Session Zero: The Ties that Bind (Patreon)

This little 11pg pdflet is meant to help spark your player's imaginations in their next Session Zero.  It has helped my players to form a tight knit group of adventurers with interesting backstories and connections they may have not chosen otherwise. While this is brand spanking new and shiny with many more options than I have ever had in a previous campaign, I've used similar tables and doodads in the past to great effect.

In fact, for Tomb of Annihilation's Session Zero, "The Cursed" result was chosen by one of the players. I took him aside and said, if you want to... you could have the "Death Curse". It won't be pretty. It'll be terminal. Your character will not live beyond level 6, but you'll get to decide how he goes out (if he isn't killed normally before then). A bit of a roleplaying vet, he took on the challenge with aplomb and knowing he was going to die, made in his words, his best character. All the heart strings will pulled in session 40 when his character made the ultimate sacrifice and saved the party from a potential TPK. There were a few misty eyes. 

He wouldn't have chosen that as backstory — nor I for that matter. He needed a silly random table to imagine something unexpected. I hope the random brings you fun too.

Cover and interior art is produced by Midjourney.