Am I asking to much

[slaydemons]

you see I try to play D&D with my friends and most of the time I am the DM but last weekend I asked someone else to dm he didn't know everything but I had a fun timebut then I realised that NONE of them know how to play so I thought since they don't have any books I would get some Ebooks for them and me.

We didn't have a computer for them to read it on so we went with the base classes since I had the book Still though none of them know how to play. I am goign to write them little cheat sheets for attack rolls and the new DM some cheat sheets on mobs and how combat works (going to make a seperate sheet for the other players so they know what to roll how to roll and what attibutes do what).the only thing I really asked them was if they have time was to red maybe a page or for like five minutes one of the books but one of the players doesn't even want to do that and when I asked him to read a book he said he had to do homework after admitting he had been goofing off before i had asked him to read but thats not my problem.

my problem is my Friend isn't really making a character with back story all he cares about is how he looks. Is it too much to ask for some back story from my friends?

[dsmiles]

Some people just don't play that way. I know I, personally, write my character's backstory before I ever roll a die for stats. But, again, not everybody cares to write a backstory. Some people just go with it.

[slaydemons]

he is wearing what looks like a suit of armor but its linen and is a mage its also medivel times and he looks like a spaceman

[Techsmart]

Asking for a basic understanding of the rules and a small backstory is not too much to ask. The fun thing about dnd is the fact that you CAN play as someone with a unique backstory. If they don't want to learn the rules and make a story, then they don't want to play. Just let him know that if they dont want to play, he doesn't have to, and that you will go on without him.

[MammonAzrael]

It depends on what the group agrees upon, and what your game is. If you're intending to have some character growth and interaction, and not just a dungeon crawl, then it is completely reasonable to ask for some back story. A paragraph or two should do it, covering basic personality and why the character is what he is.

As for reading the books...how can he play if he doesn't know the rules?! If he wants to play then he owes it to his friends to not make them carry his lazy butt. If he doesn't want to even bother to learn the basics of how to play...does he even want to play? :smallconfused:

[slaydemons]

Asking for a basic understanding of the rules and a small backstory is not too much to ask. The fun thing about dnd is the fact that you CAN play as someone with a unique backstory. If they don't want to learn the rules and make a story, then they don't want to play. Just let him know that if they dont want to play, he doesn't have to, and that you will go on without him.

fact is he DOES want to play but I just get this inkling feeling he wants to play an mmo where everything is of appropriate level (I know this is another thread but its just one of my concerns not a major one)

Edit: I am also the only one who owns 3.5 books which is why I am helping the dm so I can understand not knowing what to do since alot of them don't know about the srd website

[dsmiles]

Asking for a basic understanding of the rules and a small backstory is not too much to ask. The fun thing about dnd is the fact that you CAN play as someone with a unique backstory. If they don't want to learn the rules and make a story, then they don't want to play. Just let him know that if they dont want to play, he doesn't have to, and that you will go on without him.Learning the rules, I can agree with. Writing a backstory isn't something that is inherently a part of the game.
Like I said, some people are perfectly content without backstories. Some DM's don't want to see backstories. Some people just want to "kill monsterz and take their phat lootz." Some people write short backstories, some write 15 page term papers on their character's history.
The only wrong way to play is to not have fun.

[Premier]

"Mandatory backstory" is one of those completely baseless fallacies that sometime somehow spread though the fandom and became impossible to uproot.

But they're still fallacies. Nobody NEEDS a backstory to play any edition of D&D - in fact, a self-serving indulgence in them very well might harm the actual game experience.

[slaydemons]

I know one of them knows how to roleplay but I think he sees DND like wow and the rest don't know how to rp but one seems really into it at least the one who made the linen suit mage also pretends to care

[MammonAzrael]

fact is he DOES want to play but I just get this inkling feeling he wants to play an mmo where everything is of appropriate level (I know this is another thread but its just one of my concerns not a major one)

Edit: I am also the only one who owns 3.5 books which is why I am helping the dm so I can understand not knowing what to do since alot of them don't know about the srd website

It sounds like you need to sit down with your friends and find out what kind of game they are expecting, and what kind of games they want to play (your opinion matter too!) If half your players are expecting a character-driven world where you can't kill everything you encounter, and the other half are expecting an MMO where everything is level appropriate, you're going to have some dysfunction. With everyone there, settle what the game will be like before you begin, hopefully to everyone's satisfaction (though it sounds like players are going to need to adjust and compromise).

