Natural 7

Family Ties

(Check it out: I released a new single-session adventure on itch called Quest for the Vorpal Sword. You might use it with Dungeons and Dragons 5e or you might borrow bits for your other games.

Also: I released a tiny video game on itch called Hero's Last Stand. It takes less than a minute to try it out in your browser!)

Try tying your characters to a family name! It helps you try different approaches to the same goal over time, while allowing you to maintain a level of consistency across characters.

I latched onto this idea while playing high-lethality OSR games where you're never really certain if your character is going to survive through the next session. It helped me deal with the fact that while I may love my character and their goals, the dice may not. You can see my opinion on dice here, by the way.

There are lots of different kinds of factions you could tie your character to. In this post, I'm going to look specifically at using a family name to tie your characters together.

What do I do?

If you wish to pursue this path, you'll want to complete the following steps whenever you make a new character from the family:

  1. Give the character the family name
  2. Give the character the family's goal
  3. Consider how the character could try to achieve this goal

The first two steps don't really change after the first iteration. It's the last one that really counts for developing unique characters from the same family. If you'd prefer to sort of just play the same character with a different first name, then you can skip this last step.

Family Names

Just by giving your character a cool family name it can help you characterize them. Name dropping something like "Kaelek Enne of the House of Enne" feels awesome, no matter how many times you do it. Trust me, I've gone to great lengths to introduce my characters as often as possible.

The way you name your character can vary from setting to system to personal preference. For games with a less modern setting, remember that even having a family name can represent great power to people who only require a first name.

If you intend to use this strategy to tie most of your characters to the same familial faction, try to pick a name that both fits the setting and isn't annoying to pronounce. Joke names can be funny at first, but can also get old and frustrating when situations become tense. The name Tanzygawixishthll might look cool on paper, but when you have to say it over and over again (or, your fellow players have to say it), the pronunciation may get in the way of a good time.

The family begins as just a name, an inkling of an idea. Over time, it takes meaning upon itself based on your actions. You are writing your own family legacy.

Family Goals

So, you've got a name and it sounds reasonable, what's next? Now you want to select a goal for your family that you are interested in pursuing (perhaps in different ways) across multiple characters/personalities. Selecting a goal is best done with the rest of the table during your session zero or session one, after you know a little bit more about what the adventure is about.

Some good fallbacks if you are unsure are:

Your family seeks to...

  1. Amass great wealth
  2. Find a lost heirloom
  3. Restore their former glory
  4. Expand their domain
  5. Induct new people into the family
  6. Subdue a rival family

Make sure these don't conflict too much with your adventuring group's main goals. You don't want to get in the way of the overarching campaign structure, you just want a reason for your family to keep sending relatives into risky situations.

Some examples of familial goals that I have used in the past are:

All characters you play from this family should understand this goal and have it at the forefront of their mind. If you want to get creative and unique, you can bring in a family member who actually wants the exact opposite of all your former characters. This can be a fun dynamic shift for you and the other player characters.

Family Members

No one in a family is exactly the same, not even identical twins or psychically linked cousins. When you make a new character and tie them to a family, think about how this character is unique and how do they try to achieve their goals?

The methods in which a character enforces their will upon the world distinguish them from other characters.

Your first character might be a very curious, outgoing individual who asks questions of everyone they meet. After dying in an armed robbery, you might bring in a new character who is deeply suspicious of new people and approaches most situations with utmost caution.

It can be helpful to roll or choose a mien or personality from a random list for each new character you create. If you have an overarching theme for your family (i.e., crime family, noble family, merchant family, farming family) you can subtly change that aesthetic using the mien or personality as inspiration.

Some common options for your character's personality are:

  1. Dark, brooding
  2. Light, go-lucky
  3. Curious, inquisitive
  4. Suspicious, cautious
  5. Charismatic, outgoing
  6. Righteous, judicial

Example - The O'Sheas

I recently joined a Dolmenwood game and decided that all my characters would be descended from Granny O'Shea, a woman with quite a bit more than a little fairy magic running through her blood. In her youth, Granny O'Shea participated in something in either the Dolmenwood or the fairy realm before eventually marrying and moving into a rich manor house on the duchy's southern border.

