How does one write a good Background?

[Trandir]

I am joining a campaing that (hopefully) will go on for a while and not the usual 2-4 sessions. So I will need to write an actual character and not a statblock with my crappy humor to back it up.

Any advice?

[Aegis013]

There are some pretty good resources available. Considering doing a "10 minute background (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?91813-10-Minute-Background)" which admittedly usually takes me 30 minutes minimum.

Once you have that, you could write out one or two of the major events that are really important to the concept of the character from the perspective of the character rather than third person narration. How did they experience it?

[Jay R]

Go read a couple of your favorite adventure books, or watch a couple of your favorite adventure movies. Ask yourself who it would be fun to be. Don't pick just one; pick several. Then ask yourself what the fun part is. Most especially, what is the fun part of the characters' backgrounds?

D'Artagnan is fun because he's an important person in Gascony who doesn't understand why his rural ways and lack of city manners mean people don't respect him here. [Think of him as the son of a big Texas rancher. Everybody in the county knows and respects him. Then he goes to New York City in his Dockers and his boots and his Cowboy hat, and doesn't understand why the people in Brooks Brothers suits don't treat him like an equal.]

Iron Man is fun because he's brilliant but selfish, until he learns why he needs to be a hero.

Sam Gamgee is fun because he's a gardener who winds up on a heroic quest and has to grow into the role.

Harry Potter is fun because he didn't know he was a wizard, and comes into it knowing less than any other student at Hogwarts.

Now, what kind of background would make your character more fun? Start writing up that background.

And work in both directions -- with that background, what skills and class would your character be more likely to have?

If you find that your character is getting too close to the fictional character you based him on, that's fine. Just pick out one specific, and important, quality that makes him different.

I based a 2e elven Thief on Tarzan, and then made him a multi-class Thief/Wizard. I based a 3.5e Ranger on Aragorn, and then made him look down on city folks. I based a Champions mystic superhero on Dr. Strange, and then gave Dr. MacAbre a vampire curse.

Or combine two characters. I had a great Champions superhero who was a combination of Plastic Man and Bouncing Boy. My original D&D hobbit thief Robin Banks was a cross between Bilbo Baggins and the Grey Mouser.

I also recommend coming up with a schtick or common action or catchphrase that you can use fairly often when you aren't in combat. This really helps the character stick out as a character. It also helps you stay in character.

My 2e Thief often told the Paladin, "Yes, well, that's because you're a Paladin, sworn to do what's Lawful, and what's Good. I'm just a thief, free to do what's right."

When something unusual happens, my Ranger often says, "I will never understand you city folk," I particularly enjoy doing this when what he's talking about had nothing to do with he city.

My gnome illusionist believes in multiple names, and so is re-naming each member of the party.

Dr. MacAbre's catchphrase was "To say 'magic' instead of 'I don't know' proves nothing." He also would use alliterative expressions:
"By Conan's Copper Codpiece!"
"By the lush, lurid, living alliteration of Lee!"

My Flashing Blades Thief was slowly developing a "code of honor" that was really self-centered pragmatism. "Never steal from the poor. They have no money." This was based on Pappy Maverick's sayings from the old Maverick TV show.]

The crucial thing is to pick background elements based on what would be fun for you to play.

[D+1]

I don't have any actually good experience with DM-required backstory. Best I've gotten is that the DM simply ignored it.

The short version is: Don't provide the DM with any information that you don't want them to DAMAGE. Backstory, IN MY UNSHAKABLE OPINION, is never for the DM to use or abuse. It is for the player themselves. Think of it like the replicants in Blade Runner. Your backstory is like their implanted memories. It gives YOU, the player, a cushion upon which to base their choices, their personalities, their beliefs that you otherwise might not have because the game - and the life of the PC - is really just starting. It is therefore not for the DM to take that cushion and pull the stuffing out. DM's may believe that they are helping to weave the tapestry of your characters life by being given your backstory, but actually they're just going to be pulling at the threads that you already wove into it. They may also tell you that if you don't provide them with backstory that they can't involve your character as intimately in the campaign as YOU should want. That's myopic bullpucky. Just by being there and participating in all the events of the game sessions, your character is INSEPARABLE from the campaign and everything happening in it. By default every PC is ALREADY intimately woven into the campaign events that take place. Adventures based on PC backstory just moves adventure seeds from NPC sources to PC sources - but the PTSD that rightfully would come with it then also shifts from NPC's to PC's, and that is an unspoken and often unwanted part of the bargain.

A sister goes missing and the PC's search for her. If that sister was the sibling of an NPC it matters little if the sister is dead, or about to die, or has been so traumatized that she wishes for death. But if that sister is the sibling of a PC, ripped from the backstory that the player wrote, then the impact is VASTLY different. And just because of the nature of D&D and the adventures we play within it, it is outrageously unlikely that it will be a fun ride watching what happens to your PC's life. Missing sister? Dead or tortured. Have property? It'll be robbed, destroyed, or usurped. Looking for the Lost Ark? Your PC is never going to get it for themselves, it'll wind up filed and forgotten in a lost warehouse.

