Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 SamVDW Oct 06, 2014 17:34:05	I am attempting to develop 101 player character background/plot hooks that could be used for any type of setting, but primarily with fantasy in mind. I'm at about sixty-five and am looking for help and inspiration and getting to 101.   These hooks can be small hooks or may be something that could drive a character throughout an entire campaign. They vary in duration of short, medium, or long.   Here are some examples:   - Find out the origin and meaning of a mysterious tattoo or birthmark that the character has always had. - Help a small village rebuild after being ravaged by nearby invaders. - Find the wreckage of a shipping fleet that disappeared off a nearby coast several years ago. - Help rebuild the great temple of his deity that was destroyed years ago. - Gain enough wealth to build a tavern in the character's favorite city and retire there. - Craft a legendary item that will help vanquish the forces of evil. - Travel into a desolate and forsaken area and establish a thriving trade community and bastion in the area. - Find a cure for a slowly debilitating disease that the character has contracted. - Recover a long lost family heirloom that was stolen. - Make amends to his deity for a wrongful act by making a pilgrimage to the deity's hold land. - Decypher the language written in a book that was discovered by the character - it is said to hold the secrets of a worldly deity. - Locate a legendary oracle that could have an answer to a questions that has plagued the character his whole life. - Purge a band of local thieves from the character's home town. - And many more...   Like I said, I've got about sixty-five and I'm making the push to 101. These can be shorter or longer-lived background hooks that a character can start with at the beginning of a campaign. I have a fantasy-based campaign in mind, but many of the suggestions could work for many types of settings.   Please post your ideas here and I'll try to put them together into a bullet-formed list. Thank you in advance for your help!
#2 Nevvur Oct 06, 2014 17:49:09	Neat idea! Posting your current full list somewhere will help avoid repeats from those offering suggestions. Here's a few off the top of my head   -Surpass his former mentor in skill/knowledge/prestige -Gain the affection of a childhood crush whose family acquired sudden wealth and abandoned their lowly caste -Take vengeance upon the slavers from whom he escaped -Befriend a legendary creature (unicorn, dragon, etc.) and go for a ride! -Provide food and shelter for the destitute in his city of origin
#3 SamVDW Oct 06, 2014 18:51:27	Nevvur wrote:
#4 Jumuraa Oct 06, 2014 19:29:13	Oh FUN!   Seek revenge on the person/group/monster who killed his/her family/loved one/village. Compose a besitiary of the world's monsters (stole this one from a forum somewhere). Set out to find a magical item/spell to remove a curse on town/loved one. Run away from boring home town and find adventure like in the stories!!! (Works really well for Sailor Background) Mysterious stranger arrives in town, shortly afterwhich the town is attacked! The stranger rescues you from certain doom only to tell you that the attack was targeting you!!! If you stay, surely your friends and family will be at risk. But if you leave... A pesky band of monsters (or whatever) have been killing off the game in your woods. To make matters worse, the closest town has sent a band of "heros" to deal with it. You better help them or you'll never figure out if that insufferable owl really is lauging at you when he drops rodents on your head while you meditate.
#5 SamVDW Oct 07, 2014 5:17:24	Nice, Jumuraa.   Here's a few more I did to keep the ideas flowing:   - Locate a long-lost sibling that was seperated from the character in their youth (possibly a twin). - Discover why the character was abandoned at an orphanage in his youth and who his true family is. - Rescue a family member or friend that was sold into slavery. - Establish himself as the primary voice for his god and spread the faith across the world. - Breed a strain of hunting companion (canine, feline, avian, etc.) that rivals that of anything in the land.
#6 RenoGM Oct 07, 2014 5:47:24	Here's a few: Your father was a renown paladin, a hero of the people that gave his life in service of good. You have to live up to, or live down, his stellar reputation. You still wear the enchanted cape that the monks at the orphanage found you wrapped in as an infant. As a child you saved your village from an evil villian, unfortunately that seems to have been your crowning achievement so far. After killing some bandits/thugs/mercs you discover that they carry a wanted poster for you from a nearby realm. You've never been there before. As a member of the town watch you failed to stop an assassin that killed an important priest.  A mystic order raised you believing you to be the "choosen one". Before you reached adulthood the order was attacked and destroyed leaving you sole survivor.  No matter where you go you notice small animals watching you intently (toads, squirrels, house cats, crows, etc.). You where once an evil cultist sworn to a foul demon-prince but after a good cleric showed you mercy you sought redemption. You are now part of the cleric's party but your old allies still hunt you. You died. You don't remember the exact details, or what happened to your old allies, but you woke up in the care of a cleric in a small village.  Your mother was the baroness of a small realm until your step-father betrayed and killed her, making it look like an accident. You managed to escape.
#7 BRJN Oct 08, 2014 7:03:12	Locate the Chosen One.  Confirm you have the right person.  Then persuade/compel him/her to come to your monastery for necessary training.  Help with the training (which might look a lot like an adventurer's lifestyle).  Enable him/her to Fulfill His Destiny.  Report the result back to the monastery.
#8 Zarkon Oct 13, 2014 6:51:34	- Your deformities keep you from attaining your people's expectations of physical performance. Can you be a hero in spite of this? (300) - Your parents were responsible for the destruction of the poor quarter of town. (Arrow) - Everyone knows your father killed your mother, but you know it was really an unknown supernatural force. Now prove it! (The Flash) - Demons orphaned you and know you hunt for payback. (Supernatural) - Political entities enforce the status quo in the region, but the people deserve progress. Your (insert McGuffin here) will help the people, if only you can get it past the politicians' roadblocks...   Hope these help, Sam!
#9 Nevvur Oct 13, 2014 7:25:09	I had forgotten about this thread! How's it coming along? Got a link to your list available yet? Here's a few more   - You have recurring dreams of a faraway place and time, and you seek someone to help interpret them. - Your inherit a curious brooch when your aunt passes. You hear her voice calling to you at twilight every night. - An old friend wanders into town, but doesn't remember you. He's wearing the symbol of an upstart cult you heard about recently.
#10 SamVDW Oct 16, 2014 0:27:54	Here is the first fifty: 101 Player Character Background Hooks (1-50)   The second half will be out on 10/23/14.   Thank you everyone who helped me finish the last portion of these!
#11 BRJN Oct 16, 2014 7:17:35	- As a small child, you were swept to sea by a tsunami and washed up on an island.  You were taken in by parents who had lost their child to the tsunami.  Now, for the first time in years, a boat from the mainland has come.  Do you want to take passage, and find out what happened to your old home / family? - There have always been bandits in the Rough Hills.  This year they are bolder than usual.  You and some other young men of the villages should go see what can be done about that.  (Could be any reason from failed crops to a charismatic leader arising to orc raiders evicting them.) - You carry a memento of your father, who left your mother before you were born.  Now her latest boyfriend is kicking teenaged (and the only half-elf for miles) you out of the house; she tells you to seek him out and ask him to return.