Doppelgänger | Background

The Doppelgänger is another background homebrew. It's my longest one yet, and it's my favorite of the three that I've made so far.

I will admit that Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is the principal inspiration for this homebrew, haha. It was a childhood favorite of mine! And I daresay that songs are still good, though maybe that's the nostalgia talking.

Something that I think is especially interesting about this background is how explicitly it introduces a new non-player character into the campaign. Many backgrounds imply NPCs, and player characters themselves imply NPCs insofar as most have some kind of family, regardless of estrangement. But the Doppelgänger goes beyond implication and defines an NPC: a double who looks exactly like the player character with a social role that the DM and player ought to hammer out in order to make the most of the background.

Though now that I'm saying this, the same is somewhat true of the Bodysnatcher, isn't it? After all, the player character is the alien mind and the original mind of the body being snatched is an NPC. I suppose the difference here is that because the Bodysnatcher's victim is out of the picture, they are not so thoroughly defined as the double NPC created by the Doppelgänger.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the Doppelgänger! As I said before, this is my favorite homebrew background that I've created. It's one part fondness for the inspiration and one part satisfaction with the tone and creativity of the background itself.