Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Bad-People Mar 15, 2014 15:36:16	So I’m writing up a character, Vrom the Vanquisher, a barbarian made much in the Robert E. Howard fashion.(Human) I’ve come up with a couple of backgrounds for him and I just want to know which one you think is better. They both start the same way: His parents were members of a northern tribe. He was born during a raid by another, much more savage and hateful tribe and his people were killed, he was taken. Here’s where the story forks.   A: He was given to one of the women of the evil tribe as compensation for a slain husband. He is raised as a member of the evil tribe until he learns his true origins later in life and emancipates himself from his adoptive tribe.      B: He’s raised as a slave until he somehow proves himself and is then brought into the tribe until some traumatic event forces him to leave.    In either case he is motivated by a need to redeem himself and cleanse his soul.    Which one is the better story?
#2 baldhermit Mar 15, 2014 15:52:37	Which one do you think makes for more interesting game time. Is that not the only measure relevant ?
#3 Bad-People Mar 15, 2014 17:33:25	baldhermit wrote:
#4 crimsyn Mar 15, 2014 18:23:45	Really, there's no "better" - it depends solely on what you're more interested in.   The other thing you should consider is what the rest of the party is thinking.  If you can intertwine one of them in with another character's backstory (say, another character was a slave alongside him, or a member of the evil tribe working to atone), that would create oppotunity for interesting stories.
#5 RedSiegfried Mar 15, 2014 19:25:35	I just want to state that I think that only recently have I become more interested in building a character's background and relationships before even considering his class and race.  Probably 13th Age's influence on the way I play.  So I think spending some time thinking about background, unique things and relationships to other characters or NPCs is a good way to start.    Perhaps there is a way that you could combine both of those ideas ... they're both just fine.  Maybe he's given as a slave to a slain man's wife who belongs to an evil tribe and he becomes a full member of the evil tribe until he realizes that his path is evil and emancipates himself somehow.  If you've ever read the John Carter on Mars books, take an example from how he finds himself thrown in with the Tharks until he rescues the Princess from them and escapes, then later uses his positive relationships with some of the more good-aligned Tharks to turn them against evil and save the world.
#6 Krusk Mar 16, 2014 7:11:57	I like A more. I've seen millions of "Raised a slave and broke free" stories. The "Given as compensation for a slain husband" idea is way less overdone.
#7 Kazadvorn Mar 17, 2014 14:26:14	If he was raised from infancy in a particular culture it would be odd for him to understand any other culture as being 'right' and his own culture as being 'wrong'. You learn standards based on what you're taught growing up - there are no 'good' human races and 'bad' human races. Any baby raised in say - a 'Ghenghis Khan style Mongolian Culture' would see the aggressive behavior of that culture as being perfectly normal. Survival of the fittest.   He would have had to have been mistreated by his adoptive people in one way or another - even if he wasn't actually a slave. Maybe he's the only tall blue-eyed blond kid in a camp full of short dark complected people. He has no idea why he looks different until a group of traders comes in from another area - and these people look like him. This launches him on a journey to discover his true origins - more out of curiousity about his past than some hatred for the people who raised him.
#8 CCS Mar 27, 2014 19:16:30	I like A better. Rather than being given as compensation he could have simply been claimed as loot/slave along with any other surviving children. The only difference is he's an infant/small child & thus actually has to be cared for. As for how he knows he's different? That's easy. The real children of the evil tribe don't ever let him forget. He's always known his status. Eventually....