Recently, on her deathbed, Granny O'Shea sent a message to each of her some two dozen children and grandchildren, both living at the manor house or off pursuing careers elsewhere. Each message was unique, presenting a task for that person to complete. Many of these tasks are related to the Dolmenwood.

My first character, Clever O'Shea, was tasked with retrieving an artifact from the Witching Ring, a circle of standing stones at the center of the Dolmenwood. Unfortunately, he met an untimely demise before being able to accomplish this quest.

My second character, Eilish O'Shea, has a similar task regarding the Witching Ring. We'll see how she fares.

This has worked quite well so far, even after one early character death. My characters are still tied to the goal of the campaign (exploring the Dolmenwood) and to the goals of the faction I represent (the family of Granny O'Shea).

No matter what happens my goals will never stray too far from fulfilling Granny O'Shea's dying wishes.

I also managed to convince another player to play a member of the O'Shea family alongside me! Having a cousin makes for some exciting banter and roleplay!

Example - The Pearl House

In the big, long Mythic Bastionland game, I played family members of the Pearl House. The family began with the Pearl Knight, who, by use of a cursed magic item, was erased from memory, and became a sort of family patron that donated most of his earnings to the wellbeing and support of the Pearl House. Future members of the Pearl House took of sword and shield in the name of commerce, hunting, and fair play. They held friendship as the highest and most important loyalty tie.

Aside from the Pearl Knight, who shall not be named, I played four other members of the Pearl House during the latter half of the campaign (for the first half I played two other miscellaneous characters).

The Pearl Knight's successor was Aeiona (I tried to fit as many vowels as possible into one name), the Rat Knight. She was awesome, and actually managed to survive through the entire campaign after starting as a young knight with only 3 Vigour! She went through a lot of trials and tribulations, including lots of colossal kaiju monster fighting, god-shrine hunting, and was even reborn like a phoenix from a flaming brazier. Her goal was to grow the Pearl House from a small family to a large, influential, political powerhouse. She succeeded! In the end, Aeiona retired as Countess of Gwyn Traeth, her home holding.

Aeiona's successor and son was "Little" Dove, the Weaver Knight, who loved to weave his own cloth robes. Dove was a true hero-type. His goals were to spread the influence of the Pearl House into other realms, and he did so by being one of the first knights to visit the realm to our north. There he dealt in regional politics, even having the chance to save the life of the ruling lord! Later on, Dove joined a merchant company that brought a great deal of wealth to the realm (and further influenced the Pearl House's political power). In the end, Dove survived through the end of the campaign, retiring with his family in Gwyn Traeth.

Little Dove's successor and son was Lwddwyr (pronounced like "Luther"), the Violet Knight. Lwddwyr didn't make it very far, he died on his third expedition, admittedly a very dangerous one. He was known for his exploits in trying to become the greatest wizard in this realm and the next, for he had hoped to bring a bit of magic to life in the Pearl House.

On another axis of the Pearl House was Morgant, a complicated character with an estranged relationship with her name and life (having suffered an accident at a young age, and picking up the same cursed magic item as the Pearl Knight did long ago). Her goals were to build strong friendships and to one day reunite herself with the Pearl House. It took a long time, much negotiations about certain evil actions taken while under the influence of a cursed magic item, and some bonding over killing a salty king before Morgant finally achieved her goal. She retired at the end of the campaign in Gwyn Traeth in the loving embrace of the Pearl House.

So, four characters all tied to the same faction: the Pearl House, with similar goals and beliefs that allowed me to play them over time without having to fear extreme changes in the game. No matter what happened in our realm, I always had the wellbeing of the Pearl House at the front of my mind. Nearly every family member cared about fostering strong friendships with others, so when in doubt that's what I tried to do. If I was already friends with people, I looked to see how the Pearl House could increase its political or economical power in a given situation. These allowed me to develop a strong presence for the Pearl House over the course of the campaign.

Final Thoughts

We looked at what might go into tying your characters to a family name and what it allows you to do. This is an option I highly recommend for players in high-lethality roleplaying games because it allows you to adapt to character death without feeling like you're starting over completely from scratch.

Thanks for reading, I hope you find this inspiring or useful!

Things on my radar: