Tuesday 11 January 2022

17th Century Character Starter



So I've decided to start a new campaign. I like to run my campaigns in a quasi-historical earth set in the 17th century. Kind of low magic, gritty at times, a sense of pitiful or pathetic characters who are trying to get by, rather than heroes.

It includes things like:

  • Random nationality chart including sample names.
  • Comprehensive system to handle languages.
  • A way to generate the base 6 stats that creates an interesting backstory at the same time (based off of 5 Torches Deep Origins).
  • Some starting equipment packages by class.
  • A list of 117 interesting starting items to roll on in addition to basic starting equipment. This list was largely taken from (http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2018/02/when-all-you-have-is-hammer-item-based.html). The items in it are non-magical items meant to help in out of the box problem solving.

You can view it all here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14YD565KW862IdoNdNEaQoc8SF9UwkkwF/view

I've put everything in the PDF as it is way easier to display that way rather than copy-pasting it all into my blog which tends to format all the tables wrong anyways. But you can view a sampling of some of the tables the PDF contains:

Nationality


(Continued from above)

7

Holy Roman Empire

Austrian or Prussian or Bavarian

German

Adam, Benke, Eggerd, Ewald, Hans, Heinz, Hermann, Jakob, Johann, Kurt, Lutke, Mathias, Michael, Thomas, Volrad, Wulff

Angnes, Beatrix, Clare, Dorothea, Elsebeth, Engel, Fye, Katherina, Margarete, Gretel, Martha, Ursula, Walpurg

Asch, Bärendorf, Blumberg, Dietrich, Dürnbach, Faust, Frankenhamer, Gottschau, Hart, Kelheim, Leipzig, Martin, Raun, Schlaggenwald, Stein, Wildstein

8

The Mugal Empire

Indian

Persian or Hindi

Aamir, Abhay, Adnan, Ajit, Ashwin, Asim, Beibek, Chandan, Darshan, Deepak, Farrukh, Gohar, Haroon, Jagdish, Kavi, Mandeep, Nadeem, Naveen, Pardeep, Raja, Sandip, Sujay, Vasu, Vivek

Aarthi, Anisha, Chandra, Diksha, Gita, Hira, Indrani, Jayanti, Kala, Kasi, Leela, Mitra, Nilima, Rina, Sadia, Shanta, Sona, Tara, Zarina

Atwal, Babu, Balay, Chatterjee, Johal, Kapoor, Kumar, Madan, Raval, Saraf, Shetty, Walia

9

Principality of Transylvania

Transylvanian

Romanian or Hungarian

Anton, Apostol, Cezar, Cosmin, Costache, Dacian, Darius, Dorin, Fane, Filip, Florin, Grigore, Ivan, Leonard, Mihai, Sebastian, Stan, Valerian, Vlad

Adriana, Amalia, Anca, Bogdana, Cecilia, Corina, Emanuela, Lavinia, Magda, Monica, Rodica, Sofia, Violeta

Adam, Alexandrescu, Barbu, Cojocaru, David, Fischer, Gheata, Grosu, Hofer, Ion, Lupu, Matei, Muller, Popa, Zamfir

10

Maritime Republic of Venice, or Genoa, or Ragusa

Venetian, Genoan, or Ragusan.

Italian or Croatian

Achille, Alberto, Amore, Battista, Bernardo, Carlo, Cleto, Dino, Enzo, Fabio, Franco, Giacomo, Giovanni, Giuseppe, Leone, Nero, Omar, Peppi, Roberto, Teo

Agata, Ambra, Ave, Celeste, Concetta, Diana, Dina, Elvira, Felicita, Flora, Gisella, Leonara, Lisa, Luna, Orietta, Rina, Rosanna, Silvia, Teresa, Vita

Accardi, Ajello, Barone, Bianco, Bruno, Costa, De Luca, DeVille, Fabbri, Fontana, Guiluliani, Longo, Marino, Pepe, Sartori, Vinci

11

Kingdom of France

French

French

Adrian, Baptiste, Benoit, Claude, François, Frédéric, Guillaume, Hubert, Jacques, Jean, Martin, Pierre, Philippe, Simon, Valentin

Aimée, Ambroise, Béatrix, Catherine, Colette, Dauphine, Éloise, Hélène, Jacqueline, Judith, Louise, Madeleine, Olive, Rachel, Rose, Robine, Yolande,

Bascon, Bertrand, Boucher, Chevalier, d'Aigneville, de Bessay, de Champanges, de Fumechon, de Lagny-sur-Marne, Dumont, Dupré, Gasteau, Martin, Pichon, Rousselle, Thiboust

12

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman

Greek or Arabic or Turkish or Persian

Abd al-Aziz, Abdul, Alekos, Abu Bakr, Akram, Anwar, Asif, Bassam, Fareed, Gamil, Hamid, Jaffar, Kareem, Mehmed, Noor, Omar, Kara, Raheem, Saeed, Wael


