http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewth ... thread=684
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewth ... thread=688
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewth ... thread=698
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewth ... thread=723
Now, I bring this up because one of the alternate rules they suggest is giving a character a concrete bonus for his or her background. I'll slap up a couple of examples...
Veteran of The War
There was a great and terrible war that wracked the lands, and you fought on one or more sides of it.
Effect: Veterans have proficiency with 3 Martial weapons and one armor type. Veterans who belong to a class that already has martial weapon proficiency begin play with proficiency in 3 Exotic weapons appropriate to the lands upon which the battles raged. Veterans also have nightmares sometimes and talk about The War more than is perhaps strictly required.
Street Rat
You grew up on the hard end of the streets. The part where kids are total jerks and sometimes the wererats just make one of your friends disappear, and noone else seems to care. You had to lie and steal just to survive, man.
Effect: You have Bluff and Sleight of Hand as class skills no matter what you do. You don't catch normal diseases because you've already had them all. You get a +2 bonus on handle animal checks with street animals like dogs, rats, and pigeons. Also, you have a small shell that a girl gave you when you were twelve. You think she's dead, but really she's been turned into a wererat, so when eventually you meet again it'll be traumatic and you might have to kill her. Or maybe you'll be able to convince her to turn away from Team Monster and live happily ever after.
As you can see, Frank and K have a certain style going for them.
The question is, what backgrounds would be appropriate for Dragonmech?
I can see backgrounds giving people Mech Pilot and Mechcraft as skills, as well as one that gives you a jump on the Steamborg process.
Any thoughts?
The backgrounds are in Races of war, the fourth link.[/list]