The man behind the curtain? Need a backstory... [Archive] - Wizards Community

The man behind the curtain? Need a backstory... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mad_Jack
12-11-07, 09:36 AM So I have a party that I've been writing a story about (you know, the kind of story that lives in your head and will never get around to being completely written down successfully), and out of the entire party, and despite a great deal of wracking my overactive imagination, the one character who still escapes me is the wizard. I've got him statted out, I've written dialogue for him, but I still can't get a real fix on the personality and physical appearance...

Here's the rest of the party -
-An overbearing, arrogant, self-righteous jerk of a male Paladin
-A female Paladin/Cleric who's a mix of responsible mother-type and caring idealist
-A salt-of-the-earth CG Fighter full of folk wisdom and common sense, the kind of guy you see leading platoons in war movies
-A CN brilliant and charming (in a Hannibal Lecter-ish way) combat Rogue
-A LN hobgoblin Fighter/Ranger, separated from his tribe, trying to understand and get along in human society
-A LE kobold Rogue/Sorceror who wants to be respected/taken seriously as a person and adventurer but has no real concept of things like morality and ethics...he only knows that you have to follow the rules but not why.

Now, the backstory of the party so far is that the Paladin is the party leader, who is occasionally given quests by his superior in the Church of Tyr. He's an intolerant, insensitive knucklehead, so they gave him the Cleric as an assistant/babysitter, since she's the diplomatic type. She became a cleric after serving as a Paladin in the army of the Church of Tyr in a minor war several years back, which tempered her idealism with maturity and pragmatism. For a brief time during a couple of important battles she was attached to the same brigade that the Fighter and the Wizard served in. The Wizard continued to serve in the Church's army and was assigned to the Paladin when they sent him out to adventure. The Fighter joined the army after he left home as a youth. He left the army after the war and did mercenary work and adventuring for some time before hiring on as a guard at the temple of Tyr, and volunteered to join the party since he's served with the Wizard and is somewhat in love with the Cleric. The Rogue joined the party at a tavern on the road shortly after they started their quest, mostly for his own slightly warped entertainment and intrigued by the "heroes", and the two humanoids were strays they picked up afterwards along the way. (Can you tell this story's *all* about serious character interaction and internal character growth? Well, except for the fight scenes, lol)

So, my problem, as you can see, is that out of all the characters so far, the only one I can't figure out is the Wizard. Here's what I know about him, the stuff I can picture in my head. His surname is Grimm. I'm pretty sure his first name is Robert. But he's usually known by Grimm. I'm thinking he's about average height, average looking, sort of thin but not weak (he's been a mage in a combat unit after all), and I picture him having a short, neat beard. I think his hair's either all grey, or mostly grey, although he's only middle aged. He's LG, and truly believes in his Tyrran religion. He doesn't see himself as a leader. He's a good man, humble, and a good soldier who follows orders. He serves his Church out of a sense of duty, although duty to exactly what, I haven't quite worked out yet. I think he's from either a well-to-do merchant or possibly minor noble family background. He's capable, educated and soft-spoken. He respects the Fighter...they're friends, despite coming from different backgrounds, and they owe each other their lives.
What I can't quite get a handle on are, what was this guy like growing up and why/how did he become a wizard, where/when did he find his faith, and what inspired him to join the army and fight in the war? How did his experiences in the war affect him? I seem to have written the middle of his story before the beginning of it.
Any thoughts on Grimm: The Early Years?
ishpumalibu
12-12-07, 04:55 PM As for a why, maybe as a child he was always interested in some arcane monster or interested in some dungeon that was rumored to hold to have held a magic item he was interested in, since he already owes the fighter his life, expand on that... maybe the fighter had saved his life upon entering the dungeon as a child or something similar?
Orchomenos
12-14-07, 12:53 PM Perhaps does he come from a noble familly devoted to Tyr and the country. He's not the elder, perhaps the third or fourth, and so he is not expected to inherit his parent's title. Usually, in this familly, this kind of young noble is sent to a temple to serve the country. Except this young lad has always been a sick child. Bullied by his elder brothers, secretly despised by his parents, only Cepherd Gamay, an old wandering wizard saw potential in him, and took him in training.
Cepherd Gamay had an uneasy relation with the soldiers they met, and Robert Grimm never understood why. The apprentice somewhat learned the old man once served as a soldier, but Gamay never expanded about this part of his life, nor any part of his life. The old man thaught Robert facts about spells, creatures and magical items, but he never told where he learned all this. One night, about three years after Robert met him, Cepherd left their inn room for some strange business, and never came back alive. Robert learned the next day the old man have been found in a back alley, the throat sliced. Since Gamay was more than able to take care of himself, Robert doesn't think he would have been victim of random brigands. He decided to take shelter at the next temple of Tyr, where a cousin had been training as a cleric.
At first, the Head Cleric was very suspicious about Robert, knowing he was Cepherd Gamay's apprentice. But after a good conversation, where he made sure Robert didn't know anything about "certain things", he was allowed to stay, and pursue his studies. For all the next year, Robert was broken between his respect and duty to the Head Cleric, and his curiosity about who really had been Gamay. Then the war broke, and Robert was assignated with the Cleric/Paladin and the Fighter, and he had much more to think about than who was Cepherd Gamay.

