Finalize your character by determining their connection to the other characters and to the world.
Player Character Connections
Roll 1d6 twice and record the values. Add each value with one other player character to get your bond with that character. You should have two player characters with whom you share a bond.
| 2d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 2 | Guardian and ward / parent and child |
| 3 | Siblings / similarly close relatives |
| 4 | Fellow enthusiasts / hobbyists |
| 5 | Former (failed) business partners / coworkers |
| 6 | Schooled / apprenticed together |
| 7 | Traveling companions |
| 8 | Competitive, friendly rivals |
| 9 | Drinking / smoking / carousing buddies |
| 10 | Comrades in arms / served together |
| 11 | Survived a calamity together |
| 12 | Share a dark secret |
Quest
All delves lead into the Hollows. The imperials mined deeper and deeper, hunting for silver, hunting for secrets, hunting for the magical relics that emerged from the depths, until they became the hunted. What they found in the center of the maze destroyed them.
What you're looking for is down there.
Roll 3d6 and work with the referee to create a quest.
| d6 | Verb | Noun | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Study / Explore / Map | Monster | Vengeance / Grief / Nostalgia |
| 2 | Use / Sample / Transform | Wonder | Illness / Curse / Condition |
| 3 | Take / Steal / Release | Person / Group | Debt / Business / Oath |
| 4 | Destroy / Defeat / Hunt | Place | Pride / Honor / Standing |
| 5 | Return / Repair / Restore | Item | Family / Love / Friend |
| 6 | Meet / Protect / Influence | Resource | Religion / God / Tradition |
Completing your quest or helping someone else complete their quest rewards you with 3 XP. Refer to Advancement for more.
Here are some example quests that you can choose or draw inspiration from:
- Capture a live undersea basilisk so that a green witch can cure your brother of petrification.
- Kill the vampire who turned you into a thrall. You are allergic to sunlight and can only eat blood.
- Find the Well of Lethe so you can forget the horrible things you’ve done.
- Get a trophy from a dragon so that you can impress the pirate crew who betrayed you.
- Pluck a rose from the First Grave so that the Crow Witch accepts your proposal to marry her daughter.
- Learn the ancient Song of the Deep in order to heal your mother’s mental wounds.
- Eat yempe noodles in the Night Market, a mythical delicacy.
- Return the stolen necklace of an Otani Dreamwalker to their grave to break a generational curse.
- Witness the great migration of the variegated hollows-birds.
- Uncover the origin of the locket your dying mother left you. An inscription on the back reads, “Find me below.” The portrait in the locket changes day to day.
Appearance and Personality
Based on your background, quest, and character bonds, come up with your age, appearance, personality, and the reason you joined the Meddlers.
Optional: Knives
Paraphrased from Knife Theory
Now that your character is all ready to go, you may further develop their backstory by introducing knives.
Knives are anything that the referee “can use to raise the stakes of a situation for your character.” Based on your background, there may be some that are already obvious.
Knives can be
- Loved ones and enemies
- Traumas and phobias
- Mysteries and secrets you keep
- Obligations and loyalties, including those you have failed
- Crimes committed or falsely accused of
- Discrimination
- Favorite item or heirloom
These details should be unresolved and open-ended. Seven knives is appropriate. Any more than 15 is excessive. Choose a variety (that is, don’t just have seven family members).
Highlight them for the referee, so that they may be used in play.