So, I have a pretty diverse party with a pretty diverse set of backstories and I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of working them into my game. There is one character through that I'd like some advice with.
She was a slave as child - kind of used as pet by a noble family ("Look! We taught the savage child how to spell." kind of thing). She escaped and that's when she really got into her barbarian roots. Her concept is that she's a barbarian, but old (like 60s). Kind of a nice grandma type. No 'real' family but a lot of kids she considers grandchildren and love her.
And that's basically what I have to go off of. Instinct is to obviously use the 'grandchildren.' Either put some of them in danger somewhere or maybe have one of them start going down a dark road and have her find out about it?
It's one of her first times playing D&D and the character is both adorable and insanely dangerous - the rest of the party really loves her. I don't want to leave her backstory out when I'm trying to tie everyone else's in some way or another. Anyone have any neat ideas that I could use to spawn a cool tie-in for her backstory? (Setting is Forgotten Realms, if that helps at all)
She sounds like the love child of Cohen the Barbarian from the Terry Pratchett books and Rosie Beestinger from Acquisition Inc "the C team" which I give two thumbs up!
If she "escaped" the nobles have they come looking for their run away slavet? What if they do and the party fight, or even kill, some of them? Would the other nobles in the area think a peasant uprising was starting? Would the peasants take this as the start of a peasant uprising if it happened in broad day llight? Would the law be on the nobles side, if slavery is legal do the town guards say "sorry Ma'am, you have to go with them"?
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The last of that generation in the noble family has died. Turns out they really loved her in their own twisted way and never stopped hoping she’d come home. Now they’ve left her an inheritance. But she’ll have to go back to claim it. Maybe have her come across the info in a Weird News brief in the paper of whatever town they’re in. “In [her hometown], [Named noble] died this year, leaving a portion of the estate in limbo due to an unusual stipulation in the will. 10% of [Noble’s] liquid assets, and legal ownership of 50 square miles of prime virgin forest land will sit in a trust for 1 year pending the claim of a mystery inheritor identified in the will only as [unique childhood nickname] ‘I have no idea who [PC] is, or why my mother would leave anything to them. I anticipate this is just a waiting game, and in 8 months when the hold expires, I’ll assume the deed for the land and gold, and can start developing it for the benefit of the people of [hometown]’ says [Named Relative]. We may never know who [PC] is, or what their story is, but our sense of curiosity is piqued!”
The journalist can be an NPC ally, who just wants to have a good story to write about. The inheritance land is where her barbarian tribe used to live. They were killed off when she was captured, except she was kept as a spoil of war. Ruins of her village and ancient burial grounds would still be there. The owners were struggling internally because she was kept as a slave, but they got attached and wanted to treat her more as a daughter, which is why they taught her to read, and all the other stuff. But they had a reputation, and social expectations for asserting dominance over property, so they still drove her really hard. Plus, PC knew them as the people who had her real family killed, and wasn’t really open to accepting their love. They reacted poorly when she got defiant, and were basically “You want us to treat you like a slave? We’ll treat you like a slave!” Bit of barbarian in them as well. After she left, the owners realized what they gave up by trying to keep her as a slave. The quoted noble knows full well who she is. PC was assigned as a playmate to keep this brat child occupied so the parents could work. He mistreated her more than the parents. He intends to exploit the resources of the forest (and the geology underneath) for profit. No one must know that [PC] really exists, or all his plans and down payments are for nothing. He keeps a supply of mafia thugs at the ready and will hire people to take her out if he knows she’s alive. Maybe has a boss-level personal attendant by his side at all times to fight for him. Combats possible in urban or forest settings. Claiming this inheritance would both stick it to the brat who abused her most as a kid, and protect a forest, and put her ancestral lands back into her hands. (And could be a great setting for exploring caves, crypts, ruins, etc for future encounters.) You’ll need to come up with a way for her to prove her identity to the court. And the noble will have some way of trying to sabotage that claim.
There’s so much drama available here! And you can make it as straightforward or as politically intrigue-y as you want. This could end up being just a plot hook they don’t follow, but a nod to her backstory. It could be that the party shows up, PC makes the claim, and the noble shows up mad that a slave has stolen his rightful inheritance. They have a quick battle and the party moves on. Or they can explore the area for several sessions, unraveling the Noble’s intentions and exposing his machinations, or learning more about the PC’s backstory, both as a slave and where she came from before.
