Barbarian Outsider Questions
I enjoy the Barbarian’s Outsider racial move. However, I’m finding I’m running a bit thin on questions for the Barbarian in my group. Any suggestions or existing lists?
Here’s what I’ve used so far (omitting followup questions that only make sense for his character):
– Why did you leave your people?
– What is taboo to your people?
– What weapons do your people typically use?
– What is your people’s land like?
– How do your people look differently from “civilized” people here?
– What do your people do that “civilized” people find distasteful or taboo?
– How do your people treat magic?
A few of my favorite answers from our group’s Barbarian:
– Why did you leave your people? The tribe used to be warlike, but has since settled into a peaceful, prosperous existance. Young adults still felt the need to prove themselves, so now they’re sent out on rumspringa to minimize in-tribe violence.
– What is taboo to your people? Allowing someone else to write your name; it grants them power over you. Everyone can write their own name, spouses can write each others, and parents can write their children’s.
After the first few sessions, I just ask about what happened last session. About actual events. I’ve asked “How would your mother feel if she could see you now.” We get weird.
“What do you miss the most about home?”
Why do your people eat the flesh of gnomes?
Why haven’t you killed the Mage by now as it would be expected by your people?
What part of the nobles behaviour here do you find most like in your tribe?
Why do your people worship dragons and cows?
What part of this alien new world do you want to bring back home to show to your family?
What lies had you heard about this land?
Who do you miss most?
Who are your people’s heroes, and why? And who are the greatest villains/enemies?
How have your dreams changed since you left your people?
Has anyone ever left your tribe before? How would they react if you met them, by chance? What is it that made you think of them, just now?
What promise did you make just before leaving, and to who?
What do you secretly enjoy about being away from your people?
Thanks, there is a lot of good stuff there that helped me shake off some assumptions about how these questions should be phrased and used!
I still really like using these questions to establish why this guy is an outsider. Why he has crazy rituals and customs that the other players have not. You could just ask about the homeland, but making their homeland more exotic and different is way more interesting. The player get’s XP if he answers so make some of the questions “mean”.
question regarding the taboo: Does the tribe leader/shaman write down the name of everyone when they’re born?
Does everyone have a ‘public’ name that doesn’t count, because it is, in fact, not your ‘real’ name?
Oh! Idea:
Gnome Fighter:
You know how to make things come apart. You can use INT instead of STR for Bend Bars, Lift Gates.
…I just realized I somehow put that comment on ENTIRELY THE WRONG THREAD. Sorry folks.
Gnome Fighters think outside the box!
Will you return to your tribe next season for your arranged marriage?