Background

A Background is a special trait used in the Storyteller System used to represent elements of a character's history or backstory. They establish a character's social status, history, or special tools that don't fall under the sway of supernatural powers such as Disciplines, Gifts, Arcanoi, etc.

Like other traits, characters can purchase Backgrounds with experience points in the course of a chronicle, though some were restricted, either available only at character creation or through in-character actions. Many Backgrounds were disallowed altogether for certain character types (such as certain Tribes of Garou), while Storytellers were advised to allow other only at their discretion.

In the Storytelling System, the traits that were traditionally Backgrounds became Merits.

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Common Backgrounds

There were a few backgrounds common to almost all of the Classic World of Darkness lines. These represented common resources a player could use in the course of a chronicle.

• Allies - Close companions who could be called on for most anything.
• Contacts - Those willing to help for a favor in return.
• Fame or Notoriety - How well-known the character was in society; Notoriety generally carried negative connotation, however.
• Influence - A character's ability to affect mortal society.
• Mentor - An experienced guide through the supernatural or everyday world.
• Resources - How much a character had to live on.
• Status - Where a character ranked in a particular social structure.

Special Backgrounds

These are backgrounds that have less-than-common origins, were special to that particular breed of supernatural, and require a bit more explanation.

Vampire: The Masquerade

• Generation - How many generations a Kindred is removed from Caine.
• Herd - A group of mortals from whom the vampire may regularly feed with relative ease.
• Retainers - Mortal servants.
• Age - How old the Kindred was.  (DSBH)

Kindred of the East

• Horoscope
• Jade Talisman - Yin or Yang

Werewolf: The Apocalypse

• Fetish - An object with a bound spirit inside.
• Kinfolk - Non-Garou allies with werewolf blood who may be immune to the Delirium.
• Rites - Special ceremonies used in the life of a Garou.
• Totem - A spirit that bestows power on a pack of Garou.

Mage: The Ascension

• Arcane - A mystical ability to go unnoticed.
• Avatar - A more powerful than normal Avatar which likely speaks to the mage more often and provides a personal source of Quintessence. Among Technocrats, this Background is called Genius.
• Dream - The mage is able to connect with the universal unconscious to acquire information.
• Library - A collection of books or other sources which contain accurate magical knowledge.
• Node - A natural upwelling of Quintessence to which the character has access.
• Sanctum - a place where the mage can study and research with safety greater efficacy. The Technocracy equivalent is Laboratory.
• Talisman - An item imbued with magical power. The Technocracy see all such things in terms of their Enlightened Science, and call them Devices.

Wraith: The Oblivion

• Artifact - An valuable object imbued with power and fuelled with Pathos.
• Eidolon - The ability of a wraith to resist their Shadow.
• Haunt - A spiritual refuge from the dangers of the Shadowlands.
• Legacy - The works of a wraith in life that continue on after their death as a tribute to their memory. Visiting these works can be used to heal damage to their Corpus.
• Memoriam - The memories that people hold of the deceased. Can be tapped into as a source of Pathos... though memories fade.
• Relic - An object that passed through the Shroud with a wraith due to emotional resonance.

Changeling: The Dreaming

• Chimera - A chimerical object owned, or chimerical creature befriended, by the Changeling.
• Dreamers - Mortal artists who serve as a source of Glamour.
• Holdings - A Freehold to which the character has access or owns.
• Remembrance - The Changeling's memories of her previous life in the Dreaming.
• Retinue - Mortal allies who have been Enchanted and are thus able to interact with the world of the fae.
• Title - The Changeling has a noble title.
• Treasures - An item imbued with Glamour that has magical properties.

Hunter: The Reckoning

• Arsenal: Determines what weapon's your character as access too, possibly even military utilities.

Demon: The Fallen

• Eminence - A Fallen's rank among other Fallen.
• Followers - Those who make Pacts with and freely follow a Fallen.
• Legacy - A Fallen's memories of Paradise and the War of Wrath.
• Paragon - The ability of some Fallen to use their central Lore more reliably.

Orpheus

• Anchor - An object that can be used to bolster Vitality. Similar to a Fetter from Wraith.
• Artifact - An item a character could call on in spirit form. Similar to Wraith's Background of the same name.
• Haunt - A refuge a character can hide from Spectres in. Similar to Wraith's background of the same name.