Character Backgrounds in Play

So, I have backgrounds from some of my players. We have also done a round or two of interludes that revealed some background information on the characters that can be used as plot hooks. I have already used some of these hooks as the basis of a session worth of adventures.

Miranda, playing Tituba the witch, took the Devlin Blood Edge from the Hell on Earth Companion, which meant she was a clone of Sybil Devlin, a descendent of Mina Devlin (of Deadlands fame) and the last of the Devlin line. Tituba’s background was that she had been brought out of cold storage by Mercy Devlin, another Sybil clone. Mercy introduced Tituba to Willow, yet another Devlin clone.

Mercy is evil through and through. In addition, like most of the Devlin women, she harbored a hatred towards all men.  Tituba sensed that there was something wrong with Mercy and even voiced her concerns to Willow, who seemed to agree with Tituba. (Tituba has the Clueless Hindrance and so was not entirely clear on what was right and what was wrong).

Mercy ruled a town called Road Kill Alley and planned to take over a nearby town, Dead Man’s Mark. She trained and mentored Tituba for this task. Dead Man’s Mark came from the background of another player, Justin, who plays Max, the Harrowed road warrior. Max ruled Dead Man’s Mark with his best friend, Callic. Tituba showed up with the intention of killing the two men. Instead, she fell in love with Callic. In a tragic series of events, Mercy unleashed her magical fury on the town, Max and Tituba fled north to Junkyard, and Callic stayed behind to try to save them. On top of that, Willow disappeared.

Without any work on my part, I had NPCs with background and motivation. I had two locations with names that evoked the setting of the Wasted West. Best of all, I had questions that the players wanted answers to: What happened to Callic? What happened to Willow? How far will Mercy go to extract vengeance on Tituba? [Tituba has the “Wanted (Major): by Mercy Devlin” Hindrance, so the answer is, “very far”.]

Another player, Heath, gave his character, Jet Li the kung fu fighter, the “Enemy (Minor): Red Fang, leader of the Road Orcs” Hindrance. The Road Orcs were a gang of mutant raiders that terrorized the atomic wastelands. Red Fang and the Road Orcs are mentioned briefly in the main Hell on Earth book. Heath did not give any details as to why Jet and Red Fang were enemies. That tale will probably be told during an interlude.

I found a way to combine Tituba’s and Jet’s backstories during Session 2 of the campaign. The posse had just encountered a large band of Road Orcs and had captured their leader, Four Eyes, the four eyed mutant. Jet wanted to know where Red Fang was and what he was up to. After a brief discussion with Four Eyes, the Posse convinced him to divulge that Red Fang was in Road Kill Alley discussing the possibility of an alliance with Mercy Devlin.

Strangely (to me, I should add), during Session 3 of the campaign, neither Miranda or Heath opted to follow up the on the hook of a looming alliance between their bitter enemies, Mercy and Red Fang. This is fine, of course. We had a lot of fun as the Chaos Monkeys, sorry, the Posse stole a fertility talisman from Judy, the witch who ruled Dead Man’s Mark in place of Tituba. They stole the talisman while pursuing another plot thread provided by the players: find Jet’s daughter.

Meanwhile, the alliance between Red Fang and Mercy is moving forward. The Worms’ Turn plot point campaign is in play. Jet wants to find his daughter. Tituba wants to find her friend Willow. Thanks to player input, we have a dynamic world that the characters have an investment in.

As the GM, I need to stay on top of all these hooks and threads. Enemies will do their best to thwart our stalwart heroes. Various NPCs in the campaign world will make makes and countermoves that will affect the Posse, and the Posse in turn will affect those NPCs. There will be consequences based on which stories the PCs decide to pursue. I have no preconceived notion of how all these events will play out and ultimately be resolved. I hope the PCs do not screw up the plot point campaign, because that would be really bad.