You are from Earth. This Earth - as in the 21st Century. Somehow - be it through magic, time-space anomalies, advanced VR technology, a severe concussion or coma, a really bad drug trip, or some other bizarre confluence of events, you are not on Earth any more.
Maybe you don't even know how you got here. You do know that you are now in some other land - a world strongly reminiscent of the fantasy fiction you enjoyed back home. Here, the world is permanently frozen in medieval technology, magic is real, and the wilderness teems with vicious monsters of supernatural origins.
How did you get here, though? Was there a purpose, or was it an accident? What time period and place on Earth are you from? What did you do before you were sent to this other world? Do you have any relevant experiences which might help here, or are you a totally unprepared suburbanite?
Did you leave any family behind? Do you want to go back, or is this a new lease on life for you? How do you feel about the supernatural? Once you arrived, why did you pursue a lifestyle of adventuring?
Race
The Earthling background is intended to function with any race, but assumes that you are human. As such, your race selection only counts mechanically. A half-orc might represent a human gangster, while a halfling might represent a guy who just gets really lucky all the time, or maybe just a short person.
Alternatively, you could play it straight and add the detail that being transferred to this world also actually changed your race, if you aren't playing a human!
- Skill Proficiencies: Nature, Persuasion
- Tool Proficiencies: One artisan's tools or musical instrument relevant to your past lifestyle.
- Languages: In addition to your racial languages, you also speak English, or the language you spoke on Earth. No one else probably shares this language. But if there is another Earthling in the party, you might use your Earth language as a secret language, or encoded one.
- Equipment: Exotic fine clothes, a jacket, a trinket from your home world, 1 day's rations (a packaged snack) and 10 exotic coins.
One of the best parts about this background is writing an interesting backstory for how you arrived in the fantasy world. You should probably write your own story, but here's a randomized list of archetypal transitions from various works of fantasy fiction to get your creative juices flowing!
| d8 | Method of Arrival |
|---|---|
| 1 | I came to this world through the back of an antique wardrobe. |
| 2 | I was sucked into this world through some kind of magical VR Headset. I might still be sitting there, playing this game. |
| 3 | I was lounging in the grass under a nice apple tree. It was so lovely out, I must have dozed off. When I woke up, I was here. |
| 4 | I was reading an old book I found in the back of the library. One minute I was sitting there reading about this magical realm, and the next I was standing in it. |
| 5 | I drove into a particularly dense fog bank, and somehow went off the road. I stopped the car and realized the road - and the Earth I knew - was gone. |
| 6 | I was playing in an open field when I fell into a hole in ground, hidden by the tall grass. I made my way through a winding cave system, only to emerge here. |
| 7 | My friends and I decided to ride the Dungeons & Dragons Ride at the fair, but halfway through the ride, I got thrown free and wound up IN Dungeons and Dragons! |
| 8 | I was kidnapped by black-hooded figures, thrown into the back of a van, and driven to who-knows-where, pulled from the van and dumped in the tall grass. When I finally got free, I was in this place. |
Your implacable accent, your colorful and fanciful clothes, your literacy, numeracy, and your general knowledge of all things mundane all come together to give you a regal appearance. People easily believe, and readily assume, that you are some important foreign dignitary. It is simple to initially convince most folks that you are from a far-off land, and that you have just about any kind of title, and anyone interested in hearing stories from afar will eagerly listen to whatever tales you choose to spin about your origins. Your (comparatively) healthy complexion alone captures the wandering gaze of any unoccupied bystanders in your general area, and you stand out against the unwashed masss.
Suggested Characteristics
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | ew, Ew, EW! Everything is dirty, everything stinks, and everyone is sick! |
| 2 | I use all kinds of modern (and often misunderstood) slang and idioms when I speak to people. |
| 3 | I have a perfectly normal and completely rational fear of monsters. |
| 4 | I genuinely believe that this is all some sort of dream or hallucination. |
| 5 | I feel the need to speak slowly and use simle words, as I talk down to these sheep-sacrificing primitives. |
| 6 | I am constantly excited and eager to see new people, places, and things. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Postmodernism. Theoretical social and legal equality for all persons of apparently equal potential! (Lawful) |
| 2 | Industrialization. Why not make magic machines which can make magic items on a large scale production basis, then undercut the competition and corner the market? (Neutral) |
| 3 | Anarchism. Monarchy is merely tyranny's excuse. Rule by the people would ensure justice for the people. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Anachronism. What do you mean you've never heard of AC/DC? (Neutral) |
| 5 | Subjugation. A world teeming with ignorant, uneducated primitives? I could become like a god..! (Evil) |
| 6 | Pragmatism. The elimination and prevention of suffering will always lead to the greatest good. (Good) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | The things I have with me are everything I have and everything I am. |
| 2 | I must get back to Earth no matter the cost. |
| 3 | I must figure out where I am now and embrace this new world. |
| 4 | I look like an otherwordly wizard to the people here, and I must uphold that assumption. |
| 5 | I must act like I belong here. |
| 6 | I just want to be myself, and be free doing it. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I often fail to realize that social and cultural norms from Earth are very recent and unusual, even in my own time; and I have difficulty imaginging a world without them. |
| 2 | I am very easily tricked by con artists using types of scams I've never encountered before. |
| 3 | I have great difficulty recognizing and respecting the social hierarchy. |
| 4 | My ideas of morality and ethics do not match their very literal manifestations in this world. |
| 5 | I am woefully underprepared for the reality of the supernatural (Magic, Monsters, Corporeal Undead, Deities Manifest, etc) and exposure to it is akin to a mild form of trauma for me. |
| 6 | I lived in a prosperous and enlightened time, and am not equipped to handle regular exposure to violence, death, famine, plague, pestilence, or abject injustice. |
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