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So, I have a pretty diverse party with a pretty diverse set of backstories and I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of working them into my game. There is one character through that I'd like some advice with.
She was a slave as child - kind of used as pet by a noble family ("Look! We taught the savage child how to spell." kind of thing). She escaped and that's when she really got into her barbarian roots. Her concept is that she's a barbarian, but old (like 60s). Kind of a nice grandma type. No 'real' family but a lot of kids she considers grandchildren and love her.
And that's basically what I have to go off of. Instinct is to obviously use the 'grandchildren.' Either put some of them in danger somewhere or maybe have one of them start going down a dark road and have her find out about it?
It's one of her first times playing D&D and the character is both adorable and insanely dangerous - the rest of the party really loves her. I don't want to leave her backstory out when I'm trying to tie everyone else's in some way or another. Anyone have any neat ideas that I could use to spawn a cool tie-in for her backstory? (Setting is Forgotten Realms, if that helps at all)
She sounds like the love child of Cohen the Barbarian from the Terry Pratchett books and Rosie Beestinger from Acquisition Inc "the C team" which I give two thumbs up!
If she "escaped" the nobles have they come looking for their run away slavet? What if they do and the party fight, or even kill, some of them? Would the other nobles in the area think a peasant uprising was starting? Would the peasants take this as the start of a peasant uprising if it happened in broad day llight? Would the law be on the nobles side, if slavery is legal do the town guards say "sorry Ma'am, you have to go with them"?
Let’s make her question everything.
The last of that generation in the noble family has died. Turns out they really loved her in their own twisted way and never stopped hoping she’d come home. Now they’ve left her an inheritance. But she’ll have to go back to claim it. Maybe have her come across the info in a Weird News brief in the paper of whatever town they’re in. “In [her hometown], [Named noble] died this year, leaving a portion of the estate in limbo due to an unusual stipulation in the will. 10% of [Noble’s] liquid assets, and legal ownership of 50 square miles of prime virgin forest land will sit in a trust for 1 year pending the claim of a mystery inheritor identified in the will only as [unique childhood nickname] ‘I have no idea who [PC] is, or why my mother would leave anything to them. I anticipate this is just a waiting game, and in 8 months when the hold expires, I’ll assume the deed for the land and gold, and can start developing it for the benefit of the people of [hometown]’ says [Named Relative]. We may never know who [PC] is, or what their story is, but our sense of curiosity is piqued!”
The journalist can be an NPC ally, who just wants to have a good story to write about.
The inheritance land is where her barbarian tribe used to live. They were killed off when she was captured, except she was kept as a spoil of war. Ruins of her village and ancient burial grounds would still be there. The owners were struggling internally because she was kept as a slave, but they got attached and wanted to treat her more as a daughter, which is why they taught her to read, and all the other stuff. But they had a reputation, and social expectations for asserting dominance over property, so they still drove her really hard. Plus, PC knew them as the people who had her real family killed, and wasn’t really open to accepting their love. They reacted poorly when she got defiant, and were basically “You want us to treat you like a slave? We’ll treat you like a slave!” Bit of barbarian in them as well. After she left, the owners realized what they gave up by trying to keep her as a slave.
The quoted noble knows full well who she is. PC was assigned as a playmate to keep this brat child occupied so the parents could work. He mistreated her more than the parents. He intends to exploit the resources of the forest (and the geology underneath) for profit. No one must know that [PC] really exists, or all his plans and down payments are for nothing. He keeps a supply of mafia thugs at the ready and will hire people to take her out if he knows she’s alive. Maybe has a boss-level personal attendant by his side at all times to fight for him. Combats possible in urban or forest settings.
Claiming this inheritance would both stick it to the brat who abused her most as a kid, and protect a forest, and put her ancestral lands back into her hands. (And could be a great setting for exploring caves, crypts, ruins, etc for future encounters.)
You’ll need to come up with a way for her to prove her identity to the court. And the noble will have some way of trying to sabotage that claim.
There’s so much drama available here! And you can make it as straightforward or as politically intrigue-y as you want. This could end up being just a plot hook they don’t follow, but a nod to her backstory. It could be that the party shows up, PC makes the claim, and the noble shows up mad that a slave has stolen his rightful inheritance. They have a quick battle and the party moves on. Or they can explore the area for several sessions, unraveling the Noble’s intentions and exposing his machinations, or learning more about the PC’s backstory, both as a slave and where she came from before.