Hello fellow meat sacks,
So I've been DMing a group of three guys for about half a year now and getting RP or character backgrounds out of them was always like pulling teeth.
So two of the three decide to just reroll characters. They were bored of the ones they were playing so I let them do a reroll at same level.
So, out of nowhere, suddenly they've got RP back stories. One is a half-orc fighter, the other a full orc barbarian, and they've decided that they're half brothers.
They're riffling off stories about their child hood, facts about their father (the common parent), the half-orc player decides that he's always looked up to his older brother, despite that his older brother is one of two town drunks while the half-orc is a skilled smith and the head of the town's militia (due to being the highest level fighter in the town).
So how can I help them a bit more? I want this to keep going, so how can I assist without interference?
I was thinking of writing up info about their father, as they left it pretty open, or should I let THEM decide what their father was like?
You could add some villain who happens to come from the same town and knows them both.
Like someone the orc crossed when he was drunk.
Or some town malcontend, that the half orc had to arrest when he did something rude.
Now the guy hates the brothers because he thinks it is their fault that he got thrown out of town and wants to harm them through some plot of his, just to get revenge.
Oh yeah, this is the kind of stuff i like as a player. I personally like the GM to bring in something I've left open for them.
The older drunk ork brother....to funny before i forget.
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So how can I help them a bit more? I want this to keep going, so how can I assist without interference?
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I'd nuture it. Ask before you just throw their father in, that might not be what they had in mind. or. without asking them, they may love it even more because they did nmot see it coming.
Do they know their father? is he still alive? did he raise them etetc?
Having someone pick on just one of the brothers helps foster brotherly solidarity.
And you may want to subtlety point out to player #3 that the inclusion of this bit of background is enhancing the game as a whole.
Well, I had already established that the father was dead, as is the half-orc's mother. So anything I add would be past tense, or maybe old enemies of the father who find the sons.
As for player 3, a tengu, he actually was the only one who was RPing before this reroll. He had no real backstory, but it worked for the character as he's playing him a very skittish bird.
He's a ninja with insane stealth but that stealth is used more often than not to hide from benign NPCs who startle him, and he refused to scout.
And he's obsessed with pecking doors.
I think he literally pictures the character as being slightly mentally disturbed, so his back story would be a combination of hallucinations and half-truths anyway.
What kind of random "facts" have the players said about their father?
Just that he was abnormally friendly... at least for an orc. Which more means that he just wasn't completely belligerent.
The father had been injured in battle and wandering through the forest with his son for days when he came upon the half-orc's (Dregg for future reference) mother being attacked. Despite being wounded he saved her, then passed out, so she brought him back to town and the town, being True Neutral in general, decided to nurse him back to health and see what happens.
He decided to stay and bred with the woman he saved, which is where Dregg comes from.
Cur, the pure orc brother, was 2 or 3 at the time, which is like 5 or 6 for a human, so he still has the early orcish upbringing but has been tempered by spending most of his life among humans.
Old 'associate' of their father (notice I didn't say friend) comes calling. He brings their father's legacy which is theirs if they can prove they are deserving of it. He was intrusted by the tribal council to administer tests to prove their bravery, physical capability, training, etc...
However, he didn't like their father (and by extension, doesn't like them). He actually will try to make tests that he doesn't think they can pass but seem reasonable enough that he won't get into trouble back home. Or he could follow them around to observe. Then making disparaging comments about their actions if they show mercy or aren't suicidally brave.
The father isn't dead? Have him come looking for his boys. His village is under attck by some vile creature/s of your devious choosing. He needs their help.
CUR's biological ORK mom comes looking for his father. He obviously never returned to her or something. i.e. family drama.
I was considering making their father the last surviving member of his legion, which would give them the right to reform the legion as his children (my orc society is homebrew).
I've got a pretty extensive write-up on orc society, so it could be neat introducing them to their own culture which feels alien to them.
Little things like the custom of never taking your eyes off an Orc while in striking distance could lead to hilarity.
The father isn't dead? Have him come looking for his boys. His village is under attck by some vile creature/s of your devious choosing. He needs their help.
CUR's biological ORK mom comes looking for his father. He obviously never returned to her or something. i.e. family drama.
The father IS dead, he died defending the village (though I haven't decided what from.)
Cur's mother's existence is up in the air at the moment.
The mother is the link to the tribe. I'd have her come looking for them. Without the PC knowing what your up to.
Orcish females are rare, so they are very rarely allowed to go wandering out of a fortress or citadel.
A disease wiped out almost all their females and they've been rebuilding for generations using half-orc females.
An orc also has very little connection to their mother as, by necessity, orc females are almost akin to sacred cows... highly respected but not really free to do what they wish.
The orcish legions are actually a very mixed bag because of this. They've adopted other species into their ranks, and have no qualms with half-orcs.
Many of my other monstrous humanoids are the result of orcish inter-species breeding.
And writing that all down just gave me an awesome idea..
Cur is going to have a half-orc daughter, one that the legions would be very interested in acquiring for breeding.
I'd make the father a human bard.
funny how different our orks are. ours speak like michael caine. ours invent things like they do in warhammer 40k.
My orcs are are inherently LE as opposed to CE like in normal PF and D&D.
They form legions and organized forces, they build citadels, keeps, and fortresses of steel and stone.
They're actually the best blacksmiths in my world, and they have the most advanced weapon technology including firearms, though they rarely design long range weapons and instead prefer stuff like putting gun barrels on melee weapons so they can swing and shoot at the same time.
In many ways they're Tamriel Orcs, Warcraft Orcs, and Warhammer Orks shoved together.
So, RPers, would you be really pissed if your DM dropped a kid on your character?
Now, obviously, if your character is a bookish monk, it wouldn't fit.
But if your character is the town drunk, and an orc who grew up with no father figure, an illegitimate child would be pretty par for the course, don't you think?
so his kid would be another half orc since he's been rampant around the town.
You could easily make this into a mature thing. drinking, being drunk, forced himself onto....etc etc. could make for a very interesting maury situation.
Cur......YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER.
WWOOOOOOOOW WOWOOWOOOO
I think I'd make the mother a half-orc, making the daughter 3/4ths, as this would make her an even more attractive target for legions of orcs without many females.
And being 3/4ths orc would make her breeding stock between 10 and 12, so it wouldn't be crazy for her to be kidnapped at a young age.
fractions of fractions. hope they took proficiency in math.
Mechanically, I'd consider her a full orc, and any offspring with other orcs as such
Orc genes are probably pretty dominant so a 3/4th split would drive most human features out.