And thus is well-written. If they were all this way this discussion need never have happened.
And that's a bridge too far. How would I, a random commoner in British Columbia, have any clue that the guy who just walked in is a folk hero back in France and because of this I have to give him shelter? (it does say "will" give shelter, not "may" or "might"; I have to do it)
Actually, it doesn't say that at all.
It says that you
can find a place to hide and rest among the commoners as long as you haven't shown yourself to be a danger (which, let's face it, will automatically disqualify at least half of adventurers right off the bat, since even carrying a weapon can easily make you seem too dangerous for many). the commoner
will shield you from people who are looking for you but
won't risk themselves in doing it.
It
also--and I've only said this a hundred times--says absolutely nothing about them recognizing you as a folk hero. What they recognize is that you're not a highfalutin noble or snooty merchant or untrustworthy crook--they recognize you as one of them, a real salt of the earth type whom they can judge by the strength of your handshake. Stuff like that.
Anyway, to get this feature to work for you:
- You have to look and act like a fairly non-dangerous person[1].
- You have to be running from someone (which automatically makes you seem potentially more dangerous).
- You have to then want to go hide in a commoner's house instead of any of a thousand other potential hiding places.
Then the commoner will tell you to go hide in the storm cellar.
But
if the person who is chasing you actually tracks you to the commoner's house and then waves a sword in the commoner's face, threatens to arrest them, or stands in the streets and says that they're going to kill a random civilian every ten minutes until you come out,
then the commoner is almost certainly going to try to save themselves by ratting you out.
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[1] Probably one of the few times to ignore that clause is if you're in a place where everyone hates the people who are chasing you to the point it doesn't matter how scary you look. Like, if the guards of the Evil Tyrant Usurper are chasing you, then probably the enemy of my enemy, right?
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People keep treating this background like its godmode or something, and it's really not.
Correct. And the farther afield you go from that village, the farther you have also left that background behind. You're a folk hero in your home village and the surrounding area and probably always will be - you've got free beer for life in the local pub - but what you did in your home village shouldn't make any difference to anything when you're in another village half a world away.
Which is why the background doesn't say that people recognize you as a folk hero. It says, quite clearly, that they recognize you as a commoner.
You did something heroic in your home village (thus making you a folk hero). That's why you decided to go off and adventure now.