Let's talk character backgrounds

[TiaC]

What are the goals of a character background?

I would say that some goals are: To allow the MC to tie your character to the campaign, To allow you to get into character before the session, and To allow other players to forge connections to your character.

I find that I can write a few pages of background and still not have a handle on a character. There are some backstory templates that help me avoid this. For example, I now try to always have goals for my character. What are some ways we could help players craft useful backstories?

[ETortoise]

My favorite rule in Fate is that the players each write a backstory adventure then pass it to another player, who then writes their character into the story. The stories generate aspects for the characters (which give them bonuses on rolls) and create a web of connections.

Burning Wheel's beliefs are incredibly poorly explained but if you spend a few hours searching on the forums you find that they're meant to be used to tie characters to each other, each others' NPCs, and the situations at hand. Well written beliefs (ones that make those connections) earn the characters metagame currency in play.

Based on those examples, I think you could have backstory bites that give some pithy info about the character, connect to another PC, and give you rewards for playing to them in game. The system by which they work should also be clearly explained. That last point is where BW takes a dump in the hamper. Perhaps it could be something as simple as "Write a goal relating to the adventure, a goal relating to another PC, and a goal relating to your past. You get a foo point if you work towards that goal during a session and a bar point if you complete it. When you complete a goal, write a new goal."

[AndreiChekov]

I usually write a couple pages as a short story, rather than a background. I write the story of why said character is adventuring. My favourite trope is "revenge!" where the person is out, and comes home to find everyone dead, and a few others taken off as slaves or something. Then its off the kill the wizard that killed all of them. Oh, and loot and stab everything on the way of course.
If you write in parts where your character actually has some dialogue with someone, it also really helps for developing a character rather than just a stat block.

[Josh_Kablack]

Bah, character backgrounds should be:

1. Quick to generate
2. Easy to communicate in character
3. Memorable.
4. And the Fate idea of sharable prior history only comes in at number four

So a good backstory should look a lot more like: "When I find the six-fingered man I will say to him "my name is Inigo Mantoya, you killed my father, prepare to die." than a 2 to 10 piece of fanfic. Sure that pithy quote glosses over some bits of backstory like why his father was killed, being a Spaniard and the years of revenge-motivated study of fencing techniques, and it doesn't have much room for other characters to interact with it - maybe they met a six-fingered man or are hunting him as well.

Feng Shui's notion of "melodramatic hook" accomplishes this pretty well. You pick a cliche from those most common to action movies and then you flesh it out as much as you want. But you can easily communicate the core idea to other players because it's something simple like: "They Killed my parents, I will make them pay", "I've been poisoned and I have to find the antidote", "They turned me into a monster, now I've turned on them".

[8d8]

In addition to getting you into character, tieing PCs together in something more meaningful than "because we happened to take the same job", and to let MC tie us into the game, I'd add this:

A background should give you stories to tell about your past. Stories are powerful and help us better understand one another. Your character should reminisce, to give a reason for the others to learn who you are (and should ask others to do the same).

A background should add something to the game world that wasn't there before. Behind every character should be a whole slew of setting information that both fits into the setting and makes it more interesting. Maybe you're from a noble family that isn't listed in the book. Maybe you're part of an underground resistance movement that attracts disgruntled police and blue-collar workers from across the city. Maybe you're from a large town located in between other features on the map. If you're going to get creative, then create.

A background should detail your character's motivation and should endanger your character. Often these are the same thing. If your background doesn't give you reason to act and doesn't include something that shows your vulnerabilities then you've wasted your time - you are better off just playing a series of stats as though the rpg were a board game if your character doesn't have a reason to advance and a reason to retreat that transcend numbers.

~~
One of the biggest challenges I have is integrating backgrounds into the setting. As a player it means reading a lot and talking to MC plenty about how he envisions the world. Even harder is how to get the setting across to players in games where I made the world. I have yet to do a good job at that, and the setting is one of the best ways to get players in character.

[Dogbert]

Once all is said and done, a GM either uses the PCs backgrounds or he doesn't. If he doesn't plan to use them, then bothering with one is a waste of time.

As a GM, depending on the game, I may hand my players a short questionaire about their characters (goals, friends, enemies, etc). When I do, I give players a couple weeks to fill it, and then blend the combined data into a single story so all PCs (and more important, the players) actually have a reason to want in on the whole thing.

