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OK all, I said in the past that I would do this, and to show that I'm a man of my word, here it is. Based on both Pendraken IV and Mongoose Traveler, I've got a sort of table based generation for your family's background. Now, I know this somewhat unbalances character generation and it wouldn't really work well if you didn't have EVERYONE do this. Do y'all have any advice about this and how to balance it?

By the way, the idea with the tables is that your father's background determines which table you use. You may make as many rolls on the table as you like (minimum 1), since each table is rather balanced between good events and bad ones. I've only fully developed the first table, but eventually, the other tables would have similar stories associated with them.

The One Ring Familial Background Generation:

**EDIT** All rolls are to be done with a d6 (success dice) **END EDIT**

Here are the main tables:
http://postimg.org/image/klho5q4i1/
 
Table 1: Lordly Endeavors:
1) Your father was selected as an ambassador to an elven haven, either The Halls of Thranduil or Rivendell. He returned enamored with their high ways and spoke constantly of them.
Specialty: Elven Lore

2) Your father occupied much of his time with his musical instruments, using them both to woo ladies of the court and entertain his important guests. Fascinated by the sounds emanating from the complex wooden instruments, you decided to follow in his footsteps and learn the art of music.
Specialty: Minstrelsy

3) A just man, your father taught you at an early age never to lie nor to bend the truth. Lies were the domain of the enemy and the enemy only. Realizing the wisdom in his statement, you have followed his code of honesty the entirety of your life.
Distinctive Feature: Forthright

4) Your father was intimate with many women in the court; you are the product of a brief and meaningless union. If this knowledge has tainted your life, gain
1 Permanent Shadow Point
But if you accept the fact, gain your father’s wife as an
Enemy (Loremaster Character)

5) Your father discredited another noble and his family dishonestly during an argument for the King’s favor. In doing so, he ruined that noble and his family, causing them to be hunted down and killed as traitors. If you feel guilt over this, gain
1 Permanent Shadow Point and a surviving son of that family as an Enemy (Loremaster Character)
But if you considered your gain worth their loss, then receive
2 Permanent Shadow Points

6) Your father educated you in the intrigue and political machinations of the nobles and they have always held you spellbound. Knowing how to secretly influence others has grown your self-importance; you don’t consider others quite your equal.
Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets

Table 2: Renowned Battles:
1) Specialty: Enemy Lore
2) Specialty: Mountaineering
3) Distinctive Feature: Steadfast
4) 1 Permanent Shadow Point or an Enemy (Loremaster Character)
5) 2 Permanent Shadow Points or -2 Body (Minimum 1)
6) Shadow Trait: Lure of Power

Table 3: Studies of Lore:
1) Specialty: Old Lore
2) Specialty: Rhymes of Lore
3) Distinctive Feature: Keen-eyed
4) 1 Permanent Shadow Point and a library in a location of the Loremaster’s choice
5) 2 Permanent Shadow Points or -2 Wits (Minimum 1)
6) Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets

Table 4: Mercantile Affairs:
1) Specialty: Woodwright
2) Specialty: Smith-craft
3) Distinctive Feature: Fair-Spoken
4) 1 Permanent Shadow Point or a large debt to be paid
5) 2 Permanent Shadow Points and +5 Treasure
6) Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets

I really like this, thank you for sharing! I think this is a really good way to make characters from the same culture stand apart, and it can be fun to work out a good background story when you're rolling details like this.

One thing I would be wary of is giving characters permanent shadow points at the start of the game. I'd actually be somewhat wary of characters starting with shadow in general, but regular shadow I can see working well as a character motivator and a first hurdle to overcome. "Your father had an entire innocent family killed for his own gain" is a hell of a thing to dump on a new character's head randomly.

robert_pat wrote:I really like this, thank you for sharing! I think this is a really good way to make characters from the same culture stand apart, and it can be fun to work out a good background story when you're rolling details like this.

One thing I would be wary of is giving characters permanent shadow points at the start of the game. I'd actually be somewhat wary of characters starting with shadow in general, but regular shadow I can see working well as a character motivator and a first hurdle to overcome. "Your father had an entire innocent family killed for his own gain" is a hell of a thing to dump on a new character's head randomly.

Thanks for the kind words - char creation is one of my favorite parts of mongoose traveller, so I wanted to throw some of that in here.

As far as permanent shadow points, I wanted to make rolling on the tables risky, but with the option of some pretty decent rewards too. Do you have any other ideas on negative side effects? Any suggestions for either mechanical results or narrative results are welcome, as always!
-TMG

I'm not quite willing to say a father's misdeeds give a son permanent shadow. No man is responsible for another's actions, and likewise, a child doesn't choose his parents. Now, growing up with a father who has one or two flaws is likely to be unhealthy...rather like growing up with an alcoholic parent ends badly for the child...but it's not a taint on their soul. They didn't do the evil. They are victims, not perpetrators.

Also, renowned battles sounds more like 'Slayer' and curse of vengeance.

Also, what's the extra shadow weakness supposed to do if it stacks?

Lure of Power stacks with the same on a Warden and...what?

Angelalex242 wrote:I'm not quite willing to say a father's misdeeds give a son permanent shadow. No man is responsible for another's actions, and likewise, a child doesn't choose his parents. Now, growing up with a father who has one or two flaws is likely to be unhealthy...rather like growing up with an alcoholic parent ends badly for the child...but it's not a taint on their soul. They didn't do the evil. They are victims, not perpetrators.

Also, renowned battles sounds more like 'Slayer' and curse of vengeance.

Also, what's the extra shadow weakness supposed to do if it stacks?

Lure of Power stacks with the same on a Warden and...what?

