New World Background Generator

Ruins in the Jungle # 002 by Julian Calle

Okay, so I have been working on my own background table for this New World setting. I know I very well could have used any Failed Career, Background or Race table that is out there, especially with Skerple’s GROG pretty much accomplishing some of the same things, BUT I felt the extreme need to do this and make it my own. So, what I have done here is combined a Race Table and a Background table for my purposes. You’ll note that 5 of the categories are Human, this is because the Old World is primarily human in make up with its more fantastical elements reduced to folkways and the occasional curio. The Other section is for weird creatures that have walked out of the jungles and swamps of the New World. Players might expand some of these as they unlock, discover, and inspire new elements.

This will probably look terrible on mobile, so you can check out the original spreadsheet here.

First, roll to find your Origin.

1 Old World

2 Colonist

3 Colony-Born

4 Native

5 Pirate

6 Other

Next you roll your individual backgrounds.Old Worlders tend to be various social elites from across the ocean who are now stranded in the New World. Expect them to be stuffy, aristocratic, and completely unfit for life in the Colonies.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Noxious Noble	Avoid Social Consequences 1/Day “Do you know who I am?”	Severely Inbred, Constant snuffling. -2 to DEX for Stealth	STR	Box of Snuff	Fancy Cane (M)
2	Chastened Chef	2 Bonus to all Cooking Checks	Will only eat cooked foods	DEX	Bag of Salt	Butcher’s Knife (L)
3	Lacklustre Lieutenant	Impressive Mustache (or False Mustache ), +2 on all Reaction Rolls	Save vs. Loud Noises	CON	Laudanum	Calvary Sword (M)
4	Sullied Scientist	1-in-6 Chance of knowing applicable detail in any topic	Save vs. Bright Light	INT	Rejected Publication	Human Skull (useless, I)
5	Prying Presbyter	1-in-6 chance to have relevant gossip on a character.	10% of all loot must be paid as tithes	WIS	Vestments	Battered Holy Book (Useless ,I)
6	Fallen Fop	Can shout and sing incredibly well	Always Suprised	CHA	Powdered Wig	Broken Hand Mirror (L,I)

Colonists are first generation folks from the Old World who have come to the New. Some came to make a new life for themselves and some were forced here by Old World authorities.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Debased Debtor	Cannot be slowed by any effect	-2 Movement and Stealth	STR	Shackles (on ankles)	Mining Pick (H)
2	Squalid Sailor	Can forcast weather within 24 hours with 4-in-6 Accuracy	Terrible Rep. Hirelings cost double	DEX	Fishing Net	Harpoon (M)
3	Foundering Farmer	Consumes Half Rations	Cursed, -2 Saves	CON	3 Rations, wilted vegetables	Hoe (Medium, I)
4	Miserly Merchant	Always knows the approximate value of mundane items	Must Save or pick up shiny objects	INT	Scale	Gaudy Dagger (L)
5	Ecclesiastical Exile	Shielded by Faith, +1 Def	Heretical ideas, -2 on reaction rolls in civilization	WIS	Rosary	Crosier (H, I)
6	Crass Criminal	Happen to have 1 item worth less than 1 sp once per session	Cannot tell the straight truth	CHA	Loaded Dice	Brass Knuckles (L)

Colony-Born folks are second generation and beyond Colonists who have a little touch of the New World in them. They, for the most part, have figured out how to live in this weird new land.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Contrite Coppicer	Treat Forest as Road, as long as you have a cutting implement	Enmity of forest animals	STR	Bundle of Wood	Billhook (Light)
2	Eccentric Esquire	Starts with a 10 Morale Manservant, can replace for half-cost	Fatigues at Double Rate	DEX	Tricorne Hat	Rapier (M)
3	Braggart Brewer	Cannot be sickened/poisoned/diseased by things drunk	Save vs. Dares	CON	Pewter stein	Mash Paddle (M, I)
4	Appalling Apothecary	Identify poisons and medicines by taste	Pervasive, unique stink	INT	Mortar and pestle	Oversized Pestle (H, I)
5	Churlish Cheval	Speak with Mineral Soul of anything 1/Day	-4 to save vs. possession/disease	WIS	Bottle of Rum	Guitar (Useless, I)
6	Urbane Urchin	Can crawl through narrow spaces	Save vs. Authority	CHA	Oversized coat	Rusty shank (L, I)

