I recently finished the first book Primal Hunter by Zogarth. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the main character is a person from our world who is transplanted into a world very much like a video game version of Dungeons and Dragons. The genres of LitRPG and GameLit seem to be having a heyday right now. That said, stories like this have been around for a long time. You can look to manga/anime series like Sword Art Online for examples of similar conceits in storytelling.
I want to allow my players to be able to have a similar role-playing experience as these stories offer their characters, and so I’ve created a DnD 5e background: The Gamer.
The Gamer
You’re just an ordinary kid from earth, or maybe you’re a power gamer, or a disaffected office worker. You were playing your favorite virtual reality game, Catacombs and Creatures, when something went…wrong. Or maybe right, depending on how you look at it. A hacker trapped your mind with a malicious code, and you only have so much time before your body dies in real life. No, scratch that. You were bored with reality anyway. Your life was tricky, and it was always so hard to understand how to get ahead and get what you want. Not like in C&C, where you knew every rule and how to manipulate it to your advantage. Now the way the world works is laid bare before you. Sure, you might end up as bleached bones in a dungeon, but you know how to go god-tier, and knowing is half the battle.
Skill Proficiencies: History, Insight
Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice
Languages: One Earth language (e.g. English, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) and one of your choice
Equipment: Earth trinket, a set of common clothes, one tool set that matches your profieciency above, polyhedral dice, and a copy of the Catacombs and Creatures Core Rule Book in the earth language you speak.
Feature: Metagamer
You spent more time playing Catacombs and Creatures than doing just about any other thing except for school and work. You started playing back in second edition, and even though you’ve had a lot of…thoughts…about the way the game has developed over the years, you’re a proud player of the current edition: 6.1.2.30.
You may spend an action to roll a history check to gain access to a creature’s stat block. The DC is the creature’s CR, or 5, whichever is higher. If you make this check during a short or long rest, and with access to your Catacombs and Creatures Core Rule Book, you automatically succeed. You may use this ability once per long rest.
Additionally, you roll Wisdom (Insight) checks at advantage. You’ve played through so many different social encounters; you just have a gut feel for where things are going.
Suggested Characteristics
You came from a whole different world. It’s not even part of this multiverse. Whether you’re trying to get back home by any means necessary, or are just glad to be free from the daily grind back home, you’ll want to know where you came from.
d10 | Your Old Life |
---|---|
1 | I’m a high school senior, just two days from graduation at a very competitive school in a society that valued academic excellence. |
2 | I was flipping burgers at MacDougals. |
3 | I had a mind-numbing office job. |
4 | I was in a coma. It was a car crash, I think… |
5 | No matter what I look like here, I was in only 6 back in my reality. |
6 | I spent my days hacking C&C Online and selling in-game items for real money. |
7 | I’m a grandparent, and I haven’t played this game since before I had kids. |
8 | I had a spouse and kids. What are they going to do without me? |
9 | We don’t talk about where I came from. |
10 | Although it seems like I had a full life back home, I’m just here to make sure my friends are the very best they can be. |
And how did you end up here? Maybe it will help you find your way back, if that’s what you want.
d10 | How You Got Here |
---|---|
1 | Some higher power just shut my old reality down, gave you a brief tutorial, and dumped me here I don’t think there’s anything to go back to… |
2 | I was just looking for something at the back of the (walk-in refrigerator, supply closet, wardrobe) and I ended up in the wilderness next to a curious landmark. If I could just find my way back to that landmark, maybe I could get home. |
3 | I’d been sick for a while, and then I woke up here. |
4 | Those WildAnon hackers kept saying we all needed to get away from our computers and go touch some grass. I guess this is how they punished us? |
5 | My boss kept telling me about the company’s new training program. This is not what I expected. |
6 | This game always felt more real to me than reality. I just knew that if I tried hard enough, read the rule closely enough, and studied a little bit of magic, I could get away from “reality” for good. |
7 | I was brought here by a powerful being. I can go home once I finish the task they have set before me. |
8 | A person I care deeply about (or bitterly hate) disappeared a few years ago. I investigated their disappearance tirelessly, until I found a portal to this world. I know we’ll be together again soon… |
9 | Turns out the game was satanic the whole time! Hopefully if I’m good enough, Jesus will send me back home. That, or maybe Satan has some work he needs done here. |
10 | So, searching for gaming communities on the dark web wasn’t the best idea. One silly internet argument later, and I’ve been zapped through my computer screen and into this game world. The best-case scenario is that the person who brought me here is the BBEG. The worst, they’re the DM. |
d8 | Personality Trait |
---|---|
1 | I can’t help comparing every situation to office politics, no matter how tenuous any relationship is. |
2 | My social skills are…lacking, to say the least. |
3 | I just can’t seem to take this game seriously, no matter how dangerous it gets. |
4 | I want to be the very best, like no one ever was. |
5 | This is all just like (or absolutely nothing like) things were in <insert your hometown here>. |
6 | This game is poggers! No cap! |
7 | Let me explain exactly how our stats effect our abilities… |
8 | I’m pretty sure you could be playing this game better if you just put a little more thought into the rules. |
d6 | Ideal |
---|---|
1 | Excellence. The path to perfection is so clear here, I just need to stay focused. (Lawful) |
2 | Friendship. It’s the real treasure we find in the dungeon. (Good) |
3 | Teamwork. It makes the dreamwork, and there’s no “I” in team, and many hands make the work light… (Lawful) |
4 | Return. I’ll do whatever it takes to get back to the real world. The rest of you are just NPCs (Evil) |
5 | Ambition. I was just a cog in the machine back home. Here, I can be somebody. (Any) |
6 | Solipsism. Who’s to say what’s real and what not? Me. I’ll do what I want, when I want. The consequences are only as real as I think they are. (Neutral) |
Now that you’ve had a look at The Gamer background, check out some great items to equip your character with.
0 Comments