[Scott]

Backgrounds Explained

In Cyclopean, I want the use of optional character Backgrounds to be an important and satisfying decision for the player, not just a tiny flavor option designed to personalize character creation.

Using other games as an example, the background you choose in Arcanum exposes you to a pithy bit of writing and a couple of negligible tweaks to your stats.  Otherwise it has almost no impact on gameplay.  The alignment-related quests at the beginning of Temple of Elemental Evil include a tiny vignette and some sort of quest in Homlett which gave you no reward, not even XP.  The two starting traits in Fallout were traits and nothing more.

Cyclopean Backgrounds in some cases give the player skills not available at character creation, and sometimes not otherwise available at all.  The Backgrounds occasionally open up dialogue options, but more importantly give the PC a reason to go to Arkham, a quest which depending on the Background could have a major impact on the character, how he accomplishes the main and other quests, and on the overall playing experience.
 
In Cyclopean, there will be nine different Backgrounds to choose from.  Choosing a Background will mean ~75% of the player’s stats, skills, and in two cases gender, being taken out of his control.  The player will be able to allocate a small amount of points to stats and skills regardless, and to develop the character after the start of the game in any way he sees fit.  Furthermore, the PC is not obligated to investigate his Background-assigned quest(s).

That noted, the player does not have to choose a Background at all and may instead create his character entirely from scratch, but I hope that Backgrounds will add enough to the gaming experience that the player will choose to use them, if not first time, then on subsequent playthroughs.

Every game I’ve encountered which uses backgrounds (Arcanum) or starting traits (Fallout) has strived for homogeneity, to give each choice a starting value approximately equal to every other one.  Why?  Out of a sense of fairness?

In a single-player game there is no requirement for every game experience to be equally challenging.  I have no interest in making the available Backgrounds “balanced”.  I’m interested in radically different Backgrounds that will actually play differently.  Some choices will leave the player somewhat handicapped at the beginning, others blessed.  Some choices might conflict with a given player’s style, although these kinds of conflicts should be obvious from the Background’s synopsis.  These are variations and challenges that make the game worth replaying.  At the end of the day, no one is forced to choose a Background, and whether you do or not, once the game begins you’re free to play it however you want.
-----------------
All backgrounds have now been revealed!
Background: Big Game Hunter ^{M F}
Background: Drifter ^{M F}
Background: Serial Killer ^M

Background: Dissipated Nobility ^M
Background: Veteran of the Great War ^{M F}
Background: Med School Dropout ^{M F}

Background: Professor of Archaeology ^{M F}
Background: Carnival Mystic ^{M F}
Background: Descended from Witches ^{M F}

[luckyb0y]

Could you elaborate a little bit on how the backgrounds will affect your playthrough besides being just an excuse to tweak stats. Will NPCs reaction to big game hunter be different to say, opium addicted occultist. It's a great idea if that's the case. What are the other backgrounds?

I'm not sure if it's a good thing to be so specific with the backstory as in the hunter example. Every time I would play hunter it would be scarred human wreck. I understand it's good for the flavour, but maybe you could offer some customisation or at least provide more backgrounds. Ten or so is not that many particularly if they are not really generic and have their unique quirks. Maybe offer two varieties of each background in sort of a yin-yang balance. One succesful game hunter arriving in all his splendour and glory to add yet another trophy to his already impressive record, only to have his expectations shattered when his first exposed to the creature he was going to kill, and another one ruined, burnt out wanting to prove to himself that he still has it that his life is not all worthless. Or a proud academic, all smart and rational in search of some tribal artifacts and his evil twin the drug addled occultist. It could even provide the intersting twist on the sanity mechanism. Some hard boiled characters won't even bat an eyelid on killing a man, while their superstitions might make them vulnerable to supernatural horrors, or the other way round, or something entirely different.

[Sleet]

Taking some background from my old Call of Cthulhu campaign, we had quite a diverse set of professions, backgrounds and more. Some examples off the top of my head:


^{Military
Medical
Sciences
Private Investigator/Police
Dilettante
Student
Professor
Thug / Mobster}

Each of these could give some interesting unique traits, skills and all.

