Worlds Without Number+Yoon Suin Early Draft (Races)

This is a post I fucking swear I wrote and published yet just can't seem to ever find it any archive, which mean I most probably never wrote it: was it just a bad fever dream? Then again in this day and age, it seems like all of reality is a nightmare and a fever dream so what do I know? Anyway here are my firsr draft of garbled notes for 'translating' Yoon-Suin: The Purple Land into Worlds Without Numbers. This is made with the original version of Yoon-Suin in mind and is likely to change once the second edition is released.

These are outlines for the major 'races' present in Worlds Without Numbers+Yoon Suin as I attempt to reconcile the setting of both to the best of my abilities.

Playable Races: Slug-Man

Well, Slug-Person really as they are complete hermaphrodites. The so-called Slug-Men are a somewhat odd crossbreed of ancient demi-human strain and some long lost type of Outsiders, or at the very least this is what sages from beyond Yoon-Suin say on the matter. The Slug-Men consider themselves a distinct civilized race which predate modern human, descendants of great beings be they their true material ancestors or the gods. It doesn't really matter to the Slug-Men, who are the ruling caste of the Yellow City and have always been as far as they can recall.

They are thin of body and human-like in shape, with gangly limbs and a slightly flexible pseudo-skeleton which sticky slug-like flesh wrap around. Their skin is slimy and tend to hang loose, with those who are fat from opulence become massive masses of slimy folds. They are somewhat hunched, having a spine-keel as the axis of their body. Their faces are gooey and slug-like, with stubby stalks with eerily humanoid eyes at the end and their mouth-fold is a disturbing and hideous organ which function similar to both slug and humanoid anatomy. There are many other strange aspect to Slug-Men biology but these are considered somewhat impolite to discuss. While a smart and surprisingly hardy species, they are not particular known for their strength. Very few Slug-Men are Warriors due to their social Caste putting them high in any social hierarchy and they are a philosophically and intellectually inclined people who find the warrior's arts distasteful.

Level 1: Gain Connect and Know as bonus skill. Your Constitution or Intelligence modifier increases by +1 and your Dexterity modifier decreases by -1. You can see clearly in any light level above complete darkness. At the GM discretion you may take the Xenoblooded Foci, representing a Slug-Man's whose Outsider ancestry is more pronounced in their lineage.

Anakim

On most of Latter Earth, the Anakim are the dreaded hordes of primitive and savage humanoids, the twisted goblins and green skinned warriors. In the Purple Land, however, these living weapons of the Outsiders have either gone completely extinct or changed so drastically that hordes and clans of monstrous beast-like men are rather unknown. Perhaps this is due to some efficient purge long ago or perhaps it has something to do with the Yellow City's roots as some long-lost seat of Outsider power. Either way, there are very little of what we could recognize as orcs or goblins who live as war-like societies. Instead, the remaining Anakim have diverged into two distinct and fundamentally different breeds:

• The Asura and the likes of the Ogre Mages descend from a particularly potent and altered breed of Anakim, created and bred by a long lost Imperator. Transformed and empowered far beyond their base cousins, these magically potent demi-gods nonetheless still bear to this day many traits associated with the Anakim, such as a monstrous visage and unnatural skin tones. Where the Anak of old were brutish and short-lived, however, the Asura are potent beings with innate magical powers drawn from the legacy. They are known for their vicious temperament, love of combat and generally explosive demeanor. However, through enlightenment they can and must learn to control themselves and use their powers correctly less they become little more than bloodthirsty ogres with a thirst for battle. Asura are rare and their clans are always few in numbers, whereas the Anakim were once a race bred for explosive population growth.
• The other breed are the Ghost People and similar beings, sometimes also called Yeren, Ghost Ape, Goblin Apes, Ghost Beasts and more. The remaining Anak are creatures which have eschewed civilization entirely, having fled into the deepest wild either to avoid succumbing to The Hate or out of fear of mankind. These creatures are expert survivors, who have devolved into an often ape-like form and forgotten all of civilization. Now they hunt Lahag or mountain peaks, elusive ghost-like beasts who eat traveller who dare enter their territory.

