Wood Elf Outlander Ranger (2) – Slaves of Troustar Character Back Story

This is an example back story for the D&D 5e campaign, Slaves of Troustar.

You in the World

If your short life – for elf years – has taught you anything, it’s that you don’t quite fit in anywhere. You might be an elf but you have the curiosity of a human and the drinking capacity of a battle dwarf. This made you unpopular among your classmates in the elvish capital of Myrast and soon you had had enough and decided to explore the forests of your world making a living trading furs and foraged items from the Palarian Forest where you picked up Dwarvish, trading with the Todmin Empire.

But that still was not enough to sate your wanderlust. One drunken blurry night in the Dwarven capital of Vem Lodur you meet a very charismatic and considerably handsome blond warrior – well for a human anyway – named Bartleby who seduces you with stories of adventure, mystery and intrigue. As you leave his cot the next morning you eyes caress his muscled body. No regrets. While the love of the previous night was a joy, what he has to offer for your future is far more interesting – Spying for the most multicultural nation ever known, Velsuvia.

Over the last year, your tasks have been simple, keep to your favoured environment, the forest and observe and report. At last a purpose for your travel instead of a soulless whim.

Your latest mission was to travel to the Turm Forest and observe the unusual movements of brigands in the area who seem to be kidnapping people and using old smuggler’s trails. A side mission for you has been to observe the progress of three companions an elf like yourself, a dwarf and a human monk. Should they get into trouble you are to intervene and if you see fit join their party.

NOTE: Don’t give away who you work for or who is your controller, Bartleby.

At last you finally come across some brigands. You have been observing their whereabouts for two days now until you recognise the three companions described to you. What to do…

3 February , 2017

Dwarf Barbarian Outlander – Slaves of Troustar Character Back Story

This is an example back story for the D&D 5e campaign, Slaves of Troustar.

Return to Pregame

You in the world

You embark from the western midlands of the Garuhm Ranges on the far western edge of the Dwarvan empire of Todimn. Few villages inhabit this area and the midlands provide more than enough hunting and foraging to sustain you. To your south is the Orcan Plain.

Depending on your wanderlust, you may have journeyed south to live among the Orc’s for a time, ventured east to the great Dwarvan mountain capitol of Vem Lodur or further East into to the very reaches of civilisation in the Forgotten Territories. However, considering your inexperience, there is little chance you have travelled further.

What has your life given you? What secrets do you hold? Why did you decide to take this journey?

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3 February , 2017

Barbarian Human Fighter – Slaves of Troustar Character Back Story

This is an example back story for the D&D 5e campaign, Slaves of Troustar.

Return to Pregame

You in the World

The claws of Bane dig deep inside your skull at the excess of the previous night’s debauchery hurtle back painfully into your mind. This can’t go on – do a job, drink, fight, maybe some love. Your antics are making you enemies. It’s time to leave. You have had enough of the nursing of merchants on their regular journeys to the remote villages on the frosted edges of the north. You want to see more than this frigid place.

You still have that poster somewhere; the one offering fortunes and adventure for the young and willing. You fumble around for if before finding it inside your hip pocket. You notice fresh blood on the page where your thumb has brushed it. You reach up to your face and wince at the new cut above your eye from last night’s brawl. Through bleary eyes, you look again at the poster. It’s the right time. It’s the right choice.

You grab your weapons, pack and meager belongings and head south from the city of Bromduhlis to the cultural hotbed of Ac Rumb. With the Bellofaster Sea to your right and the Brofous Range to your left you make your first step on the Great Northern Road.

What has your life given you? What secrets do you hold? Why did you decide to take this journey?

Ac Rumb

The northern people are strongly independent and equally fickle in their relationship with the south making it the most disruptive portion of the Vesluvian Empire. However, since the rule of the Patrician of Vesluvia, Lord Vecevious, an odd quiet has fallen across the northern lands. Instead of the regular clan conflicts that plagued the rule of the Mad King Jelofar and his father before him, now clans have regular games featuring feats of strength, cunning, skill and, of course, violence (at least this time, a little more controlled).

Your Story Begins

You have come far from the north, passing the port city of Caraster along the way, but now you approach the northern gate of Ac Rumb. There are many fur covered peoples of your homeland here though they are but a drop in the sea compared to the sheer mix of humans, elf, dwarves, gnomes and more. What crosses your mind is how puny, weak and girly the city men look here compared to the hard men and women of Bromduhlis. Such strange people.

As you pass under the yellow-stone northern gate, you enter a great bazaar. Produce of every variety cover tables and the smell of roasting meat reaches your nostrils and responds to your empty stomach.

Perhaps a hearty breakfast and then off to find the Butcher’s Arm, you think.

1 February , 20173 February , 2017

Pregame for Slaves of Troustar

003 Pregame

Setup for Slaves of Troustar

Pregame Introduction

Slaves of Troustar sets each player out on their own path. Each starting player discovers a poster inviting them to travel to Ac Rumb and join a party for adventure, fame and fortune.

Top Secret Note: When players first meet they will know nothing of each other and barely be able to tell what their companions look like let alone their race, class and background. This means that there can be no game Zero for the players and the Dungeon Master.

Instead, preparation for the game starts with a short correspondence between players and the DM. I recommend that after you receive a reply from the initial invitation you take some time and take a look at the map and history to place characters in the world.

The invitation

Before the game, players are sent an invitation. The invitation contains a poster that their character finds and some further details on character creation.

Try an get the invitations sent out at least a week before you start your game. This will give you some time to prepare some of the characters backgrounds. Also make sure you get your players to respond to your invitation ASAP.

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