Backgrounds
Your Domains define your powers. Your Background defines where you came from—who raised or trained you, what you know without thinking, and what you own on day one.
📜 The Backgrounds on this page are examples, not canon. They assume a fairly generic fantasy world. Your GM and table decide which Backgrounds exist in your game: keep these, ban some, rename them, reskin them for the setting, or replace the whole list. A Background that fits one world (or one group’s comfort level) may not fit another.
What a Background Does
A Background gives your character three things:
- Story — a past, a place in the world, and people who know you.
- Free knowledge — anything someone of that Background would commonly know, you know without a roll. A Sailor knows knots, tides, and port gossip; a Scholar knows where the library keeps the old maps.
- A Starting Kit — mundane gear only. Weapons and armor that suit your Domains can be swapped in with GM approval.
Backgrounds do not grant Features, Aspect bonuses, spells, or extra dice. Mechanical power comes from Species, Body Type, and Domains. Keeping Backgrounds purely narrative-plus-gear is what makes them safe to invent, swap, and veto.
Choosing a Background
- Ask your GM which Backgrounds are available. Many settings have their own list.
- Pick one, or build your own with the GM (below).
- Take its Starting Kit, then adjust weapons/armor for your Domains if the GM agrees.
- Note your Background on your Character Sheet.
Creating Your Own Background
Use this checklist. A finished Background should fit in a short card like the examples below.
1. Name and one-line pitch
A short name the table will recognize in the setting (Lamplighter, Ferryhand, Exiled Heir) plus one sentence: “You ___ before the adventure began.”
2. Story hook
One or two connections the GM can use:
- Who knows you — a mentor, crew, guild, family, rival, or creditor.
- What you left behind — a debt, a duty, a secret, a place you can return to.
3. Free knowledge
Describe, in a phrase or two, what this person commonly knows. Keep it broad but grounded: trade, places, customs, and people of that walk of life. It should answer “would you know this?” questions, not replace Checks for hard or dangerous tasks.
4. Starting Kit
Match the size of the example kits:
- One simple weapon or tool-weapon fitting the life (knife, staff, sling, hand-axe…).
- Three or four practical items of the trade or travel (rope, tools, cloak, rations, writing kit…).
- One small personal item — a Trinket with a story attached.
- Optionally, a small purse of coin instead of one practical item.
No magic, no armor heavier than a sturdy coat or shield, no rare or expensive gear unless the GM wants that as part of the story (and then usually with a cost, like debt or obligation).
5. Sanity check
- Does it overlap a Domain? Fine—but it should give context and stuff, not the Domain’s abilities.
- Is the kit noticeably better than the examples? Trim it.
- Does it fit the setting and the table’s tone? If anyone is uncomfortable, change it.
💡 Reskinning is easy. Most custom Backgrounds are an example with a new name, new trinket, and one or two swapped items. A Desert Caravaneer is mostly a Sailor with a camel instead of a boat.
Example Backgrounds
These are sample Backgrounds with their Starting Kits. Use them as-is, adapt them, or treat them only as models for your own.
Soldier
- A weapon you trained with and a shield or sturdy coat
- Bedroll and blanket
- Waterskin and three days of travel rations
- Whetstone and a small repair kit
- Unit token, badge, or armband
- Trinket: a letter from someone you fought beside
Sailor
- Knife and a length of good rope (50 ft)
- Oilskin cloak
- Fishing line and hooks
- Waterskin and dried fish
- Small spyglass or a carved compass charm
- Trinket: a shell or carving from a far-off shore
Farmer
- Sling, staff, or hand-axe
- Sturdy boots and a work cloak
- Seed pouch and a small spade
- Waterskin, bread, and cheese
- Tinderbox and lantern
- Trinket: a lucky horseshoe or a pressed flower from home
Scholar
- Walking staff or dagger
- Book, ink, quills, and blank pages
- Satchel of maps or notes
- Candles and tinderbox
- Magnifying lens
- Trinket: a note in a teacher’s handwriting
Acolyte
- Mace, staff, or sling
- Holy symbol and prayer book
- Incense, candles, and chalk
- Bandages and healing herbs
- Simple robes and a traveling cloak
- Trinket: a small relic of uncertain holiness
Scout / Hunter
- Bow and a quiver of arrows (or a spear)
- Hunting knife and snares
- Camouflage cloak
- Waterskin and trail rations
- Tinderbox and a small tent
- Trinket: a tooth or feather from your first hunt
Artisan
- Hammer or hand-axe
- Tools of your trade (smith, carpenter, weaver, potter…)
- Leather apron and work gloves
- A few sellable goods you made
- Waterskin and food for two days
- Trinket: a mark or stamp that is yours alone
Entertainer
- Light blade or club
- Musical instrument or juggling set
- Costume and face paint
- Small purse of coins from your last show
- Waterskin and travel food
- Trinket: a token from an admirer
Urchin / Scoundrel
- Small knife or sling
- Lockpicks or a bent wire
- Dark hooded cloak
- Bag of marbles or chalk for marking walls
- Bread, an apple, and a little coin
- Trinket: something you “found” that someone wants back
Courtier / Envoy
- Fine dagger or rapier
- Good clothes and a signet ring or seal
- Letter of introduction
- Writing kit and sealing wax
- A purse of coins
- Trinket: a love letter, secret, or debt you are keeping quiet
🎒 Carrying too much? If you load up beyond what makes sense, the GM may have you mark Stress or Exhaustion while you haul it.
For the GM
- Curate the list. Publish the Backgrounds your setting allows before Session 0, the same way you share allowed Domains and Species.
- Veto freely. Some examples (Urchin / Scoundrel, Courtier / Envoy, Acolyte) carry assumptions about crime, nobility, or religion that not every world or group wants.
- Use the hooks. The trinket and story hook are free adventure seeds.
Designer note: Backgrounds are adapted from Knave-style career kits (see Knave 2e research): pick who you were, get your stuff, skip the shopping list. They are deliberately kept non-mechanical (knowledge and mundane gear only) so tables can invent, rename, or ban Backgrounds without touching game balance. The examples exist to show the expected size and flavor of a Background—not to define the world.