Worldbuilding through backgrounds

So, these backgrounds are part of my second attempt at an open table campaign. The biggest problem with the first one was geographical and I have solved that, but another problem may have been lore-dumping.

I tried to get cute with the lore, writing most of it in-world to solve problems I have seen with long and dense player primers. But still, it was a long primer and probably daunting to get into. It was fun to write and I don’t begrudge anyone not reading it. Writing is its own reward!

I was already more and more leaning toward trimming the lore and embedding it into the custom backgrounds, which is already the case in the Cairn 2e backgrounds for the Vald. But there were a few Rise Up Comus posts that motivated me further on this sneaking-lore-into-other-places thing, like embedding lore in your classes. It’s like hiding broccoli in your kid’s food or whatever. You get it.

I decided to also season the character creation guide with background info, in-world commentary, lore, and so on. One easy place to put it was in the guide on creating personal character quests, which I took from His Majesty the Worm.

I preface this quest section with the following:

All delves lead into the Hollows. The imperials mined deeper and deeper, hunting for silver, hunting for secrets, until they became the hunted. What they found in the center of the maze destroyed them.

What you’re looking for is down there.

What is the Hollows? Who are the imperials? What is the maze?

And also here’s the spark table:

Roll 3d6 and work with the referee to create a quest.

Regulators, mount up!

While the Exorcists fight on the battlefield of the human soul and Witch-Finders persecute magic users (and folk healers and other innocent people), the Regulators seek out mundane violators of Church doctrine. Their victims are heretics and practitioners of other religions. Their tools are steel, shackles, and a magic chalk that creates a zone of truth for interrogation.

This background is for a former regulator because these guys are obviously bastards. This uses the GLOG Magic Dice hack for Cairn and takes some cues from the Cairn 2e backgrounds, probably mostly the Marchguard. The parrying move is from the Cairn Adventurer’s Guide.

The setting info is not just in the intro text, but in the PC options as well, with specific major NPCs named as potential hooks, complications in play, and quest inspiration. Replace Harald Between-the-Seams and Chief Regulator Regina with another major NPC, or make your own versions of these characters.

Regulator

The Visions of the Lady Beyond the Teeth of the Sun have been revealed to all. Prayers between pressed hands: do they sin, do they speak to other hidden gods? Do the mouths that pray today spew heresies in secret meetings? You swore an oath to seek out and punish non-believers and heretical enemies of the Church. But your relationship with the Order soured over time, and you turned your back on them.

• Rations (3 uses)
• Torch
• Badge of your order, tarnished: a Scapular of St. Ormund (petty)
• Spear (d6)
• Bolas
• Confessor’s Chalk (petty, 3 uses). Draw a circle around a creature, compelling them to tell the truth so long as they remain in the circle.

Why did you join?

1. To prove your family are not heretics. Take a disguised heretical grimoire (bulky) with the spell Speak with Dead: The caster can speak freely with the target (a dead creature) for {dice} minutes (using a real timer). Once a target has been spoken to, it cannot be spoken to again.
2. Your family has a long tradition of serving. Take your ancestral longsword (d10, bulky). Your lifelong training allows you to parry: You ignore damage rolls of 1 and 2 against you while wielding it or any longsword.
3. Born a noble, you escaped the potentially deadly machinations of your family. Take a scroll of pedigree (petty) and a disguise kit.
4. In place of a noble’s child whose parents paid you to serve. Take 80sp, a vial of poison (STR save or die in 2d12 hours; else, become deprived for 1d6 days), and a grudge.
5. You were saved by a Regulator during an Aegerling raid. Take a journal with a drawing, description, and leads on Harald Between-the-Seams, the murderer of your kin.
6. You were a street brawler and the Order recognized your aptitude for violence. Your unarmed strikes deal d6+d6 damage.

Why did you leave?

1. Cowardice. Your commanding officer was killed in an Aegerling ambush and you fled. Take the officer’s effects: brass pin (petty), ashes (petty), stamp (petty), spyglass.
2. Politics. Your commanding officer was jealous of the respect you had in the company, and you were put on dangerous assignments. Take a helmet (1A) and shield (1A, +d4) with your company’s insignia on it.
3. Bullying. They did not accept you. You were thrown into a river, tied down with stones, but you escaped miraculously. Take a water stone (1 charge). Place in a body of water and it will point to the nearest settlement. Recharge: Put inside of a living sea creature.
4. Corruption. You witnessed Chief Regulator Regina taking a bribe from Torgrim Skull-Splitter and were forced to partake. Take a stolen silvered chest containing a ruby.
5. Violence. You stopped a needless attack by your comrades on unarmed civilian non-believers. Take a medical kit (bulky), which contains implements for basic first aid and rudimentary surgery.
6. Boredom. Disappointed by the tedium and pointlessness of hunting down non-believers and heretics, you deserted your post one day. Take the horse who spirited you away (4 GD, 12 STR, 16 DEX, 4 WIL). Name your horse.