You're assumed to be a long-term citizen of Yanagihama, with family or close friends in town — work with your GM to sketch them. Choose either a standard background or one of the six campaign backgrounds below.
Standard backgrounds that fit well: artisan, bounty hunter, charlatan, criminal, detective, entertainer, farmhand, gambler, guard, herbalist, hermit, hunter, laborer, martial disciple, merchant, scholar, street urchin, warrior, cook, pilgrim, root worker, servant, teacher, or ward. If you choose a standard background, you gain this generic seasonal boon instead of a specific one: once per season (i.e., once per adventure), gain a +4 status bonus to a check to resolve a downtime activity; you may apply it after rolling.
Campaign backgrounds are rare, tailor-made for this story, and each explains why you ended up among the festival's abductees. Each grants a seasonal boon usable once per season as a free action; unused boons don't carry over.
You share a standing tea-and-gossip friendship with one of Yanagihama's notable citizens — an employer, mentor, relative, or friendly rival (work with your GM to pick; not Granny Seo or Old Tachibana Jiro). They suggested you'd make a fine abductee this year — or you talked them into it last year, and now it's your turn. Your home is likely near theirs.
Boosts: one to Charisma or Intelligence, one free.
Trained: Diplomacy, Tea Lore. Feat: Specialty Crafting (pick a specialty tied to your ally).
Your allied NPC starts friendly to the party (most townsfolk start indifferent).
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger Someone in the party makes a Yanagihama NPC friendly; Effect Your reputation rubs off — the NPC becomes helpful instead.
Yanagihama's legends, hauntings, and half-remembered religious customs fascinate you — and you suspect many of them trace back to some deeper, true event in the town's history. You volunteered for the abduction, eagerly. Your home likely stands near a shrine of your faith (or interest).
Boosts: one to Intelligence or Wisdom, one free.
Trained: Religion, Art Lore. Feat: Oddity Identification.
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger You're about to roll any check to Recall Knowledge; Effect A parable or legend surfaces. The check loses the secret trait and its result improves by one degree of success.
The Northridge faction dreams of growth — and your dream is Yanagihama as a place of learning: a school, a library, maybe one day more. Childhood spent raising buildings gave this scholar uncommon muscle. You volunteered for the honor of taking part in one of the town's oldest traditions. Your home is likely on the north bank, east of downtown.
Boosts: one to Constitution or Strength, one free.
Trained: Society, Academia Lore. Feat: Additional Lore.
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger The party's reputation with Northridge increases; Effect It increases by 2 more (your GM tracks faction reputation).
Even 225 people is a crowd. You live on the town's fringe — perhaps beyond the map entirely — among the hunters, trappers, fishers, and herbalists who keep Yanagihama fed. You showed up to the festival late, and your friends (the other PCs) roped you into the abduction when someone else dropped out. Sleeping in the woods? That's just Tuesday.
Boosts: one to Dexterity or Wisdom, one free.
Trained: Nature, Hunting Lore. Feat: Terrain Expertise (forest).
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger You're about to roll initiative; Effect Gain a status bonus to initiative equal to the number of seasons since the campaign began (+1 in the first adventure, up to +4 in the last). If you can shout a warning, the other PCs gain it too.
The Southbank faction descends from the town's founders: farmers, builders, and keepers of the oral history. You uphold the old ways — and you got roped into the abduction by losing a bet, owing a favor, or covering for someone who backed out at the worst moment. Your home is likely south of the Keyaki River, toward the town's edge.
Boosts: one to Charisma or Constitution, one free.
Trained: Crafting, Farming Lore. Feat: Hobnobber.
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger The party's reputation with Southbank increases; Effect It increases by 2 more (your GM tracks faction reputation).
You grew up on the town's streets — orphaned, or working young to keep a family afloat — surviving on jury-rigged ingenuity, fast reflexes, and faster talk. You were chosen as an abductee by blind draw, by dare, or because you couldn't resist the attention. Home might be a shanty, a hideout, or anywhere at all.
Boosts: one to Dexterity or Strength, one free.
Trained: Athletics, Engineering Lore. Feat: Charming Liar.
Seasonal Boon ◇ (free action) Trigger You (or an adjacent PC) are about to roll a recovery check; Effect That check is an automatic critical success.
You may add one of these to any background:
Family — You and one or more other PCs are close family. (All involved PCs must take this.) Replace your background's skill feat with: Bickering (when your sibling critically fails a significant check and you see it, gain +1 status to saves until the end of your next turn), Close-Knit (Aid and Administer First Aid for your sibling at DC −5), or Typical (keep your normal feat).
Foundling — You weren't born in Yanagihama, but it raised you. Replace your background's skill feat with: Bitter (Intimidating Glare), Mysterious (Streetwise), or Outgoing (once per week, when you fail a downtime check that would benefit the town, succeed instead; a critical failure becomes a failure).