Do your friends own computers? At all? If so, introduce them to the fabulous online resources (http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm) available to us all. It doesn't contain most of the fluff and flavor, but for learning the rules, it is terrific.

[slaydemons]

Do your friends own computers? At all? If so, introduce them to the fabulous online resources (http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm) available to us all. It doesn't contain most of the fluff and flavor, but for learning the rules, it is terrific.

thye don't know about the site but I can tell at least one of them

[dsmiles]

But they're still fallacies. Nobody NEEDS a backstory to play any edition of D&D - in fact, a self-serving indulgence in them very well might harm the actual game experience.I agree, but I also disagree. Sure, there is no NEED for a backstory.
On the other hand, there is absolutely no harm to the game in writing a character's history down.
How did they get where they are?
Did they just "BAMF!" into existence?
What motivates them?
Why did they take up adventuring?
Why do they follow the path that they do?
They had to be born somewhere, have some sort of history prior to becoming an adventurer. Besides, how better to hook the characters into an adventure than using bits of their backstory to entice them.
Do you just expect them to stay on the rails? If you expect them to just accept the railroading and go along with the adventure, they might. Or they may just follow their individual and party goals and zig when you want them to zag. Characters have goals, and those goals may not coincide with the goals of the adventure you wrote.
It's so easy to write bits of their backstory into a plot hook, why would you not?

[slaydemons]

I did talk to one player and I asked him what does he see out of the game he said pretty much this "kinda like wow but with parts where we act in character." I also gave him the website or how to google it and he said he was going to read up this was the enthusiatic guy and I kinda knew he would read up on it

[Fallbot]

Writing a backstory and roleplaying a character can be pretty intimidating for people who have absolutely no experience with RPGs. Don't try to make them run before they can walk, and play a few sessions that aren't heavily character-driven to let them get used to the rules and acting in character. It can be pretty weird and embarrassing at first, you don't want to scare them off by demanding a 20 page epic detailing their character's life, hopes and dreams, especially if they only want to play the game to smash orc heads in in the first place.

There are a few online guides that will give you a few simple questions people can answer to create a very basic backstory and personality for a character (I'd link them but my googlefu is weak today, I'm sure someone else will post them soon enough). Just have them answer a couple of those and leave it at that. As they gain more experience and get to know their characters, they may be able to flesh things out more. Or they may not, but that's their choice.

[Hawriel]

my problem is my Friend isn't really making a character with back story all he cares about is how he looks. Is it too much to ask for some back story from my friends?

Back stories dont always matter. Hell I never gave a backstory to my characters that couldnt be summed up in more than four short centances. Basic consept is good enough.

The important thing is getting you friends invalved in the game. If all the player cares about is what the character looks like then thats ok. Maybe that person just wants to have fun with friends.

When peaple are asked to creat a background for a character it can often be overwelming. It can seem to suggest that the player needs to come up with short story filled with indepth insight to a character. A character they just want to make and have fun running around being action movie guy with.

I think a good compromise is having 4 or 5. basic questions about a character for the player. A little bit beyond name, gender, race, class. These things should be appart of their answers. Again a simple answer is just fine.

Here are the questions answerd for Pheona a female human bard.

1) Ware is the character from?

The character is human, She is from a small fishing village in a french like kingdom.

2) Does the character have family?

Yes, father, mother, an older brother, older sister, and two younger sisters. One dog.

3) What is the characters occupation?

Seamstress/weaver. The character along side her mother learned how to weave fishing nets and make clothing.

4) What does the character love to do?

She loves stores and songs.

5) Why did the character leave home?

She wanted more out of life then sowing dresses and weaving nets for fishermen. Fasinated by stories from merchants who pass through her sleepy town she yearned to see what is behond her small harbor.

There you go simple background ready for a game made for beer and pretzels, or a more story driven game.

[The Big Dice]

I find this article (http://www.pandius.com/npcbuild.html) to be a great help when coming up with backstories for PC and NPC alike. It gives you enough of a framework to hang a character off, but doesn't lock you down to too much detail.

But then, I tend to see backstory as a kind of coathanger for characters. If I've got half an idea about where a character has come from, I've got a fairly good idea of what he's going to look like now and possibly even where he thinks he's going.