Backgrounds

[SynissterSyster]

Greetings all. Since reading the thread about a DM who wishes his players to have very detailed backgrounds and motivations as well as the varied responses I decided to post this question. I posted it on another forum so I wish to try my luck here.

For all the DMs/GMs/STs/MCc/Refs ect. out there I ask this. Which do you prefer? A character that has a happy background, as in family is still alive, gets along with them, no issues. Or a characters that has had their family/village all destroyed, was abused, just has had life throw him/her under the bus.

I am assuming most DMs like some background if only a sentence. Thanks in advance.

[gbprime]

All I want are plot hooks. You give me happiness, I'll get your relations involved in something so they come for help (or trouble comes for you). You give me tragedy, I can skip the middleman and tie it directly to some plotline I have planned.

It's when you give me nothing that I worry. I want your plot hook to actually HOOK you, and for that, I need some door into your backstory. Otherwise you might ignore it. And when telling a story, if the audience doesn't CARE, then there's no point in telling it.

[Friv]

Ditto. I don't care if the plot hooks are in the past or the future. A happy, well-adjusted family is fine if it gives you a reason to want to defend the kingdom. Heck, if you're living for your father's pride, I'm not going to have your father get in trouble. He'll just be there to either beam happily or glare angrily after you do something else.

The important thing is being able to be a part of the setting.

[MightyTim]

The only thing that I find absolutely necessary in a background is a reason to be adventuring with the party. Anything else is just as gbprime already stated. The point of a backstory is to give a reason a motivation to be involved in the quests. If it has that, then it fulfills its purpose.

Just as frustrating as not having a backstory is when, after my BBEG captures the PC's family and entire home village as sacrifice for his evil ritual, the PC simply says "I never liked them anyway."

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I don't care what the backstory is, so long as it fits the character's personality and outlook. Tell me a good story, whether happy, tragic, or somewhere in the middle. :smallbiggrin:

[Yukitsu]

I hate 99% of the tragedy as written by RPers. They tend to be bad tragedarians. As such, I prefer happy back stories, because if it ends up being dumb, at least they're not going to RP some kind of emo.

[Tyndmyr]

1. I need it to make sense. At least a little.

2. I want it to have interesting hooks. I can make almost anything an interesting hook.

3. I want it brief. I don't wanna read a novel by a neophyte writer.

[Choco]

+1 to what gbprime said. I like to have a ready source of personal plot hooks on hand for every character, it doesn't matter if they are happy or tragic to me. I don't go out of my way to "mess with" the PC's backstory like some DM's do, though sometimes when I have an unusual but otherwise great idea of what to use a character's family for, I do it.

I always warn my players though, they have 2 sessions to get a backstory to me. If they don't, I'll make one up for them as I go along.


I hate 99% of the tragedy as written by RPers. They tend to be bad tragedarians. As such, I prefer happy back stories, because if it ends up being dumb, at least they're not going to RP some kind of emo.

Oh man, that annoys me too. I play characters with tragic backstories about half the time, but I am sure to specify that no matter how hard life kicked them in the nuts before, they have (for the most part) gotten over it and learned to look on the bright side. In fact my most cheerful characters are the ones that have had the most tragic pasts, cause lets face it once you hit rock bottom and start climbing back up, everything is better than where you were and can be enjoyed :smallwink:

[SynissterSyster]

Thank you guys! I use to play with a DM whom gave out extra exp if your background was horrible. Thing is it made his characters and npcs impossible to get into a group yet alone along with others. I have gotten tired of the "my family are all dead or they all abused me" stories because it loses impact.

That being said I like how if someone had horrible beginnings now they will be more cheerful, not always but it does help.

[valadil]

I want a background to get me interested in a character. The background doesn't need a hometown, mentor NPCs, nemesis NPCs, or even a quest. If it sells me on why a character is interesting, that character will stick in my head. And once he gets there, I'm going to be thinking about things to do to the character. I love getting free plot hooks as much as the next GM, but as long as the character gets my creative juices going, I'm going to come up with things to do with that character.

