I'm going to be starting a Way of the Wicked campaign and will be assigning each of my players a little homework before we start. Each player is going to write up a Criminal Record/Police Report/Dossier for their character, so that I can place them in the prison for the group to find (should they explore a little).
The idea is simple, if each of the players write a dossier about their character from the viewpoint of the law, the other players can get to know more about their backstory and what everyone has done to warrant their place on death row. It won't have to be everything about the character, mainly just what diabolical deeds have landed them there, their general stats (age, gender, race, physical characteristics, etc), as well as the general where and how they were captured.
I will be making one for the other inmates, unless someone writes a better one and feels generous enough to post them. I would love to see what others think of the idea, as well as what you might write for your characters (might show a few to the group to get some ideas flowing).
The big reason why I'm doing this is that I started playing in a WotW game a long time ago, and of the six party members, there were only two of us willing to talk and share. The other four went for the dark, mysterious, brooding type character. At least this way, the characters can learn the basics about each other.
It's a fun idea. Our GM took a different approach.
As per usual we made characters, personality summaries and backgrounds, all including what would eventually land us in Branderscar. The GM then proceeded to make a "prologue-session", where each of our characters were presented doing what they do best, and then we roleplayed their capture by the long arm of Talirean law.
We got to see our Kitsune rogue swindle and cheat her way into government cash, only to get tracked down and put in irons.
We got to see our Oni-blooded Tiefling fighter beat a young noble half to death, in a drunken rage, and then get tossed in jail and stand trial with the young man's uncle preciding as judge.
We got to see our Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling sorceress trap a bunch of people in a temple and burn them all alive in there, before being doggy-piled by the local law-enforcement.
And I got to play my Human Asmodean Cleric, get tracked down and attacked by Sir Balin of Karfield and a wing of riders from the knights of the Alerion. He stood trial for high treason and blasphemy and was sent to Branderscar with the rest.
It was very satisfying, and painted a nice picture of each character before we actually met eachother in the cold confines of a Branderscar cell.
Hope it helps.
-Nearyn
That's pretty cool.
Do you have a question for us to answer?
I guess it's not really a question, it's more I'm looking for feedback and ideas. I know there are a few people here who love creating characters or concepts, and was hoping that there may be one or two who would be interested in putting their characters in a similar format as examples for what the group could do.
The plan is that once I get all my player's dossiers, I'd print them out and make folders for each one, so the group would have a physical copy to read (or destroy, depending on the character). I would personally love to have a few extra dossiers in there, of criminals who have also passed through the prison walls.