Common distinctive features in backgrounds

[Stormcrow]

This is odd. I just noticed the following regarding backgrounds. Dunno who's noticed this before.

All Bardings can choose to be Adventurous.
All Beornings can choose to be Grim.
All Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain can choose to be Willful.
All Elves of Mirkwood can choose to be Quick of Hearing.
All Hobbits of the Shire can choose to be True-hearted.
All Woodmen of Wilderland can choose to be Bold.
All Men of the Lake can choose to be Clever.
All Rangers of the North can choose to be Lordly.
All High Elves of Rivendell can choose to be Proud.

Each culture has exactly one distinctive feature that is repeated across all six example backgrounds. But you don't have to take it. Obviously done intentionally, but why? To weight the choices toward the most common distinctive feature among that culture, I would guess.

Anyone coming up with new backgrounds or new cultures should keep this in mind when deciding what distinctive features to allow.

[trystero]

I had not noticed that commonality either: good catch, and thanks for posting it.

[Morgoth]

Each of the other distinctive features of a culture have two backgrounds which can take that feature. In other words, there are two backgrounds for the Elves of Mirkwood that have Lordly, and there's two that have Nimble, and two that have Merry, etc. Except for Dwarf, if I remember right, which has a slight discrepancy from the model.

[Glorelendil]

None of this is surprising, giving Francesco's design philosophy. He loves symmetries. E.g. the structure of the attribute allocations in the original six cultures & the matrix of common skills by relevant attribute and category.

[Stormcrow]

In that case we can look at the distinctive features that make up each culture.

Bardings
ADVENTUROUS
Cautious, Clever, Cunning, Determined, Eager, Fair, Fair-spoken, Generous, Hardy, Just, Lordly, Merciful, Patient, Proud, Reckless, Steadfast, Stern, Tall, True-hearted, Trusty, Wary

Beornings
GRIM
Bold, Curious, Determined, Energetic, Generous, Fierce, Forthright, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Proud, Reckless, Robust, Steadfast, Suspicious, Swift, Tall, Trusty, Vengeful, Wilful, Wrathful

Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain
WILFUL
Bold, Cautious, Cunning, Determined, Eager, Energetic, Fierce, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Honorable, Lordly, Proud, Robust, Secretive, Steadfast, Stern, Suspicious, Vengeful, Wary, Wrathful

Elves of Mirkwood
QUICK OF HEARING
Cautious, Clever, Cunning, Determined, Elusive, Fair, Fair-spoken, Hardened, Honorable, Keen-eyed, Lordly, Merciful, Merry, Nimble, Patient, Proud, Secretive, Suspicious, Swift, Wary, Wilful

Hobbits of the Shire
TRUE-HEARTED
Adventurous, Bold, Cautious, Clever, Curious, Eager, Elusive, Energetic, Fair-spoken, Generous, Honorable, Keen-eyed, Merciful, Merry, Nimble, Patient, Proud, Quick of Hearing, Reckless, Robust, Trusty

Woodmen of Wilderland
BOLD
Adventurous, Cunning, Curious, Determined, Eager, Elusive, Fair, Forthright, Generous, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Just, Patient, Proud, Reckless, Stern, Swift, Tall, True-hearted, Wary

Men of the Lake
CLEVER
Adventurous, Curious, Elusive, Energetic, Fair, Fair-spoken, Forthright, Just, Keen-eyed, Grim, Merciful, Merry, Nimble, Robust, Secretive, Steadfast, Suspicious, Tall, Trusty, Vengeful, Wilful

Rangers of the North
LORDLY
Bold, Cunning, Eager, Energetic, Fierce, Forthright, Generous, Grim, Gruff, Hardened, Hardy, Honorable, Just, Keen-eyed, Quick of Hearing, Secretive, Steadfast, Stern, Tall, True-hearted, Wary

High Elves of Rivendell
PROUD
Cautious, Elusive, Fair, Fair-spoken, Fierce, Grim, Honorable, Just, Keen-eyed, Lordly, Merry, Nimble, Patient, Quick of Hearing, Secretive, Stern, Suspicious, Swift, True-hearted, Vengeful, Wrathful


Each culture has a primary distinctive feature shared by all backgrounds, and 21 secondary distinctive features, which are doubled and split evenly among all the sample backgrounds.

With this insight, plus other details unearthed in the past, we now know everything that goes into creating a new culture according to the same rules as the originals.

[Falenthal]

I also think that, if you read all the proposed names for a given culture backwards, you can invoke an Old One from the Deepest Abyss. Francesco always loves to hide this kind of knick-knacks in his games.