Character Creation Back story Restrictions, Good or Bad? [Archive]

techgorilla

2013-10-28, 10:06 AM

Red Fel

2013-10-28, 10:22 AM

So i've played around six sessions as a GM divided in two campaigns. For both campaigns i told my players to create a character with any back story that they want. I did this because i wanted them to be free to create without feeling the obligation to fit in my history. I then took it upon myself to find way to integrate them into a party.

This has created a problem where the characters are in a disjointed party that does not feel natural. And does not seem to have much of a reason to be together.

It is still to early to know if this is going to be a problem. But i have a feeling that i will need to force them (a little more than i want) to stay together.

On the other hand a friends campaign started all of us as part of military unit. Basically making it possible for the group to act without having to worry about fitting together. Since even if they didn't like the other characters they could not leave. This made it impossible for me to play a character that i really wanted to play, but also it was good in that i did not have to worry about fitting in with the other characters.

This has left me wondering if my approach, to leave the objectives and desires of the characters up to the players, might be just plain inferior.

So the questions are:
1.Should you always tell your players to create their Characters with a predefined objective or desire?
2.Is this way just better or are there situations where you would like to choose the other?
3.Is this better for the players?

So i ask for the more experience GMs and Players to help me out here since i am quite a newbie here.

I hope that what i'm asking is understandable. Sorry if it is not (English is not my native language).And please ask me any questions that will help me clarify me request.

Let me start by addressing your questions.

1. I would generally advise against telling your characters to create their characters with a specific objective unless the campaign makes that thematically appropriate. For example, your friend's campaign is based in a military unit; it would be thematically appropriate for each character's backstory to include why and how he joined the unit, and what he hopes to get out of it. Similarly, if you were doing a campaign limited to a specific region, the backstory should include what characters are doing in that region and why. Asking players to explain their characters' presence and goals in the immediate setting is fine; telling them they need to include an element of X in their backstory is not.

2. I think I answered that in 1, above.

3. It is better for the players, I think, that they choose their backstory instead of having it imposed on them. See 1 and 2 above.

All that said, there are things you can do.

One option is to encourage your players to talk to one another and come up with connections before the campaign starts. When the PCs are part of one another's backstories, they fit together more smoothly. For instance, I played in a Dragonlance campaign once where one character was the servant of another character, a third character was a fourth character's school-chum, and a fifth character was an intelligent construct who served the sixth character, a gnome. Having that pre-existing overlap in backstory helped solidify the team, and encouraging the players to do that amongst themselves is a great way for them to feel invested in the characters and their relationships.

Another option is to sit down with each player while they're composing character concept. Talk it out with them. Ask them about objectives, encourage them to think from a party-oriented perspective, and make suggestions (but don't be too forceful). This doubles as an opportunity to observe how flexible the player is, how willing they are to play well with others, how likely they are to hog the spotlight or rules-lawyer, and generally whether this is a pleasant person you'd want in your campaign.

A third option is to do what your friend did. Say "this is an X campaign, so as part of your backstory, you need to tell me why you're in/opposing X, what your feelings are about X, and what your goals are with regard to X and beyond." This immediately tells the players what kind of character to prepare (for example, if X is military, they need to be ready for combat; if X is undead, they need to not roll Rogue, and so on) and gives them a reason to be thematically aligned.