In this background, Robert's devotion to Tyr comes from his familly. I say he was a sick child, at first I wanted him to keep on choking and caughing, but that's a bit too much Raistlin. Instead, he could have had some skin disease, forcing him to keep a short beard later in his life. That doesn't prevent someone from being a soldier, so perhaps does he has a weak stomach, and be subject to frequent indigestions. Instead of being mildly strong, he could be very cunning, and always has one or two tricks in his sleeve (inherited from the mysterious Cepherd Gamay) to surprise his foes... More as a rogue/wizard than a fighter/wizard...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mad_Jack 12-11-07, 09:36 AM	So I have a party that I've been writing a story about (you know, the kind of story that lives in your head and will never get around to being completely written down successfully), and out of the entire party, and despite a great deal of wracking my overactive imagination, the one character who still escapes me is the wizard. I've got him statted out, I've written dialogue for him, but I still can't get a real fix on the personality and physical appearance... Here's the rest of the party - -An overbearing, arrogant, self-righteous jerk of a male Paladin -A female Paladin/Cleric who's a mix of responsible mother-type and caring idealist -A salt-of-the-earth CG Fighter full of folk wisdom and common sense, the kind of guy you see leading platoons in war movies -A CN brilliant and charming (in a Hannibal Lecter-ish way) combat Rogue -A LN hobgoblin Fighter/Ranger, separated from his tribe, trying to understand and get along in human society -A LE kobold Rogue/Sorceror who wants to be respected/taken seriously as a person and adventurer but has no real concept of things like morality and ethics...he only knows that you have to follow the rules but not why. Now, the backstory of the party so far is that the Paladin is the party leader, who is occasionally given quests by his superior in the Church of Tyr. He's an intolerant, insensitive knucklehead, so they gave him the Cleric as an assistant/babysitter, since she's the diplomatic type. She became a cleric after serving as a Paladin in the army of the Church of Tyr in a minor war several years back, which tempered her idealism with maturity and pragmatism. For a brief time during a couple of important battles she was attached to the same brigade that the Fighter and the Wizard served in. The Wizard continued to serve in the Church's army and was assigned to the Paladin when they sent him out to adventure. The Fighter joined the army after he left home as a youth. He left the army after the war and did mercenary work and adventuring for some time before hiring on as a guard at the temple of Tyr, and volunteered to join the party since he's served with the Wizard and is somewhat in love with the Cleric. The Rogue joined the party at a tavern on the road shortly after they started their quest, mostly for his own slightly warped entertainment and intrigued by the "heroes", and the two humanoids were strays they picked up afterwards along the way. (Can you tell this story's all about serious character interaction and internal character growth? Well, except for the fight scenes, lol) So, my problem, as you can see, is that out of all the characters so far, the only one I can't figure out is the Wizard. Here's what I know about him, the stuff I can picture in my head. His surname is Grimm. I'm pretty sure his first name is Robert. But he's usually known by Grimm. I'm thinking he's about average height, average looking, sort of thin but not weak (he's been a mage in a combat unit after all), and I picture him having a short, neat beard. I think his hair's either all grey, or mostly grey, although he's only middle aged. He's LG, and truly believes in his Tyrran religion. He doesn't see himself as a leader. He's a good man, humble, and a good soldier who follows orders. He serves his Church out of a sense of duty, although duty to exactly what, I haven't quite worked out yet. I think he's from either a well-to-do merchant or possibly minor noble family background. He's capable, educated and soft-spoken. He respects the Fighter...they're friends, despite coming from different backgrounds, and they owe each other their lives. What I can't quite get a handle on are, what was this guy like growing up and why/how did he become a wizard, where/when did he find his faith, and what inspired him to join the army and fight in the war? How did his experiences in the war affect him? I seem to have written the middle of his story before the beginning of it. Any thoughts on Grimm: The Early Years?
ishpumalibu 12-12-07, 04:55 PM	As for a why, maybe as a child he was always interested in some arcane monster or interested in some dungeon that was rumored to hold to have held a magic item he was interested in, since he already owes the fighter his life, expand on that... maybe the fighter had saved his life upon entering the dungeon as a child or something similar?
Orchomenos 12-14-07, 12:53 PM	Perhaps does he come from a noble familly devoted to Tyr and the country. He's not the elder, perhaps the third or fourth, and so he is not expected to inherit his parent's title. Usually, in this familly, this kind of young noble is sent to a temple to serve the country. Except this young lad has always been a sick child. Bullied by his elder brothers, secretly despised by his parents, only Cepherd Gamay, an old wandering wizard saw potential in him, and took him in training. Cepherd Gamay had an uneasy relation with the soldiers they met, and Robert Grimm never understood why. The apprentice somewhat learned the old man once served as a soldier, but Gamay never expanded about this part of his life, nor any part of his life. The old man thaught Robert facts about spells, creatures and magical items, but he never told where he learned all this. One night, about three years after Robert met him, Cepherd left their inn room for some strange business, and never came back alive. Robert learned the next day the old man have been found in a back alley, the throat sliced. Since Gamay was more than able to take care of himself, Robert doesn't think he would have been victim of random brigands. He decided to take shelter at the next temple of Tyr, where a cousin had been training as a cleric. At first, the Head Cleric was very suspicious about Robert, knowing he was Cepherd Gamay's apprentice. But after a good conversation, where he made sure Robert didn't know anything about "certain things", he was allowed to stay, and pursue his studies. For all the next year, Robert was broken between his respect and duty to the Head Cleric, and his curiosity about who really had been Gamay. Then the war broke, and Robert was assignated with the Cleric/Paladin and the Fighter, and he had much more to think about than who was Cepherd Gamay. In this background, Robert's devotion to Tyr comes from his familly. I say he was a sick child, at first I wanted him to keep on choking and caughing, but that's a bit too much Raistlin. Instead, he could have had some skin disease, forcing him to keep a short beard later in his life. That doesn't prevent someone from being a soldier, so perhaps does he has a weak stomach, and be subject to frequent indigestions. Instead of being mildly strong, he could be very cunning, and always has one or two tricks in his sleeve (inherited from the mysterious Cepherd Gamay) to surprise his foes... More as a rogue/wizard than a fighter/wizard...