Hey, hoping I could get some input/feedback/help with my backstory for a character I've just started playing in a new campaign? We've played one session already, but the DM stressed that it's okay if backstory isn't finished as we won't delve properly into them just yet. (On the off-chance you're in the Arlinsia campaign with Francois...imma stop you right here)
So what's been established in-game so far: his name is Inspecteur Francois de la Tombe. He's a sickly-looking 'human' (Reborn) private investigator (divination wizard in full detective garb), and has been working in the city of Tarbean (current setting) for at least a month. He's from the nearby country of Atura, and speaks common with a heavy Aturan (french) accent.
And that's about it that's nailed down. Ideas-wise, I've had a few that I like, but I'm trying to avoid having too much going on, as one, we're only level 3, two, I don't want to be that guy with main character syndrome, and three, I want the DM to have blank areas to integrate a mystery to be solved (DM is on-board with that workload). Thankfully, I think I have some leeway in regards to edge, as my terrible french accent alleviates a lot of the character's potential for seriousness.
Ok so, my initial idea was that Francois awoke in an alleyway in Tarbean after suffering some fatal wound, with no memory of what had happened, or how he was still alive. I'm unsure if he would have no memory of his life or just no recent memory. All he would have to go on would be the contents of his coat pockets: a private investigator's license with the name Francois de la Tombe, a notebook (for case notes, perhaps much unreadable after lying dead in a puddle for who knows how long), and then some interesting items such as a sketch of a person, i.e. a keepsake of a loved one, a sketch from a wanted/missing poster, maybe a single sending stone (who knows who's on the other side), maybe a strange token (perhaps a hag's eye, but not understood to be one). And while I still like this, it doesn't give me or the DM a whole lot to go off of...
So, I'd thought maybe this unlife (which he has to cover up as best he can) could be the result of a bargain with a hag, which led me to another idea which I like but have a hard time developing. Essentially, I thought maybe he had suffered a fatal injury while travelling and encountered a hag shortly after, who perhaps offered to patch him up (maybe hag is disguised, maybe not). His reborn nature is the result of being 'patched up' by a hag? But then I thought, maybe he learned his divination powers from a hag. Perhaps in struggling with a case long ago, he sought out a soothsayer for aid. This would be a hag, who, after becoming enamoured with her fortune-telling abilities, asked if she could teach him/bestow the sight upon him. And maybe this bargain went something along the lines of: in exchange for some ability to see the future, he will lose some ability to remember the past. (enter Reborn memory issues). But while this could explain his powers, it leaves the rest of his reborn nature unexplained, and it feels like a lot to have it also be because of the hag, as it begs the question how he died. But I'm also not sure I want another additional bit of backstory explaining his unlife, as that feels like a lot of plotpoints for a level 3's backstory imo?
"French Zombie Detective Trying to Solve his Own Murder" is all the backstory anyone will ever need. If the DM wants more detail than that, he can ask for it.
"French Zombie Detective Trying to Solve his Own Murder" is all the backstory anyone will ever need. If the DM wants more detail than that, he can ask for it.
He has asked for more than that, that summary was essentially the same elevator pitch I first gave him lol
Okay, well your first idea is to tell your DM to write the mystery, which puts most of the work on them; and your second idea is to basically write it yourself which means there's no point to giving the character amnesia, because you'll know the answer to the mystery already. However many layers we add to this, one of the two of you is going to have to essentially write the "true" past of the amnesiac
Maybe make it less of a mystery and more of a manhunt. You know who killed you and you're chasing them. You've found out who you were, but maybe some aspect of this other person's (the previous You) past is coming back to haunt you.
When I heard "Francois de la Tombe" and that he's a foreigner, my mind went to Italian-American mafiosi. And in Common he has a nickname: Frankie Tombstone.
He witnessed the mob do some terrible crime. Not just the usual murders and maimings to collect on debts or deal with intruders on your turf: a real affront to God. He was gonna turn state's evidence, but the mob found out and used a high-level variant of Modify Memory on him. Now he has to piece together his life and the evidence of the crime.
I think I'll suggest ripping off the Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe for the sotry side and just have the detective as one of the victims.
When I heard "Francois de la Tombe" and that he's a foreigner, my mind went to Italian-American mafiosi. And in Common he has a nickname: Frankie Tombstone.
He witnessed the mob do some terrible crime. Not just the usual murders and maimings to collect on debts or deal with intruders on your turf: a real affront to God. He was gonna turn state's evidence, but the mob found out and used a high-level variant of Modify Memory on him. Now he has to piece together his life and the evidence of the crime.
