The Sleeper’s Ledgers · No. 2
The Backstory Ledger
A past for any character in three rolls, plus four sheets to catch what the rolls turn up. Print one for every player at session zero, or whenever someone new sits down.
Printable PDF · instant download from Etsy
- 10 pages
- 108 entries
- Screen and print editions
- Plain text for VTTs
- System-agnostic, No rules text
Three of the book’s 10 pages. The rest is in the PDF.
Build a Backstory in Three Rolls
Three rolls is all it takes to give a character a history the whole table can use. Character creation hands everyone a class and a weapon and usually leaves the past blank, so this ledger fills it in with one roll on each of three d66 tables.
Roll it at session zero, or on the night a new player joins. It covers the character's past and stops there, from where they started up to what they're still hiding, and it needs no rules, no particular edition and no prep. Once play gets going, the Party Ledger takes over the shared records.
Origins is where a character began, from family and hometown to the work they did and the teacher they had, all the way to the day they left. The Wound is what that life cost them, who did the taking, and what they swore afterward. The Secret is what they carry now and what it costs them each week to keep it quiet.
One roll on each table gets you a backstory in three sentences. Roll twice on each and the character starts contradicting themselves, and in play the contradiction tends to be the good part.
Four sheets catch whatever the rolls shake loose. Names & Faces is for people from before, Places for home and the places a character can't go back to, and Debts for what's owed in both directions. The Object is the one thing they'd walk back into a fire to get.
A note on content. The Wound table deals with loss, betrayal, imprisonment, illness and guilt. The book says up front to handle it gently, or leave it out at some tables, and that call belongs to your table.
WHAT'S INSIDE
- 3 d66 tables, 108 entries, written to be rolled or just read until one looks back at you.
- 4 guided sheets, meant to be printed for every player at the table.
- A GM's note on turning a rolled backstory into a season of hooks.
- Bookmarked PDFs with no lock on them.
THE FILES
- SA-Backstory-Ledger-Screen.pdf (the Moonvellum screen edition)
- SA-Backstory-Ledger-Print.pdf (plain white, printer-friendly)
- SA-Backstory-Ledger-Tables.txt (all 108 entries as plain text for VTT handouts)
System-agnostic, no rules text, fits any edition with a past tense.
We'll Pick Up Next Week, the free letter: sleepersartifice.substack.com
The Sleeper’s Ledgers
More Ledgers
No. 1
The Party Ledger
Six printable sheets that hold the campaign's memory, filled in the same night you play. Works with any system.
No. 3
The Villain Ledger
Four sheets and a table of offscreen moves that keep one enemy busy between sessions.
No. 4
The Faction Ledger
Up to six factions each take a turn between sessions, so the world has moved a little by the time the table sits back down.
Ledgers
The Night's Ledger
Two sheets to keep next to your notes on game night, and a table of scenes for when the room goes quiet. It's free.
Free · pay what you want, The Night's Ledger (opens in a new tab)
