Monday, March 9, 2015

Damn True Facts

For the Aldsburg campaign I've added a new feature to character creation where the other players add some defintion to the characters.  When a character meets other characters for the first time, the players get to tell what they have heard about their new adventuring companion.

An Example from the most recent session
Tronheim is a Mage/thief of the Dusk lineage, totem the New Moon. 

Damn True Fact 1: Trondheim murdered someone close to him and his facade of honorability is a lie
Damn True Fact 2: Trondheim doesn't remember doing this
Damn True Fact 3: His facial features are always slowly changing
Damn True Fact 4: His personality changes with the moon cycles ... along with this face ... and his skills ... and his memories!

From these DTFs I add in some specific details.  In this case
1) He has a criminal contact in the that knows of his deed
2) The above was modified to be there is someone suspicious keeps following and talking to him
3) Trondheim's innate changability allows him, once per session, to permanently swap two skill scores.

There may have been some other things, but the above DTFs and results really set a tone for a fine new character.

How Many?
We were initially introducing new DTFs all around for all characters, but it got to be a bit much.  So now each character will have a max of 6 DTFs.  I'll add a spot to the character sheet to track them along with reputations, which are something I'm going to work on next.

Other Results
Other results from DTFs have included:
  • Initial boost to Karma (Honor)
  • A penalty to gaining and using Karma (applied to Trondheim)
  • Improved skills (I head so-and-so has never been caught while peeping at the ladie's bathhouse: +1d12p to hiding)
  • Saving Throw Mods (+1 save vs fear because the Lord of Winter whispers ncouragement)
  • Weird Abilities such as Vanish Foe (concentrate hard enough and your enemy may just vanish ... or maybe you will)
  • Crazy Strong (1 mulligan each level for feat of strength checks)
  • Various personality traits (obsessed with fruit, loves orphans, etc.)
  • And so on ...
This has been mighty fun for giving players more to work with and encouraging the group dynamic.

No comments:

Post a Comment