Sample Paths¶

The listed items for Walking, Completing and Stepping Off the Path are only examples. And these Paths themselves are only examples. If they don’t fit a player’s needs feel free to create additional paths.

Path of the Artist¶

The Hero is committed to pursuing their art, finding meaning and purpose in that art.

Walking the Path: The Hero takes on risk or difficulty in pursuit of their art.
Stepping off the Path: Compromise the art for profit or convenience.
Completing the Path: Complete their masterpiece.

Path of the Collector¶

There is something the Hero is trying to collect, and they are willing to go to great lengths to do so.

Walking the Path: The Hero puts theself at risk or expend great resources to acquire the object.
Stepping off the Path: Give up or give away one of the objects in Hero’s collection or pass by a chance to add it to the Hero’s collection.
Completing the Path: Acquire the complete collection.

Path of the Commander¶

The Hero commands troops or followers of some kind and is dedicated to their safety.

Path of Conscience¶

The Hero believes it is his duty to protect the less fortunate.

Walking the Path: Defend someone who is in danger and can’t help themselves or take someone who can’t help themselves and change their lives so they can.
Stepping off the Path: Ignore a request for help.

Path of the Curious¶

The Hero obsessed with solving life’s mysteries, he must find out what’s under every rock.

Walking the Path: Follow a lead at personal risk.
Stepping off the Path: Ignore a mystery.

Path of the Disciple¶

The Hero is a student attempting to live up to the beliefs and reputation of his master.

Walking the Path: The Hero follows his master’s beliefs, even in face of serious cost or danger.
Stepping off the Path: Act against the Hero’s master’s beliefs.
Completing the Path: Become the master and take their own disciples.

Path of Faith¶

The Hero is a pious believer and defender of their faith.

Walking the Path: Convert someone to the Hero’s faith, defend the faith in the face of consequences.
Stepping off the Path: Renounce the faith.

Path of the Foolhardy Hero¶

The Hero believes he is a knight errant whose duty it is to perform quests for those in need.

Walking the Path: Accept/complete a quest/side mission, taken harm by a danger the Hero encountered pursuing the quest.
Stepping off the Path: Refuse a quest.
Completing the Path: Complete a quest the Hero was given and choosing a different life for the future.

Path of the Guardian¶

There is someone important to the Hero whom the Hero is sworn to defend and whose wellbeing the Hero puts above their own safety.

Path of Greed¶

The Hero judges themselves and others by wealth and material possessions.

Walking the Path: The Hero puts themselves at risk to increase their wealth or material possessions.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero gives away their wealth or pass by an opportunity to increase their wealth.
Complete the Path: After a large acquisition, decide it is enough.

Path of the Ideal/Belief¶

The Hero is dedicated to an ideal or belief such that his everyday life is consumed by its pursuit.

The ideal Must be a concrete, specific belief that drives the Hero to action. This is the blueprint that Path of Faith, Path of the Artist and many other paths are built from. Look to those specific ideals to see what might make a good ideal.

Walking the Path: The Hero makes a choice based on the Ideal/Belief in the face of consequences.
Stepping off the Path: Give up the Ideal/Belief.
Complete the path: Achieve a great victory for the Ideal and choose to put it aside.

Path of the Impostor¶

The Hero is pretending to be someone they are not. This is a specific thing, not a generic con man.

Walking the Path: The Hero convinces others of the lie in the face of serious skepticism.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero reveals their true identity.
Complete the Path: Become that which the Hero pretends to be.

Path of Love¶

There is someone the Hero Loves and for whom they will sacrifice themselves. When a Hero chooses this Path they must select that individual.

Note: This person might be a spouse or other romantic partner or a platonic relationship such a child or parent.

Walking the Path: Make a decision influenced by the words or actions of the Hero’s loved one, defend their loved one in the face of risk or consequences.
Stepping off the Path: Sever the relationship.

Path of the Manipulator¶

The Hero is an aspiring power behind the throne (for various sizes of throne), and puppet master.

Walking the Path: Get someone to do something to the Hero’s advantage without them realizing it wasn’t their idea.
Stepping off the Path: Resort to threats, violence or blackmail to achieve the Hero’s ends.
Completing the Path: The Hero achieves their goals and chooses a different approach for the future.

