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Randel
2009-01-04, 07:24 PM
Basically a list of possible seeds to grow up an interesting backstory or origin telling just why someone became an adventurer. Can range from adventurers who chose the life or had the adventurer life thrust upon them for whatever reason. May be useful to provide a quick backstory to a character you just whip up.


1). You are the seventh son of a seventh son and therefore destined for great things, becoming an adventurer was inevitable.

2). You are a scapegoat, when your hometown was being plagued by famine and troubles, they performed a ritual which magically bound all the towns troubles for the year to you. You must now wander the earth, always seeming to run into one dangerous situation after another. If you ever return to your hometown, all the troubles bound to you will return to it.

3). You burn calories like crazy, people often see you eating five or six meals in one sitting without showing any signs of getting full or putting on weight. All of it seems to get converted to energy, giving you almost supernatural strength and endurance compared to normal men. Adventuring seems ideal since you can stand against monsters and the thought of treasure to spend and the occasional feast after a great battle fits well with you. (inspired by watching The Slayers)

4). (for spellcasters) You were struck by lightning and survived, this has allowed you to channel the arcane forces and pursue the path of magic. (inspired a bit by The Flashes backstory of getting hit by lightning, one could conceive of a setting where wizards can only cast spells after getting struck by a natural bolt of lightning to let their energy flow. There are plenty of people trained in arcane research who can't cast spells. Those who do get struck and survive are changed by it, getting the power but weakened by the ordeal)

5). (for healers) You are afflicted with some ailment that so far cannot be cured, you have studied the ways of healing both magic and mundane. You can heal others but your own affliction so far can't be healed. (Inspired by Rezo the Red Priests backstory from The Slayers. He was blind but I'm not sure how effective a blind PC would be in a game. Could be a useful backstory if you take flaws or something).

Grail
2009-01-04, 09:22 PM
[6] You inherited a Blood Oath
[7] You are prophecy bound
[8] You are an orphan looking for your true parents
[9] Your daddy was an adventurer, so you're just taking up the 'family business'
[10] You are searching for a lost loved one
[11] Your town was destroyed by X
[12] To marry the girl/boy of your dreams you must find X
[13] You need to pay of a debt
[14] You are in the service of a powerful liege/monster
[15] You thought it would be fun
[16] You are on the run from a powerful organisation
[17] You have no other marketable skills bar your sword fighting
[18] A loved one is sick and you need to find a rare and exotic herb

etc

Harperfan7
2009-01-04, 09:47 PM
19. You aren't afraid of pain or death and are bored stiff by ordinary life.

20. Your family/town was killed/destroyed and you have to become more powerful to avenge them.

21. You grew up pretty much by yourself and your personal habits have made you more powerful than others in ways beneficial to adventuring (and you weren't aware of this for a long time).

22. You were kidnapped as a baby/small child by spies/ninjas and were raised with other kidnapped children to become the next generation thereof.

23. The world's status quo sickens you and you will do whatever it takes to change it.

24. Your brother is a warrior, so you become a fighter. That'll show 'em.

25. A great wyrm chose you to become it's agent, how could you refuse?

chiasaur11
2009-01-04, 09:59 PM
26) You always wanted to be a dentist. And as people don't note the need until you punch their teeth out, well, adventuring seemed in order.
27) Orphan raised by ninja dinosaurs
28) Warforged who wants to know the meaning of the human thing called "Boredom". Or possibly "Drunk and disorderly".
29) You just hate Gnomes.

brant167
2009-01-04, 10:00 PM
30) Now that you know the meaning of life, 42, you must quest for what the meaning of life means.

31) The sins of your ancestors cover your body in the form of scrolling tattoos.

32) After a traumatizing childhood you ran into the woods to find comfort and stability in a tribe of Orcs.

33) Wishing for immortality on a lamp you found in a dark alley sounded like a wonderful idea at first...

34) You are wanted for the murder of a Duke.

