Barber surgeon (Class/background)

 

Though none in the Guild would dispute the importance of a clean shave and a fresh haircut, our true value lies in the duties we perform alongside these more aesthetic arts.

The Order of Light (AKA The Candle-Maker's Guild)

Though anyone can make a candle, few truly understand or appreciate the art of the candle-maker. You have joined these select few and have been enlightened on the true nature of illumination.

Hopefishers (primordial background/class)

The fish have long since left, but for some sitting down and twiddling their thumbs just isn't an option. Some such go out and die in some grand, but ultimately meaningless effort, the rest of them join the hopefishery. Day after day these folks go out onto the lake to cast out their nets hoping they'll pull up something, anything at all. 

Dancing Woods: a rules agnostic adventure location

A write up of an ancient forest of trees with twisted trunks that move behind your back.
Populate the forest with D10 Landmarks and D10 Residents.

Fae in the Valley and how they rub off on people

Small spirits, especially local ones, are incredibly fascinating. From Ghibli movies like Spirited Away and the mushi in Mushi-shi to the mischievous and otherwordly fairies from folktales, the idea of these creatures that are in some way fundamentally different from people while still affecting our lives is something I have been obsessing over recently. 

One of the things I like is the weird and absolute rules that these creatures seem to follow. Whether that is being invisible as long as you hold your breath, having to eat their food to remain real within their world, being forbidden from mating with mortals or being able to fly if you truly believe you can. These laws seem as absolute as those governing physics and chemistry, which makes them incredibly alien and super reliable, both of which I am a complete sucker for. 

So how would this work in project social?

Primordial Class/Background: the Executioner

Continuing my work on project Social, here is another background/class thingy. I find these really help me to build the Valley from a player's perspective, while also being a really fun exercise.

Recently I read a pretty interesting article about executioners, which made me double down on putting an executioner family in the Town. Meet the Verderfs:

The Onderberg's: Primordial Miner class

Despite my silence on here, project Social is still very much on my mind. Especially the way I intend to do backgrounds, or classes, is something I have been mulling over quite a bit. 

Chris McDowall's latest project 'Primordial System', in which he attempts to make a game with primarily qualitative design in mind, has been really inspiring for me as a way to use backgrounds to worldbuild, while also making them weird and interesting. 

Because the point of project Social is to have a less individualistic focus, I do still want backgrounds to embed you in a subculture of the Valley, but I want to do so in a way that makes these subcultures interesting and intruiging, almost like secret societies. 

The basic layout for my 'backgrounds' at the moment is this: