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.
Slayers spend many years in training and preparation for making the pact. Each trying to prepare and ready themselves that they can survive the pact and become something greater. These aspects 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 take the Slayer’s Pact? Consider how did you learn about the pact and the Order? Were you approached by the Order, or did you approach them? Is it tied to an event from your backstory? Why would you take the risk of a procedure that can end in death? What do you gain? Did others influence you or cause you to take the pact? How do you feel about this pact? This may inform how you answer the other questions.
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have nothing left to live for bar my vengeance against those who brought me tragedy. |
| 2 | I was given a simple choice die for the crime I was accused of or take the pact and earn my “redemption”. |
| 3 | I sought out the pact in order to gain the power needed to make the world a better place. |
| 4 | I made the pact as a sign of devotion to my faith. |
| 5 | I took the pact as a step toward greater power and social mobility. |
| 6 | I wish to take the pact to be closer to the heroes I grew up reading about! |
Do you hunt any foes in particular? Some Orders will have been founded to hunt down a particular kind of foe while others may have been made to tackle a variety of threats. Some of the prior Orders may find their list of foes expanding over time as new threats emerge. So does your Order hunt one or many kinds of foe? If one kind of foe, why these foes? Is it tied to an aspect of the Order’s backstory or the history of the region? How do you feel about these foes? Is it the foes they fight are the reason for your joining?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your Order is sworn to hunt the creature of the Outside, lest their madness infect the whole world. |
| 2 | Your Order hunts the undead, you always hope the next hunt will bring you face to face with the monster who destroyed your village. |
| 3 | Your Order is sworn to hunt the forces of evil whatever form they may take. |
| 4 | While the wider Order hunts other targets, you are of a select group sent out to hunt down the cursed relics tied to an ancient evil. For as long as even one relic remains, untold damage may be wrought on the world. |
| 5 | You hunt down the entity that destroyed your Order, all other commitments be damned. |
| 6 | You have been assigned a specific target by your Order. A fallen member who has become lost to their Inner Darkness. For the sake of your Order and innocent lives, they must be stopped. |
What was your Initiation Ritual like? The ritual will always involve you performing an action that causes you to become changed or altered by supernatural power. The ritual also always has a high chance of killing those performing it. What steps were involved in the ritual? Where measure taken to increase your chance of survival? Did it require any preparation? Did it involve or call upon any aspects of your Character’s nature, history, or personality? What was it in the ritual that changed you and enacted the pact? Were you aware of this aspect of the rite, or was it kept secret? Has this ritual changed you beyond the physical change? How do you feel about this rite?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Order first tasked me to hunt down a specific plant or creature. Once I retrieved it, it was added to an alchemical concoction. My ritual was simple, imbibe the fluid and survive. The pain that wracked my form was unbelievable, and at least one of the others died from the mixture. |
| 2 | My trial involved me fighting one of the creatures I was intended to take traits from, or a member of the Order who had fallen so far into their Inner Darkness they are no longer recongnisable as their original ancestry. I was given a strange alchemical concoction, initiating the transformation, and a simple sword. The creatures foul magic infected every wound and in combination with the fallen beast’s blood and the initial concoction, it finished the transformation without killing me. |
| 3 | The rite involved me drinking an alchemical concoction, while the officiators performed a large ritual. At its zenith my soul left my body and was required to overcome the soul of a summon entity whose power I was to consume. Time did not follow the normal laws, and the conflict involved a lot of fighting my own fears and trauma. But in the end, I triumphed my soul absorbing the entity’s powers and abilities while I remained in control. |
| 4 | I consumed an alchemical concoction. Finding myself drawn into the Realms of Nightmare. In this dreamlike state, I had to survive being hunted from the larger beasts. While finding a foe suitable to slay and consume. The Realm warped to call upon my own past, fears, and worst parts of my personality to face. But I survived and conquered my foe, returning once I had consumed the beast. |
| 5 | The rite involved me being bound I chains and consuming an alchemical concoction. An entity was forcibly allowed to possess me, and I eventually won, sealing the entity away with my flesh as its prison. Its powers mine to draw upon. |
| 6 | The ritual involved me consuming an alchemical concoction and venturing into the heart of the monster's lair which lay on the conflux where multiple Realms overlapped. By harnessing the Realm based energies within the lair, with the concoction’s mutagenic effects, and the ferocity of the fight, I underwent a transformation, aligning myself with the forces embodied by the creature and the Realms I was exposed to. |
Do you control your Inner Darkness? Slayers will be altered by supernatural power tied to the threats they fight, using the weapons of the enemy against them. This power comes with cost, one of which is the fact the nature of the power you tap into will always seek to be let out. This inner monster is called the Inner Darkness, and a Slayer always must remain aware of the risks they face. Consider the nature of your Inner Darkness. Is it hard to resist? Does it require any actions, rituals, or alchemical agents to maintain control? Is it subtle in its attempt to be unleashed or more wild and brutal? What happens if it gets let loose? Do you sometimes allow it to? How does your order view the Inner Darkness being let out or a member falling to it? How do you feel about it? If there is a difference of opinion why?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am incomplete control. I am in charge of my Inner Darkness when I let it out. Everyone is concerned over nothing. |
| 2 | I am always scared of loosing control. I once in a moment of weakness let it out. While I regained control easily, what scared me most was how much I enjoyed it. |
| 3 | Eventually we all fall to our Inner Darkness. I will fight it for now. But I don’t fool myself into thinking I can do so forever. |
| 4 | I am in control. Slowly experimenting letting out my Inner Darkness in control circumstances. For if I can control this power think of all the people I can save! |
| 5 | I lost control once. I have been struggling to redeem myself ever since. |
| 6 | I am in control of my Inner Darkness. It is a constant struggle against the whispers promising so many things. But I have seen what happens when it is let loose. |
How has your Slayer’s Pact affected you? Consider the above answers and your Character concept when answering the question. Consider how difficult it may be to maintain control when faced with a challenge? How open are you to tapping into your Inner Darkness when in a dire situation? How does the pact affect the appearance of your magic and abilities? Finally consider with all of the above, what does your pact, your relationship to it, and why you took the pact say about you? How does it reflect the background and nature of your Character?
| Results | |
|---|---|
| 1 | My spells often take the forms of entities tied to my Pact. |
| 2 | I often keep my abilities secret, hiding them and trying to lie about the nature of those I do show. This is a burden I must take on alone. |
| 3 | My spells radiate a light associated with my Pact. |
| 4 | I know with this Pact I have only a limited amount of time before the I am consumed by my Inner Darkness. So, I make sure I make every second count, to leave the world better than I found it. |
| 5 | The appearance of my spells and abilities is tied to how much control over my Inner Darkness I have. |
| 6 | Elements tied to my Pact often coat me or appear around me when I cast spells. |
| 7 | I often empower my spells and abilities by unleashing the darkness, when the safety of my family is on the line. |
| 8 | When I cast spells, the nature of the source of my power appears for all to see. |