Blighted

There are many kind of Blighted in the Purple Land, yet little of them is understood let alone their true nature, as the land is so old that much has faded into myths, leaving the people of the Purple Land to simply believe such creatures have always existed and have crafted a myriad fanciful myths to explain their true nature, including the belief that they are lower beings who were cursed to be reincarnated in a weakened, servile or animalistic form.

• Much like the Slug-Men, the Crab-Men are another race of demihuman-outsider crossbreed, although the Slug-Men would take offense at the idea of even being vaguely related to such horrible and lowly creatures. The Crab-Men are a form of Blighted, twisted far beyond the human form of their distant ancestors, infused with alien blood and features and now a completely distinct species.
• Tamasic Men, meanwhile, are different strains of subhuman creatures which combine the traits of Half-Men and animals. Common belief is that those who are slothful or negligent in life are reborn as a pathetic crossbreed of a miserable animal and a human being. The truth, however, is that these creatures were created in ancient times by long lost Imperator or similar beings from the population of ancient kingdoms who defied them. These dumb beasts have kept on breeding as some twisted eternal punishment.
• It is possible that other races of Yoon-Suin are, in actuality, Blighted as well but one must not assume this is always the case. Some may simply descend from people altered for different reasons, possibly willingly. Others have stabilized and developed, shaving off most of their Blight through the generations or learning to function with workarounds.

Tieflings: Why do we hate them, again?

Basically this.

Oh right. Its because they've been used so poorly and were reduced to some 'cute cosplay' race. The Tiefling, especially in its current form (since 4th edition) has diverged more and more from the original intent, which was a rare offshoot of human families cursed with fiendish blood but too mortal to be true half-fiends. The modern version, meanwhile, is a mostly coherent race which breed true and has a much more consistent appearance. They are also quite mocked in old school circles due to them being associated with the imagery of modern players doing their Tiefling as some sad misunderstood oppressed minority group. They basically are a darker Half-Elf and a sexier Half-Orc, all wrapped in a nice little package of looking more fantastical and exotic, right?

You're doing Tieflings all wrong.

Tieflings are to Humans what Drows are to regular Elves. If Tiefling are to be treated as a true-breeding race, then this requires changing them. D&D 4e did it right with giving them an empire but somewhat screwed this up by having it be destroyed already. So what is the modern concept of the race, really; Tieflings are, simply put, a stable offshoot of human bloodlines infused with fiendish blood.

The solution to making this take on the Tieflings 'cool' is not to humanize them but, rather, returned to defining them by their inhumanity. They are more than human but also less than human. They are everything which defines the human race in most fantasy settings but pushed to a darker, more inhuman extremes.

Its amazing how much mileage one can get out of race by not really changing their core, established lore but rather looking at it differently. Once you examine a race and go back to the basics of the fantasy genre, so much of it click into place. If you want to cut to the meat and potatoes and not read this long ramble, Tieflings are basically just Melniboneans or Dark Elves. They very much fit within that same archetype and could even replace any type of dark elves within a setting if one felt so inclined to have a race that is powerful, organized, evil, dangerous and magically inclined without the baggage of either being elves or the certain other connotations that make people annoyed.

Tieflings History and Nature

Like these guys, but with horns.

Everything that makes a Tiefling what it is, every single vice? These things already exist in humanity and always did. The slivers of fiendish influence in their blood does not make them evil per se. Rather, it simply amplifies and magnifies all the best and worst qualities of humanity. It is this amplified nature which ultimately brings them back to their fiendish roots, as superior ambition, pride and hubris will invariably drive most Tieflings to evil, although some of them are indeed demented monsters with a twisted mind. As with humans, Tiefling exist in all shape, sizes and quality: some are very smart, some are very dumb. However within each of them burns the fires of ambition which has always propelled mankind forward. The desire for more. The desire to compete. To excel. To conquer. The fiendish blood inside them isn't alone in making them evil. It merely nurture a seed which has always been there, which are all too human desires.