Incidentally this is how I feel about campaign settings too. I don't need a map of every bar and stats for every bar keep. I want the book to tell me what's interesting about a city. When I read about a place, I should be thinking of things to do to the PCs if they happen to go there.

[Talakeal]

One thing I have noticed is that DM's (at times this unfortunately includes myself) often try and put their hooks where they aren't wanted. I can't tell you how many times I have given a complex and "happy" background just so the DM can treat my friends and family as a shooting gallery to angst up the campaign. Sometimes it works, usually it just makes me become detached and amoral (in character).

Now when I try and do something like this I make sure of the player and character's personality and relationship with their back story, and make sure that they have a way to salvage it when the stuff hits the fan.

[Show]

Anything, as long as it gives the player motivation. I know one guy... he has no actual in-character motivation. All he does is stand around and follow the lead of the rest of the party.

[Shademan]

not to be a bastard (much) but thats kind of a stupid question. I'm pretty sure most sane DM's are just happy to get sensible backstories at all. preferringames where all characters are abused orphans sounds... yeah...

[valadil]

not to be a bastard (much) but thats kind of a stupid question. I'm pretty sure most sane DM's are just happy to get sensible backstories at all. preferringames where all characters are abused orphans sounds... yeah...

Have you tried GMing? I'm always happy to get a background, but if a player is going to put some time into it, I'd rather get something I find useful. Whenever I use request backgrounds for my games, I tell the players what I'm looking to get out of it. I've seen quite a few totally useless backgrounds that may have been fun to write, but I just couldn't incorporate into the game because the player didn't understand what I was asking for.

[Shademan]

Have you tried GMing? I'm always happy to get a background, but if a player is going to put some time into it, I'd rather get something I find useful. Whenever I use request backgrounds for my games, I tell the players what I'm looking to get out of it. I've seen quite a few totally useless backgrounds that may have been fun to write, but I just couldn't incorporate into the game because the player didn't understand what I was asking for.

I pretty much only GM. yeah.
Don't see yer point. I said that preffering your players to have grimdark or nothingwrong backstories is kinda stupid, and proposed that most sane DM's would be happy to get a good backstory regardless of grit and sunshine

[dsmiles]

All I want are plot hooks. You give me happiness, I'll get your relations involved in something so they come for help (or trouble comes for you). You give me tragedy, I can skip the middleman and tie it directly to some plotline I have planned.

It's when you give me nothing that I worry. I want your plot hook to actually HOOK you, and for that, I need some door into your backstory. Otherwise you might ignore it. And when telling a story, if the audience doesn't CARE, then there's no point in telling it.I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Kiero]

As a GM, I want characters with (living) ties to the world. Tragedy is just fine, but loners who have no one they care about are not the sort of PCs I ever want to see. Even if I have no intention of involving the people who matter to them, I want them to exist.

Same goes when I'm a player, I always leave my character's loved ones for the GM to use as they see fit. The last time I had a character with no family was when the entire premise was vengeance against a specific foe, and thus the reason my PC wanted revenge was for the death of his family. Even then it was his wife and children, not his entire family tree.

[Savannah]

Well, pretty much what everyone else has said. However, I particularly like backgrounds that are a mixture of both. Either generally happy with some contrasting horrible events that help shape the character's personality or vice versa, as I find those backgrounds make for more interesting motivations and personalities. (They also often provide good reasons for adventuring.) I think that people sometimes get too fixed on 'my character had a horrible childhood' and don't realize that adding in some happiness can make the horrible parts that much darker.

[valadil]

Don't see yer point.

Have you ever gotten a backstory that's completely useless? Nothing to turn into a plot. No NPCs to borrow. No personality that the player can run with. They're the minority, but I've seen several backgrounds like this. I'd rather not have that happen, so I like to lay out my expectations before the players start writing.

[Choco]

As a GM, I want characters with (living) ties to the world. Tragedy is just fine, but loners who have no one they care about are not the sort of PCs I ever want to see. Even if I have no intention of involving the people who matter to them, I want them to exist.

Same goes when I'm a player, I always leave my character's loved ones for the GM to use as they see fit. The last time I had a character with no family was when the entire premise was vengeance against a specific foe, and thus the reason my PC wanted revenge was for the death of his family. Even then it was his wife and children, not his entire family tree.

