Every Hero Has A Story
I’ve always dreaded creating a backstory for my RPG characters. I’m not good at it. I end up feeling like whatever I come up with is lame and usually just rip off some anime character instead.
One of the last D&D characters I created was right after I had rewatched Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. That whole movie is filled with people’s mentors getting killed. So of course, I made that a key part of my character’s backstory. When we met for our first session it turned out that three of the four players had the same backstory of their mentors being killed. Nice. Real original, Jesse.
Today I want to shine light on three elements of character building in We Can Be Heroes that I believe help guide the player in getting those creative juices flowing and coming up with a backstory as they build out their hero. They certainly help me.
Origin
The origin of a hero’s power is likely the most important part of their story. An origin provides us with context and history as to why they do what they do; it becomes a major part of who they are and what their powers look like. They made an entire Wolverine movie about it!
While building your own hero, you will choose an origin of your powers, each of which provides a boon to one talent group and a bane to another. There are a handful of of preset options, including Accident/Experiment, Born This Way, Alien, Magic/Arcane, Tech/Cybernetics, and Worked For It. You can also choose the mutation option for a more randomized approach. The superpower origin options touch on a wide range of classic tropes, while leaving plenty of room for you to flavor it as you see fit. Let your imagination take over in how you want to describe this.
Mentor
Spencer, our lead designer, was the GM for that D&D campaign I mentioned. As we were playing that campaign, he was beginning to work on We Can Be Heroes. He was bright enough to realize that it wasn’t just a table of three players with unoriginal backstories—mentors play an important part in all of our lives, and most definitely in the lives of superheroes. It’s a classic trope that deserved attention, so we made it an important part of character creation.
There’s an important question baked into this section without ever asking it: How did this person affect your life?
Every relationship comes with its ups and downs. When you choose a mentor, it provides your character with a Conviction and a Doubt. These are positive and negative ways that your mentor has influenced your life. While Convictions and Doubts are mechanical, they can also serve to help you build your hero’s backstory and inform roleplay choices.
Hero Trait
Now that we’ve got your origin and mentor settled, what is your hero actually like? Are you a jokester, a loner, or an athlete? Are you famous? Maybe you’re a villain or a scholar…
Hero Traits determine what your hero’s skillset is and in which ways they are most apt at cultivating their public image. Hero Traits also give depth and personality to your hero, as well as round out their backstory.
There are a good amount of options to choose from in this section, but if you can’t find one that suits the hero in your mind, there is an option to custom build the trait that suits you. You can do this whether its from roleplaying purposes or if you’re looking to maximize your hero’s stats. Have fun with it, and be sure to give it a name and a meaning.
At the end of the day, whatever you decide to do with character creation, we hope you have fun and get creative with it.
If you’re interested in building a character and wondering where to start, check out this character creation video from Hogwa5h Gaming. This is a Sea Warden hero, a custom reskinned version of the Earth Warden superpower.
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