This week's Scars of War Blog has an interesting piece on ways to be creative with character generation. I found this part caught my attention:
More information.To elaborate : First you get to pick your childhood background. Under what circumstances were you born. Were you a simple peasants son, working in the field? Or perhaps you were a gutter rat, an orphan surviving by his wits on the cruel streets of a big city. Maybe you were the offspring of a famed scholar and explorer, well educated but spending little time with a parent who was always away exploring foreign lands? Anyway, you choose an option, and that represents your childhood. Each option will provide different character customisation effects. A peasant may have grown strong and hardy through long hours of hard work, but lack much in the way of education/knowledge related skills. The Gutter Rat knows how to steal and stay hidden, how to bluff his way out of trouble, but isn’t particularly fit (malnourishment has that effect). I also want to provide roleplaying attached to these. The scholars son might be known amoungst academics, the Peasant might recieve bonuses/different dialogues when talking to other farmers, etc etc
Jump over and check out the entire article.