Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Calamity (46)

14 Polyglot Cosmopolitan

The Six Cataclysms displaced a great many people, and you are one of them. You’ve traveled much of what’s left of the world and, clever dilettante that you are, you’ve picked up a little of this and a little of that everywhere you’ve been. Still, there’s no place like home, even if it doesn’t exist anymore. So maybe the next place you alight will be more familiar.

Possessions

• A Memento of your Homeland
• A Collection of Postcards from your many travels
• A Book of Recipes collected from your various stops

Advanced Skills

2 Language – Quoxecatl
2 Language – Senticci
2 Language – Yondic
2 Language – Zakraabi
2 Etiquette
2 Culture
1 Secret Signs – The Diaspora
1 Gastronomy

Special

You may Test your Luck to know a thing or two about the culture or history of another land.

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Scary (36)

13 Terrifying Survivor (Themselves Terrified)

You are a survivor of one of the Six Cataclysms; this has left you both scarred and scared. You have seen things no one should have to see and you have done things in the name of survival that haunt you every time you close your eyes. You’ve been running so long now you’re not sure you could stop if you tried. Or maybe you could if the villagers didn’t keep chasing you away with pitchforks.

Possessions

• Haunted Eyes
• Scars (both eternal and internal)
• Running Shoes

Advanced Skills

3 Unnerve
2 Survival
2 Run
2 Awareness
1 Sneak
1 Spell – Random

Special

You may Test your Luck at the start of any Round to automatically have the first Turn. You may only use this Turn to flee from combat at full speed.

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Friendship (25)

12 Friend Of Prince Kateb

Prince Kateb Al Wali is a good man. His subjects call him Al’amir Alsadiq, the sincere prince. He treats the people of Ismah Zakraab well, taxes them fairly, and defends them against the Demons and Devils that plague this doomed world. And while he endeavors to fill his court with only the finest souls, with whom he enjoys hunting from zamrukback, his judgement isn’t always the best. What kind of friend are you to Prince Kateb?

Possessions

• A courtly weapon of your choice.
• Fine clothing suitable for the crony of a Prince (counts as Light Armor).
• A fine present fit for a Prince that could be sold before it is delivered, but then you’d have to find something to replace it, wouldn’t you?
• A Golden Coin of Al Wali

Advanced Skills

2 Secret Signs – The Court of Prince Kateb
2 Language – Zakraabi
1 Etiquette
1 Fighting in your Courtly Weapon
1 Fusil Fighting
1 Evaluate
1 Ride

Special

A Friend of Prince Kateb may exchange their Golden Coin of Al Wali in countless ways. It will open the door (metaphorically, of course) to nearly any leader or hall of power. It will purchase nearly item regardless of cost or legality. It will buy your way out of a death sentence. It may be traded to nearly any Demon or Devil in exchange for their short-term obedience. However it is used, it may never be regained. Using it unwisely or purely for personal gain will undoubtedly cost the Friend in other, unknown ways.

Wherein your humble scribe presents one of thirty character backgrounds for Troika! as part of his RPGaDAY 2019 experience. Find out more about the rules he is using to govern said experience here. You might also want to know that today’s roll is: Space (14)

11 Melancholic Sun Tracker

The sun is doomed. Everyone knows that. But you – like your father, mother or, god forbid, both – you can see it happening. You cannot definitively identify the date or time of the bloated ball’s eventual demise, but you can see the decay all too clearly as it overtakes that once hopeful star. Each day you wake to that same cloying, creeping doom one feels while watching a loved one slowly die. In the end, it’s all about how you react to it.

Possessions

• Solar Viewing Glass (Shade 13) that provides immunity to Flash spells when worn.
• A feeling of incurable sadness.
• Sun Tracking Journal.

Advanced Skills

3 Awareness
2 Astrology
2 Mathmology
2 Spell – Light or 2 Spell – Darkness
1 Spell – Flash or 1 Spell – Coal Resolve
1 Spell – Ember or 1 Spell – Quench

First off, I should say welcome to Strange Stones & my hope-filled first day of RPGaDAY2019. I’m going to use this daily challenge thing to works towards building out a “dying earth” style setting (in the vein of Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique or, say, Jack Vance’s aptly named Dying Earth) for use with Troika!, the nifty and delicious game from Daniel Sell.

I’ll do this the same way Troika! builds its own “default” setting – via a list of character backgrounds with flavor text that contains morsels of setting goodness. If you’re not familiar with Troika!’s character backgrounds, this may seem a little odd at first. But I’m sure you’ll catch on.

As I proceed, I’ll be taking to heart the sage advice that Ray Otus has shared on his blog regarding designing things for Troika!. You should go read that, but I’ll list his summarized points here:

• Don’t create material for Troika! that uses dice other than d6s.
• Utilize backgrounds to build the world; don’t write pages of setting lore.
• Be mindful when you write skills! Make them sufficiently narrow/situational.
• Whenever possible, create material that is flexible – without a narrow focus on combat.

What Roads To Madness Does He Travel?

My method, after starting with #1 today (when the prompt is First), will be to roll a d66 to determine the prompt for each subsequent day’s prompt rather than following the numbered path laid out in the graphic put together for RPGaDAY2019 (see previous post). I had originally intended to make this a d30 table, but hewing to the aforementioned design advice, I decided to be true to the game and use the d66 approach. This required some additions to get to the required 36 options, which you’ll see below.

Note that I’m not going to eliminate already rolled results, so it’s quite likely I won’t hit all of the prompts and that I’ll wind up using duplicate prompts over the course of the month. What can I say? I’m a gamer – I like dice and random things.

A Savory Spread Upon The Table

Here’s the list of prompts in a d66 table format, with my additions in the 61-66 section to make it work as such, for reference:

For any result from the 6x sequence that results in wrapping around the table, I will skip the 6x sequence when counting out the wrap. Otherwise it could get hairy.

What Other Troubles Lurk At The Edge Of Perception?

Should I find that I’m just rocking out on this – as opposed to being stumped, hating everything, and wishing I hadn’t ever started it – I may include more in any given post than the one promised background. If I do, it’s likely to be a creature that is somehow related to the background. Fortunately, Ray Otus has some thoughts on those, too. Or maybe a spell. Or a drawing of a fig.

What Treasures Are Contained In The Nigh-Infinite Web?

If all of this intrigues you, there are a couple of other very cool Troika! resources out there, most notably an online character generator which draws backgrounds not just from the Troika! rulebook, but also from various other internet sources, which it cleverly links to so that you can find them for yourself. Or you can just look at the code to see all of them.

Another place to visit and ponder is the Troika! Appreciation Society group on MeWe. Some fine folks there have posted some interesting content indeed.

When All Is Said And Done?

If this goes well, maybe I’ll keep working on the setting. If all goes poorly, maybe I won’t. I do aim not to flame out or get all Geek ADD and switch what I’m doing every three days. For now, though, I will leave you wondering just what tomorrow brings.