Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[salcor]

I was wondering how many Savage World Settings have a Background Mechanic like in Darwin's World that provides additional skills, edges, and hindrances?

And how many SW players are interested in that kind of mechanic? Interface Zero has an occupations mechanic, but it only provides money. What does a background or occupation mechanic add or take away from the system?


Salcor

[77IM]

Common Knowledge already basically does this.

I've found that it helps to ask your players to write down their Common Knowledges on their character sheet, in a special section for this purpose. It makes the CK feel more real, more "official," less of an afterthought. It subtly gives control of the CK to the players and encourages them to use it to flesh out their characters. Because the CKs are free but give a +2 bonus, players like having some, so it can trick munchkins into roleplaying a little.

If you want something more elaborate, another thing to look at is Defining Interests from Iron Dynasty.

-- 77IM
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Stuff I made: Arcane Abilities · Talent Edge · Savage Fading Suns · Savage Wuxia!

[kreider204]

What he's talking about is a bit different - they're more like skill / edge / hindrance packages.

I'm not aware of another setting that does this in the way that Darwin's World does - but then again, I don't own every setting ... Maybe WWII or Necropolis? I think they may have had something like that tied to military ranks.
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"It only takes an extra second to be courteous."
- Constable Benton Fraser

[jpk]

I tend to build backgrounds out of Common Knowledge, skills, Edges, and Hindrances.

Consider a psychologist - Ansel - with high Intimidation, Filthy Rich, and Mean. Now consider another one - Bertram - with a high Notice, Charisma, and Connections. Ansel turned his focus to human fear and entertained himself by making a lot of money advising filmmakers how best to scare the bejeesus out of moviegoers. Bertram is actually friendly, insightful, and helpful, with a number of friendly former patients.

It's sort of the reverse process to picking a mechanical background, but it works for most of my groups.

Come to think of it, that doesn't actually address the question. I don't think most settings have mechanical backgrounds. Most of the Reality Blurs settings do have the Defining Interests, which are similar. I believe Weird War II and Tour of Darkness have skill expectations for military roles, but don't provide the skills.

[Bavix]

Agents of Oblivion from Reality Blurs automatically gives a d4 in Fighting, Shooting, Notice, and Tradecraft for all Oblivion agents. This in considered basic training and I think it really works well for a organization-based campaign. All agents also get the Obligations (Major: Oblivion) hindrance (which doesn't grant points), which helps balance things out. On top of that, AoO also uses Defining Interests to help further develop characters.

I love this idea for organizations in heavily themed champaigns. If I were to make a Star Trek conversion, all Star Fleet personel would have a "basic training" package that would included a d4 in all the skills they would need to do their jobs.
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[ogbendog]

Noble is kind of like that, it gives 2 edges and a hindrance.

I could see "backgrounds" being used like race, I've seen some Conan conversions that did backgrounds for the different kingdoms.

Totems of the dead does that as well