Marullus wrote:Honor, dishonor... these are separate from oaths. It only counts if he made an Oath to "never leave a fellow dwarf behind" or the like.Dogma wrote:the easy route is that he did do something to dishonor himself (ran from a fight with a group of orcs and left his fellow dwarves to dies maybe?) and now seeks to regain his honor somehow.
What you did was break a promise. It could have been an entirely sensible, logical, even wise thing to do. But a broken promise is a broken promise, no matter the reason.
I like this idea. Like I said above, the reason for why you broke the oath could be amazing and rational, but remains irrelevant. He could very well keep the secret of why he broke it, protecting the King himself perhaps. Who he broke it for is important to him, but to heal his oathbreaking, the important thing is who he broke it against.Dogma wrote:My original idea was that he was either unjustly blamed for something he didn't do or had taken the blame at the request of someone with power (relative of the King? Maybe the King himself?). So to others he appears to have broken his oath but in reality he's protecting someone else..either willingly or by royal request. I'm struggling a bit with what the event actually is though and if he was blamed or willing accepted the blame to protect someone else. If he was wrongfully blamed then he wants to clear his name and regain his honor. I also have this idea that he was asked to take blame for something at the request of someone in the royal family to protect another noble. This person who asked him to be the fall guy is now dead so he's struggling if he still needs to keep his oath to a dead person or if can now reveal the truth and regain his honor. Might be a way to tie this in with the other PC backgrounds. Maybe the person I took the fall for is an NPC that I can buy?
You made a promise to someone. For some secret, noble reason, you chose to break it, and accepted the dishonor that came with breaching your word. We can leave the "why you did it" secret for now and it can come out in play, if you like. What we need to know is what promise you made, and to whom. Then, how you intend to try to make it right in the chaos of Erebor's fall.
Years: 21+25+20+20= 87 years old ; +2P, +1M; 18 Physical and 9 Mental.Dogma wrote:Born Noble --> Ardent --> Axe Bearer --> [Outcast] Oathbreaker I think this was the life path I was looking into.
RPs: 10+15+25+5 = 55 rps
Skill Points: 4 General; 2+4+8+4 = 18 skill points
Skills: Sing*, Axe*, Ugly Truth*, Armor Training, Shield Training, Formation Fighting, Throwing, Soothing Platitudes, Accounting, Falsehood, Oath-wise, Whispered Secrets-wise
Traits: 2+2+1+2=7 ; Dvergar, Humility in the Face of your Betters, Proud, Oathbreaker (3 to spend)
Armor Training, Shield Training, Formation Fighting are special skills - they take 2 points to open but then are not advanced. They binary, allowing you to do a thing that others can't, like wear armor without penalty, use a shield properly, etc.
Sure, that is pretty cool. I then look for a second sentence to follow it which makes it an actionable goal. What does it mean to him to believe this and what is he going to do (in the next few sessions) about it?for 2) What is your core belief about the current exodus and how you'll survive it? since he is looking at his as a chance to regain his honor I was thinking of "The old ways have been burned away by the dragons fire an we are born anew" Is that how beliefs are written?
Fitting, actually. It is worth noting that a coward is a very specific dwarven meaning and trait. Someone is a coward for refusing to swear an oath. You're not a formal coward (i.e. via lifepath and trait) but perhaps just a minor one. But refusing promotion (and the oaths of promotion) seems like a great reason for your reputation.I was offered a promotion or two as a chance to move up, but I declined. Earned myself the nickname the coward.
Dogma wrote:FantasyChic, as someone who also hasn't played BW befor, I'm finding all the discussions about Life Paths, Beliefs, etc to be very informative. If you don't mind I would also like if to keep the discussions public. A seprate thrad would be good.
Spectre, I wasn't looking to have someone tell me how to make/play my PC. I was more looking for feedback on how the different choices might work out in BW. It seems to me that the lifepaths lead right into the Beliefs and that having good, well thought out, and specific Beliefs are key.
Actually from the info you gave about your PC and the comments the Marullus made regarding my confusing Honor with Oaths I have a new direction for my PC concept brewing in my head that might directly involve your PC. I'll let it ferment a bit more today and post something tonight.
in a nut shell, my PC had taken an Oath to protect someone, which he failed at (and it was a purposeful choice he had to make to let this person die) To redeem his Oath he has latched onto Durgar as someone to protect....little does he know of Durgar's deathwish. So either he fulfills his Oath redemption and protects Durgar (from himself is needs be) or he fails his redemption and Durgar gets his glorious death in battle. Does this sound reasonable? I just need to figure out the original Oath and figure out why he latched onto Durgar. maybe it was a younger brother he had sworn to protect and he sees Durgar as a "replacement"?
Dogma wrote:Ok...another piece falls into place
At this point I only need to be concerned with events and relationships that would have happened before this...
Sorry if this should have been painfully obvious...but maybe that's why it didn't click until now
So to tie the idea I had proposed about a potential future relationship with Durger, my second Belief could be: The Survivors of Smaug are few. Only through proventing any further dwarven deaths can I redeem myself. This way even if something doesn't click with Durger, I can focus somewhere else.
