A Million RPG Backgrounds

[Drakeburn]

For those who are having a hard time coming up with a good back-story for their characters, this is the list for you.

So, for the usual Fantasy RPGs (D&D, Pathfinder, etc)

1) When you were a baby, you were found in a basket by (monks, wolves, knights, etc), who took you in as one of their own. When you finally become an adult, you decide to set out to learn of your real parents.

2) After you have served your years as a conscript, everyone at home notices how much you have changed. With your skills, you can become somebody greater. A mercenary, an adventurer, and maybe even a hero.

3) Bored with your life, you decide to go out and become an adventurer.

[Benthesquid]

Abandoned as a child, you were found by a kindly farmwoman who lives in the middle of Nowhere, with her cantankerous husband. But creepy stuff happens in Nowhere! It's up to you, to save your new home!

[WeLoveFireballs]

5) After your mother died of natural causes your father made a dark pact to try to revive her and both were turned into Demons/Undead. You go on a quest to get enough power to take revenge on your father and give your mother peace.

6) Having completed your training, you are sent out to prove your worth by your elderly master.

7) One day you take down the family weapon from the mantle for a mundane purpose and suddenly are infused with the spirit of your great great grandfather, becoming a warrior and feeling a need to find and complete the task he left unfinished.

8) You are accused of a murder and must flee your home, finding a life wherever you can.

9) One day you are struck by lightning and gain sorcerous powers. You seek out a life of adventure to test your new abilities.

[Ranting Fool]

10: You awaken with no memory and must discover the world around you as well as yourself (a classic)

11: Accused of a crime you didn't commit you are chucked into a jail with 2-5 other equally innocent but highly skilled people

12: The love of your life has been kidnapped and you must rally your friends and track her down, always being just one step behind

[Beige Dragon]

Abandoned as a child, you were found by a kindly farmwoman who lives in the middle of Nowhere, with her cantankerous husband. But creepy stuff happens in Nowhere! It's up to you, to save your new home!

Courage the Cowardly Warg.

[Gavran]

13 the first) You were living a perfectly ordinary life until you found THE PROPHECY~

[genmoose]

13) You are exploring the woods near your village with some of your friends when you come across an ancient crypt, buried for centuries but recently uncovered in a flood/landslide/earthquake. Having more curiosity than sense you explore the small chamber and accidentally awaken an ancient evil. It possesses one of your friends/girlfriend and rapidly flees. You find the dimming remnants of an equally ancient guardian. Before he fades away forever he bestows upon you (and maybe your friends) a great power and tasks you to re-capture or even destroy the ancient evil.

14) You are one of the most popular people in your small village and are quite content to grow into your career through an apprenticeship at the blacksmith/apothecary/guild/etc. Then by chance one drunken night you hook up with and deflower a local merchant's daughter. Little do you know he is a retired adventurer and swears vengeance against you to reclaim his family's honor. You are forced to flee the village and make your way in the world. Meanwhile you have to watch out for the angry father or his hired goons that might track you down.

15) While toiling in the fields you stumble upon a strange amulet buried long ago. You try it on and feel yourself filled with the memories and power of a long dead hero (instant advancement to starting level in the class of your choice). Somehow you know that your change was detected by something else. And that something is coming to find you. You leave your home to complete the dead hero's quest or just to draw the coming evil away.

16) For years you've found yourself obsessing about another person in your village. She is beautiful, smart and totally not interested in you. When she eventually leaves with some random adventurer that wandered into town you vow to make a name for yourself and maybe one day win her interest back from the nameless hero.

[QuintonBeck]

18) Sent off to the monastery/clergy/other to train you have just finished your training but with war closing fast you have been sent with the rest of your former trainees alongside other conscripts to face the newest threat to the lands.

19) Captured during a raid on your village when you were just a child you have just been found and rescued by a band of adventurers. What life will you pursue with no home to return to and no knowledge of the lands outside?

20) Born into slavery you were certain you would be doomed to an eternal life of servitude yet this seemingly unavoidable curse was broken when you were freed from bondage by a rival kingdom.

