Chapter IV: Backgrounds, Dreams, & Renown

The Pen & Dagger RPG    Players & Heroes Book      Chapter IV: Backgrounds, Dreams, & Renown

The past is a stepping stone, not a millstone.

— Robert Plant

Many paths lead to taking up the mantle of destiny. Backgrounds and catalysts give meaning to the story of how your hero became a hero. Once you have selected a class and race, the next step is to determine your hero's past, and how it effects the world.

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Backgrounds
Dreams
Reknown

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Backgrounds

A background is the soil in which your heroism seed was sown. Your experiences before adventuring might include an apprenticeship, employment, or situation you survived earlier in life that defines your backstory, contributes to your present skills.
At its simplest, a background is a two-word position or trade you held prior to becoming an adventurer. City guard, conscripted soldier, or high-seas vigilante are all good backgrounds, as are apprentice pig-keeper, hedgerow trimmer, and highborn noble.
Whenever you make any ability check relatable to your background, you gain Advantage on the check.
For example, a ruby miner would have advantage appraising gems and finding direction underground and a sheep wrestler would have advantage hiding amongst livestock and with rope use.
Additionally, backgrounds represent an understanding and know-how that can often be leveraged professionally. With a background as an iceboat sailor, you can earn wages working aboard a ship.

FORGING A BACKGROUND

To create your background, select a base role or situation such as sailor, merchant, farmer, wrestler, miner, outlaw, courier, hunter, mountaineer, or servant.
Next, add a twist to make your background specific. For example, twists to the aforementioned bases could be iceboat sailor, spice merchant, rock farmer, pig wrestler, ruby miner, noble outlaw, skyship courier, big game hunter, cartographic mountaineer, or escaped servant.
Your background's twist helps diversify and specify what your backstory includes. For example, as an iceboat sailor, you would be familiar with sailing like any other sailor but would also have experience preventing cold injuries, enduring frigid conditions, and navigating the tundra. As a bookish troubadour you, unlike other troubadours, delved into histories and myths used in the plays you acted, becoming widely educated in legends in addition to being a hit with the hurdy-gurdy.
The odder your background, the more memorable and entertaining it will be when it comes into play. No one forgets the paladin holding up her hand to say, "Wait! I grew up as a black-market accountant. I bet I can decode these ledgers."

Generating A Random Background

Random Backgrounds

If you want to quickly come up with a background but nothing immediately comes to mind, you can randomly generate one. To do so, roll 1d20 then 2d8 and consult the Random Backgrounds table.

The 1d20 determines your twist. If you rolled a 1, 2, or 3, roll the additional dice indicated and consult the Sub-twist column to determine a more specific twist. The 2d8 result will determine your background's base. Put both together and you have your background.

While the Random Backgrounds table may provide an initially odd result, slight tweaks to wording can provide a background that is both unusual and interesting. For example, a ship's smith could be a ship's carpenter or apprentice shipwright while a food smith could mean a patisserie chef, a gem farmer a diamond miner, and a pig driver an assistant pig keeper.

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Roll	Twist ( d20 )	Sub-twist	Base ( 2d8 )
1	Commodity*( d6 )	Gem
2	Animal*( d8+6 )	Ice	Barrister
3	Terrain*( d6+14 )	Spice	Historian
4	Ship	Cloth	Courier
5	Guild	Rock	Noble
6	10th Generation	Metal	Artist
7	Black Market	Pig	Guard
8	Military	Fish	Merchant
9	Freelance	Sheep	Smith
10	Disgraced	Cow	Farmer
11	Head	Horse	Driver
12	Church	Fowl	Criminal
13	Food	Cat	Hunter
14	Drink	Dog	Explorer
15	Small Town	Forest	Scribe
16	Government	Jungle	Performer
17	House	Swamp	Servant
18	Vice	Mountain
19	Traveling	Desert
20	Rogue	Ocean

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Top | Dreams | Reknown

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Dreams

Where your background defines your past, your dream defines the driving desire that carried you out of normal life and into adventure. At its simplest, a dream is a big goal.
Example dreams include:

• Amassing a hoard of wealth
• Becoming royalty
• Building your own castle
• Earning an entourage of loyal followers
• Performing before royalty
• Razing a city

Whenever you make a difficult decision to delay your dream for the good of the party, your DM may award you a Fortune Die.
Sometimes, looking at your background and the reason you forsook it can give you inspiration for your dream. A dream may be something nigh impossible to achieve or something that might only take an adventure, but it should be something you can visualize attaining.

• A strong dream pulls you onward in your story so if you ever accomplish your dream, you can select a new one.
• If your dream changes, let your DM know.
• You can have multiple dreams but only your primary one can earn you fortune dice.

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Top | Backgrounds | Reknown

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Reknown

Heroic deeds rarely go unnoticed. Renown reflects the extent to which word of your heroism has spread.
Whenever you wish to be recognized by someone who does not know you, roll 1d100. If the result is greater than 100 minus your renown, you are recognized.
Whenever you do not wish to be recognized by someone who does not know you, you or your DM roll 1d100. If your result is greater than your renown, you remain unrecognized.
Creatures who recognize you usually react in the fashion of meeting a celebrity, including bestowing gifts and favors, or calling for the guards.

• Your renown is equal to your level plus your Charisma modifier.
• While in foreign lands, halve your renown.
• When you reach 8th level, you can leverage your renown to acquire followers, up to one per 10 Renown you possess.

Boon Option: Double your renown.

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Top | Backgrounds | Dreams

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