Obviously I won't do this if the game in question is a 1-shot or there's otherwise no need for character depth/motivation (Deathwatch, DnD, Paranoia, etc), but I'll usually do whenever a game is scheduled to last longer than two months.

Long story short: I only ask players for a background if I plan to make the story specifically about them.

[ACOS]

Anymore, I'm happy enough if my players give me enough so as to explain (a) coherence of their character sheet, and (b) how their character makes sense as existing within the context of the game's setting.
And even that is starting to be like pulling teeth.

There was a time when I didn't even have to do any setting work at all -- pages of character background did it for me.

[shadzar]

What are the goals of a character background?

To create the character concept for the player. Where did this character come from? what is it trying to do in the world? what does it want to be when it grows up?

It is a tool for the player to see what they wanted to do when they created the character and be able to look back and see if those ideas have changed about the characters future, and how to respond to those changes about the character through lay. Also if on track, it reminds the player things they may have not done yet, but mean to do when the time comes.

for the DM, it is nothing more than an interesting read.

[silva]

Once all is said and done, a GM either uses the PCs backgrounds or he doesn't. If he doesn't plan to use them, then bothering with one is a waste of time.

This.

I like games that address the issue through the rules, like the Fate above, or in Apocalypse World where you have pre-made background options that establish stories between the characters while giving mechanical weight to their relationships and mutual trust.

[ACOS]

AW railroads you in to a narrow range of characters, which further railroads certain types of intraparty interaction, all aimed a telling a very narrow and niche type of play experience. AW isn't good for anything other than Baker's very narrow vision.

[Whipstitch]

For most games I consider backgrounds to be nice but highly expendable beyond the most basic "Why would you be on an adventure/mission/investigation to begin with?" questions. It's good to have an idea of who your character is but oftentimes you can get there without ever putting a pen to paper, so I'm happy to throw most background details overboard the second they start taking away from time spent actually playing the game.

[silva]

For most games I consider backgrounds to be nice but highly expendable beyond the most basic "Why would you be on an adventure/mission/investigation to begin with?" questions. It's good to have an idea of who your character is but oftentimes you can get there without ever putting a pen to paper, so I'm happy to throw most background details overboard the second they start taking away from time spent actually playing the game.

Well, if they are taking away without giving anything back in return then I agree with you, its dead weight as Dogbert put it. Thats why I hate the kind of questionaire seen in Shadowrun: its a waste of time and effort most of the time, because everyone forgets it as soon as the game begins.

What rpgs are there, besides Fate and ApocWorld, that make background game-relevant as per its rules ?

[silva]

AW railroads you in to a narrow range of characters, which further railroads certain types of intraparty interaction, all aimed a telling a very narrow and niche type of play experience. AW isn't good for anything other than Baker's very narrow vision.

I can totally see where youre coming from in regard to Baker games, but I find AW an exception. While still narrower than most trad games, its premise is wide enough to accomodate a huge number of possibilities and the number of hacks and custom playbooks is proof of this, I think.

[Nihnoz]

My backstories are what, 15-30 words? I like to establish a badguy the GM can maybe steal and a goal, as well as what I'm doing for work or as a profession or whatever. Anyway it's more fun to see what a character does as you play than it is to know what he did in the past. I only like backstories for what they do once you actually start playing.

[LeadPal]

My backstories are what, 15-30 words? I like to establish a badguy the GM can maybe steal and a goal, as well as what I'm doing for work or as a profession or whatever. Anyway it's more fun to see what a character does as you play than it is to know what he did in the past. I only like backstories for what they do once you actually start playing.

Agreed. There's no need for a background to tell much of a story, because the story the group cares about is the one they've gathered together to actually play. I don't write backgrounds of much note any longer; I just jot down a personality and a few broad goals and see what comes of it.

[momothefiddler]

I write backstories for myself, mainly. While I have tons of fun building characters mechanically, I generally have less fun playing them without a basic mindset I can slot into. This'd probably be the "getting into character" part. I've never played a game where the MC tied my backstory into the campaign other than one-on-ones, and the interest of other players to forge connections seems to generally be limited to "how about we're bothers?" without bothering to link anything mechanically at all.

I think the worst I ever did, in terms of MC workload, was nine pages, but that was for a 2300-year-old character, so....

On a similar note, I've made a few 3D models and/or animations for some characters, but that's more because it's an interest of mine. It's also a lot easier for someone to look at a 3-4 second .gif than to read the number of words I could write with the same effort, but it leaves them with a better impression of my 'dedication to their campaign' (this has been an issue).

