PC's families (random determination)
by AkiyamaA way of randomly determining your character's family background, for people who like to know that sort of thing. I suggest you use these tables as guidelines when you are feeling uninspired, and change anything you want.
Family trade (d6)
1.Farming
2.Manual labour
3.Crafts
4.Trade
5.Military or innkeeping
6. Other
Manual labour: includes hunting and fishing, as well as such things as logging, mining and road-building.
Crafts: e.g. smithing, leatherworking, carpentry, weaving etc.
Trade: most traders will be market traders, shopkeepers and local merchants, rather than the kind of merchant-adventurers who travel all over the Known World.
Military or innkeeping: Includes sailors, mercenaries, town guards and tavernkeepers. The sons and daughters of such people have a tendency to become adventurers.
Other: Perhaps professionals of some kind, nobility, criminals, or even adventurers!
Family members
Assume both your parents are alive.
Roll d4 for each grandparent. On a roll of 1, that person is still alive, otherwise they are dead (people had a short life expectancy in pre-industrial times).
To determine the number and type of your siblings, roll d20s on the following table, until the table instructs you to stop.
1-4. Older brother (d12 years older)
5-8. Older sister (d12 years older)
9-12. Younger brother (d12 years younger)
13-16. Younger sister (d12 years younger)
17-20. Roll d20, and refer to the following table:
1. Stop rolling. You are an orphan. You know nothing about your family. Disregard all previous rolls. You may have grown up on the streets, in a gang, or in an orphanage; or you may have been adopted by a childless couple or single person.
2. Stop rolling. Both your parents are dead (of disease, orcs, or whatever), but any grandparents or siblings you might have are still alive.
3-18: Stop rolling.
19. Stop rolling. You are a non-identical twin, or possibly triplet.
20. Stop rolling. You have an identical twin.
If the table indicates that you have brother and sisters the same age as each other, decide whether they are twins, or normal siblings born 9-11 months apart.
Older siblings may be living at home, working in the family trade, or they may have left home, and possibly even moved to a different community. They might be married and have children of their own (making you an uncle or aunt).
To determine your relationship with each family member, roll d6s.
1. Very good
2-4. Good
5.Indifferent
6. Poor
Old flame: Roll a d20. If the result is equal to or less than your Charisma, there is a girl or boy back in your hometown who quite fancies you, and who you used to go out with. What your relationship is now is up to you. They may be hoping you will come back and marry them after having made your fortune. Or they may have given up on you when you decided to become an adventurer.