TEW - From a PC's perspective.

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Hyarion
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:56 am

One of the best pieces of RPG advice I've ever received was "Do not make a character, make an *adventurer*." Meaning, make sure to give your character not just a backstory but a good reason to go adventuring, facing perils and beasts rather than sitting behind the walls of Altdorf living a 'normal' life.

I have also never played TEW, and know very little about it beyond a very few generalities that I've picked up from hanging around StS for the last 8 years. Recently, my GM has floated the idea of playing through TEW as Cubicle7 releases it for 4e.

Taking that into account, what would be some helpful tips or thoughts regarding what kind of backstory to write for a TEW character? Are there any races (non-humans?) or careers that really don't work well and should be avoided?

Many thanks in advance!
I hold the glaive of Law against the Earth.
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Totsuzenheni Yukimi
Posts: 344
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:38 pm

Someone needs to make a 'why you went adventuring' table. It's the proper way to resolve these things.
Mackbraten
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:12 pm
Location: Germany

I don't see a problem with any race or career but I can only speak from a 1ed point of view.
But this table totsu is talking about sounds temtping... we should make one.
Whymme
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:18 pm

Anyone remember the rather bland ten questions to flesh out your character's background, in second edition?
Jude came with the fantastic idea to ask a follow-up question to each of those, to make that background count for something in play. For instance, he followed up the "Where are you from?" question with "How will this become clear through role-play?" "Who do you love/hate?" got the corollary "What will you do if you meet this person?"
(you can find the original questions and Jude's follow-up ones in Liber Fanatica I, BTW)

If you are thinking about a background for your adventurer, you should do the same. Don't only think of an interesting background for your character, but also about how this affects your character during the campaign. And I think that it is always wise to confer with your GM about this, so that you and he are on the same page wrt your character. Say, if you decide that your character is on the run from a vengeful family in law, it helps if you and your GM are somewhat in agreement on what resources this family has, and how much they want to get you.

On another note, does anyone remember the character history tables in Cyberpunk 2020? You rolled for each year of your character's life between sixteen and the current age, and each year something interesting happened. You could make an enemy, get a love interest, get into a lot of debt, get martial arts training (gaining an extra skill level), and so on. The interesting part was to make a story out of it after all these rolls. Say, you borrowed more money than you could afford to impress that love interest. However, that relation ended really badly, and she still hates your guts - that explains both your debt and your enemy.
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Hyarion
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:56 am

Whymme, that sounds a lot like Traveller where you roll for each year of military service and see what kind of missions you were sent on and what their outcomes were (skill advances, promotions, etc).
I hold the glaive of Law against the Earth.
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