For the character's backstory, I asked for something they had done to make themselves standout so Lavinia would know of them.
My wife's "something" is the fact that she was on a ship with Rowyn Kellani and it was attacked by pirates. She ended up pulling Rowyn out of danger and, essentially, saved her life.
I asked my wife where she got the name and and she said she found it in the Player's Guide to Sasserine and thought that would be a good person to save to make yourself know.
I can't wait until they enter the Lotus Dragon guildhall. =D
That's got Thomas Hardyesque literary irony written all over it. And then...what do you do? You can't say, "pick anyone else but Rowyn," you'd give something away.
It's an interesting build up though; I think that going with it will pay off dramatically.
All I said was "Who is Rowyn Kellani?" She told me who she was and why she picked her. I did my best not to smile or give anything away. ;)
You'll have to show her page 42 when they walk in. Otherwise she'll NEVER believe that you didn't rig it that way.
That's dope.
So...how'd this end up?
Her character died underneath Parrot Island. :(
I told her about it afterward and she thought it was really funny. :)
Should have seen my group when she showed herself on the ship.. they had killed her in the lotus guild, but left the body so i had it missing when they came back. After a Raise dead, all i heard was.."I thought we killed her!" Good stuff.. The fun continues...
RPJ
I had a similar experiene with one of my players. He decided that his tie to Lavinia would be that he was her erstwhile older brother, missing for a while and now returned.
Well...THAT obviously wouldn't work! We made it a younger brother instead, and he was here to help Lavinia track down Vanthus. Worked much better. :)