If a DM is asking for backstory for THEIR use, don't give them anything you don't fully EXPECT to lose or be abused.

[rel]

Keep it simple, keep it short. Address points that need addressing and don't waffle. Include the following:

Reason why you are going to go on the adventure the GM is proposing and will never have to be convinced to participate.

Reason why you will hang out with the PC party and will never abandon, betray or otherwise not adventure with them

reason why you know everything you need to know for your current and future build. If you are planning on taking wizard in the future then your currently fighter 2 studied as a mage at some point in the past.

some instructions to yourself to help you roleplay effectively and consistently. Go with what works for you.

a short description of what your character will be aiming to do during the game.


If the GM likes help with the world building throw in a few NPC's or locations that will help improve any of the above points in game

If you happen to know a lot about part of the setting consider weaving it into the backstory so you can draw on said knowledge to aid your roleplay in a productive way.

Finally, run your story past the GM. note the major or contentious points to ensure they match the campaign theme and style.

[martixy]

Follow these 3 simple steps:

Narrative: Central conflict.
Meta: Hooks for your DM.
Social: Reason for adventuring/working with the party.


Every good story needs a central tension. Something that pulls participants in opposing directions. A civil war. Revenge. Love vs duty. Even just a misunderstanding. 36 dramatic situations. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations)

If you want your story to mesh into the world give hooks for the DM. Get interested about it. Have a noble you slighted. Have a contact in this or that city. Where do your parents live?

Reason for being in the party: You are there to play the game. Don't be difficult about it. You wouldn't believe how many people need to be told that.

[Mordante]

It depends a lot on the character you want to create.

I normally start with what kind of character I'd like to play. Where did she grew up, does she come from a rich or poor back ground. If I have a sort of idea where my character comes form I start to look at character classes. What class fits my idea. If need what prestige class will go with it.

Then I go back to my original idea and if needed tweak it.

Now I have the basics. Work from there say you have 1 level rogue and next some caster class levels. How did that happen? If they have some gear already, where did it come from. Did she cheat/bluff/bribe through mage school, is she some prodigal child. Why does she want to go on an adventure. To me this is the BIG question. I sometimes write a background story. But when I read I think why would she go away from her current life.

And then reality happens. All those evenings spend on looking for background info, cool story lines etc. Only to find out it really doesn't work the way you wanted it to. Maybe your character as described really doesn't work in the party. You can't have 4 silent brooding mages. Nothing will happen. Nor can you have 4 people that were all borne to lead armies. Adept.

[DeTess]

Have a chat with your DM to ask what they'd like to see in your background. If the GM indicates that you can write whatever, but that they won't really include it in the campaign itself, you'll be writing something different than if a DM really wants everyone to have background so that they're grounded in the game world. Assuming the GM is interested in incorporating things, writing a background is really a GM-player dialogue. Here's an example based on the background of one of the players in my current campaign:

Player: So I was thinking of being a disgraced Scion of a Noble family.
DM: Okay, that sounds good. Could you send me a basic write-up on your house in addition to on yourself?
Player: *sends details*
DM: This looks pretty good, I needed a noble house to fill in the airship-building and commerce niche, so that's nice. However you mention that it was your older sister that engineered your fall from grace because she wanted to inherit the title, but in this area of my world the oldest child normally inherits irrespective of gender.
Player: Alright, I could just swap our ages around then.
DM: That's fine. What kind of man was your grandfather [who founded the house]? He'd probably have these characteristics to eb able to pull off the founding but...
etc.

So in short, come up some initial ideas, then bounce them off your DM to see what they think and what additions and changes their world-building might require.

[jdizzlean]

for a serious game background i like to think of where i want to take the character, and then build a history that points in that direction. give DETAILS, the more buy in you have, and that the DM can use, the better the game will be for both of you. If you don't put detail in that can be used, and no one else does either, you basically give away any sense of control your group has over the adventure. this is unfair to the dm who now has to do all the work without any input. at that point, you've also given up any right to complain about the story, or lack thereof. it doesn't have to be a novel either, one of my favorite backgrounds i've written was only 2 paragraphs long, but full of hooks for the dm to use.

[DarkOne-Rob]

A fun way to do this is to involve the other PCs too. Look into the Fate System (I recommend specifically the Dresden Files RPG, because the novels are awesome!) and see how they do it. There is an interconnected aspect to all of the PCs as a result of a "Session Zero" process where gameplay sort of begins prior to the campaign. It can be lots of fun - check it out!

[DeTess]

A fun way to do this is to involve the other PCs too. Look into the Fate System (I recommend specifically the Dresden Files RPG, because the novels are awesome!) and see how they do it. There is an interconnected aspect to all of the PCs as a result of a "Session Zero" process where gameplay sort of begins prior to the campaign. It can be lots of fun - check it out!

Right, I should have mentioned that as well. The system FATE uses is very useful, for generating cohesive background for an entire adventuring group, and it can easily be applied even if you're not playing fate.