Arthur_Pendragon said:
I hope that In Bannerlord you can pick your age for example. Create a 16 year old character and then roam the world looking for adventure and gaining experience till you are a little older.
That would be good. You would start the game with more time to play, but would naturally not have as much interesting gear, money or skills as an older starting character of the same background. Also it could be interesting if NPCs treated you differently, not according you the same respect they would a fellow mature adult. Perhaps different missions and conversation responses could be given depending on how the NPC sees you, and your age would be a factor in this. It would be easier for you to get employment as a guard or other subordinate than try to lead a lot of experienced fighters yourself, because they see a youth and don't respect your authority. Starting as an older character could give you more authority by default.
Assuming there is something similar to the background choices that one makes when beginning a Warband character, you might get more stages with an older starting character than a youth. For example, you choose to be a blacksmith's son, then you become a merchant's apprentice at 12, then the game starts at 16- but you could instead choose to go on to the next stage, such as becoming manager of a caravan, then an independent merchant in your late twenties, then you start the game with more money and skills, particularly those related to trade. You would have a modest amount of fame as well as money and negotiating skills, and these factors would aid you in dealing with NPCs whether you tried to strictly play as a merchant for your entire playthrough or immediately went the standard route of adventurer/warrior=> lord/king. Begin even later, at 50, and you have a short playing time with a rich, skilled merchant with hair growing out of his nostrils, a paunch and your martial skills have long since faded.
That line of thought leads me onto another idea for the background of your character- perhaps with these extra choices for older characters, there could be a small chance of a random event effecting your character. Taking the merchant example; say after becoming an apprentice you choose to become a caravan master, but the game tells you that a few months into this role you were wounded in a bandit raid that resulted in a lot of goods being stolen and your physical stats being permanently limited to a lower ceiling. You are now faced with a new choice to make on your fate:
1) The merchant master feels grateful for your attempts to protect his merchandise. He compensates you for your injuries with a large amount of money and independent ownership of a group of pack animals and porters.
2) The merchant master partly blames you for the misfortune. He parts ways with you. You have modest savings but no stain on your reputation.
The second option is clearly worse than the first, but some players might wish to take it simply for role playing purposes. More importantly it could open up further new background opportunities that would be unavailable with the first choice. For example you might choose to serve as caravan master with another merchant (for lower pay, due to your injuries), try another profession (your modest savings and business acumen would help) or seek out the bandits that attacked you. This latter option could result in further calamity, such as maiming you further or even death- restart character creation- or you could find the bandit hideout and choose to:
1) Strike a deal with the leader, offering your knowledge of caravan behaviour- particularly of those belonging to your previous employer. Become quite rich but also a hated outlaw in the region.
2) Reveal the hideout to the local lord's soldiers, so that the bandits are hanged. You receive a modest reward and a big boost to your reputation amongst the local nobility and traders, and are hated by any surviving members of the gang.
