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4.7 Personal history
- Once a character's race, social standing, place of origin, special
abilities, idiosyncrasies, class, etc., have been determined the
player knows a great deal about the persona he will play. But
these randomly generated characteristics mean little without the
glue that links them together.
- Just like all people, the character has a background. He may have
brothers and sisters, enemies, friends, and mentors. Perhaps he
has left home for a specific reason. All the events, inspiration,
hardship and laughter that make the character real and not just
cardboard must be created by the player. The character's history
may take into account his training to become the character class
he functions as, his family life, how he learned his nonweapon
skills, etc. All of these things and more are within the boundaries
of the character's personal history.
- The player may be as detailed or sketchy as he likes when writing
his character's personal history or he may be satisfied with the
simple cardboard statistics generated by random dice rolls. In
any case, if a character history is written it should be recorded
on a separate sheet of paper and kept with the character sheet.
A small space on the character record sheet should be reserved
for a summarized character history.
- A character with a written character history will be awarded up
to 2,500 experience points (or more at the DM's discretion) for
a good character history. The DM will decide the award, and has
the option to disapprove all or any part of the character's history.
The DM should help the player polish his character's history so
that it meshes with the campaign setting.
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Character knowledge sheets
- The DM will periodically distribute written information, in the
form of character knowledge sheets, to the characters actively
participating in the campaign which reflects the character's personal
knowledge of the world. This information will detail tidbits that
the character has learned about the world while adventuring or
training and information gleaned from his past. The depth of detail
presented on the sheet will depend on the quality of the personal
history created for the character.
- The information provided by the DM might include specialized knowledge
of certain curative herbs or general knowledge of the laws of
a particular kingdom. This information may be used by the character
as he adventures to gain an advantage in certain situations.
- For example, Thora the Wild Wizard may have heard a rumor that
the once powerful, wizard, Tel the Unleashed Fury, died just after
completing research on a new wild magic spell, Tel's unleashed
fury. According to the rumor his keep lies somewhere in the Distan
Grove and many monsters guard the castle. Thora might then decide
to follow up on this rumor and try to recover the wild mage's
lost spellbooks.
- Not all the information provided on character knowledge sheets
will be factual. Just as in the real world, “You can't always
believe everything you hear.” The character will have no way of
knowing (short of a wish spell) which knowledge is true, with
the exception of knowledge that was gained by the character through
personal experience or trial and error.
- The DM should provide the character with a knowledge sheet at
first level, and intermittently thereafter, probably at the end
of every adventure.
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Adventure logs
- Another way to increase the enjoyment of roleplaying is by maintaining
an adventure log. This log details the day-to-day undertakings
of a particular character or an adventuring company. By maintaining
this type of diary, the player can look back upon his character's
career or that of the adventuring company with a pride as he rereads
long forgotten events. The log can also become a source of information,
an aid for remembering those tidbits that are forgotten between
gaming sessions.
- The adventuring log may be as elaborate as the player wishes to
make it. It is never a requirement to keep a log, but additional
roleplaying experience points will be awarded to the character
who keeps it. Often an adventuring company may wish to keep a
log with different players responsible for updating it on a rotating
basis.
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