Friday Filler: Life-Paths

Character creation is not always as easy as you might want it to be. Not necessarily because of the rules or the mechanics, but because it can be challenging to create interesting characters—both for the player creating and roleplaying the character and the other players and their characters. This is not a criticism per se of any particular rules system or roleplaying game, as they invariably provide the solid, mechanical basis for a character. Of course, background and key elements of a character’s personality can come about during play, but initially, it can be difficult to differentiate between one fighter and another, one cleric and another, one wizard and another. It all comes down to inspiration and sometimes, that can be lacking. Some roleplaying games provide the means of creating further background details for a character, many do not, and some are somewhere in between. For example, ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library, is somewhere in between. It has a Background Table, providing a simple, one-line description of who or what your characters is, but what if you want to go further and want a bit more detail? One option might be Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement.

Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement is from Burning Light Press, which though written for use with ShadowDark would work with a lot of other retroclones from the Old School Renaissance. Published a successful Kickstarter campaign, this supplement presents potential backgrounds and lifepaths for Wizards, Fighters, Priests, Thieves, Bard, Rangers, Witches, Warlocks, Knights, Shamans, and Heroes, for a total of eleven basic options. Obviously, it covers the four Classes from ShadowDark—Fighter, Priest, Thief, and Wizard, but goes further. None of the four core Classes are restricted to the four associated lifepaths in Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement, so a player could create a Wizard and then select the Witch or Warlock Lifepath instead of the Wizard and similarly a Fighter could be combined with Bard, Ranger, or Knight Lifepaths. So, there is plenty of flexibility here. There is even more however, if Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement with the Player Companion for ShadowDark. This add more Backgrounds to the standard Background Table, but details some thirty-six new Classes for ShadowDark, including Archer, Assassin, Beastmaster, Berserker, Brigand, Buccaneer, Burglar, Charlatan, Conjurer, Druid, Elementalist, Enchanter, Explorer, Gladiator, Mage, Mariner, Monk, Mystic, Necromancer, Noble, Oracle, Pugilist, Ranger, Rogue, Savage, Scholar, Scout, Shaman, Soldier, Sorcerer, Spy, Squire, Thug, Urchin, Valkyrie, and Witch. All of which could easily be combined with a Lifepath from Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement.

A standard First Level Player Character looks like this:

Name: Baergurn Boulderkin
Class: Fighter Level: 1
Ancestry: Dwarf Background: Soldier
Alignment: Lawful
Armour Class: 13 Hit Points: 9

Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 07 (-2) Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 13 (+1) Wisdom 11 (+0) Charisma 08 (-1)

Abilities: Weapon Mastery (Axe), Grit (Strength)
Equipment: Chainmail, Shield, Greataxe (1d8)

Each Path offers a route from Childhood through Adolescence to Adulthood, as well as an optional Bonus Path. At stage, the supplement gives a player a mix of choices and random outcomes. There are events that can end in success or misfortune. In general, the spellcasting Classes have two paths during the Childhood step rather than three and some of them have to make more choices than other Lifepaths. For example, the Ranger also needs to have his preferred terrain rolled for, the Warlock his Patron, the visions for the Shaman. So, for example, the Witch’s Path begins with her either being ‘Taken’ as a child or ‘Born’ into a coven. If ‘Taken’, the connected event might be because of a blood debt or the witch was stolen, but if ‘Born’, the witch followed her mother into the life, or her connection occurred all of a sudden. This is followed by a roll. On a success, the Witch was prepared for this if ‘Taken’, but exchanged a poor home for a better one if stolen, but on a failure, the ties with the new family are a curse if ‘Taken’ or to have suffered a childhood dominated by memories of loss ‘Born’. This format is followed throughout, but beyond Childhood, the Player Character gains a bane or a boon at each stage depending upon the roll. For example, the Witch can a bonus to the Hit Points for her familiar or lose more Hit Points herself when restoring her familiar to life; improve or worse her spellcasting Difficulty Class; know more or fewer spells; and so on. The combination of events and a boons and banes create not just the basics of a Player Character’s background and life story, but also what he learned from the experience.

A First Level Player Character with the benefit of the tables from the Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement looks like the following and has the following background. Baergurn Boulderkin is of common stock, following his parents into service as guards and (Misfortune) they drilled a strong sense of duty to him, but too much some say for his own good, instilling in him an intolerance of criminals and a staunch stubbornness. As a young Dwarf, he was mugged by thugs, but readily raised his fists and fought them until his friends joined him. His stockiness stood him stead he withstood a beating (Success/Maximum Hit Points). His Young Adulthood was spent as a Mercenary, signed up to company to defend a realm and fight off evil. Yet the numbers of the enemy were too great, and innocents began to die at the hands of the Goblin hordes and even to this day Baergurn Boulderkin’s morale will break if he sees innocents die (Misfortune). What followed was a period of ‘Endless Slaughter’ when he went after the gang of goblins that plagued the area and tried to end their madness. Baergurn Boulderkin found them drunk and squabbling over dice and he took his axe to them, staining him in their blood from head to foot. To this day, he always acts first when outnumbered (Success).

Name: Baergurn Boulderkin
Class: Fighter Level: 1
Ancestry: Dwarf Background: Soldier
Alignment: Lawful
Armour Class: 13 Hit Points: 13

Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 07 (-2) Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 13 (+1) Wisdom 11 (+0) Charisma 08 (-1)

Abilities: Weapon Mastery (Axe), Grit (Strength)
Equipment: Chainmail, Shield, Greataxe (1d8)

Every Lifepath is accompanied by an alterative trilogy of tables with simple results, one each again for Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adult. These are faster and easier to use, but not as much fun or full of flavour.

Physically, Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement is well presented and decently written. It is lightly illustrated, the best pieces prefacing each Lifepath.

Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement adds a lot of detail and flavour to every Player Character and will help to bring them to life and give a player hooks and details that will help him roleplay the character. Plus, the uncertainty of a character’s life to date is always fun to roll up and create. On the downside, although every player can use it, it does add a further degree of randomness and imbalance, so that not every character is going to be equal in terms of boons and banes. Thus, the use of Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement should be agreed upon by everyone. Nevertheless, for the group that wants to add more colour and detail to their Player Characters, Life-Paths: A ShadowDark Supplement more than supports that, giving them a history and making them interesting.