Humans in many fantasy setting are often defined by their ambition and their sheer drive, even when they find themselves coming short next to other races which may be more gifted in certain areas, such as magic or physical might. These positive qualities to constantly strive for more, this ambition? This is the very thing which led to the creation of the Tiefling race and the eternal damnation of all those who descend from their bloodlines. When the great god-kings of old realized their kingdoms would never be at peace, that there was always a greater power and more to be found next door, many could simply not take it. Neither could the greatest arch mages or high priests. Humanity has limitations, as do all things but it is human nature to desire more. To be more and to be greater. That is how great men, who could have once gone down in history as paragons of humanity sold their souls to lower powers simply because they had the all too human flaw of not being able to understand their limitations. They saw it as some great injustice or even more blasphemously, as the gods somehow 'holding down' humanity.

And so, many time across history, this pattern repeated itself. At the peak of their power or at their darkest hour, great heroes of mankind fell prey to the promises of power offered by lower powers. They surrendered their humanity and allowed dark powers to completely consume them, giving them greater might and even a partial form of immortality. Their most direct servants and descendants inherited a portion of this power as they were transformed. The dark pacts couldn't claim entire nations, but they could certainly taint parts of it. And so, several times across history, strains of a dark race were born. Still partially human but carrying within them a horrific taint.

Presenting Tiefling Cultures

Nota Tiefling, but pretty close.

I won't go into the details of whatever complex societies Tiefling could form, as that truly depend on a world's specific history. What is important is to coat the society in the right imagery. Understand Tieflings do not see themselves as a 'monster race', especially not on the same level as orcs or ogres. From their point of view, they firmly belong in the category of the intelligent and civilized folks such as their once-relatives the humans, the elves or dwarves. If anything, Tieflings see themselves as rather superior to all of these. They are, from their point of view, free of many of the petty weaknesses of other races. This, of course, plays in the races' sheer hubris which they inherited from their human ancestors. 

Most of all, Tieflings see themselves with a bloated self importance. They are the center of the world or at least percieve themselves as such. In their minds, the average fantasy setting isn't really some human-centric wilderness with many a decaying Tiefling empire or maybe scattered warrior clans. No no, see, that's the human delusion. To the Tiefling, THEY are the civilized folks, the beacon of civilization and peace in a world full of monsters and mad wizards. When Tiefling adventurers are encountered from a far away land, they see themselves as a plucky band of explorers (with maybe a few token members of other races) who most definitely aren't robbing tombs for riches but, rather, returning priceless artifacts to civilization!

Art by Ahmed Aldoori

Of course, most powerful Tiefling rules are still indebted to fiends, serving the lower powers of whatever hellish dimension their ancestors made pact with. This, mind you, doesn't really appear to be all that strange or sinister to Tieflings, especially with generations upon generation of their culture building and expanding on this. They serve the lower powers, who reward them. If anything, from their point of view, the Tiefling's way of serving their dark masters is more noble. After all, demons and their ilk can and will reward you with magical powers and arcane secrets provided you serve them well. Meanwhile, what can mortal kings and petty gods truly offer? Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven and all that. Let the weaker men and elves worship oft-silent gods who promise maybe an afterlife, when Tieflings can rise with their ambition, claiming crowns and crushing kingdoms underneath their heels, being showered in gold, wine and of course the comfort of concubines and/or boytoys.

Tiefling certainly have an association with sexuality (if one is fine with bringing that to their game table) but the same taint applies as with everything else. Tiefling sexuality is not a pretty topic and most relationships tend to end as some master/servant or abuser/abused. The best Tiefling couples are those who can manage to be equal partners, constantly testing and hurting each others so they can become stronger or perish. Its all quite masochistic, really.

In spite of their often monstrous features, or because of them, many Tieflings can become object of lust from people who find their stranger traits to be 'alluring' or 'exotic'. While some Tieflings are indeed ugly or monstrous, many of them carry within them the allure and potent physical presence of many of the more deceptively beautiful fiends. Unfortunately for many, this fact is usually more often than not exploited by Tieflings, as is their 'sad and tragic' origin. Being open minded around a Tiefling, to open oneself to them and to show interest is a surefire way to die. Most of them don't see human as worthy opponents, let alone as something to love (a word which, by itself, does not translate to their language well as love and obsessive urges=same thing in their dialect of Fiendish Tongues+Common).

