D&D (2024) Backgrounds Idea - opinions desired :)

[DragonLancer]

So... coming back into D&D 5 with the new 2024 release and I'm using the old Bard's Gate city setting from Necromancer Games as my base for future campaigns. The world will expand as we create it going forwards. In Bard's Gate there are numerous guilds that characters can join. Pay you dues and you get certain benefits. As this is so tied to the city setting, I was wondering whether to create guild membership for each guild as a possible character background. Characters would be considered to be paid members, gain the benefits...etc.

I'm pondering whether this is a good idea and what issues it might have for good or bad. Thoughts - positive and negative (but polite) appreciated.

 

[sunny---folk]

I think this is a great idea! It gives you a way to tie your players into the world that you want to build. It could also give them good NPC connections in world and help them feel more t ease with rp.

 

[ECMO3]

good idea

 

[Baron Opal II]

It works for me. I have as a background "Former Apprentice", they have a connection with a trades guild, but since they became an adventurer there is a little friction with the past master. However, adventurers are a highly valuable resource. Should they continue a relationship with the guild a mutually beneficial relationship can be made. Plus, contacts, resources, &c. It can be a great source of hooks.

 

[Stormonu]

Sounds like a great idea.

I would keep in mind though that high-level PCs tend to have a lot of treasure - you may want to keep in mind some "high level" costs and benefits for when characters hit that level to keep these associations relevant.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yes, yes, YES, hahaha.

Not familiar with the setting, but in principle, a background that is a guild membership sounds perfect. If the setting has the guilds, but isn't CENTERED around them, you could just have one background as "member of a guild," among the others.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I agree with everyone else that the Guild Member background would be a great choice for a new option.

However, let me throw out another idea here which most likely won't be a direction you were intending on going, but which might make the campaign easier to direct-- have everyone a member of the same Guild at the start.

This is always the hardest thing to get right for a game right at the beginning... the reason why these disparate characters "work together" all the time, even after their initial reason for being put together runs its course. And many game accomplish that by putting them all in the same organization, so that there's a reason why things just don't end. In Golarion a common campaign start is everyone being a member of the Pathfinder Society. In 7th Sea many groups are all part of a pirate or privateer's ship crew. And in this particular game of yours... everyone working for the same Guild makes it easier for them to remain a set crew over multiple adventures.

Granted, if you go with this then you probably wouldn't want a Guild Member background because that is what they currently all are, and backgrounds are for what they were prior to becoming an adventurer. So in that case players would use the other backgrounds like normal, while now being a member of whatever guild had hired them to do the tasks they required.

 

[DragonLancer]

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't considered them being the same Guld by default. I'd leave that to the players to decide but it might be an interesting idea to suggest if they want to do it.

The fact that the Guild Membership isn't technically a background is a fair point, and it is why I queried whether it would work or not.

 

[Baron Opal II]

If you want you could have some more details -

Former Apprentice: Connections, More obligations and fewer advantages. Basic skills at the trade, left because of a cruel master? Forced to apprentice? Why was risking your life adventuring better than learning an exclusive trade? The debt will come due, someday.

Former Fellowcraft: Connections, Fewer obligations with more advantages. Older character, can earn a living at a trade. Not as successful as you wanted, and supplementing by adventuring? Several fellowcraft were itinerant.

Former Master: Connections, Fewer obligations with more advantages. Even older, can earn a living and probably have your own shop. Why are you adventuring?

 

[Quickleaf]

Absolutely it's a good idea.

I think the issue you'll run into is that certain guilds lend themselves to being very distinct, iirc Bard's Gate has a Wheelwright/teamsters guild & a Beggars guild - very distinct. But when it comes to certain trades guilds, I think those often tend to be treated with a similar brush by RPG writers, The Gem Cutter and Jewelers’ Guild, the Scribes’ Guild, and the Glassblowers’ Guild might require some additional ideas/development from you to make them distinct from each other.