Path of the Master¶

The Hero is a teacher with eager, immature, half trained students who have put themselves in the Hero’s hands.

Walking the Path: When the Hero’s student’s/underling’s actions bring the Hero inconvenience or risk or when the Hero put themselves at risk to protect their students.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero abandons their students in their hour of need.
Complete the Path: Graduate the Hero’s students/underlings, and they go into the world prepared to face it.

Path of Membership¶

The Hero is a member of an organization/tribe/etc and that organization gives the Hero purpose and is part of their very identity.

Walking the Path: Defend or support the interests of the organization at personal risk or cost.
Stepping off the Path: Leave the organization.
Complete the Path: After achieving great goals for the organization, step aside.

Path of the Mission¶

The Hero has a personal mission or goal. To take this path the mission must be clearly defined, it may change over time, but to the Hero, it remains clear even as circumstances change.

Walking the Path: The Hero takes action to complete the mission at personal cost.
Stepping off the Path: Abandon the mission.
Complete the Path: Complete the mission.

Path of the Outcast¶

The Hero is separated from an organization/tribe/etc. that has great import to them. This might also be a fish far from home scenario.

Walking the Path: The separation brings the Hero harm or suffering.
Stepping off the Path: Join a new organization/tribe/etc. as replacement to the lost one.
Completing the Path: Regain membership in the organization.

Path of the Rake¶

The Hero is a player’s player. They are always on the lookout to score with someone worthy of bragging about and moving on quickly.

Walking the Path: The Hero seduces someone of note and brags about it.
Stepping off the Path: Someone refuses the Hero’s advances (possibly because of the Hero’s reputation.)
Complete the Path: Form a stable relationship with someone the Hero thought to be a conquest.

Path of Renown¶

It’s important to the Hero that the world knows their name and what they’ve accomplished.

Walking the Path: The Hero does something foolish and risky to add to their reputation or spread their story, or they risk their lives to take credit for an action.
Stepping off the Path: Give someone else credit for an action that would increase the Hero’s renown.
Completing the Path: Achieve fame or Infamy.

Path of the Revolutionary¶

The powers that be have done the Hero or their loved ones wrong, and they will overthrow them or die trying.

Walking the Path: The Hero puts themselves at risk to oppose the status quo.
Stepping off the Path: Accept favors from the rulers for the Hero’s support/action/inaction on their behalf.
Complete the Path: Overflow the rulers.

Path of Power¶

The Hero is dedicated to acquiring power and crushing those that stand in their way.

Walking the Path: The Hero acquires some bit of power they can hold over another.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero gives up their position and power.
Complete the Path: The Hero holds power over all those who would stand in their way.

Path of the Precious¶

The Hero takes great pleasure in counting coup against others by taking something they value highly. The item’s intrinsic worth or monetary value is meaningless to the Hero, only it’s emotional weight to the target. This does not have to be a physical item, but can be a relationship (e.g. seduce their wife) or even their self-image (e.g. take away their pride).

Walking the Path: The Hero takes something that someone values greatly and makes sure they learn of it.
Stepping off the Path: Give something of great personal value to someone as a sign of respect.
Completing the Path: After taking something of value from someone, give it back.

Path of the Teacher¶

The Hero has dedicated his life to teaching others whenever he has knowledge to share.

Path of Unrequited Love¶

The Hero loves someone who doesn’t love them back. This must be a specific person.

Walking the Path: The Hero puts themselves in harms way/make a sacrifice to win their unrequited love’s affection.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero abandons their pursuit of this person.
Complete the Path: Win their love.

Path of Vengeance¶

A person/group/etc has wronged the Hero, and they seek vengeance upon them.

Walking the Path: The Hero strikes a serious blow against their enemies in the face of risk or consequences.
Stepping off the Path: The Hero lets their enemies go, abandoning their vengeance.
Completing the Path: The Hero Destroys their enemies.

Path of the Vow¶

The Hero has a personal vow. This must be a specific and significant vow.

This is the blueprint for paths like Path of the Guardian, Path of Vengeance, Path of the Commander and others. Feel free to read those to see what a specific vow might look like.

Walking the Path: The Hero doesn’t break the vow even though it causes inconvenience or danger.
Stepping off the Path: Break the vow.
Completing the Path: Fulfil the vow.