What Connects Us?

— John Thomas Smith, 19th century

One moment from the Into the Megadungeon podcast that’s really stuck with me was Josh McCrowell’s discussion of bonds in His Majesty the Worm. I’ve found that in the OSR culture of play, personal relationships between characters can be deemphasized to a detrimental degree. (I suspect this stems from an overzealousness to disassociate from OC and Trad). All that and a recent Discord exchange on the “Do we know each other?” table from Songbirds 3e has inspired me to write up a short table of unconventional relationships.

What Connects Us?

Each player rolls 1d20 to establish a relationship with between their character and that of the player to their left.

1. We each own one-third of the same treasure map.
2. We’re twins.
3. We’re the only worshippers of a near-forgotten deity.
4. We’re accountability partners.
5. We got body-swapped.
6. We’re bandmates—and the sole survivors of an owlbear attack.
7. We have the same imaginary friend.
8. We’re a con artist duo.
9. One’s a clone or simulacra of the other, but we can’t agree on which is which.
10. We awoke together in a hayloft with matching tattoos and total amnesia.
11. We speak a near-extinct language.
12. We’re in a will-they-won’t-they flirtationship.
13. The prophesized chosen one could just as easily be either one of us.
14. We’re both animals-turned-human.
15. We have identical birthmarks.
16. I believe you’re a prophet and act as your disciple.
17. As far as the law is concerned, we’re the same person.
18. We were encouraged to seek each other out by two different fortune tellers.
19. We experience migraines when more than a mile apart.
20. We believe that, through reincarnation, we’ve accompanied each other through many lifetimes. If either of us dies, the other will recognize the replacement character as the latest incarnation of their eternal companion.