my mind calm and focused in stressful situations, when trying to manifest my powers. |
| 6 | I never use a power is stressful situations unless it is one, I have spent time practicing using. As such I am always in control of my powers. |
How did you learn to control your powers? Did you have any teacher or mentor at all? If you learnt alone was there a lot of trial and error involved? What happened during these errors? Did you practice in secret or openly? If you kept it secret, did anyone ever catch you and if so, what were the consequences? If you had a teacher or mentor? What were they like as an individual and as a teacher? How did they teach you? Did the way you learnt have any long-term effects on your personality or Character? Will this affect how you learn new powers and abilities in the future?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I learnt in secret by myself. I still have the scars left from my early mistakes. Reminders of my most painful lessons. |
| 2 | My mentor was a skilled psion, who taught me everything they know. They made sure I mastered every technique exactly as they performed it. They never allowed for experimentation. Just as their own master taught them. |
| 3 | I carefully learnt to practice using my powers, with simple tasks first. Before expanding my abilities slowly and carefully. |
| 4 | My mentor was very spiritual in their teachings. They seemed to believe the best way to teach was to encourage me to tap into the Thoughtweb and just trust in it to guide me. Saying new abilities will reveal themself to me when I am ready. |
| 5 | My mentor was a radical, always experimenting. I sometimes had to help them deal with the consequences of their mistakes, including their final one. I try to stay away from psionics that alter my body after that. |
| 6 | I learnt by myself to keep my abilities secret and me safe. I drew knowledge and lessons from strands of the Thoughtweb. It revealed many secrets to me including psionics I am not sure I have seen anywhere else. |
Have you picked up any unusual habits in your travels? You may find during your studies coping mechanisms for stress, aiding concentration, or during overwhelming sensory stimulation, you may also find you have gained certain behaviours or superstitions based on the journey you have taken up until this point. It may be a habit you made yourself, or one picked up from a teacher or past event.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You always wear extravagant masks, that way no one may ever steal your face. |
| 2 | When entering a room, you always step out of the room before stepping back in again. |
| 3 | You never let the sunlight touch your skin. |
| 4 | Before you sleep, you always burn herbs to clear the air of negative psychic echoes. |
| 5 | You always sleep on bare earth, so you can always be aware of danger. |
| 6 | You always thank the animals and plants who made up your meal before eating. Lest their souls linger around you in the Thoughtweb. |
How has your psionics shaped you? Consider the above answers and your Character concept when answering the question. Potentially also consider how open are you with your abilities and as psionics are shaped by the mental state and emotions of the Psion, how do these factors show themselves in your power’s manifestation? Finally consider with all of the above, what does your psionic and relationship to them say about you? How does it reflect the background and nature of your Character?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I struggle to trust others with knowledge of my abilities. They will only view me as a freak. |
| 2 | Psionics grant me the power to dominate those around me. I will never be made to feel fear again. |
| 3 | The appearance of my powers when they manifest is tied to and affected by my current emotional state. |
| 4 | My psionics grant me peace knowing no matter what happens, my legacy will be eternal when I become one with the Thoughtweb. |
| 5 | My psionics has made me a more compassionate person. Our differences are what give us our strengths and should not be a source of fear. |
| 6 | As my psionics have developed, I have found I am much more susceptible to my own emotions. Often losing myself to them without realizing it. |
| 7 | I find am always trying to find new experiences in the Thoughtweb or with my powers. |
| 8 | Sometimes when channeling my psionics my form alters to appear as a pure embodiment of my psionic potential. |