Background hooks for new PCs (spoilers)

(spoilers ahead)

I'm ramping up to start my WotBS campaign, and one thing I'm trying to do is make sure that each PC has some sort of hook into the Burning Sky region. For example, the elf druid is going to be a refugee from Innenotdar.

This has been hard because I only have the first two adventures.

One PC is going to be a Goliath barbarian. For those of you who've read further ahead, where would be some interesting locations for the Goliath to be from, and what mysteries/tidbits can I drop in his lap that the campaign will eventually resolve?

I'm thinking of suggesting the mountains north of Ragesia as an option, since it looks like adventure eight will go there. That also allows me to give him some of the flavor of the Ragesian empire, since he would have traversed it to get to Gate Pass.

Another option would be the mountains around Gate Pass, but those seem much less interesting. Any ideas?

Based on reading the brief descriptions of the upcoming adventures, I'd consider the mountains of Dassen to be a possibility for where the Goliath is from. The PC's also adventure in that Kingdom, but even earlier, in the fourth adventure.

There aren't that many giants that I recall from the 3.5 version. In fact, I only remember one, who was working with the Ragesians in adventure 8, way up north. So if he wants to be a tundra warrior, perhaps he could be affiliated with frost giants.

Sorry. I don't really have a clear sense of what makes Goliaths distinct. Maybe he could be descended from the people who ruled Ostalin before the current regime came into power a generation ago. Although I think the locals actually had some elvish contingent.

I dunno. Goliaths weren't on my radar when we originally designed the campaign.

RangerWickett said:

Sorry. I don't really have a clear sense of what makes Goliaths distinct. Maybe he could be descended from the people who ruled Ostalin before the current regime came into power a generation ago. Although I think the locals actually had some elvish contingent.

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I don't really know what makes Goliaths distinct, either. I actually find the proliferation of races in D&D a little frustrating, becuase it's hard to fit them into the world. Take devas: "The shopkeeper sees you, an immortal reincarnation of good and light, and says, 'paper or plastic?'"

Anyway, I'm going to let the player figure out what Goliaths are all about. My question is about adventure hooks: what (mountainous) region could he be from that will allow me to foreshadow a bit, or will provide some mystery that the campaign will answer? What aspects of the campaign could he have peripherally run into on his winding journey from there to Gate Pass?

This is the kind of stuff I like to do with an adventure path, but it's hard since I only have the first two adventures. The campaign overview is good, but not quite sufficient for this type of work.

Adventure 1 starts in a city in the mountains, and you return there in adventure 9 to discover the trillith are trying to come up to the surface through the city. Gate Pass, in general, has a lot going on since it's basically sandwiched between Ragesia and Shahalesti, with the trillith below.

Adventure 2 takes place in the fire forest in a mountain valley. The fire forest also ties into the trillith.

Adventure 4 has the PCs undertake a mission in the mountains between Ragesia and Dassen, but it's pretty short.

Adventure 5 takes place in the mountains between Ostalin and Sindaire. Pilus has a biomancy laboratory there.

Adventure 7, actually, might work, since the Taranesti city is in forested mountains with lots of caverns and tunnels. The place is haunted, and so it provides lots of fodder for mysteries. You could, for instance, swap the dark elf assassins who killed the emperor for a pair of female goliath assassins who lived in the mountains.

Adventure 8, northern tundra valley with frost giants.

Theoretically you could have something tied in with the wasteland in adventure 12, but no one is supposed to live there. I dunno, maybe goliaths were once guardians of the Aquiline Heart?

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for.

I told my player that Goliaths were an escaped tribe of wizard experiments from the Ragesian Empire...

Durn said:

I told my player that Goliaths were an escaped tribe of wizard experiments from the Ragesian Empire...

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My player just got back to me -- he completely ignored the hooks I sent him. Ah well.

He decided that he was from the mountains east of Cathus (western Ragesia) and joined the Cathus resistance. He spent some time in a Ragesian prison, emerged to find the Cathus resistance all but gone, and came to Gate Pass to join the resistance there.

Works for me. I love that he put forth the effort to figure that out. I didn't see anything in the campaign overview that conflicts.