[FrancoTAU]

I like the idea of backgrounds in the past with Troika, Fallout and even smaller games like Magic Candle 2.  Like Scott said though, they were superficial and the only difference to gameplay were some tweaks to stats.

I also like that you're not going to completely balance all the classes/backgrounds.  You might want to make it obvious that a game will be harder if you're picking a gimped character.  I can just foresee some goofs trying the demo, picking the gimp character, and than hating the game for being teh hard.

[Palmer Eldritch]

That noted, the player does not have to choose a Background at all and may instead create his character entirely from scratch, but I hope that Backgrounds will add enough to the gaming experience that the player will choose to use them, if not first time, then on subsequent playthroughs.

Sounds great, I always wanted something like this in a game. I generally dislike playing predefined characters, but since there is still some room for freedom during creation, it seems like a good idea to me.

[Felix]

^{Military
Medical
Sciences
Private Investigator/Police
Dilettante
Student
Professor
Thug / Mobster}

I remember those! I was a private investigator...
Ah, so many good memories...

Thinking of it, they look more like professions than what Scott have in mind for backgrounds...
It would be interesting to have charcters with professions, and that become the money entry, and not the normal "bash-loot Gp"

Back to backgrounds, will be there something like "thrill seeker" label? I have some cool ideas for charcters

[Scott]

Could you elaborate a little bit on how the backgrounds will affect your playthrough besides being just an excuse to tweak stats. Will NPCs reaction to big game hunter be different to say, opium addicted occultist. It's a great idea if that's the case. What are the other backgrounds?

Reactions are based partly on appearance.  Since BGH is badly scarred, regular people will be wary of him at first.  Some people, like criminals, are impressed by that kind of thing.  The main difference in playthrough is quest options targeted to the Background (one Background gets his own manor deep in the woods!), and to a lesser extent Background-specific dialogue options.  Also, you may get starting traits that are otherwise impossible to get right away.

I'm going to reveal the Backgrounds slowly for the purpose of torturing forum readers.

Your dual-backgrounds idea is intriguing, but I think I prefer to keep the number of backgrounds static and let the player decide if his Big Game Hunter is good or evil, or just amoral.  If the game allows the kind of role-playing flexibility that I want, why have the PC's intentions defined in the Background?

[caster]

Definetly agree with that, leave the morality to the player. No need to burden the backgrounds with simplified moral roles.

[Brother None]

Every game I’ve encountered which uses backgrounds (Arcanum) or starting traits (Fallout) has strived for homogeneity, to give each choice a starting value approximately equal to every other one.  Why?  Out of a sense of fairness?

No, because of metagaming. And balancing.

I've seen debates on this before and there's one really valid point to make here: if you're offering a player two doors, behind one door is less advantage and behind the other is more advantage, you're not really offering him a choice unless he's looking to punish himself. It's a false choice, that the player can only make if he's really tired of choice A and just looking for an alternative.

That's why Gifted never worked. It's too powerful, it's never a choice whether you take Gifted or not unless your character's strength is of no interest to you.

Balancing is the second part. Fallout isn't balanced for characters with Gifted, which is why Gifted makes it pretty easy. If you make a wide scope of disadvantage/advantages to backgrounds, you're going to make it tougher for yourself to balance it out.

So to me, it does not sound like a good idea to leave backgrounds unbalanced.

[ThreeStone]

I would agree with you if backgrounds were purely about numbers but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Yes, if I can have +1 to all attributes or +2 to all attributes with no other considerations I'm going to pick +2 whether or not I'm a hardcore munchkin. But while there will be a mechanical impact of choosing a background in the form of skill bonuses and what not the backgrounds are also adding value in the form of additional RP and quest opportunities.

The mysterious Taxidermy skill for example may lead to a minor gameplay advantage, let's posit being able to sell some important piece of critter anatomy for cash and influence. But, it could also have advantages that aren't reflected in the numbers, being the only character that could have a hunting lodge where I hang up trophy kills I acquire from critters in the game does not add to my Strength, but it is pretty awesome.

The motivations for playing a background that is suboptimal from a powergaming perspective can come from what I like to call 'cool stuff'. If playing Smart Guy Subtype B means I get fewer skill points than Subtype A but I'll end up learning more about the backstory while playing I will be highly motivated to pick Subtype B for one of my playthroughs.