Yucca
2009-01-04, 10:01 PM
35) You are a child of a poor family form a port city. You were press-ganged into the crew of a foreign kingdom's vessel that was leaving port. 5 years later the vessel sinks in combat of the coast of a kingdom half the world away. You wash up on shore.

36) You are the second child of a very minor noble house. The dishonorable actions of your elder sibling have caused your family to be stripped of its title by the crown. Your sibling is in jail, your family has had its lands and privileges revoked; no one in "polite society" will so much as look at you. The few resources your house salvaged are needed to support your elderly parents. You're on your own.

37) Growing up your father always told you about your half-dragon great great grandparent. It was never up to you whether or not you would be a sorcerer, he had you meditating and training your mind since before the time you could walk. As you entered puberty you rebelled against him and ran away. Despite this his training regimen for you was effective and you quickly grew into your predicted arcane power.

Doomsy
2009-01-04, 10:32 PM
38. You need to make a lot of money quickly and you are not quite enough of a bastard to rob people.

39. As a soldier/agent of the crown/mayor/baron/local authority figure, you have been ordered to accompany these lunatics and ensure they do minimal collateral damage. Sucks to be you.

40. You really want to impress/marry someone of the opposite sex, and the best way to do that is through adventuring, earning enough fame and wealth to eventually be on the same level and have a shot.

41. Deathwish. Maybe you know it, maybe you don't, but you really don't care that much anymore. You take risks, and this one of the riskiest professions there is. The money and the fame no longer matter - you just keep throwing yourself at one challenge after another.

42. Exile. You did something real bad and now you are in hiding and exiled from your homeland. With your track record no one else in the surrounding kingdoms wants to hire you for anything. You've been forced into this role and maybe you're trying to make the best of it while trying to figure out what to do next in your life.

43. Drifter turned adventurer. The last few years have been living hell for you. The village burned down by a rampaging dragon. The next hamlet that took you in stormed by hobgoblins. You've become a survivor by habit, picked up class levels because you had to. You're not the same person who was supposed to be just another commoner anymore. Maybe you miss it, maybe you don't, but you know you don't fit in at the villages anymore. You're too different. So you keep drifting.

44. Privateer. You admit it. You used to be a bandit. Things went bad in your home village and you had to eat. You're not proud of what you did, but you did what you had to do. And when the time came to retire from your profession you joined the next step up. Hopefully, it'll get you out of the area and let you forget your past while using those skills for good.

45. Lost Squire. Your master is dead. You're half-trained and alone and refuse to go home. Time to learn your skills on your own.

46. Fools Quest. Your Master has decided you need experience in the world. You have been sent out to gain it. You might be cloistered, but you are determined.

Archpaladin Zousha
2009-01-04, 10:46 PM
I present to you, 1001 Backgrounds (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1093933) from the Wizards of the Coast Boards!

Kris Strife
2009-01-04, 11:07 PM
47. Your god said 'Or else.'

48. You like killing sentient beings and taking their shinies.

49. You lost a bet.

50. You took a dare and the town wizard is rather upset with you.

51. Turns out that peasant girl you met at the dance was the duke's daughter and you gave your real name.

thegurullamen
2009-01-04, 11:52 PM
52) The Call Knows Where You Live

53) Evil volcano cultists abducted you as a baby. You were saved from mass baby sacrifice by two paladins, one a wise-cracking rookie representing St. Cuthbert and the other a by-the-book veteran spreading the word of Pelor. In an explosion-filled magic carpet chase through the underground geyser system, the head cultist managed to possess you just before biting it. You were taken to an orphanage where eventually a master of kung-fu adopted you, recognizing your potential even at such an early age. You spent your childhood learning how to punch and kick, but mostly to seek inner peace. At night, you warred with the spirit of the cultist in your dreams, besting him in his weakened form, but slowly coming to realize that one day, he will overpower you. At the age of nine, you fled the monastery and fell into the hands of some gnomish sailors, who tried to sell you into slavery to an Orcish cabal of alchemists. The sale was interrupted by a raiding party of gnolls, though. In the ensuing battle, you crippled an arm stealing a worg and riding to safety. You trudged on through the deserts and plains and foothills, subsisting off of the (un)mercy of nature and fleeing the daily hordes of monsters and unnamable entities. After weeks of travel, you made it to a trading hub and apprenticed yourself to the mad cleric of Olidamarra who healed your arm....several times after repeatedly crippling it for laughs. For years, you were used as guinea pig for the cleric's wizard friends, gaining all manner of maladies and additions to your physical form. During a boring afternoon, the evil cultist guy in your soul finally took over and promptly murdered the cleric, using your mouth to scream something about "violations" and weeping profusely. You regained control weeks afterward to realize you were suddenly a famous adventurer, having defeated some guy which was totally bad ass (even though you don't remember it. But you do have a fish souvenir thing.)

