Knock.
[1d6 = 5]
You manage to wriggle your arm around to your head. You draw back your hand, and knock firmly on what you’re pretty sure is the roof of the coffin…
And you push the lid open. Sitting up, you see that you are in a large shed, with a few other coffins sitting on tables. The door to the shed is slightly ajar.
Name: Tim
Description: Long black-haired girl from a farming village. Likes fire and demonic rituals.[demonic rituals mostly for the fire and potential brimstone.]
Current goals:
Sacrifice the entire village to demons for Inordinate Power! [Long-Term, Inordinate]
Remain free of suspicion by the villagers as I enact my plot.[Long-Term, Easy]
Get off scot free afterward. [Short-term, Hard]
Look through the demonic cultist books I stole off a traveling merchant for rituals.
[1d6 = 1]
You’ve never seen the language that the books are written in before, but it definitely looks demonic. The trouble, of course, is that you’ve never seen the language that the books are written in before.
Name: ABSOLUTUS SWOLICUS.
Description: A SWOLEBROTHER WHO WALKS THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, ABSOLUTUS IS CURRENTLY DISAPPOINTED IN THE RECENT SHOWING OF BRAWL-MART. HIS MUSCLES STILL BURN TO PURGE THE HERETICS. SO HE SHALL.
Current goal(s):
-ACQUIRE SUFFICENTLY "SWOLE" HEADWEAR: Short-Term, Moderate
--AFTER THE FAILURE OF BRAWL-MART, THEY TOOK EVERYTHING. INCLUDING HIS SWOLEBROTHER'S HELMET. DISAPPOINTING. A REPLACEMENT MUST BE FOUND.
-FIND OTHER SWOLEBROTHERS: Long-Term, Hard
--THE TIME HE SPENT AWAY FROM HIS BROTHERS WAS POORLY SPENT, FOR HIS 6-PACK DISBANDED IN HIS CRUSADE. HE MUST FIND OTHERS WHO WALK THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, TO ATTAIN PERFECTION.
-PURGE THE HERETICS: HUNT, INJURE, AND ELIMINATE OTHER PLAYERS.
--A BYSTANDER IS NOT A HERETIC, FOR THEY DO NOT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE A SWOLEBROTHER. BUT A SWOLEBROTHER KNOWS WHO HAS POTENTIAL - AND THOSE WHO DO NOT WALK THE PATH IN SPITE OF THEIR ABILITY TO DO SO ARE HERETICS TO BE PURGED.
PERFORM SWOLEPOSES IN THE STREETS. TO PASSERBY, THEY'RE A PERFORMANCE ART. TO THOSE WHO WALK THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, IT'S A CALL TO A CRUSADE.
[1d6 = 6]
To most passersby, they are a bizarre form of performance art. But to one man, they are something more. He stops and stares, then marches toward you. “I AM AGRIPPA MUSCLUS, MUSCLEMAN! I SEE THAT YOU ALSO WALK A PATH OF FITNESS, THOUGH A DIFFERENT ONE THAN I! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A CONTEST OF PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND WE WILL SEE WHOSE PATH IS SUPERIOR! AS CHALLENGED PARTY, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THE FORM OF THE CONTEST!”
Look around and try to get an idea of where I am.
[1d6 = 2]
Your hangover makes that difficult. You stagger to your feet, then stagger back down, then stagger back up again. You don’t remember ever seeing these buildings. Or maybe you do?
Give paleontonigist money to acquire bones!
[1d6 = 6]
You get into contact with him, and you make… an agreement. As you wait for him to arrive in Mexico and get to work, you wonder if the under-the-table-ness of this might cause problems.
(I will roll for the paleontologist separately)
(Devastator)
Name: John Hammond
Description: Scientist/Industrialist
Current Goals: Acquire dinosaur fossil (Short-term, Easy), Start dinosaur-themed theme park (Long term, Hard), Hire geneticist (Short-term, Easy), Purchase Private Island (Medium-term, Moderate)
Capability: Baseline player
(Egan_BW)
Name: Salsa Taste
Description: Human of indeterminate age, with messy black hair concealing her face. Her skin is corpse-cold, as is the rest of her, and there's a bullet wound in her torso leading to her heart, where a bullet is embedded.
Current goal(s): Get a coffee (short-term, easy), Exact revenge on my killer (medium-term, medium), Bring about the Age of Emptiness (long-term, inordinate)
Capability: Baseline player
(King Zultan)
Name: Billy Bob
Description: A dirty man that reeks of booze and filth.
Current goal(s): Get some booze (Short-term, Easy), Get some more booze (Short-term, medium), Get a car (Medium-term, Hard), Get money (Long-term, Hard)
Capability: Baseline player
(TricMagic)
Name: Tim
Description: Long black-haired girl from a farming village. Likes fire and demonic rituals.[demonic rituals mostly for the fire and potential brimstone.]
Current goals: Sacrifice the entire village to demons for Inordinate Power! [Long-Term, Inordinate], Remain free of suspicion by the villagers as I enact my plot. [Long-Term, Easy], Get off scot free afterward. [Short-term, Hard]
Capability: Baseline player
(KitRougard)
Name: ABSOLUTUS SWOLICUS.
Description: A SWOLEBROTHER WHO WALKS THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, ABSOLUTUS IS CURRENTLY DISAPPOINTED IN THE RECENT SHOWING OF BRAWL-MART. HIS MUSCLES STILL BURN TO PURGE THE HERETICS. SO HE SHALL.
Current goal(s): ACQUIRE SUFFICENTLY "SWOLE" HEADWEAR (AFTER THE FAILURE OF BRAWL-MART, THEY TOOK EVERYTHING. INCLUDING HIS SWOLEBROTHER'S HELMET. DISAPPOINTING. A REPLACEMENT MUST BE FOUND.): Short-Term, Moderate, FIND OTHER SWOLEBROTHERS (THE TIME HE SPENT AWAY FROM HIS BROTHERS WAS POORLY SPENT, FOR HIS 6-PACK DISBANDED IN HIS CRUSADE. HE MUST FIND OTHERS WHO WALK THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, TO ATTAIN PERFECTION.): Long-Term, Hard, PURGE THE HERETICS (A BYSTANDER IS NOT A HERETIC, FOR THEY DO NOT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE A SWOLEBROTHER. BUT A SWOLEBROTHER KNOWS WHO HAS POTENTIAL - AND THOSE WHO DO NOT WALK THE PATH IN SPITE OF THEIR ABILITY TO DO SO ARE HERETICS TO BE PURGED.): HUNT, INJURE, AND ELIMINATE OTHER PLAYERS.
Capability: Baseline player
Those are, uh… certainly some extreme rolls. And in the same alternating pattern.
Also, I have noticed that the backstories of most players are incompatible with the “start from baseline human” plan that I had. However, I’m willing to abandon that plan for the sake of not having a boring start.
As such, please choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, in order to formalize the benefits of your backstory. (Also, to quote the OP: “Benefits can be, mechanics-wise… pretty much anything you want, within reason. Increase the baseline for all rolls related to a certain thing, make critical failures regarding a certain thing less likely, even add in a new mechanic entirely… etc.”)
For example, for Devastator, it would probably involve wealth. For KitRougard, it would probably involve swoleness.