Natives are folks for whom the New World has long been their only world. They know that the colonists are soft and too caught up in their urban ideologies and laws to ever really adapt to this ever changing place.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Brooding Brave	Fearless	Save to Back Down (combat, puzzles, arguements)	STR	Warpaint, 1 use	Handaxe (M)
2	Grimy Gatherer	Half time taken to forage	Eternally dirty, leaves an obvious trail of dirty	DEX	3 Ration, Assorted bush tucker	Crude Knife (L)
3	Boorish Boatmaker	Extremely buyoant	Vulnerable to fire	CON	50′ Hemp Rope	Adze (M)
4	Intrepid Interpreter	50% of speaking any encountered language	25% of Grossly Misinterpreting new languages	INT	2d6 Copper Pieces	Club (L)
5	Boisterous Bokor	4 bonus to save vs. possession/disease	Enmity of Spirits	WIS	3′ rope of Tobacco	Ceremonial Rattle/Asson (Light, I)
6	Haughty Hunter	Always receives an Omen for Mundane Wandering Monsters	Never receives an Omen for Supernatural Wandering Monsters	CHA	Field Dressing Knife	Bow w/ 10 Arrows

Pirates are a motley bunch of Old World and New World individuals who have decided to make the most of their situation by living through the Three P’s: pillaging, plundering, and pirating.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Buffoonish Buccaneer	Cannot be Surprised	When afraid, Save or attack enemy	STR	3 Coconuts	Linstock (H)-
2	Coarse Corsair	Vicious Taunting skills, Enemies have -2 on Morale Checks	Save Vs. Fear at Half HP	DEX	White Flag	Cutlass (M)
3	Mutant Mutineer	Roll 4 Times on Biological Mutant Table, Choose 2	-4 to resist being mutated or transformed	CON	Small barrel of black powder	Boarding Axe (M)
4	Prim Privateer	When Dueling, +1 Damage	Cannot turn down a duel	INT	Letter of marque (expired)	Smallsword (L)
5	Pitiless Pirate	Knows the location of a Significant Treasure	Has only 1 hand, 1 eye, 1 leg	WIS	Spyglass, Eye patch, Wooden Leg	Hook hand (L)
6	Reprehensible Rapscallion	Uncanny Luck, +2 to all Saves	Permanently Drunk, -2 Initiative	CHA	Broken Compass	Broken Rum Bottle (L, I)

Other covers….weirder things. People who walked out into the New World and came back changed. Things that stepped out of the jungle one day to barter for sea shells. Beings that are almost human, but not quite close enough.

	Background	Advantage	Disadvantage	Reroll	Starting Item	Starting Weapon
1	Long Folk	Can Wield Heavy Weapons one handed	Can only speak in their own tongue	STR	Tinderbox	Longaxe (H)
2	Masked One	Can change your face once per day	Can only express one emotion a day	DEX	Flute	Chisel (L,I)
3	Demi-Troll	Can regrow a body part once	Consume twice as many rations	CON	Necklace of ears	Claw Hammer (L)
4	Loa-touched	Roll 4 Times on Supernatural Mutant Table, Choose 2	Haunted, No Fast Inventory	INT	Black Rooster	Machete (M)
5	Blemmyes	Bite (as dagger)	Can’t wear armor on chest	WIS	Loincloth	Spear (M)
6	Therianthrope	Roll on Skerples Race table			Hideous Brand	Sharp Bloody Rock (L)

The Shore by Sebastian Leon-Silva

Finally you would choose from the available classes. Again, as Michael Bacon has inspired me to do, I believe there will be a few base classes then anything else will be unlocked. Fighter, Thief, and Garden Wizard are the current contenders for the base 3 and maybe Royal Aspirant or Root Doctor for the 1 additional more flavorful class.

Edit: After some discussions, I am thinking that there will be a few base classes and 1 flavorful class available per background grouping starting off with more made available through unlocks.

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