4e Tiefling art

Despite seeing themselves as a cultured and civilized people, few other races truly ever bother interacting willingly with Tieflings. While they claim to praise certain values which may seem fine or appealing, such as beauty, power, ambition or 'loyalty' (which is also different in meaning for them, as loyalty is a conditional term for them), their culture remain tainted by their fiendish influence and remain utterly unpalatable to most other races. Tiefling sports are invariably horrific blood games or even a form of ritualized hunt. Their art is grotesque and degenerate, favoring flesh and bone interwoven with beautiful gems and precious metal. To Tiefling this is 'natural' and speak of the profound, almost mystical beauty of the juxtaposition of violence, pain, love and wonder. To a sane person, a Tiefling artist is a psychopath with sick tastes. The Tiefling, meanwhile, doesn't seem to take kindly to being called a monster because he has a refined taste of painting exclusively with the blood of different sentient races.

The way Tieflings see the other races isn't really all that different from how hegemonistic and imperialistic cultures saw their neighbors. Their superiorty is self evident in their noble bearing, the fine lines of their faces, their sharp fangs, glowing eyes and the complex and varied forms of their horns. Any Tiefling simply has to look their history or even in a mirror to see it self-evident they are a master race and everything else is just ugly. They can turn to their culture and history and see it as self-evident that they are a more enlightened people which have cast aside the yoke of cruel or uncaring gods in favor of a harsh but fair new master, one which values the only things that truly matter in life: power and survival.

So what are Tieflings, then? How do you use them? Simple, they are the dark mirror to humans. They are also the evil and vaguely exotic foreign power which people fear and despise because of their supposed witch ways and worshipping demons, only in their case it is 100% true and more. They are the cruel conquerors, the degenerate empire of sorcerers and the monsters with harem of beautiful women and monsters alike. They are disgusting, vile, base people who are blinded by the idea they are somehow a morally kind.

Worlds Without Number: The Orcquest (Campaign Concept)

The 'orc' archetypes keep making rounds these days, again and again, as society goes in circle over the same lie and nonsense. These creatures, indeed all so-called Savage or Evil Humanoids are caught between two roles and concepts. One is their archetypal concept as humanoid forces of destruction, be it that of nature or a representation of humanity's animalistic and barbaric side. The other conception is the 'orc' is a misunderstood, sometimes even oppressed victim. So which one is truer to the 'orc' nature: barbaric despoiler devoid of any redeeming qualities and only fit to die at sword point or misunderstood victim?

Perhaps in Latter Earth, they are both true in a way. After all, Tolkien's orcs have a proposed origin of having once been Elves twisted by Morgoth.

The Orcquest

“What is better ? to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort ?”     

-Paarthurnax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Art by Markus Neidel

Game Concept: Arthurian legends quest for the Holy Grail+Warhammer's Warriors of Chaos+Orcs

You are an Anakim, a descendant of demi-human engineered by the cruel alien Outsiders to be a living weapon against the rest of humanity. Your ancestors were made stronger, faster, more vicious and filled with an intense built-in hatred for anything close to the baseline human. For generations your kind has existed, all across the fragment of Latter Earth. You were born in the Nameless Wastelands, a horrible patch of land partially transformed into an Arratu. For eons your kind has lived there. When the other beings, the human and demi-human's power waned or when they grew fat and weak your kind swarmed in to destroy and pillage their lands only to inevitably be driven back into your horrid wilderness which pass for a homeland. This is the only existence your kind has known for all of their (poorly recorded) history. That and constant strife, rivalries and genocides against each others.

Every generation there are a few like you which are either born with the curse weaker in their blood or who possess the natural strength of character to surpass the blight which affect your people. Often such individuals with a greater sense of vision and purpose rise to become great heroes, war leaders, shaman or revolutionaries. However you and your like-minded compatriots have realized this is not the way to go, as anything these Anak men and women build will invariably come undone or twisted. It is in the nature of your people to crave violence and to fear and hate everything around them. Whatever gods or demons you pray to have never answered your prayers with peace because such peace would be unnatural to your people.

