Difference between revisions of "Template:Band Purpose"

Revision as of 03:26, 27 January 2014

A Band's Purpose
A band is often drawn together for a specific purpose that thematically connects the characters and the game as a whole. The referee may choose a purpose when starting up the game, or invite the players to discuss and select one of their own. Either way, everyone should be aware of the purpose before creating a character, and everyone should create a character compatible with the purpose.

• Anomalies: The band is simply different from everyone else. They come together for company, to be a part of something else like themselves. Perhaps they are pieces in a massive puzzle, or the only heroes in an expanse of dreary banality. The comfort of finding kindred anomalies gives the band the strength to stand apart, to face being different, and perhaps to unravel the mystery of why they are anomalies in the first place.
• Architects: The band has allied with one another to build something. Often the band will be members of a single organization, dedicated to growing the organization and creating different branches, assets, and techniques. The band may even be involved in different organizations, working together to build a faction or a city. The architects' efforts will live on after them, affecting the game world and future characters as they walk the halls the architects designed, built, and protected.
• Avengers: A nemesis has done something horrible, and now every member of the band has a personal stake in making it right. The long road to justice or revenge dominates them all. Opponents may be lackeys or lieutenants of the nemesis, or just individuals that get in the way. Once the avengers have gotten payback they may find that the nemesis was only the beginning, or the band may shift to another purpose.
• Family: The band has familial ties, bonds of blood and history. They may be relatives, share common instructors, or just be close friends. These bonds carry a legacy of past victories and mistakes that the band must live up to, rectify, or repeat as they see fit. The richer this history the more cohesive the band. Sagas will often become family based, even if the first generation starts with a different purpose.
• Pawns: The band has been drawn together by an outside force. The pawns may not know why they've had to band together, but bad things seem to happen if they drift apart. Pawns may have a nemesis or a benefactor, or one who looks like the other. The band will often face a choice, to embrace their destiny or rebel against it, for good or ill.
• Pioneers: The band has volunteered to go (boldly) where no one has gone before. Or at least where no one has returned from. Pioneers want to see what is over the next hill, discover the creature that no one has seen before, or find that lost civilization. The band is always driving forward, either for the joy of exploration or from some dire threat looming behind them.
• Specialists: An important, maybe impossible job needs to be done, and the band has been recruited to do it. Each member of the band has a role to fulfill that will help get this job done. It may take time and experience to forge this rag tag team into an elite whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, but when the time comes the specialists will be ready. Once proven, the specialists may be enlisted for similar jobs, or entirely new challenges.
• Celebrities: The band has joined together, like others before them, to find fame, fortune, glory, and their heart's desires. Adventuring is like a game for this band, measuring risk versus reward in a bid to be the richest and most powerful band ever. Celebrities can be quite mercenary, but their currency is reputation. They may have opponents or even a nemesis, but they are more likely to have rivals competing for the same goals and fame.
• Survivors: The band has been forced together in order to survive a harsh world. Loners don't last long, but enough survivors working together stand a chance. It's easy to keep survivors together after they see what happens to that renegade who tries to do it his own way. Survivors may have a difficult time achieving goals, but those achieved become special.

A purpose might suggest a game, but that game may later outgrow the original purpose. One idea for a campaign could also be adapted to multiple purposes. For example, your band could be members of the crew of a ship setting sail for distant islands. Depending on the tone for the campaign you could just as easily be pioneers, specialists, pawns, or survivors.