Uncreative backstory

[20percentcooler]

My friends and I are trying to create a very trope filled backstory. Name some backstory tropes. Ex. Born in a small town, child prodigy, etc.

[mcv]

An orphan, raised by an old adventurer, prophesied to save the world from some terrible evil. (This is about half the fantasy CRPGs out there.)

A farm boy, secretly the rightful heir to the realm, proven by a unique birthmark. Maybe also one heirloom (like a magic sword).

[Sith_Happens]

An orphan, raised by an old adventurer, prophesied to save the world from some terrible evil. (This is about half the fantasy CRPGs out there.)

A farm boy, secretly the rightful heir to the realm, proven by a unique birthmark. Maybe also one heirloom (like a magic sword).

Whose hometown is destroyed. That part's important.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Who says those are mutually exclusive?

An orphan who is secretly the rightful heir raised by an old adventurer and is prophesized to save the world from a terrible evil by claiming his rightful place as king with his definitive birthmark/heirloom.

With the help of his "adorable" comic relief sidekick Mittens the Genderless Pink Goblin, a monster who laments over the inherent evilness of hir species and only wants to make up for hir species' sins, and joined by his assistant the spunky girl who is also secretly royalty somehow and whom has an incredibly obvious crush on him that he refuses to acknowledge while simultaneously angsting about his inability to Find True Love, but will never leave his side no matter how much he abuses her.

Also he wields giant swords and walks around all day (and sleeps all night) in very tight, revealing armor that gives clear access to the sternum, yet somehow provides the same protection as full plate. The hero has also sworn out to destroy a villaind, who murdered the hero's adopted father (who taught him everything he knows about swordfighting) and whom he believes murdered the hero's father, but in reality turns out to be the hero's father. And his nephew. Insert inbreeding nobility jokes here.

I should probably stop now.

[20percentcooler]

Insert inbreeding nobility jokes here

Targaryen *cough cough*

[DrBurr]

Don't forget vengeance if your character isn't after vengeance for killing say their veteran adventurer father then whos going to stop that bad guy who dresses in all black

[Knaight]

Most of what needs to be covered has been covered. I'd throw in amnesia (as seen in video games, as opposed to how it actual amnesia) and some sort of locket with the picture of a family member in it - probably a younger sister, it seems traditional.

[Vladislav]

I feel compelled to mention this

[Craft (Cheese)]

I'd throw in amnesia (as seen in video games, as opposed to how it actual amnesia)

Of course! How could I forget amnesia?

[Knaight]

Of course! How could I forget amnesia?

Was this a deliberate pun?

[TheCountAlucard]

There's quite a difference between tropes and cliches.

[Sith_Happens]

There's quite a difference between tropes and cliches.

Sort of; all cliches are tropes, but not all tropes are cliches.

[Slipperychicken]

There's also being a noble's kid, and "rebelling" against them by running away to live as a shotgun-hobo Adventurer.

I've seen this one far too many times for my taste. Last campaign alone, we had 3 runaway nobility and a King in the party. No, we didn't coordinate it beforehand. I don't want to see another noble-blooded adventurer ever again. (Seriously, if noble life was so awful, why would anyone do it at all?)

[Traab]

A nobles son, who wants with all his heart to be something other than king, runs away from home to become a traveling bard. He hides his true identity from his friends, until his past catches up with him.

[Righteous Doggy]

Don't forget they at some point met the main villain and he has a ridiculously specific trait by which to recognize, but it takes forever to find it. Probably something about having a giant scar, disfigured possibly red right hand.

[nedz]

Don't forget the treasure map/arcane clue/prophesy tatooed/burnt on to their skin.

[Roguenewb]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

[Wyntonian]

My Parents Are Deeeeeeeeaaaaaaaddddd!!!!!

[Elemental]

Hmm... We seem to have forgotten the pendant that the amnesiac orphaned hero possesses which proves that the ransom person they met who decided to join their group for seemingly no reason is their sibling...

[vulcanbardmoon]

Don't forget to include a bickering love interest he met, most likely in a tavern, with whom he bickers constantly while he angsts about whatever ridiculous thing stands between them being together.

[Sith_Happens]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

[nedz]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

Well not quite - in the backstory your father is dead, it is only later that you discover that he is the BBEG's luitenant.

[Sith_Happens]

Well not quite - in the backstory your father is dead, it is only later that you discover that he is the BBEG's luitenant.

Wait, do you nest the quote boxes like that manually? Because whenever I (or pretty much anyone else) clicks to quote something it leaves out all quote-boxes in the quoted post.

[nedz]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

Wait, do you nest the quote boxes like that manually? Because whenever I (or pretty much anyone else) clicks to quote something it leaves out all quote-boxes in the quoted post.

Click on the '' of the first post(s)
Click Quote on the last post
This gives you a reply edit box with both/all quotes.
Cut and Paste

[nedz]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

Well not quite - in the backstory your father is dead, it is only later that you discover that he is the BBEG's luitenant.

Wait, do you nest the quote boxes like that manually? Because whenever I (or pretty much anyone else) clicks to quote something it leaves out all quote-boxes in the quoted post.

Damm, missed one

[Craft (Cheese)]

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

If you try to subvert this by giving your character a happy, healthy relationship with their family, this relationship will be completely destroyed within the first few sessions. Better* to just kill them off in your backstory and let it be done with.

* Unless your GM is clever, in which case they'll come back as Bodaks hunting you down or something.

[Mastikator]

Just copy the background story of Senor Vorpal Kickasso.

[Sith_Happens]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

Well not quite - in the backstory your father is dead, it is only later that you discover that he is the BBEG's luitenant.

Wait, do you nest the quote boxes like that manually? Because whenever I (or pretty much anyone else) clicks to quote something it leaves out all quote-boxes in the quoted post.

Damm, missed one

Nest ALL the quotes! Which is probably exactly why it doesn't do so automatically.

[nedz]

If your parents are alive, you aren't D&D backstorying hard enough. That's a rule to live by.

The exception, of course, being if one or both of them is an antagonist.

Well not quite - in the backstory your father is dead, it is only later that you discover that he is the BBEG's luitenant.

Wait, do you nest the quote boxes like that manually? Because whenever I (or pretty much anyone else) clicks to quote something it leaves out all quote-boxes in the quoted post.

Click on the '' of the first post(s)
Click Quote on the last post
This gives you a reply edit box with both/all quotes.
Cut and Paste

Nest ALL the quotes! Which is probably exactly why it doesn't do so automatically.

Easy isn't it
Actually there are forum rules about excessive formating, so I don't normally overdo it.

[Lord Tyger]

It is open to abuse.

Easy isn't it
Actually there are forum rules about excessive formating, so I don't normally overdo it.

It is open to abuse.

Easy isn't it
Actually there are forum rules about excessive formating, so I don't normally overdo it.

It is open to abuse.

Back on topic- it's not about the individual elements- most that aren't just raving gibberish will have been used already, it's about how you combine and flavor them. Really the most effective way to showcase what you seem to be trying to do is to have the character's personality entirely defined by two or three of the most common tropes- have him say things like, "All I have of my parents is this mysterious amulet, I wonder what it could possibly signify," all the time.