[Brother None]

I would agree with you if backgrounds were purely about numbers but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Yes, if I can have +1 to all attributes or +2 to all attributes with no other considerations I'm going to pick +2 whether or not I'm a hardcore munchkin. But while there will be a mechanical impact of choosing a background in the form of skill bonuses and what not the backgrounds are also adding value in the form of additional RP and quest opportunities.

Yes, sorry, I left that out for some reason but that rocks: backgrounds opening up new gameplay opportunities is the shiznits.

But that is just an added consideration to the numerical, meta-gaming one. It doesn't actually remove the meta-gaming numbers consideration, it just adds a layer on top of it.

I would agree with the idea of dropping balancing considerations if there is an actual meta-gaming consideration to make here. If, for instance, weaker characters are balanced in gameplay opportunities. But just not balancing because you dislike the concept is not a good idea.

[ThreeStone]

I would agree with the idea of dropping balancing considerations if there is an actual meta-gaming consideration to make here. If, for instance, weaker characters are balanced in gameplay opportunities. But just not balancing because you dislike the concept is not a good idea.

Agree completely, my apologies if that was not apparent in my post. I think the main idea was to not get hung up on ensuring that every background has an equal number of skill points or super secret powers. Even the most rabid devotee of the anti-balance ideal must surely recognize that the "Ubermensch" and "Deaf, dumb, blind, crippled, illiterate, 90 year old man" backgrounds could use some evening out.

[FireStomp]

... the "Ubermensch" and "Deaf, dumb, blind, crippled, illiterate, 90 year old man" backgrounds...

I want to be able to play as an Ubermensch. Not in the sense of kicking the crap out of a planet without batting an eyelash, but in the sense of someone who has transcended material concerns, societal mores, and morality as defined by humans. Especially in a Lovecraft-themed universe, that would be amazing.

[Pastel]

"Ubermensch" and "Deaf, dumb, blind, crippled, illiterate, 90 year old man"

Cleve and Bryce?

[Scott]

Let us not forget the humble No-Background character, which from minute one will depend solely on your choices.

Putting her aside though, you can look at each of the Backgrounds as they come up and try to decide which ones will be easier to play with.  I wish you luck, because there's more at play than the stat/skill tweaks.  I don't think you'll actually know which is more or less difficult until you play them.

How are you going to compare a Professor of Archaeology with a Jewel Thief anyway?  Are you going to tell me one of those is inherently better than the other in this setting?

[ThreeStone]

If I was told the backgrounds were just a set of skill bonuses then I would probably try to figure out which skills are likely to be more and less useful like Toaster Repair vs. Big Guns, and tally up the number of 'useful' skills each background gave me. I'm sure a naive approach like this would yield backgrounds that were perceived as stronger or weaker based solely on the skills bonuses.

A player not familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos setting would probably pick a combat oriented soldier type as these are typically easier to play in RPGs.

Thankfully you seem to be trying to avoid this with the detailed background descriptions that highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the background.

[Felix]

.
 But, it could also have advantages that aren't reflected in the numbers, being the only character that could have a hunting lodge where I hang up trophy kills I acquire from critters in the game does not add to my Strength, but it is pretty awesome.

Lol
I was going to say the same.
Players always love to have all kind of pets, animals, followers and pikachus. But it would be cool to have instead trophys...it adds to the character.
So, if the background doesn't adds to "power" per se, should add for fun.

Personally, i'd take the "Deaf, dumb, blind, crippled, illiterate, 90 year old man"...much more fun to develop that kind of character, as you have a LOT to do with him. It also gives a feeling of triumph, when you advance with that kind of character cos you're playing smart.

[Sleet]

That would be cool. based on your background/profession different 'homes/sanctuaries' could be available.
Maybe you could hire/attract guards, students, researchers, workers, etc.
Also pets or pikachus to guard the grounds.

Possible to have additions, upgrades etc.

Room for trophies for the Big Game Hunter.
Library of books Doom the Old Ones for bookworm
The archaeologist could have various ancient artifacts etc..