[Krusk]

I try to be brief enough that I can tell it to the group a hundred times without having to look at a piece of paper. Because that tends to be what I need to do, because no one will remember it. I mostly play with shitty DMs, so maybe good DMs would know more.

Something like "I'm a warlock who gained power through a pact with a demon in his youth. Now that seems like it wasn't a smart plan, and I am trying to get out of it".

My goal is to tell you why I'm not a run of the mill dirt farmer, who have I pissed off, and what am I trying to do.

I might come up with all the other details, but thats mostly for me to keep a consistent character. I don't bother sharing them unless it comes up in game.

[hogarth]

I mostly play in pre-fab adventures like Paizo's adventure paths. I usually give my PCs just enough back story to tie into the campaign with little work on the GM's part. That means using the existing NPCs and locations from the adventure path rather than making up a bunch of NPCs and locations on my own and expecting the GM to integrate them into the adventure.

[rampaging-poet]

What rpgs are there, besides Fate and ApocWorld, that make background game-relevant as per its rules ?

Frank's RPG After Sundown gives every character points to invest in "Backgrounds" that represent the character's general background knowledge, contacts, and interests. Constructing a character essentially requires building a backstory that explains where they learned it all. There are also game-mechanical benefits for considering your character's moral and ethical codes - what they admire, what they despise, and the things they just won't do.

Game mechanically, Backgrounds are used both as D&D-style knowledge skills and in social interaction. You give them a number of points based on how much you know or can quickly find out about about the subject. Your morals make it easier to convince or compel you to do things you admire in other people, and harder to convince you do do things you despise. Your ethics provide a similar benefit.

It's technically possible to create a character that "just knows things" without bothering to flesh out how they learned them. Even so, your character had to pick up their Backgrounds somehow, which implies some backstory even if you don't bother with the details.

[...You Lost Me]

Races of War also had character backgrounds. Like you could start mercantile and get masterwork weapons for free.

[Sakuya Izayoi]

As a GM, I prefer as much background as I can make mechanical use of. So in Fate, I might call for a lot more than I might ask for in D&D.

As a player, I'll write as much fanfic about my wizard waifu as I damn well please.

[8d8]

Most of these answers seem to reflect one of two different play styles:

1. Each PC is playing a role in a world and that role needs to be defined and fleshed out. Invest in your character and the group will be better for it.

2. Each PC is playing a figure with stats that needs to have a name and some nominal identifier so as not to confuse the PC fighter with the NPC fighter. No investment necessary.

If you're playing a fast and loose old school D&D game where you roll through dungeons and rarely have a need for speaking in character, #2 is absolutely the way to go. Don't bother writing anything that will never be read, and don't consider your character worth keeping around - you will probably see that character die.

If you're playing a game using some other system where the character interactions are paramount and the combat is either rare or something most want to avoid, then while #2 isn't a bad idea if you're good at winging it, #1 is better. You'll probably use what you've written and everyone will appreciate the effort.

There's probably room for a #3 in that list.

[hogarth]

There's probably room for a #3 in that list.

Certainly some people believe the story you make by actually playing the game together is 100 times more interesting than whatever fan fiction some dude writes beforehand on his own, so you might as well just gloss over the fan fiction phase.

[OgreBattle]

I write a background to the extent of why my PC is that particular combination of race/class/skills/feats/equipment/etc.


There's some pocket character concepts I've been itching to use though, like a Drow dude who went renegade because he figured out that the surface world is a much lower level place than the underdark and the average human is not a trained murderer so they're unable to act on their (refreshingly) open hatred towards him anyways. The individual drow is pretty hardcore so they can easily end up a leader in the underworld of a 'civilized' community or the warlord of a bestial race, and make friends with the occasional edgy renegade surface elf that wants to learn to be bad. Even if drow try to hunt down all renegades who escape the underdark that's... no different from being a non-renegade and dealing with the daily backstabbing and scheming of their spider worshipping cities. And as a bonus the surface tends to be male dominated, so he can have flagons of ale delivered to him by buxom barmaids to his (by spidergoddess standards) perverse pleasure. The end-game goal being that his example leads more drow dudes to the surface because living in the underdark sucks sweaty balls (or whatever the spidergoddess equivalent would be).

[TiaC]

So we have a lot of responses here. If you were writing a Character Building chapter, part of that would have to be on character fluff. What would you want a new player to think about when creating the non-mechanical aspects of their character?