This is why I specify as a side-comment that the character could easily have plenty of relatives that were not mentioned in the backstory, known or unknown, as the DM sees fit.

I played a character once who had literally lost ALL ties to the world. Friends, family, enemies, all of them wiped out. It makes for an interesting game forming new ties where no old ones exist (that the character is aware of), and this character was EXTREMELY protective of those new ties once they were formed, for obvious reasons.

[KingRexII]

On the player's side, I lean toward writing tragic than happy backgrounds though I'd like to think I write a mix of tragic and happy in all my backgrounds. I find that the former type is a much more effective impetus to go adventuring than the latter. Most PCs go out into the world because they're looking for something they can't find in their lives and, barring things like ambition and wanderlust, I find I need to introduce some amount of tragedy to induce my PCs to go out into the world. What happens to the kid that has great parents in a stable and prosperous kingdom? He starts a family and stays in said kingdom, living a content and generally unadventurous life.

Now, taking the tragic background to the extreme and playing a character that dwells on his tragedy is a different story. Both as a DM and a player, I would find that annoying and boring.

[Shademan]

Have you ever gotten a backstory that's completely useless? Nothing to turn into a plot. No NPCs to borrow. No personality that the player can run with. They're the minority, but I've seen several backgrounds like this. I'd rather not have that happen, so I like to lay out my expectations before the players start writing.

and thats swell. but that has little to do with preffering grimdark over noblebright

[manyslayer]

Agree with most of the posters that most any background is a good background and preferable to none.

I will say, though, that I see a lot of players that give the tragic back story where everyone they know is dead have sometimes come from campaigns where having loved ones is a punishment. If you have anyone you care about, the bad guys will do horrible things to them or they will turn out to be the bad guys.

Then again, if you have someone that just will not play an emotional attachment to NPCs, its just as well to have them (family/friends) gone rather than have hooks get ignored.

I know some have said that it is helpful for the DM to lay out what is expected. I think it goes both ways. In the last campaign I ran, had one player with a relatively happy home life (she wanted to go out seeking adventure) ask that his family not get used as pawns/bait/hostages, etc. I told him that I wouldn't do so but I couldn't guarantee their safety if the whole town was threatened (well, asteroid settlement since this was Spelljammer). Sometimes a player writes an interesting back story but wants it to stay in the background. Other times they want it more involved in the campaign. As with so many aspects of a campaign, understanding the DM's and player's point of view on these things leads to a more rewarding experience for everyone.

[Kiero]

On the player's side, I lean toward writing tragic than happy backgrounds though I'd like to think I write a mix of tragic and happy in all my backgrounds. I find that the former type is a much more effective impetus to go adventuring than the latter. Most PCs go out into the world because they're looking for something they can't find in their lives and, barring things like ambition and wanderlust, I find I need to introduce some amount of tragedy to induce my PCs to go out into the world. What happens to the kid that has great parents in a stable and prosperous kingdom? He starts a family and stays in said kingdom, living a content and generally unadventurous life.

I must admit, I find tragedy a much more credible spur to the adventuring life than happiness. My characters almost always have some tragic or traumatic event that sets them on the path, even if their life before was happy.

One character had an abusive father and ran away from home to join up with some bandits. Later on he fell foul of a change of leadership and fled north, where he met one of the other PCs and became fast friends.

Another was a peasant who got caught poaching and was sentenced to hang. But the recruiters for an irregular unit were passing through and the magistrate gave him to them instead. Having survived the war he came home and found his family (all of them, cousins, aunts and uncles as well) had gone. They'd gone south so he became a refugee and followed them. He's gotten into all sorts of trouble trying to find his family, then trying to make their new home safe for them.

Another still was a scout and explorer until his sister was murdered and her mentor came to train him in the Jedi ways so that he might seek justice against her slayer.

Another still a special forces black ops vet who was snapped up by the Inquisition when the operation he worked for was exposed and shut down. His choice was sign up or be executed as a traitor. He has an estranged family out there who barely saw their father/husband growing up, a perennial source of guilt.