Player Homework — Before Session 0
You’re 11th-level adventurers in 576 CY, known in the Free City of Greyhawk and paid by its rulers, the Directors. Ten levels of character backstory have happened. Give me enough of it that I can create some future story with it if I want.
Still building your character? Start with Starting Characters.
Short answers are fine. A sentence each. Bullet points are probably better than prose. Please DM me your answers by November 27.
1. Three past adventures
For each: what it was (one line), what you personally did that people remember, and how it ended (clean win, messy win, someone got away). Feel free to tie this to another PC with their consent. Conflicting details are fine as long as no one takes it personally.
If you played the New Year job for Otiluke, that’s one of your three. Tell me how you remember it ending.
2. Your reputation
- What the city says about you in one sentence. Maybe framed as tavern gossip or something someone whispers under their breath as you pass on the street.
- Your signature move: something anyone who’s studied you would expect. Villains have a way of finding these things out.
3. Two allies
Name, what they do, and what they’d do for you (lend money, hide you, cast a spell, lie to the Watch). Briefly describe the debt you owe one, and the debt the second owes to you.
4. Two enemies
- One who featured in one of your three adventures.
- One who’s personal and/or local (family, rival, betrayed partner, a church or guild you crossed).
For each: some notion of what they might want from you/to do with you now.
5. Your tie to the Directors
The Directors usually hire you as a council, but sometimes one of them comes to you privately.
- Which Director has hired you before, owes you, or you owe? (List of Directors is below.)
- Which one do you trust least, and why?
- Why do you work for them at all? Money, duty, a debt, belief in the city, no other choice?
6. One thing you want
Something concrete your character is working toward that money alone won’t buy.
7. Faith
Which god do you follow, if any, and how much does it matter to you?
8. A place of your own
If you had a property in or near Greyhawk (a tower, a shop, a temple, a hideout), what would it be? We will use this to build Bastions.
9. A secret
Something the rest of the party doesn’t know. Send this to me privately. In Session 0 we will discuss whether character secrets should be table secrets.
10. Hopes and limits
One thing you’d love to see happen to your character, and one thing you’d rather not have happen. This latter could be something you’re OK with happening off camera.
Kira: your backstory covers a lot of this already. Just answer 2–9 for what’s happened since you left the Valley.
Celindra and Aturka: you weren’t on the New Year job. Please work yourselves in!
At Session 0 we’ll connect you as a party with a few quick questions around the table (who saved whom, who owes whom, etc.). We’ll also edit or enshrine some or all of the answers above. You don’t have to coordinate in advance, but it can be helpful.
The Directors, as most citizens of Greyhawk see them
The Lord Mayor’s circle
- Nerof Gasgal, Lord Mayor: slum-born, shrewd, persuasive. Everyone knows he came up through the Thieves’ Guild, and he’s never stopped trying to win over the old aristocracy.
- Org Nenshen, Guildmaster of Thieves: graceful, driven, well-dressed. Nerof’s oldest friend, and still an active thief.
- Turin Deathstalker, Guildmaster of Assassins: grim, dangerous, relentless. A Shield Lander with a famous hatred of orcs.
- Glodreddi Bakkanin, Inspector of Taxes: sneering, sharp-minded, feared. A dwarf whose collectors in chain mail knock on doors.
The merchants
- Ren o’ the Star, Master of the Merchants’ and Traders’ Union: worldly, daring, a gambler. A half-elf trader who’s been everywhere and bets on anything.
- Carmen Halmaster, merchant: prosperous, steady, a loyal Gasgal vote.
- Demen Nathane, merchant: prosperous, quiet, a loyal Gasgal vote.
- Laup Cobrun, merchant: cautious, inconspicuous, goes with the majority.
- Bodmhi Holladrell, Guildmaster of Jewelers and Gemcutters: affable, well-connected, pragmatic.
- Sir Anton Palmirian, Guildmaster of Lawyers and Scribes: learned, precise, the Mayor’s legal ear.
Magic and faith
- Kieren Jalucian, Guildmaster of Wizards and head of the University of Magical Arts: flamboyant, genial, beloved. He finds the council’s politics hilarious.
- Otiluke, President of the Society of Magi: brilliant, abrasive, hot-tempered. A small man with a big temper and a love of explosive spells.
- Ravel Oasinder, High Patriarch of Boccob: reticent, all-knowing, slow to speak. When he does speak, the council listens.
- Jerome Kasinskaia, Patriarch of Rao: radiant, wise, well-travelled. Visitors come from across the Flanaess to ask his counsel.
The law
- Sental Nurev, Captain-General of the Watch: upright, respected, lately strained.
- Derider Fanshen, Constable: warm, devout (Pelor), champion of the poor. The Watch adores her, and she’s famously clumsy.