Yeah, I'll buy that. Like I said, I'm not entirely sure what to do to balance out the good with some bad side effects - maybe non permanent shadow? I don't really like the idea of spamming attribute reductions... Some kind of marked skill that gives a penalty like High Elves?

Thanks, I'll change Lure of Power to Curse of Vengeance.

The idea is that you automatically gain a rank in that shadow weakness. So, for instance, let's say you rolled the 'Secrets' one twice - you would gain the first two shadow traits in that weakness. Then let's say you become a slayer. Now you get vengeance shadow weakness like normal, but have additional negative traits the LM can invoke. If you become a scholar instead of a slayer, you're that much closer to being overwhelmed by darkness.

Does that clarify?
-TMG

It's automatic flaw?

Damn, the bad seriously outweighs the good at this point. "Roll on this table. You might win $10 bucks, $10 bucks, $5 Bucks, or you might lose $30 bucks, $50 bucks, or 20% of your soul.

A devil's bargain. This is the sort of offer the Nazgul might make. Or Saruman, maybe, if he's approaching the time of Madness.

An extra specialty or extra trait just isn't as potent to the good as permanent shadow and flaws are to the bad.

Recall that even among rewards, the only one that gives you permanent Shadow (Lesser Ring) also increases an attribute of your choice by 1.

OK, I've changed some of the results. Mainly, the shadow points are no longer permanent, and a roll of '1' gets you either +1 Wisdom or +1 Valor. There are a couple other changes, but those are the main ones. Thoughts? Basically, 1 is really good and 6 is really bad and everything else is rather 'meh'.


Table 1: Lordly Endeavors:
1) Your father was selected as an ambassador to an elven haven, either The Halls of Thranduil or Rivendell. He returned enamored with their high ways and spoke constantly of them.
Result: +1 Wisdom

2) Your father occupied much of his time with his musical instruments, using them both to woo ladies of the court and entertain his important guests. Fascinated by the sounds emanating from the complex wooden instruments, you decided to follow in his footsteps and learn the art of music.
Specialty: Minstrelsy

3) A just man, your father taught you at an early age never to lie nor to bend the truth. Lies were the domain of the enemy and the enemy only. Realizing the wisdom in his statement, you have followed his code of honesty the entirety of your life.
Distinctive Feature: Forthright

4) Your father was intimate with many women in the court; you are the product of a brief and meaningless union. If this knowledge has tainted your life, gain
1 Shadow Point
But if you accept the fact, gain your father’s wife as an
Enemy (Loremaster Character)

5) Your father discredited another noble and his family dishonestly during an argument for the King’s favor. In doing so, he ruined that noble and his family, unintentionally causing them to be hunted down and killed as traitors. If you feel guilt over this, gain
1 Shadow Point and a surviving son of that family as an Enemy (Loremaster Character)
If you considered the gain worth their loss, then receive
2 Shadow Points

6) Your father educated you in the intrigue and political machinations of the nobles and they have always held you spellbound. Knowing how to secretly influence others has grown your self-importance; you don’t consider others quite your equal.
Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets

Table 2: Renowned Battles:
1) Result: +1 Valor
2) Specialty: Mountaineering
3) Distinctive Feature: Steadfast
4) 1 Shadow Point or an Enemy (Loremaster Character)
5) 2 Shadow Points or -1 Body (Minimum 1)
6) Shadow Trait: Curse of Vengance

Table 3: Studies of Lore:
1) Result: +1 Wisdom
2) Specialty: Rhymes of Lore
3) Distinctive Feature: Keen-eyed
4) 1 Shadow Point or a book stolen from the Shadow that they seek
5) 2 Shadow Points or -1 Wits (Minimum 1)
6) Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets

Table 4: Mercantile Affairs:
1) Result: +1 Valor
2) Specialty: Smith-craft
3) Distinctive Feature: Fair-Spoken
4) 1 Shadow Point or a large debt to be paid
5) 2 Shadow Points or -1 Heart (Minimum 1)
6) Shadow Trait: Lure of Secrets


-TMG

Also, I might recommend reversing the order in this game.

For everything else, 6 is good, and 1 is bad.

I have to agree with Angelalex that an extra Flaw seems a bit extreme. But I'm not sure a permanent Shadow point is that bad; certainly a temporary Shadow point is far too feeble, as they're pretty easy to get rid of. But two permanent Shadow points, or -2 to an Attribute, seems pretty severe too! (Maybe 1 permanent and 2 temorary Shadow points, or -1 to an Atttribute?)

I don't think it's unfair to consider that a character's experiences growing up might give them Shadow points. It's possible to gain Shadow points simply through horrible experiences (e.g. witnessing the wanton cruelty of Orcs) without any moral blame attached to you. I would imagine most Easterlings and other such peoples in the War of the Ring had Shadow points, but they were surely not inherently bad people any more than anyone else; it's simply the result of being raised in a culture influenced by Sauron.

Anyway, it's an interesting concept, and I like the idea of making characters more varied in this way.

Ideas that occur to me:

I don't think it should be all about the character's father: I know Middle-Earth is a pretty patriarchal place, but other people have an influence too! One possibility I'd like to see is that the character grew up without a father for one reason or another.

I'd vary the benefits more: the +1 to Wisdom or Valour you've added in is the kind of thing I'm talking about (I started typing this before your last post). I'd also consider things like +1 to an Attribute, or bonuses to skills (maybe a few extra starting xp). But of course that makes it even harder to balance!

Not everything works with every culture, either: most of the backgrounds are hard to explain for Hobbits. Lordly endeavours? Renowned battles? Studies of lore? None of these seem like things that Hobbits really do. Similarly, Mountaineering seems unlikely for Elves or Bardings, and Woodwright seems implausible for Dwarves.

Angelalex242 wrote:Also, I might recommend reversing the order in this game.

For everything else, 6 is good, and 1 is bad.

Good point!