I think I'll suggest ripping off the Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe for the sotry side and just have the detective as one of the victims.
Hey, hoping I could get some input/feedback/help with my backstory for a character I've just started playing in a new campaign? We've played one session already, but the DM stressed that it's okay if backstory isn't finished as we won't delve properly into them just yet. (On the off-chance you're in the Arlinsia campaign with Francois...imma stop you right here)
So what's been established in-game so far: his name is Inspecteur Francois de la Tombe. He's a sickly-looking 'human' (Reborn) private investigator (divination wizard in full detective garb), and has been working in the city of Tarbean (current setting) for at least a month. He's from the nearby country of Atura, and speaks common with a heavy Aturan (french) accent.
And that's about it that's nailed down. Ideas-wise, I've had a few that I like, but I'm trying to avoid having too much going on, as one, we're only level 3, two, I don't want to be that guy with main character syndrome, and three, I want the DM to have blank areas to integrate a mystery to be solved (DM is on-board with that workload). Thankfully, I think I have some leeway in regards to edge, as my terrible french accent alleviates a lot of the character's potential for seriousness.
Ok so, my initial idea was that Francois awoke in an alleyway in Tarbean after suffering some fatal wound, with no memory of what had happened, or how he was still alive. I'm unsure if he would have no memory of his life or just no recent memory. All he would have to go on would be the contents of his coat pockets: a private investigator's license with the name Francois de la Tombe, a notebook (for case notes, perhaps much unreadable after lying dead in a puddle for who knows how long), and then some interesting items such as a sketch of a person, i.e. a keepsake of a loved one, a sketch from a wanted/missing poster, maybe a single sending stone (who knows who's on the other side), maybe a strange token (perhaps a hag's eye, but not understood to be one). And while I still like this, it doesn't give me or the DM a whole lot to go off of...
So, I'd thought maybe this unlife (which he has to cover up as best he can) could be the result of a bargain with a hag, which led me to another idea which I like but have a hard time developing. Essentially, I thought maybe he had suffered a fatal injury while travelling and encountered a hag shortly after, who perhaps offered to patch him up (maybe hag is disguised, maybe not). His reborn nature is the result of being 'patched up' by a hag? But then I thought, maybe he learned his divination powers from a hag. Perhaps in struggling with a case long ago, he sought out a soothsayer for aid. This would be a hag, who, after becoming enamoured with her fortune-telling abilities, asked if she could teach him/bestow the sight upon him. And maybe this bargain went something along the lines of: in exchange for some ability to see the future, he will lose some ability to remember the past. (enter Reborn memory issues). But while this could explain his powers, it leaves the rest of his reborn nature unexplained, and it feels like a lot to have it also be because of the hag, as it begs the question how he died. But I'm also not sure I want another additional bit of backstory explaining his unlife, as that feels like a lot of plotpoints for a level 3's backstory imo?
Any input/feedback greatly appreciated!
"French Zombie Detective Trying to Solve his Own Murder" is all the backstory anyone will ever need. If the DM wants more detail than that, he can ask for it.
He has asked for more than that, that summary was essentially the same elevator pitch I first gave him lol
Okay, well your first idea is to tell your DM to write the mystery, which puts most of the work on them; and your second idea is to basically write it yourself which means there's no point to giving the character amnesia, because you'll know the answer to the mystery already. However many layers we add to this, one of the two of you is going to have to essentially write the "true" past of the amnesiac
Maybe make it less of a mystery and more of a manhunt. You know who killed you and you're chasing them. You've found out who you were, but maybe some aspect of this other person's (the previous You) past is coming back to haunt you.
When I heard "Francois de la Tombe" and that he's a foreigner, my mind went to Italian-American mafiosi. And in Common he has a nickname: Frankie Tombstone.
He witnessed the mob do some terrible crime. Not just the usual murders and maimings to collect on debts or deal with intruders on your turf: a real affront to God. He was gonna turn state's evidence, but the mob found out and used a high-level variant of Modify Memory on him. Now he has to piece together his life and the evidence of the crime.
I think I'll suggest ripping off the Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe for the sotry side and just have the detective as one of the victims.
LInk here to the wiki which gives and over view: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murders_in_the_Rue_Morgue
I like the nickname haha, cool idea! thanks
Very interesting basis for a murder story, thanks! Could easily add some fantastical creature in place of the orangutan!