One thing I adore about working on a wiki is that slowly, steadily, the hundreds of pages of random notes and ideas I have pours steadily into this one source. The process is normally slow and requires much deliberation and reworking of the idea, to make it comprehensible and of value. Yet I don't tire of the process, so I don't worry about it's chronological aspects.
A practice that I follow for existing content is to use the "random page" feature to bring forth posts that need editing and rework. This dredges up pages from the nether regions and puts them to the fore of my attention. Part of this process is to commit to the page when it appears — and not merely click the random button again for a page that's more "fun." Nope, gotta fix the page as it appears, no matter how unpleasant that prospect is.
Some months ago I promised myself that when the Character Background Generator rolled into view, I'd make a written version of the excel file, complete with tables. Well, the day came on Friday afternoon ... and for three days, I've been working on it.
No, the wiki-version of the Generator isn't done. It isn't even close to done. It's 80,000 characters, which averages to better than 1,000 characters an hour for the last 72 hours (the number of hours it's been between starting and writing this paragraph). It's now the longest page on the wiki. I am just at the point where the next section will be generating the character's secondary skills and social heritage ... and this, my dear readers, is a deep, deep well of a process. Deeper than most realise, since the version most have seen is the 2012 version of the generator ... whereas I'm working from the unfinished, never revealed 2019 version. And later on in this process, I'll be writing completely new content for the source material from 2012, which is woefully out of date for my campaign.
So, I'll be adding to the page for awhile. I ask the reader to view it, to come back here and discuss anything that seems odd to read or any spelling/grammar errors that aggravate. I don't mind being edited or encouraged to do a better layout with this sort of thing. There are some changes to the bigger hair/eye colour tables that I'm undertaking. I want things to be better. It's only that I've been working at breakneck speed on the material and in some cases I made a few bad early choices.
Well, that's all. I'll get back to the villages. I'm just focused elsewhere for a little while.
Loving the addition of the Institution table here. Even without a mechanical effect it's excellent flavor.
ReplyDeleteLayout is actually pretty good considering how actively hostile wiki formats can be, I found it perfectly readable.
Very glad to see this out in the wild. I've used it in my games for a long time now and enjoyed it greatly.
Works best on a wide monitor at 100-110%. On a small monitor at 100%.
ReplyDeleteFantastic stuff. I'll have to read it closely several times.
ReplyDeleteIt feels so right to have sage abilities heavily reused in the design of the "progenitor's legacy" feature of the BG generator.
ReplyDeleteI figured you must have done more work on this since 2012, and that you'd just never posted it. I'm glad you are!
Regarding character generation, although not the character background generator specifically gone I could use a bit of help.
ReplyDeleteThe new fighter in my campaign took the Falconry study. Since you haven’t written that one yet, I got to work on the abilities. I’m having a ball, and learning a fair bit!
“Rouse to Hunt“ went down easily. “Bird Companionship“ I can manage in my own way, though not sure what you intended. “Train Falcon“ coming along. The one I am stuck on is rules for “Waken Regard”.
I got as far as thinking that local authorities may invite the character to participate in a hunt with them, If the local game animals are those that a falcon could hunt. But I’m not really sure what else would apply here. What would you do?
Four amateur abilities:
ReplyDeleteBird companionship: as long as the falcon survives and goes along with the character, is flying around and present, give a bonus of +5% to all experience gained. The character can take the bird underground with a hood, release it in large caves; and so long as the character puts the bird down before starting into an underground combat, the bonus remains. Outdoors, the bird can be released and using "train falcon," can have it perform as desired.
Rouse to hunt: basically, food gathering. Use the foraging table for how much food the falcon gathers, as meat. Someday, I'll get around to making a falcon hunting table.
Train falcon: means starting a bird from an egg. If you look at the "Animal Friends" page on the old wiki, you can see how an animal of 1 intelligence can be directed by the character. Use that.
Waken regard: falcons are a sign of breeding and status among elite societies; so rather than "local authorities," think in terms of wealthy squires or low level nobles asking the party around for a "chat," to learn what the party's ambitions are and how a bag of money or an introduction might help the party. In essence, it's making an "associate," perhaps one day a follower, out of someone important.
Good luck.
Thank you! All the help I needed and then some.
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