We just started "Revenge of the Giants"; I'm playing a female human wizard named Farana Frey. The Frey family has a curse; each female member lives just long enough to have a daughter, after which they die a horrible and gruesome death. It might come ten minutes later, or ten years later, but inevitably, they have all died.
My character, at the start of the campaign, has left her newborn daughter in the care of her aides, and gone off to try and beat the curse. She's on day 244. She keeps a meticulous diary, detailing how many days she's been alive since the birth of her daughter, and anything curse-related that has occurred. Once she knows them better, she will ask one of the party to detail her final fate in her diary for future generations.
The best part, however, is being able to reply to anything the DM throws out:
"Giants? I hate giants. One of them stepped on one of my ancestors."
"Dragons? Ghastly things. One of them ate one of my ancestors."
"I can't stand walls. A wall fell on one of my ancestors."
"I don't trust bridges. One of my ancestors was killed by a bridge."