Alekos, Angelos, Costas, Giannis, Lazaros, Nikos, Silas, Stavros, Stephanos, Thomas

Adila, Aya, Farah, Fatima, Hadya, Jameela, Latifah, Raja, Safiya, Waheeda, Yara, Yasmin, Zakiah,


Angela, Domna, Eleonora, Evi, Fotini, Ioanna, Kilo, Olympia,

Sophia, Tasia, Thalia, Zoi

Ahmad, Ali, Ayad, Burhan, Darwish, Faez, Habib, Hakim, Hussein, Jabal, Kazem, Maamoun, Taleb, Zaman


Alexopoulos, Artino, Cirillo, Drakos, Hatzi, Kazan, Leos, Lykaios, Nephus, Othonos, Tsitak


Lifepaths

Each character starts off with 8 in each ability score. Then they make three lifepath rolls to determine their past history which modifies their ability scores accordingly. Each lifepath roll beyond three forces a roll on the Misfortune table. Players can roll a maximum of five times.

Lifepath Rolls:

  • Drive + Early Life
  • Drive + Failed Career
  • Drive + Fallen in With


1d6

What drove you onward...

Modifier

1

Salvation and Redemption

+2 WIS, +1 CON,

2

Love and Passion

+2 CON, +1 CHA

3

Restlessness and Curiosity

+2 DEX, +1 INT

4

Boredom and Apathy

+2 INT, +1 STR

5

Misery and Suffering

+2 STR, +1 WIS

6

Ambition and Delusions of Grandeur

+2 CHA, +1 DEX


Early Life

1d12

Description

Modifier

1

Militaristic: coming from a long line of men who have served, you grew up playing with toy soldiers and hearing stories of war. You longed for the day when you could serve gallantly and bring honour to your family.

+2 STR

2

Itinerant: you grew up with your family living in a wagon, trading items here and there, your father doing odd jobs where he could find them. Whether because of persecution, or the call of the open road, your family lived in many places and spoke many languages.

+2 CHA

3

Servant: your mother was a scullery maid, your father unknown. You grew up in servants halls of your employer. Working for them just as your mother did, always seen, never heard, until you decided enough was enough.

+2 DEX

4

Seafaring: you grew up on a small town or village on the coast. The open sea called to you every morning and the gulls awoke you. Songs were sung as the catch of the day was delivered and all eyed the ocean carefully when storms rolled in.

+2 DEX

5

Agricultural: you grew up in one of the many small agricultural villages that dot the land. One of many brothers and sisters, you worked the farm and life was hard. Life was dictated by the seasons, both spiritual and earthly, a time and place for everything.


+2 WIS

6

Nomadic: you grew up taking care of your families herds. Moving with the seasons, you brought them to graze upon the open grasslands in the summer and sheltered in the forested vales in the winter.

+2 CON

7

Nobility: once upon a time you had it all. You lived in an ancestral hall with a silver spoon in your mouth. Then one day it was gone, the rest of your family killed.

+2 CHA

8

Religious Urban: you grew up cloistered in a tight knit religious community. You attended religious schools and celebrated religious holidays with your community. At times persecuted, the pain of one was shared by all within the community.

+2 INT

9

Mountain Folk: you are from the mountains and the proud folk that fill them. Forestry, mining, it doesn't matter, you learned much from the hard but friendly folk that you grew up among.

+2 STR

10

Town: you grew up in a tall house in town. Your father was a tradesman and your life was filled with the teachings and gossip of the town.

+2 INT

11

Impoverished: you grew up in the streets of a big stinking city. Wild dogs your only friends, cats your competitors, other orphans your comrades.

+2 CON

12

Pastoral: you took care of your family's flocks, letting them graze upon the hilly meadows in your youth. Long hours you spent guiding them, watching life slowly move by.

+2 WIS


Fallen in with...
1d12
Description
Change
1
Musketeers of the Guard
+2 STR
2
Conspiracy of the Black Hand
+2 DEX
3
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge
+2 INT
4
East India Trading Company
+2 DEX
5
Church of Starry Wisdom
+2 WIS
6
The Merry Mountaineers
+2 CON
7
The Butterfly Troupe
+2 CHA
8
The Cult of Diana
+2 CHA
9
Veterans of The Thirty Years' War
+2 STR
10
Grand Freemason Lodge of Scotland
+2 INT
11
Northern Outfitters
+2 CON
12
Society of Jesus, The Jesuits
+2 WIS



2 comments:

  1. Wow, lots of cool details!! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Each lifepath roll beyond three forces a roll on the Misfortune table."

    I assume the bonus lifepath events can only be rolled on these two options:
    Drive + Failed Career
    Drive + Fallen in With
    ?

    ReplyDelete