TFN 1.3 Background List

Here is a breakdown of the potential backgrounds for TFN 1.3 under the new hybrid system. I will be updating this list as I continue to revamp the old backgrounds and create new ones for more options. I plan on crossing over backgrounds meaning some clans will have access to the same background assuming it's appropriate for that clan to have that particular background. Example, I would never allow the Baali to choose the Evangelist Bartender background because it wouldn't fit lore wise.

Feel free to post ideas for potential backgrounds to give me ideas. I will post a few examples of the format I'm currently using to keep them in a pattern.



Paranormal Investigator
Old people will believe anything especially when it comes to deceased loved ones. The con was simple and even easier to pull off. You pay me the money and I'll tell you how Uncle Johnny is sitting pretty in purgatory. This deception worked for years - until you met the one who would open your eyes to a whole new afterlife. They convinced you to meet at a small run-down motel in Santa Monica, and this is where your story begins. Deception and lies were your ways before, but in these final nights you will need every talent you possess to survive.

Circus Freak
Known as the amazing tattooed freak, you could tumble any tightrope, slip any straight jacket, and dodge any knife. But even as skilled as you were, they still laughed at you, hardening your heart towards humanity; until the night she changed all of that. Lured to a nearby seedy motel room, she showed you ultimate darkness, though a strange peace came over you all the same. This dark place is where your tale begins. Using your talents learned from the circus, you will need more than fancy tricks to survive these final nights.

Hard Timin' It
After countless assault victims, you wound up in the women's state penitentiary. You had a temper, a real mean streak, that is until you met him and he showed you what it meant to be at peace. Upon your release this strange but enlightened man began showing you a new path in life. You agreed to meet him at a dingy little motel room in Santa Monica, after all, you were tough and had nothing to be afraid of. Your legacy begins here and you will need the lessons the streets have taught you if you wish to persevere in these final nights.

Talented Mortician
You filled the roles of embalmer, funeral director, and grave digger - I mean you did it all. Because you always had a subtle fear of people, this seemed a natural profession for you. People never really liked you anyways, they found you... creepy and intimidating. The job didn't pay well but being in charge of preparing the dead for their final resting place was worth it. Lured to a decaying motel room in Santa Monica promising a job, your chronicle begins there. Your cunning paired with a macabre lifestyle will be all that stands in the way of your own undeath in these final nights.

Professional Arm Wrestler
From truckstops to gambling halls you made your earnings on the road. Since the time of John Brzenk you had earned a small fortune and a little fame among avid fans. Women and booze came second to a hobby you knew in your heart would take you to manhood. Drawn to your natural strength, you had a young woman following you from place to place. Intrigued to "get to know her", you met in a neglected old motel room in Santa Monica. This broken-down hell is where your romance begins. She showed you the true meaning of strength and then casted you aside, now you must use all means at your disposal if you wish to tough it through these finals nights.

More histories have been created and I'm proud to say that as I play with these on my Alpha runs, they have worked out beautifully! It's so fun having a basis to where your character was in their life before their embrace. The skills they learned when they were living directly influences how easily they can increase these skills as a Kindred. It gives you an idea who your character was before you took control of them, and will determine what skills you wish to raise and how you go about doing that. It really adds to the RPG element of the game without restricting the player from having options during character creation.

Good stuff!

Sounds great. I do enjoy this alot. As a GM I do exactly the same when creating NPCs or helping players create their char.

kyoden wrote:

Sounds great. I do enjoy this alot. As a GM I do exactly the same when creating NPCs or helping players create their char.

W00t W00t!

I'm definitely making progress on these backgrounds. They're hard to create because I'm making them much more elaborate and specific, but at the same time making sure that none of them are duplicates for the +1 to Attributes and Skills. Once I update the old ones to the new format I plan on crossing over clans to expand them for more options. Then I would like to create completely brand new ones to fill in the gaps so every person can find a background close to what they imagined their characters to be. I'm hoping to have 8-12 unique backgrounds to choose from for each sex and clan when I'm finished.

Hmm...the only thing I'm noticing as a problem with these would be the constant mention of a hotel room in Santa Monica. Sure, it fits what seems to be the case, but given the exact placement of the window, it doesn't make much sense that a...well, whatever Foxy Boxes is, would have rooms on a second floor.

Maybe what should happen is that those windows should be blacked out in some way, to give some ambiguity to where exactly the place is, and perhaps make the place a haven for whatever kindred decides to put the bite on you. This way, these backgrounds don't have to keep going back to the same exact point, or at least not mentioning Santa Monica in every one.

Maxus Corvin wrote:

Hmm...the only thing I'm noticing as a problem with these would be the constant mention of a hotel room in Santa Monica. Sure, it fits what seems to be the case, but given the exact placement of the window, it doesn't make much sense that a...well, whatever Foxy Boxes is, would have rooms on a second floor.

Maybe what should happen is that those windows should be blacked out in some way, to give some ambiguity to where exactly the place is, and perhaps make the place a haven for whatever kindred decides to put the bite on you. This way, these backgrounds don't have to keep going back to the same exact point, or at least not mentioning Santa Monica in every one.

