NPC Backstory

[NOhara24]

I'm getting ready to start up my first campaign as DM, and I fear that my character-creating ways should be put on hold. I know that there is a value in having NPCs with a strong backstory, but on the other hand, shouldn't the PCs be the focus of the game?

My quandary is this: how much backstory should an NPC have? Say that the NPC in question will be occasionally recurring, not the BBEG though.

[Milo v3]

I'm getting ready to start up my first campaign as DM, and I fear that my character-creating ways should be put on hold. I know that there is a value in having NPCs with a strong backstory, but on the other hand, shouldn't the PCs be the focus of the game?

My quandary is this: how much backstory should an NPC have? Say that the NPC in question will be occasionally recurring, not the BBEG though.

How much each NPC should have is dependent on your group of players. I personally make it up on the spot for most NPC's when they appear in the game, and for them it isn't as much a backstory as the NPC's motivation.

A backstory basically comes down to motivation, for generic NPC's it might be food for himself or his family, or money, or living up to a family tradition (willing or not).

For a recurring NPC I would make the backstory have his current motivation, and the thing which lead him to his current motivation. Then while planning the next time he appears I go back further to what caused the thing which lead him to his previous motivation, and so on.

Then slowly throughout the adventures they get snippets of the backstory, so far for me the Players never knew a recurring character's whole backstory. But even the bits which the players don't know should still influence his motives and actions.

In the end, this way of doing it slowly builds up the characters past as if you are slowly learning it yourself. It starts with a good amount depth and grows into an abyssal pit.

But this method probably isn't suited to everyone, so I suggest you should just try different things until you find one that works for you.

[some guy]

Give important NPC's one piece of interesting backstory. If the pc's seek out a NPC they've met before give him/her an extra bit of backstory. If they seek out that NPC a third time, that NPC get's more backstory.
That way you'll never create superfluous backstory and the NPC's your players find interesting get more interesting.

[valadil]

My NPCs with backstory end up more interesting than the ones that have nothing going on. If the PCs find an NPC interesting, they're more likely to engage the NPC and learn about his backstory. So I usually get pretty good returns on NPC history.

But like you said the PCs are the stars of the show. What works for me is to limit myself to one NPC backstory per game session. I'll pick an NPC and pretend he's my PC for a week before game. He'll develop a pretty decent history, but this won't cost me too much prep time nor will it overshadow the players.

[Sajach]

I'm also starting to dm and I think that giving characters that might be more prevalent large backstory is better than giving every character a decent one. So don't make a random commoner have a good a backstory as the king unless the pcs are sure to work with him.
P.s. My first post ever

[inexorabletruth]

That's up to what's fun for you. I tend to think in depth about my NPCs. I'll write up over 1,000 backstories for NPCs (not an exaggeration) before a campaign is done, some of which the PCs never learn about, and in many cases never meet.

But that's me. And it is insane. (2 consecutive sentences that began with conjunctions. What?! Start sumthin'.)

Anyways, my wife does a pretty good job keeping backstories rich without putting as much work into it. Her NPCs are still fun and exciting though. She rolls up an NPC, then rolls up an NPC trait to go with it (NPC traits are found in the DMG, pg. 128.) Most of the time, a back story will write itself on the fly with that one-word trait.

As an experiment, here is an example of an L1 Aristocrat, trait 82 (Careless). I just random rolled that, so we're clear. So let's see...

That's an easy one! Clearly we're talking about a pampered, evil-to-neutral lord who prances around like Hextor's gift to humanity, taking hot daughters of crippled, blind commoners for his wife-of-the-month/future-sacrifice-to-evil-deity (if you want to get that dark). Done.

Ok, it's cheesy and thin for a backstory, but I typed it as it came to mind. If you wanted to give it a second thought, then you could easily fill it out and make it better, but the point is, with the roll of a golf ball, you've got backstories and plots-a-plenty.

[Jay R]

Give him as much backstory as the story might call for - and no more.

The bartender has lived a full life, but who cares? It doesn't matter that his daughter is dying of typhus, unless your party has a high-level priest. It doesn't matter that he fought in the goblin wars, unless one of the PCs is wearing a goblin-made sword. It doesn't matter that he cheats at Diamondback, unless the PCs play Diamondback.

[Mr.Moron]

If an NPC is important I'll give them a very basic sketch of background and personality. My notes on a key NPC might be something like this

"Short man with Dark Hair and Cloudy eyes. Impatient. Originally from the farmlands south Barnum. Wanted to be an actor once, hates goats"

It gives me enough to get into character when playing the NPC. It also gives me a few points to jump off of if the PCs decide to get chatty (they often do).

Other NPCs which crop up incidentally are developed as we go along.

We had one NPC go from a nameless mook (literally "Dude with Crossbow") in random battle to dude with a name. Later on the PCs wound up stopping by his home town. They met his sister, learned about his hobbies & previous profession and some of his family history.