Mike Merles' livejournal blog has recently talked about his upcoming Greyhawk Temple of Elemental Evil campaign and how he has created background tables to give his player's PC some juicy back stories for him to exploit. He hasn't published the exact tables because his use some 4e material that might not be public domain yet.
The opening post talks about the gaming concepts of Bangs and Kickers that segues ways into his GH background tables (here).
He then revisits the concept in a second post here, giving a few more details (here).
He also gives the first example of a PC background using his tables (here).
I kind of wish I had this when I was starting my GH campaign last year. My players are not really familiar with the GH setting and it would have helped to get them invested in it by explaining some stuff in their backgrounds.
Interesting to read and hopefully he will publish the complete tables in the future.
That's a good series of blogs. Many people don't think of campaigns in this way enough, just adventures. ToEE is a rather large adventure(a campaign in itself some would say) that takes place over many months of in-game time. This blog is about more than just simple adventure hooks. It covers a broad range of if-then type situations. Setting up situations so that any outcome bears consequences immediately or even much later on is a good idea, though most any action(or inaction) does have consequences if you think about it creatively enough.
I tend to plan out consequential links well in advance of actual events, and many of them can reach far into the future. For my ToEE campaign the in-game time lasted around 7 months from the day the PCs entered Hommlet to the day they said their goodbyes to the locals and moved on to new things. Over that time period, the PCs had risen from 1st level to anywhere from 8th to 10th level(2e rules). Here is an additional way of looking at consequences.
I always let my players construct the backgrounds of their characters with no initial input on my part. Going off of their basic descriptions I then help flesh them out a bit by asking a few questions about various things(DM deviousness at work). Then I develop a few things of my own. I think there must be some solid reasoning behind relating anything; otherwise it just seems like a pile of all too convenient coincidences.
For example, one of the PCs(a 2e human bard) and one of the NPCs(a 2e halfling thief-acrobat) were both from Narwal. Both were developed completely independent of each other. That they were both from the same city was a complete and utter coincidence. The bard was a local player in the city, while the thief- acrobat performed with a troupe of street performers- tumblers, mountebanks, etc. While the two were not acquainted, they were of very similar background and probably would have crossed paths; at least to the point of thinking that the other looked kind of familiar, but couldn't place where they had seen them. Now each needed a reason to have left town to wind up in Hommlet.
This is where some initial consequences come in. Based on what little background had been written about the characters, I extrapolated some consequences for them. I had already decided that the halfling was somebody who liked to be around performers, so he naturally gravitated towards the bard character, who indeed became his boon companion. They got into a good amount of trouble together over the course of the adventure. I gave the halfling a minor character flaw- mild megalomania. He would generally be a good-natured little chap(which at heart he was, being Chaotic Good) but should he ever be placed in a role of command or control, his demeanor would change to be very confident and commanding. This manifested in some very memorable ways during the course of the adventure. The halfling had fallen out of his Narwal performing troupe for various reasons and hit the road in search of greener pastures. He made it to Hommlet, which is where a big detour awaited him.
The bard did not so much as leave Narwal as fled. He had gotten into a row with an elf by the name of Girana, who was known as a decent swordsman and slinger of spells. He was also known for his rather nasty demeanor; something unusual in an elf. I wrote into the background that the bard made the mistake of lampooning the elf one night in a tavern. The elf had some tough friends while the bard was a loner, so he was forced to flee the city for his life. He made it to Hommlet where his life would take a detour as well. Then comes in some DM deviousness. The elf(Girana by name) would later be encountered as a minor slave trader in the hamlet of Nulb. Instead of river brigands lounging at Boatmans' Tavern, it was Girana and the crew of his two river boats, both loaded with slaves from inland raids, which were destined for the slave markets of Highport. "Girana" is also the name of the captain of a ship called "The Ghoul". Some may recall that this is the ship which Shanghais the PCs in the Scourge of the Slavelords supermodule. Yes, I am truly evil. Based on how the PCs dealt with Girana in Nulb would have far ranging consequences regarding how personal their treatment would be aboard The Ghoul. Alas, the PC's could not kill Girana when they faced him in Nulb, so he got a way. He would torment them greatly when the PCs would later fall into his clutches and be slaves on his ship. The bard was awakened daily with kicks to the face and gut by Girana himself, while a paladin PC had his intelligent frostbrand sword tossed, screaming curses, into the depths of the ocean before his very eyes. I had a lot of fun with them while they were aboard that ship. Even more amusing, Girana still lives, and The Ghoul still sails the southern water ways. The bard truly wants vengeance, but some of the other PCs wouldn’t mind getting some payback too.
Another PC, a human cleric, ended up being an acolyte at ht chapel of St. Cuthbert in Hommlet. He ended up being sent wit the others to investigate the moat house and eventually the ToEE as an unknowing agent of the leaders of Hommlet. Initially having thought he was just going along to make sure nothing vile was lurking nearby, as well as to keep an eye on these strangers(the other PCs & NPCs) and make sure they didn’t get into any trouble. Another thing comes into play for this character that is very familiar to him- Calmert. Among the good guys in Hommlet, none of them are quite the **** that Calmert is. Full of his own self-importance and zealous in his collection of tithes, Calmert would be a natural foil for the PC cleric. The PC cleric turned out to be zealous too, but in his worship of St. Cuthbert and not the collection of cash- a true believer and champion of the faith. Of course, Calmert initially makes life very difficult for the n00b cleric, but in the end, the PC ends up in a position of honor, Calmert becomes somewhat contrite about how he has been acting, and the two of them end up on respectful, even somewhat amicable terms. In this case, the consequences of the PCs’ actions were all about developing role-playing that brought depth to the game, and didn’t have anything to do with events that would truly affect the adventure outcome. To me, these kinds of consequences are just as important because they lead to many memorable role-playing experiences.
All of this(and more) came about by setting up consequences based on character backgrounds before even a single dice was rolled in the village of Hommlet. While events in adventures do have their consequences, it can be even more engrossing to also introduce consequences based on the characters' preliminary background information into things as well. It is also important to work NPCs, whether they are enemies or allies, into the consequences of the PCs’ actions, as this gives even greater meaning to what they decide to do each time they are faced with a problem.
EDIT: If you find this to have been too much to read, perhaps you shouldn't be playing D&D. Just kidding. Brutally long post. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
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Yes, I am truly evil. Based on how the PCs dealt with Girana in Nulb would have far ranging consequences regarding how personal their treatment would be aboard The Ghoul. Alas, the PC's could not kill Girana when they faced him in Nulb, so he got a way. He would torment them greatly when the PCs would later fall into his clutches and be slaves on his ship. The bard was awakened daily with kicks to the face and gut by Girana himself, while a paladin PC had his intelligent frostbrand sword tossed, screaming curses, into the depths of the ocean before his very eyes. I had a lot of fun with them while they were aboard that ship. Even more amusing, Girana still lives, and The Ghoul still sails the southern water ways. The bard truly wants vengeance, but some of the other PCs wouldn’t mind getting some payback too.
Just kidding. Brutally long post.