You know your kind are both the monsters people say they are but also more than that, at least in potential. You have lost too many friends to bloodlust or petty emotions. Maybe you've had to kill a son, a husband or sworn friend because they could not be reasoned as they smelled the scent of demi-human flesh and ancient memetic kill codes imbedded in their genes activated. Not that you'd know what those are. Your kind simply calls it The Hate or The Curse or The Nature. Anak hate and fear all of the other things which call Latter Earth their home. You know deep down your kindred are cruel, petty, cowardly and lacking in empathy (a word you only learned from scant few interaction with purer humans).

So you and your band of warriors set out on a foolish quest which no other Anakim has ever attempted. A quest some believe to be impossible. You intended to find the birth place of your kind, where the Outsiders first molded the flesh and mind of your ancestors to become twisted creatures. You wish to find the mythical ur-blood, the flesh-cradles and the spawning pits of legend. Perhaps an Outsider still live there or perhaps it left behind secret notes on the Anak's creation. You and your band hope to find it or die trying so you may free all of your people and all their distant kindred from their twisted nature. Then and only then will your people be truly free to choose their own destiny and turn their passion and anger to a greater purpose.

Or perhaps, should you succeed, you'd only doom Latter Earth with a tide of renewed and empowered Anakim...

Worlds Without Number: Forgotten or Lackluster D&D Monsters worth Importing

The upcoming Worlds Without Number from Sine Nomine is well on its way to be great, what with the usual excellence of projects by Kevin Crawford. While it could be used for fairly 'generic' fantasy, its core setting of Latter Earth is much more steeped into weird fantasy and scif-fantasy, akin to the pulp and fantasy of old which blurred the lines a lot more. While legally Kevin Crawford cannot flat out add any monster from Wizards of the Coast books that aren't SRD this can't and won't stop any aspiring Game Master. Given the focus on the weirder side of fantasy this got me thinking about the plethora of often forgotten and crappy monsters, especially those from the latter end of D&D Third edition and from Fourth edition. There's a ton of critters which were a flash in the pan and didn't come back for the very successful Fifth Edition, usually because they weird alien thingies with weird mechanics or barely cooked ideas. However, this make them well suited to be re-imagined for Worlds Without Number.

Generally I've stuck to monsters who have not made a transition to Fifth Edition.

Foulspawns/Ushemoi

A nice family picture.

Sources: Monster Manual V (3e), Monster Manual (4e)

The creatures called Foulspawn are to Anakim what the Anakim are to other human/demi-human. Their origins are unclear: perhaps they are the Ur-Anak, the original form of the living bioweapon of the Outsiders or perhaps they were the prototypes to the Anakim. While the Anak physiology is roughly human-like, albeit deformed or more fearsome looking, the Foulspawns only conceit to human physiology is that of general shape, usually that of a bipedal creature with two arms and two legs and even then not always. Foulspawn may share some vaguely biological similarity with the root race of humanity but their bodies are so bizarre as to be functionally Outsiders. Foulspawn are irredeemably mad, or at the very least completely and utterly alien as to find no common ground with other races and are driven by their own version of the "Hate" which extend over to to 'regular' Anakim. Perhaps they see them as 'too human' in relation to their alien physiology.

Foulspawn dwell in underground Arratu whose environment is so completely alien as to sometimes be enough to kill a human through mere exposure to meta-dimensional energies, toxic spores or flesh-eating mold caverns. Disturbingly, the Foulspawns are gifted with telepathic ability and their alien minds seem to almost exist on a separate plane, able to communicate across even time and space on some bizarre instinctual level few can grasp. Individuals and groups alike are in a state of biological flux and several individuals and breeds are able to mutate or 'evolve' in response to stress or even absorbing spells somehow. Despite their twisted appearance and seemingly mad behavior, several Foulspawn are towering giants when it come to intellect and spellcasting. They are, for all intents and purposes, a bridge between the Outsiders and the masses of demihuman. What flaw or limitation which exist in them which made them near extinct beyond certain pockets is unknown but some speculate they are sterile and cannot breed true without Outsider science and magic, which would require a human to transmute.

Silthilar and Zern

Source: Lord of Madness (3e) and Monster Manual IV (3e)

Two unrelated monsters with disturbing
similarities. Coincidence or...?