Archpaladin Zousha
2009-01-04, 11:57 PM
:smalleek: That's gotta be the worst streak of bad luck ever!

thegurullamen
2009-01-05, 12:25 AM
Or is it the greatest streak of good luck ever? No, I suppose not.

It's the backstory for the character that needs to be able to justify a dip into ANY CLASS EVER.

xPANCAKEx
2009-01-05, 12:39 AM
54) kobolds are tasty. Go eat them.

Mikeavelli
2009-01-05, 12:52 AM
Next game I play in, I'm going to use #53.

chiasaur11
2009-01-05, 12:52 AM
54) kobolds are tasty. Go eat them.

55) Some idiot tried to eat you. Revenge!

Tough_Tonka
2009-01-05, 01:30 AM
56) You are the victim of a curse that causes terrible disasters when you stay in any location for more than 30 days. Wondering the world you search for a means to lift your curse.

Grail
2009-01-05, 01:34 AM
[57] You are a homocidal, sociopathic, killing machine.

chiasaur11
2009-01-05, 01:37 AM
[57] You are a homocidal, sociopathic, killing machine.

To be fair, that's pretty much every adventurer. I think it's pre-printed on all the character sheets.

Randel
2009-01-05, 02:43 AM
58). You were raised as a Seventh Day Adventurist, every saturday you would go out to have an adventure. You liked it so much that you now do it every day!

59). You were raised as a Suemallogist, you now explore the world in order to take large quantities of money from everyone else and to gain magical powers through the power of faith. You may have to make up something to have faith in, and your greatest fear is that might actually start to believe it!

darthbob88
2009-01-05, 02:48 AM
To be fair, that's pretty much every adventurer. I think it's pre-printed on all the character sheets.

As a variation on this and, I believe, No. 41 or so, my brother explained that his dragonborn fighter, who had no other ties to the world, was a Slayer. Blatantly stolen from Warhammer Fantasy, he committed some act of great shame in the past, be it running from a fight, killing an ally, or cheating a customer; to make up for this, he seeks out an honorable death in battle against something bigger and tougher than he is. Throwing the fight would be dishonorable; he's going to have to die against something which really is killier than he is. This applies to most melee classes, but casters can't use it as easily.

Another variation, on No 5, my warforged rogue, posessed of single digit Int and Wis scores, had suffered some serious brain damage between manufacture and deployment, and was trying to find somebody to make him better; it would have been much easier if that information hadn't been part of the data he'd lost in his brain crash. Again, melee troops; can probably be put to use on humanoids as well as warforged.

Also, dunno how applicable this is, but for 4e D&D, I explained that, since the game is set after the fall of a mighty empire, the party's part of a local militia, trying to keep a small "kingdom" safe from raiding monsters. The empire has fallen, and the Imperial legions with them, leading to a need for villages to defend themselves against incursion. This can justify most railroading, since it places the DM as the party's immediate superior, who can order them to go and investigate something.

Pie Guy
2009-01-05, 04:17 PM
60)Your friend said that you couldn't beat him in a sword fight. So you stabbed him in the back the moment he turned around and went on your merry way. And you would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those pesky witnesses. You subsequently broke out of jail and started trying to get rich. Why? Because... You're very greedy! Yeah, nailed it.