My first belief (what drove me before the event) could be: Family is most important and should be protected at all costs. He had taken an oath to protect his younger brother when he also joined the guard. During a skirmish with orcs, he had to make a choice that resulted in others being savd but resulted in his brother's death (broken oath). Wracked with guilt, he turns to drink and falls into dishonor and is drummed out of the King's Guard. The rest of his family dies with Smaug's attack (as far as he knows...maybe he's looking for them too?). Even more wracked by guilt for failing to protect his family (if he was part of the Gurd still he could have defended them) he is looking to Belief #1 as a way to redeem himself.
As an instinct, he is driven to drinking excessively when he feels he's failed in his duty to protect someone.
Marullus wrote:You're almost there.Dogma wrote:So to tie the idea I had proposed about a potential future relationship with Durger, my second Belief could be: The Survivors of Smaug are few. Only through proventing any further dwarven deaths can I redeem myself. This way even if something doesn't click with Durger, I can focus somewhere else.
There are two things to address here.
1) You're leaving room for the GM to write the story. That's sound practice in most RPGs, but this game is player-driven, not GM driven. Best practice is: don't leave the vague exit loophole. Pick something specific and go for it. Even if you haven't met Durger, you have heard of him (he bought a 'last survivor' reputation). You can decide to find and protect him whether he likes it or not.Whatever the belief, make the attached goal both specific and achievable, and use it to add story of your own and drive play.
2) Your goal statement never ends. When are you done "preventing any further dwarven deaths?" Here's the issue with that:
Beliefs drive gameplay and earn you Artha.
- Pursuing a belief gets you a Fate point.
- Achieving a belief gets you a Persona point.
- Wrestling with a belief until your character changes it (the core belief, not just the goal) gets a Persona point.
** A never-ending Belief can generate a lot of Fate points, but never will earn Persona. **
That's why I want a big belief, but a specific goal that can be achieved in a session or two. I want you to articulate your goals in a series of tangible and achievable steps so that I have the opportunity to award you better Artha. Having a long-term goal that generates a lot of Fate is okay, but do so deliberately and sparingly.
Great story.Dogma wrote:My first belief (what drove me before the event) could be: Family is most important and should be protected at all costs. He had taken an oath to protect his younger brother when he also joined the guard. During a skirmish with orcs, he had to make a choice that resulted in others being savd but resulted in his brother's death (broken oath). Wracked with guilt, he turns to drink and falls into dishonor and is drummed out of the King's Guard. The rest of his family dies with Smaug's attack (as far as he knows...maybe he's looking for them too?). Even more wracked by guilt for failing to protect his family (if he was part of the Gurd still he could have defended them) he is looking to Belief #1 as a way to redeem himself.
For that belief, you need to add the second sentence with the actionable goal. Who's family, if his is gone? What challenge do you expect him to face as the story begins? "I will find a family to accept me as their own." Or, "I will search the camps for any extended family that remains." Or, "I will find my cousin Lysa and convince her to get to come to safety with me."
In your specific case, we need to work with your Oathbreaker status for your 4th belief. (Which is separate from the above two.) You can't swear any new oaths until you've redeemed your old one. That's rather hard, since you can't bring your brother back from the dead... but he likely didn't make the oath to his brother. Your special 4th belief, reserved for an oath, is stuck forever on the person you broke your word to until they forgive you. From the book: "No oaths may be sworn with an Oathbreaker until he has somehow resolved his initial betrayal. Also, the player must choose a relationship at the start of play that encompasses his broken oath."
So, who did you make the promise to that you would protect your little brother? Buy a relationship with them. (Immediate family that now hates you for it? Easy, 1 point.) What method are you pursuing to make up for your now-dead brother in the eyes of that person? That is your current 4th-belief. Note that there isn't necessarily agreement that succeeding at this task will ACTUALLY convince them; that's a scene in the game. You might struggle forever to fill the hole in (named-NPCs) heart that the death of your brother has left behind.
I'll use Game of Thrones as an example, as I just caught up with the TV episodes this week. Jorah Mormont betrayed Dany and is essentially an Oathbreaker. He can't move on until she re-accepts him. He drank in a pub until finding Tyrion the dwarf, a member of Dany's rival's family. He kidnaps and delivers the dwarf (a pretty shoddy idea, but one he believes will work). She throws him out again. He enters the fighting pits and risks his life because he knows she'll be forced to see him. She orders him out of her sight. He does it again -- She is about to order him gone again when he has the opportunity to kill an assassin standing behind her with a throw of his spear. Presumably, she forgives him, and he can move to a new Oath.
Keep in mind that many people have internal conflict. You can have beliefs that conflict or even are mutually exclusive. Eventually you will achieve one and the other will be changed for a Persona via the Moldbreaker reward.
Marullus wrote:Fulci: You and Dogma were both Noble-Born Ardents and the time overlapped. He went on to fulfill his path as an Axe Bearer in the Royal Guard (while you continued to apprentice... he's 15 years older) and you quit and went adventuring. What relationship do you two have to each other? Are you a pair of brothers? Friends? Rivals?