The term 'Outsider' in Worlds Without Number refer to alien beings which are either extraterrestrial and/or extradimensional. In the past, they ruled Latter Earth and enslaved humanity but now the rule of the innumerable creatures is shattered. There are many, many creatures found in a variety of often forgotten books which could form the basis for a race of Outsiders.

The Silthilar and the Zern are, unknown to most people and even themselves, the same race or at least share a common ancestor. Rulers of vast bio-engineered forests, jungles and other similar environments the ancestor of these creatures inhabited. They sought to engineer and achieve a state of biological perfection, although no two factions agreed on what that meant. The Silthilar have been broken and transformed into a sentient swarm while the Zern are diminished and limited to a form which roughly mock that of their human slaves, albeit one they can reorganize in fascinating ways to gain a temporary advantage. They have mastered the arts of genetic modification and inter-species grafting, which in ages past was a skill they often offered to other Outsiders to help create whatever minions they needed to engineer. The Silthilar clade of these beings are generally more open minded and respectful of life than the Zern but they remain exceedingly alien in their understanding of what life is and many will see no problem with engineering a life form beyond its normal limitations, granting it enhanced physical and mental abilities. Unfortunately the poor Silthilar will often express confusion at any rejection of its gifts and may not understand that a group of humans did not want to be, for example, merged into a single immortal organism. Different strokes for different 'people', really.

Mindshredders

Insectoid and hive-based? What a shock!

Source: Monster Manual III (3e)

The Mindshredders are alien creatures, designed as a biological weapon against civilizations whose advanced magic and technology derived from mental power, such as mind constructs, hive minds or simply the powerful will and intellect of a semi-immortal ruling caste. Mindshredders were engineered to counter such things. They are squat, insectoid creatures with a terrifying and dangerous ability to drain the mental energies of living beings (especially human, demi-human and even some Outsiders) as a food source. They have a life cycle split into three phases, with the mindless Larvae, the bulky Warriors and the intelligent (yet alien) 'Zenthal' which have bizarre yet potent psionic abilities.

Because their biology is built around feeding off mental energy, Mindshredders are pretty much 'locked' into a predatory lifestyle where they must find something with enough of a true mind to drain in order to sustain themselves, grow and eventually reproduce. It is unclear if they truly have anything resembling a culture beyond the Warriors and Larvae having some deference for the intelligent and fully matured 'Zenthal'. The eldest and most intelligent of the Zenthal rule a colony via their seniority and ensure the colony grows and remain safe.

"Human Fighters Are Boring!" A rebuttal of the idea to nobody in particular

Well, this is going to come off as a bit rambling and somewhat oddly specific to a few people. I imagine anyone reading this blog who is more into OSR-related stuff and plays with older people doesn't deal with this mentality. This is very much a byproduct of Generation Y and Z that plays modern D&D, I've noticed.

I'm sure this is how this post will come across.

There's a bit of a stigma on the Fighter. Especially if its a 'Human Fighter'. The term is sometimes used as a joke by people who like the more fantastical aspects of D&D and fantasy RPG in general. Now I'm not going to shame people who play odd races and more exotic classes, provided that player does it well and in a way that doesn't hurt the game setting. This isn't what I got a beef with. My beef is with this idea that the 'Human Fighter' is a boring character. The idea on the surface has some merit, as it implies a very 'average joe' character on the most surface of level. The character is implied to be some guy (and its usually even more leveled at a guy) who has a sword and maybe a bow. He's that: a guy who is good with a weapon, in a party that usually include things like Tiefling Paladins, Dragonborn Barbarians, Goliath Sorcerers or Gnomish Hexblades or even more bizarre and nonsensical things. Yet in this parade of oddballs and freaks stand one man, an average man, a mortal man with nothing but his sword, his wit, his skill and hopefully a bit of luck.

