Character Backgrounds - On the Fly

<div>In another thread I talked about creating character backgrounds on the fly. Jedion wrote an article about the <a href="http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/6354">Art of Writing Fluff</a> in Issue #15, earlier today I whipped up a new adventure and needed to find a way to introduce the characters. I couldn't think of anything so I started by writing backgrounds for each NPC and realized how well they would work for PC's. Basically the NPC backgrounds can be &quot;reasons why your character is here today.&quot; </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Area</b>: Vast Wasteland</div><div><b>Descriptor</b>: soot-covered</div><div><b>Objective</b>: Desertion (flee)</div><div><b>Obstacle</b>: Against the Clock (time limit)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Background</b></div><div>The player-characters are in the middle of a vast soot-covered wasteland caused by an erupting volcano. To survive they must flee, racing against the oncoming lava. The only escape is a space elevator to the west.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>NPC's</b></div><div><ul><li>Cedine the miner; Cedine took this job as a quick payoff (hazard pay) and hopes to buy passage offworld. </li><li>Akamel the scientist; Akamel was given a student scholarship to perform studies of unusual rock formations found by miners below the surface.</li><li>Faia the security guard; Faia is part of a security division sent here to protect miners from wasteland thugs and criminals. </li><li>Tria the transport tech; Tria is delivering foodstuff to the miners. Tria's shuttle was marooned here after taking damage from flying debris. </li><li>Dakgent the explorer; Dakgent was scouting a safe passage through the wasteland while seeking new digging areas to exploit. </li></ul><div>There is enough information seeds for the Player or Referee to start developing a story/background on-the-fly. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Kinda reminds me of &lt;&lt;project,all that glitters&gt;&gt; where Brian created a reason for us to <i style="text-decoration: underline">want</i> to take security positions with a corp leaving off-planet. I'm sure he gave it some thought but if felt like on-the-fly-here-you-go-life-sucks-and-here's-some-quick-creds. <img src="http://starfrontiers.us/modules/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugi…; title="Smile" alt="Smile" border="0" /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>