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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5022226" data-attributes="member: 18280">Is this a &quot;plot hook&quot; like &quot;My grandfather had the +27 Sword of Doom, which was lost in my garden&quot;?&nbsp; Or a &quot;plot hook&quot; like &quot;My character wants to kill orcs&quot;?&nbsp; Because I can't see the problem with the second plot hook.Which is a problem why?Why build a setting that encourages player choices without wanting the player characters to have long term goals?&nbsp; Having a long term goal doesn't mean you succeed in achieving it.Is the player trying to gain some undue advantage?&nbsp; Or does he just want to be a member in good standing in the local Thieves' Guild?&nbsp; In the former case, as has already been suggested, tell him &quot;No&quot;.&nbsp; In the latter case, if this is a replacement PC, and the players already know enough about the local Thieves' Guild to allow the player to assume the role, why not?If the GM is a good one, this will be true no matter what the player wrote for his background, so long as the background isn't setting-breaking or allowing an undue advantage.I would suspect that anyone who becomes an adventurer at 18 probably has a much better idea what he wishes to do than most.&nbsp; Otherwise, why not become a grocer?&nbsp; That risk-taking is because the character is driven to be more than those around him.&nbsp; As for being a &quot;bad ass&quot;, how many 18-year-olds do you know?&nbsp; <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing&nbsp; &nbsp; :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" />&nbsp; Lots of younger folks think that they are bad asses, or present themselves that way.&nbsp; The kid in Unforgiven is a perfect example of a &quot;bad ass&quot; character whose veneer gets stripped away over the course of the film.The proper response, IMHO, to a player who thinks that his PC is a bad ass is &quot;Prove it&quot;.If you were forced to have just one or the other, I would agree with you.&nbsp; However, the nifty thing about RPGs (for some of us, at least) is that you are not.&nbsp; So, if a background gives a &quot;cool factor&quot; of 1, and the stuff that happens in the game gives a &quot;cool factor&quot; of 100, then 101 is still more than 100.The only problem, of course, is if your GM is unable/unwilling to give that &quot;cool factor&quot; of 1, or if giving that &quot;cool factor&quot; or 1 makes the GM unable/unwilling to dish out the 100.A reasonable background that fits into the world gets rewarded.&nbsp; A craptacular background, seeking position or advantage, gets vetoed or ignored.These things are not mutually exclusive.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 5022226, member: 18280"] Is this a "plot hook" like "My grandfather had the +27 Sword of Doom, which was lost in my garden"? Or a "plot hook" like "My character wants to kill orcs"? Because I can't see the problem with the second plot hook. Which is a problem why? Why build a setting that encourages player choices without wanting the player characters to have long term goals? Having a long term goal doesn't mean you succeed in achieving it. Is the player trying to gain some undue advantage? Or does he just want to be a member in good standing in the local Thieves' Guild? In the former case, as has already been suggested, tell him "No". In the latter case, if this is a replacement PC, and the players already know enough about the local Thieves' Guild to allow the player to assume the role, why not? If the GM is a good one, this will be true no matter what the player wrote for his background, so long as the background isn't setting-breaking or allowing an undue advantage. I would suspect that anyone who becomes an adventurer at 18 probably has a much better idea what he wishes to do than most. Otherwise, why not become a grocer? That risk-taking is because the character is driven to be more than those around him. As for being a "bad ass", how many 18-year-olds do you know? :lol: Lots of younger folks think that they are bad asses, or present themselves that way. The kid in [i][b]Unforgiven[/b][/i][b][/b] is a perfect example of a "bad ass" character whose veneer gets stripped away over the course of the film. The proper response, IMHO, to a player who thinks that his PC is a bad ass is "Prove it". If you were forced to have just one or the other, I would agree with you. However, the nifty thing about RPGs (for some of us, at least) is that you are not. So, if a background gives a "cool factor" of 1, and the stuff that happens in the game gives a "cool factor" of 100, then 101 is still more than 100. The only problem, of course, is if your GM is unable/unwilling to give that "cool factor" of 1, or if giving that "cool factor" or 1 makes the GM unable/unwilling to dish out the 100. A reasonable background that fits into the world gets rewarded. A craptacular background, seeking position or advantage, gets vetoed or ignored. These things are not mutually exclusive. RC [/QUOTE]

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