One would think such a character actually has an innate cool factor. Yet apparently, the appeal of the 'everyman' character isn't what it used to be. To make a comparison to something which these people still find currently very popular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe: the 'human fighter' is Steve Rogers, Hawkeye or even arguably The Falcon (as he's just a guy with a bird jetpack). While some of these aren't the most popular of the Avengers, they're not exactly hated last I checked. Now I know people will bring up that Steve is a super soldier but really, his 'power' is that he was chemically given really good stats all around without being fully superhuman, if you really think about it. And a special shield. Steve is just a Fighter with really good stats all around and a special shield. He doesn't shoot fire, he doesn't levitate and he doesn't have magic. Yet, somehow, when you take these people who are fan of this you'd have to tie them to a chair and torture them to play a 'human fighter'. Pathetic.

I've come to realize the problem isn't 'exotic' races by themselves or even oddball classes. The problem is a fundamental inability to craft anything compelling, character-wise, without the crutch of a character's very state of being. Now I'm not saying everyone should come to a table with 26 pages of backstory, this is often quite useless in any game where you apply a modicum of Old School thinking and remove plot armor. However people have a certain inability to have a certain hook to their character which doesn't require a special exotic race and/or class. To prove my point I've collected a series of ideas, some my own, some found elsewhere to create a compelling 'Human Fighter' backstory that accomplish the following goals:

1. It provide a fairly simple, yet efficient hook or 'gimmick' to showcase that the character's class lend itself to more than playing 'Mike the generic human guy with a sword' and to show that the class and/or race itself is not the backstory.
2. It explains why the character is currently adventuring.
3. It's simple enough to be usable to add roleplay flavor without forcing the game world to bend to an overly complex backstory should the game focus more on dungeon crawl, hexcrawling and/or sandboxing.

In order to do so and be relevant to the currently most popular RPG, I have built these basic character ideas from the Backgrounds as outlined in various Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition books. As an additional limitation, these Fighters will be assumed to be either Champions or Battle Masters as anything else is too 'fancy' and different from the Fighter of older editions.

• Acolyte: A non-spellcaster disciple of Kord or similar non-evil gods of war and physical might. Big burly dude with high CHA who love history, religious songs and weird fighting techniques like hitting people with a sword's pummel. A bruiser but hardly a brute or an idiot, but possibly lacking in Wisdom.
• Charlatan: An asshole walking around with very fancy, very polished armor and nice, clean weapons. Pretend to be some holy knight-errant, some prince of a faraway land raised by elves or some other fancy shit. Is really just a charlatan that's good at fighting, a mercenary who over-inflate his prices.
• Criminal: The usual tough and morally dubious thug. He's a fighter and not a rogue, so that makes him some hired muscle. Alternatively, a bow-focused fighter who is a cold blooded assassin.
• Entertainer: A professional actor, specializing in re-enacting the plays of the greatest warriors, heroes and demi gods of the land. Fell on some bad times and now is using his weapon and skills to fight actual monsters and not stage props.
• Entertainer (Gladiator): Need no explanation.
• Folk Hero: He's from the same mold as humble heroes, farmboys-turned-chosen one and shonen protagonists alike. Good heart, good guts and as dense as a sheet of adamantine master crafted by dwarven smith.
• Guild Artisan: A smith and craftsman of weapons and armors who has fallen on hard times and, like the entertainer, has turned his skills to more practical goblin-slaying or whatever use. He knows how to maintain his gear perfectly.
• Hermit: Perfect for the battle master, this guy is some weirdass hermit taking cues from wuxia, living in the woods and trying to master weird sword techniques. His techniques are peerless, or will be with enough practice.
• Noble: Plenty of possible ways to implement this background, as historically speaking a fighter would have been from nobility.
• Outlander: Not every guy-from-a-more-primitive-background is a ranger or barbarian. Like the noble this can be done in a variety of ways, from Conan ripoff to even something slightly closer to Aragorn-minus-the-ranger-class.
• Sage: Not every scholar is a Wizard and not every area of research is safe. With both brain and brawn, this adventuring scholar knows how to fend for himself just fine. While this type of backstory work even better for a Rogue, whose to say this one doesn't prefer a more blunt solution to problems?
• Urchin: Born in the mean streets, he rely on his raw skill and guts. Unlike other Fighters, he prefer to use crappier weapons rather than nice swords and armors. Probably a concept best reserved for games where Feats are available to further customize in some weird ways. Probably a battle master whose 'special techniques' who are actually cheap tricks like hitting someone in the balls.