I understand what you're saying Maxus, but I actually like the idea that every story, regardless of how it began, eventually led your character to that motel room in Santa Monica and that's where you begin control of your character. I wanted a constant theme among all of the histories (ie. Your embrace happened in that room, you will need to be clever and resourceful to survive in these final nights). It's a reoccurring theme among all of the backgrounds, which I actually wanted.

As for the window looking out and seeing the Asylum, I really don't know what to tell you there. That room technically doesn't exist once you begin exploring SM and look above Foxy Boxes. You'd have to ask Troika why they did that, but I'm just playing off of it. You might just have to suspend disbelief to allow it to make sense, LOL.

I do understand your concerns though and I thought about it hard before I decided how I wanted to handle it.

I'm still making good progress. So far I've re-written 32 histories into the new format and only have a few more to go until the old ones are finished. Once those are done, I will be creating new ones for people who want to specialize and then will be crossing over the ones that would fit for different clans, so several different clans have access to the same histories. Again I'm shooting for 8-12 histories per clan and gender to choose from. I want a history that fits what people want to play for their character.

As you can see with today's updated screenshot, I'm making huge amounts of progress on a weekly basis. We're up to 41 original backgrounds evenly distributed across all 7 clans and both genders. Fortunately some of the backgrounds were able to be used across several different clans so that helped increase the variety and options, however I will still need to write some that are more specific to a certain clan. For instance, the backgrounds available for Baali can't be used by the Salubri, they contradict each other.

Stay tuned for even more updates soon!

When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play?



Good job, Zer0.

kyoden wrote:

When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play? When is it ready to play?



Good job, Zer0.

Soon, soon, soon, soon, soon, soon!

I haven't decided on a release date yet but I'm thinking sometime in February, either early in the month but most likely later. I need to finish up with the histories, then create the Female Assamite skin set, then it should be ready for Beta testing. I've been getting some pressure for a fast release from some fans on ModDB so I want to keep cookin' on this project. I've been putting in anywhere from 1-4 hours of work daily so believe me, it's getting worked on and turning out splendidly if I may say so myself.

I have some big ideas for 1.4 so I'm specifically setting up 1.3 to compliment what I want to do for 1.4. This patch will kind of be like an introduction that will lead into 1.4.

Zer0Morph wrote:

I have some big ideas for 1.4 so I'm specifically setting up 1.3 to compliment what I want to do for 1.4. This patch will kind of be like an introduction that will lead into 1.4.

Quote :

1.4

I KNEW IT!

Another big day of progress on the backgrounds. Spent another 4 solid hours getting this ready, I'm so excited to release this!!

Okay, so now that the Histories Bug has been worked out, I can begin making more Histories. Fortunately I'm getting to the point where I've met my quota and I've just about covered any combination of benefits a person would want to play. I hope I haven't missed anything. I updated a screenshot on the first post to show you all of the Histories and their corresponding sex/clan.

If you make the .pdf with all the histories, would it be possible to upload it somewhere, so that we can read them? Would be interesting to read them all before it goes live.

I second that request. I also noticed not all clans have the same amount of histories available. Is that a feature or are you planning to work on until you have 10 for each?

kyoden wrote:

If you make the .pdf with all the histories, would it be possible to upload it somewhere, so that we can read them? Would be interesting to read them all before it goes live.

I'm sure I could swing that, yeah. As long as it doesn't become a tweak fest and I have to hear "Change this and change that!!".

Draggy wrote:

I second that request. I also noticed not all clans have the same amount of histories available. Is that a feature or are you planning to work on until you have 10 for each?

I wanted at least 8 minimum for each clan but some of them got more. Honestly I've run out of ideas so when I post the .pdf for you guys to read, maybe you can give me more ideas for some cool backgrounds and I can write them up and stick them in before 1.3 goes live. I would really like that!

Would it be cool to give a player some sort of small bonus if he decides to pick "None" as their background? Maybe a small XP gain and/or some money. Not everyone wants a history after all and you shouldn't be forced into taking a history if you don't like them. But you get a bonus after all if you take a history.

On that topic, would it be interesting to add the starting money information to the haggle description?

kyoden wrote:

Would it be cool to give a player some sort of small bonus if he decides to pick "None" as their background? Maybe a small XP gain and/or some money. Not everyone wants a history after all and you shouldn't be forced into taking a history if you don't like them. But you get a bonus after all if you take a history.

On that topic, would it be interesting to add the starting money information to the haggle description?

Well, I'm not forcing the player to take a history, they can still go without it, they would just start the game without the Feat bonus' that players who choose a history would get. I don't want to give players who don't choose a history any bonus' for not choosing one, that would negate the whole concept of what I was trying to do and why I spent so much time creating this new system.

I actually enjoy not giving out all of TFN's secrets on a silver platter to the player. This is what makes part of the fun, getting to explore and figuring out how it works. As players explore TFN, they'll notice their starting money changes depending on Haggle, which will make the player want to spend more time with the game, figuring out what does what. If I lay it all out for them, show them what's behind the curtain, it destroys the mystery and the fun of figuring it out. This is also why I haven't revealed where the hidden items are in the hubs, or what they are. I want to player to explore and figure it out.