MickJay
2009-01-05, 10:26 PM
61. You accidentally killed a family member/someone from your village and are currently exiled/on the run/trying to redeem yourself.

62. You were a craftsman's apprentice, but your master would not acknowledge your skills and would not release you as a journeyman. You decided that the craft you've been taught was boring anyway, and left in search of something more interesting to do.

63. You are a journeyman of your craft, but have no money to open your own workshop. You decided to become a mercenary/adventurer, initially to gain the necessary funds.

64. Born in a peasant family, you displayed uncommon talent for [saying weird stuff while holding weird things and causing laws of physics to go gaga/beating up other kids, even seemingly stronger than you/getting both in and out of trouble without difficulty/playing harmonica/finding inner peace/communicating with nature/poaching with a bow/seeking out and slightly inconveniencing evil/pretending to be village's priest to the point where your grandpa would hobble back to his grave upon seeing you].

This caught attention of a [wizard/warrior/thief/bard/monk/druid/ranger/paladin/cleric] who was passing by, and who promised your parents to help you develop your talents and take good care of you. Thus started your adventuring career, as an [apprentice/squire/pickpocket/clapper/brick smasher/squirrelwhisperer/support for an apple/junior fanatic/plaything] under the care of your kind benefactor.

Who got killed a few days later by a random encounter, but you [managed to run away/got saved by a group of adventurers/finished it off singlehandedly]. You decided to continue life of adventure, remembering the tears of joy on your parents' faces when they finally got rid of you. Also, you will never again have to share a turnip with your 17 siblings for breakfast.

edit: careful reader will notice that 64 actually provides 27 variant examples of a backstory. :smallbiggrin:

thegurullamen
2009-01-05, 10:40 PM
65) An evil cleric 17/[class] X cast Mind Rape on you. You are now a [class] X.

Nahal
2009-01-05, 10:43 PM
66. You can't stop here, this is bat country. Seriously, whenever you stay in one place for more than a month a massive swarm of crazed bats descends upon the area. In an effort to salvage your sanity and the welfare of innocent bystanders you are off on a quest for the Great Ether.

67. A bunch of Kender stole your Gems of Luck which were bestowed on you by a gold dragon.

68. You're high on salvia divinorum and this is all a figment of your drug-addled imagination.

69. Same as above, only it's someone else's imagination. You're the only one who knows, and must strive desperately to prevent them from coming down and destroying all of existence as you know it.

70. You're a diminutive warforged on a quest to become a real boy.

Myatar_Panwar
2009-01-05, 10:45 PM
Whole family and village killed by marauding orcs. Best one, miright?

Tough_Tonka
2009-01-06, 12:45 AM
71.) You left your village to become the greatest chef the world has ever known. You decided to travel the world to sample and learn from the greatest minds in the culinary arts. All this traveling can be very expensive and since you couldn't get a permanent job as a cook anywhere you decided to pay for your ingredients by adventuring.

Bayar
2009-01-06, 03:13 AM
3). You burn calories like crazy, people often see you eating five or six meals in one sitting without showing any signs of getting full or putting on weight. All of it seems to get converted to energy, giving you almost supernatural strength and endurance compared to normal men. Adventuring seems ideal since you can stand against monsters and the thought of treasure to spend and the occasional feast after a great battle fits well with you. (inspired by watching The Slayers)


Classic. :smallbiggrin:

72. A halfling stole your ring and now you search the whole world for it. You crave the feeling of the shiny !

Edit: What we are NOT allowed to put in a backstory.


167. I was not recruited by Star League for any reason.
168. I was also not recruited by 12 dwarves and a wizard to rob a dragon.

Grail
2009-01-06, 03:23 AM
[73] You took a go on a strange amusement ride at the local fair. However you were pulled into a strange alternate reality where a short little git gave you some magic weapons that an evil wizard wanted. Now you adventure to find your way home, stop the evil wizard stealing your booty and to try and influence the world that DnD isn't actually all that evil mumbo-jumbo the God botherers go on about.