From publisher blurb:
Not all heroes start as warriors, scholars, or agents of secret societies. In a world where the supernatural lurks in the shadows of the mundane, the most compelling stories often begin with ordinary people—those who never sought out horror, but found it anyway.
This supplement introduces 30 modern backgrounds designed for use in 5e horror campaigns, where investigators, survivors, and everyday individuals find themselves entangled with forces beyond their comprehension. Each background provides a character with a profession, a life before the horror began, and a unique set of skills, tools, and knowledge that may help them survive—or simply understand the terror they face.
Using Backgrounds in Your Game
These backgrounds function just like those found in the core 5e system, providing:
Skill Proficiencies suited to the character’s profession or life experience.
Tool Proficiencies granting expertise in relevant equipment, machinery, or systems.
Starting Equipment that reflects the character’s past, including mundane items that may take on new significance as the story unfolds.
Unique Features that offer practical or narrative advantages based on the background’s role in the world.
Each background is designed to blend seamlessly into modern horror settings—whether investigative thrillers, survival horror, or supernatural mysteries. Players might take on the role of a detective piecing together the impossible, a bartender who overhears too much, or a nurse whose patients sometimes whisper warnings before they die.
Why Backgrounds Matter in Horror
Horror in a 5e framework isn’t just about monsters and madness—it’s about what happens before the horror begins. These backgrounds establish who your character was before they encountered the impossible. Were they a trusted authority figure? A skeptic? Someone who had already seen too much? By choosing a background, players gain not only mechanical benefits but also an anchor to the real world—a foundation that makes the transition into the unknown all the more terrifying.
Whether you are running a one-shot of supernatural suspense, a campaign about surviving an unfolding nightmare, or a mystery-driven thriller, these backgrounds provide players with the tools to create characters who feel grounded, vulnerable, and deeply immersed in the horror that awaits.
Are You Ready to Face the Unknown?
In horror, knowledge is both a weapon and a curse. These backgrounds will shape the kind of knowledge your character brings to the table—but whether that knowledge will save them, or drive them further into darkness, is yet to be seen.
This booklet contains 30 backgrounds to replace those in the core rulebooks, but for a Modern Horror setting.