5e Background: Guide

crkrueger · July 14, 2014, 03:20:26 AM

Quote from: Marleycat;768650Jesus Christ are you for real CR? How about grow a set already? Nothing is as black and white as you described unless you say it is. SMH.

U Mad Bro?

Words have meaning.

"Nobility - You character is a Noble of your society and thus has certain privileges within that society. The Worlds of D&D encompass many cultures and societies, your GM will tell you what those privileges are". (Then include some examples to help the kids).

Was that hard? No. It took literally less then a minute.
Is it a non-combat mechanic? Yes.
Is it completely associated and usable in every single setting? Yes.
Does it tell the GM how his setting works? No.
Is it a better teaching tool for n00bs then "You must give him an audience?" Yes, because it allows his imagination to fill in the blanks and build his setting.

This ain't rocket science people. Jesus Wept.

Marleycat · July 14, 2014, 03:42:09 AM

Quote from: CRKrueger;768653U Mad Bro?

Words have meaning.

"Nobility - You character is a Noble of your society and thus has certain privileges within that society. The Worlds of D&D encompass many cultures and societies, your GM will tell you what those privileges are". (Then include some examples to help the kids).

Was that hard? No. It took literally less then a minute.
Is it a non-combat mechanic? Yes.
Is it completely associated and usable in every single setting? Yes.
Does it tell the GM how his setting works? No.
Is it a better teaching tool for n00bs then "You must give him an audience?" Yes, because it allows his imagination to fill in the blanks and build his setting.

This ain't rocket science people. Jesus Wept.

As I said that definition is completely up to you and already said nothing about what's written in the book said you're wrong. As you say it isn't rocket science. Also I'm not a 49er fan so I have no reason to be mad bro.

crkrueger · July 14, 2014, 04:11:10 AM

Wow, Rule Zero defense, whoda thunk that was coming? :eek:

Quote from: WotCPosition of Privilege - Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in High Society and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high rank treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.

Yeah that's pretty much the same thing that I wrote. or not, depending on whether you speak English or Bizarro.

people are inclined to think the best of you - Oh yeah cause nobles were always seen as great people by the common folk. Universally across race, culture, world and plane.

people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. - yeah because nobles aren't more likely to get killed in slum areas without a team of bodyguards.

The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure - we've entered Monty Python territory at this point. Seriously.

You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to. - Been there done that.

If WotC wants to include statistics that are meant to give roleplaying advice. Then they need to start coming up with statistics that give roleplaying advice instead of exception-based powers that hack the world.

It's like they can't even think about rules in some form other then exception-based powers.

Exploderwizard · July 14, 2014, 10:45:49 AM

Quote from: CRKrueger;768663Wow, Rule Zero defense, whoda thunk that was coming? :eek:

Yeah that's pretty much the same thing that I wrote. or not, depending on whether you speak English or Bizarro.

people are inclined to think the best of you - Oh yeah cause nobles were always seen as great people by the common folk. Universally across race, culture, world and plane.

people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. - yeah because nobles aren't more likely to get killed in slum areas without a team of bodyguards.

The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure - we've entered Monty Python territory at this point. Seriously.

You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to. - Been there done that.

If WotC wants to include statistics that are meant to give roleplaying advice. Then they need to start coming up with statistics that give roleplaying advice instead of exception-based powers that hack the world.

It's like they can't even think about rules in some form other then exception-based powers.

I wouldn't say these backgrounds give the players anything all that useful because they will be localized once common sense is applied.

A noble of Florin will not be treated with respect in Guilder, he/she may instead be targeted for a kidnap/ransom or killed outright depending on how hostile relations are at the moment,

A folk hero of a local Duchy means jack and shit in the kingdom next door. If the people have never heard of you then obviously you can't have folk hero status with them.

Applying a bit of setting consistent logic to backgrounds solves most issues.

Raven · July 14, 2014, 12:20:18 PM

Quote from: CRKrueger;768647The issue is the game designer is giving the players tools that tell the GM "Your NPCs will respond this way."

I guess it's a problem if you allow your players to wear the pants in your game. That sort of thing doesn't fly at my table though. My crew knows full well that "abilities" like this are dependent on the actual situation in the campaign world, and as such will work right up to the point where they don't.

If they don't like it, and want to whine about it, then they know where the door is. Happily they're mostly mature enough individuals that their days of trying to straightjacket me with such pointless idiocy are over.

Frankly, it sounds a lot like rpgnet-style "I had a bad game experience once, boo hoo" handwringing bs to me.

crkrueger · July 14, 2014, 02:22:40 PM

Quote from: Exploderwizard;768707Applying a bit of setting consistent logic to backgrounds solves most issues.

and the reason WotC didn't include any of that in the Starter Set which is supposed to teach people how to play is because?

Quote from: Raven;768745My crew knows full well that "abilities" like this are dependent on the actual situation in the campaign world, and as such will work right up to the point where they don't.

Same as my crew, but are we the target audience of the Starter Set? People keep telling me no, so instead of options telling the new GM how to GM, you give nothing but set rules that tell him the game rules dictate his setting after saying elsewhere the GM is the final arbiter. A mixed message.

Again, there's absolutely no reason the ability couldn't have been constructed differently, it just wasn't.

Mostlyjoe · July 14, 2014, 08:53:43 PM

I still await the Pubcrawler background they promised early in the playtest.

Exploderwizard · July 14, 2014, 08:57:09 PM

Quote from: CRKrueger;768788and the reason WotC didn't include any of that in the Starter Set which is supposed to teach people how to play is because?

Well, if they didn't think creating a character was important enough a concept for an rpg to include what chance did setting consistency really have? :rolleyes:

Marleycat · July 15, 2014, 12:38:37 AM

Quote from: Mostlyjoe;768910I still await the Pubcrawler background they promised early in the playtest.

That's obvious though because most any dwarf fits the bill. I'm holding out for ratcatcher myself (it's an awesome Rogue background).

Mostlyjoe · July 15, 2014, 06:50:20 AM

Quote from: Marleycat;768945That's obvious though because most any dwarf fits the bill. I'm holding out for ratcatcher myself (it's an awesome Rogue background).

We had a running joke of a full team of pub bound adventures questing to feed their habit. Well that and a war forged Stein maiden with pup kegs for assets. *ahem* Was going to be a very wacky adventure.

RPGPundit · July 23, 2014, 06:18:26 PM

I think the Backgrounds section, like much of the game, is set up on the assumption that GMs aren't idiots.

Likewise, they've already openly stated that these rules were not written to try to stop asshole players. That's the GM's job.

In many ways, that's the biggest sea change of the new edition. Instead of trying to figure out language to prevent assholes or idiots from misinterpreting or abusing things, the rules are writing assuming empowered GMs and players acting in good faith.