[caster]

I would be more interested in the hunting lodge as a place i can sleep in often, which will be an important thing in this game it seems.
Also to ensure its security some minor quests could be made. Or laying out different traps around it - which would fit hunter background anyway.
Surviving a night in your lonesome hut while waiting and hearing traps snap outside one by one.... could be a good moment to live through. If you knew something was coming for you. Something you pissed off.

[Scott]

I can confidently nip the "hunting lodge" idea in the bud.  Too much Oblivion, too much NWN.  You might find a house you can sleep in for free, but you're not going to be fortifying it, hanging trophies, attracting grad students, etc. etc.  I want the PC to be able to pick up 1-3 autonomous followers, similar to Fallout.  And even they won't follow you everywhere you might want to go *hint, hint*.

Same goes for the 20 different outfits so your female thief can wear the exact shade of red dress she wants.

I guess all this stuff could be called "window dressing", little things for the player to toy with between thrilling role-playing.  The thing is, I want it ALL to be thrilling role-playing, so if from time to time you need a break from the fun, keep your pikachus handy!

[caster]

I was thinking more on the lines of having something which is really usefull in some way because i too dont like having places you can decorate.
And if you are going to have a lodge atleast you could do something with it, something tangible.
What exactly is another matter.

[Sleet]

Moot point. Thanks for the info Scott.

[Hector]

You might find a house you can sleep in for free, but you're not going to be fortifying it

Might I suggest that temporary fortifications be made possible?  For example, if the player has reason to seriously expect trouble, perhaps they should have an option to tip over a table, or move something (via strength check) across the door?  Nothing permanent, and all with the potential to backfire, for example, if the police want to talk with all the guests at an inn, how do you plan to explain to them that you barricaded the door?  It begs the question of how did you know that X was going to happen?

[Mad Mantis]

...skills not available at character creation, and sometimes not otherwise available at all...occasionally open up dialogue options...background-assigned quest(s)...

These would for me be reason enough to try a background. As long as I think I can deal with a playstyle of a background it would be very interesting to see the way the story unfolds through various eyes.

[Hümmelgümpf der Bruzzelzwerg]

Scott, I think it would be a good idea to keep the first post updated with links to threads that describe specific backgrounds in detail. You know, to make searching easier.

[Scott]

Good idea, boss!   

[Jedi_Learner]

Something like this?

Background: Drifter ^{M F}
Background: Serial Killer ^M
Background: Carnival Mystic ^{M F}
Background: Big Game Hunter ^{M F}
Background: Dissipated Nobility ^M
Background: Med School Dropout ^{M F}
Background: Descended from Witches ^{M F}
Background: Professor of Archaeology ^{M F}
Background: Veteran of the Great War ^{M F}

Key:
^M - Male
^F - Female

[Oscar]

Please, Scott, change the blue.

And JL version looks pretty cool

[Scott]

Christ, give me a minute here!
Thanks, Jedi!  You've got the internet skillz. 

[Jedi_Learner]

Happy to help.

In Cyclopean, there will be nine or ten different Backgrounds to choose from... All backgrounds have now been revealed!

Might want to change that.

[ushdugery]

idiot savant background in arcanum will seriously change your playthrough...

[Eyeman]

Whoa, these background stories make me want to actually role-play. Poor Ms.Peabody though, that gal is going to get a lot of nasty surprises... Drifters wanting to rob her, killers stalking her.
A lot of people seem to think the backgrounds all sound male, but I can definitely see female versions easily. For instance the Drifter, I've known chicks like that. Always on the run. Haunted by a dark past. Hella cool.

[roqua]

I really like your take on the importance of backgrounds in (and to) the story and game.  But, the 75% of stat and skill allocation is taken from me?  You just took away the main driver of me plugging away at a game, and the most fun aspect of the game, and replaced it with one choice.  I’d much rather have 10 less important choices than one really important choice.  Let me min-max fully.  I always pick the custom class if there is free form chargen.  These backgrounds are far too like classes than backgrounds, and with a far steeper price in that I am losing my min-maxing potential.  I’d rather min-max and see less content in the game over more content and less chargen/chardev.

But, as long as I can skip the backgrounds and min-max no biggie.