Quote Originally Posted by Pauly View Post
Even if you run a meatgrinder you still need a backstory (assuming backstory is relevant to the campaign). Unless you are all identical clones with identical training each potential PC still has individual skills, abilities and personality traits that are explained by their backstory before they entered the meatgrinder.
Paranoia sez "Hi!". Well training is random rather than identical, but you do have your six pack of clones and making a new character is under 5 minutes (may vary by edition a bit but not too much).
Quote Originally Posted by Martin Greywolf View Post
Frankly, this is a strawman argument. You can't expect a meatgrinder to somehow magically solve all of your problems with backstories ever - it's a tool, and like any tool, it has a time and a place and can be used badly. If you use it badly, well, of course it doesn't work. You can hammer a nail in with a screwdriver, but it won't be easy and will leave you frustrated and your screwdriver cracked.
Pretty much just this. Meatgrinders aren't really set up as backstory generators and aren't universally applicable. Life path character generation is a backstory generator (and I'd still pay real money for reverse life path generators that work backwards from a completed character for certain game systems & settings).