21) Born in the largest city of the land you never thought the day would come when the war would find you, yet now it stands at the front gate and you must decide whether to fight or flee and what to do afterwards even if you survive.

[Jaycemonde]

22) You wander aimlessly into an overwhelming civil war because your boyfriend was dumb enough to get enlisted.

23) You learn of grand wealth to be had in far-off lands, and after an estrangement with your family you decide one way is as good as a next. You then become travelers and mercenaries extraordinaire with your boyfran (pick a random other member of the party) and his band of idiotsadventurers.

24) You are an evil devil/demon/some other outsider out to make a name for yourself, and ingratiating your way into an adventuring party--whether in disguise or not--seems like an easy ticket to good times and lots of mischief. The only catch is that as part of the cabalistic rituals of the wizzard that summoned you/the coming-of-badass rituals in whatever plane of nether you're from, you relinquish most of you awesome demonic powers (magic-fizzlers can keep a few as spells).

25) You are a grand hero of eons past, reborn in a weakling body and hankering for the good ole' days. Despite your amazing knowledge of history, what to use in certain situations and great persistence, your younger body is often unwilling or unable to do the things you're telling it to. It's pretty farkin' annoying.

[Drakeburn]

26) You are a nameless soldier, one of the few who managed to survive the downfall of your kingdom. With no home to return to, or a ruler to serve, you wander around the world, waiting for luck to smile upon you.

27) You awaken from a heavy drunken slumber, to find yourself among a group of strangers you have never met before. Dressed for a long journey, and a note with the royal seal on it, you wonder what you gotten yourself into last night.

[Sith_Happens]

28) After your hometown is destroyed by [orcs]/[mercernaries]/[the Evil Empire], you are found by an elderly [swordsman]/[wizard]/[etc.] who teaches you his/her ways.

29) You are [name], the legendary evil wizard, wielder of unmatched power and perpetrator of countless atrocities. Recently, however, you have begun to feel more and more remorse for your foul ways, until one day you decide to clear the slate and give yourself a second chance. You alter not just your appearance, but your memories as well, and set out into the world as what you can only hope will be a better person.

[CombatOwl]

30) You thought your time as an adventurer was done. Your treasure collected, your lineage secure, your castles strong and defended. You had passed away peacefully--retired, a rare thing for an adventurer... until you were brought back. You're not sure why, or for what purpose, but you've been forcibly restored to life and made to serve a lord you never would have in life...

[AgentofHellfire]

31) You were a fairly plucky fellow once, and for a while, this was a good thing. But then you fought in a war and became hunted for some reason, until you were driven down to some catacombs. But luck was on your side, as a demon lay in those catacombs slowly dying. It agrees to give you its power if you pursue its vengeance, and since you and he have pretty similar targets...you can do nothing else save accept.
32) You are the heir to a long line of powerful mages, but you yourself lack any talent for magic--and to make matters worse, your parents aren't the type to be accepting of that. You've heard before of an obscure ritual that lets you briefly bind a demon to increase your power, and though you can't activate it yourself, you have access to a way-too-curious friend who can. You try out the ritual and (predictably) screw it up, and the demon now wants you to do some things for it...
33) You are the heir to something important. Perhaps an estate, perhaps a tribe, perhaps a nation, but, there's a slight problem. You aren't exactly heir material. As this becomes more and more apparent (sometimes to the point of crime), you eventually get cut off from any funds. This is a serious problem, which necessitates the only kind of solution you're good at!

[ShadowFireLance]

34)
You are heir to the throne of a mighty Dragon, Problem with that is, He doesn't appear to be dieing anytime soon, and would prefer to not go missing either.

[Sgt. Cookie]

35) You were once a gladiator. Feared by your foes, admired by your allies and worshiped by your fans. But one day, it was all over. You had slaughtered armies without thought, slain creatures that the greatest knights fear and fought battles that gods came to watch. But now, you have earned your freedom. Now, after all that bloodshed, you serve no man but yourself.

With your equipment and that last of your earnings, you set out into the world.

But the only place for you is right where you were. Slaughtering armies, slaying mighty creatures and earning the respect of the gods. Only this time, you will be free.

[Jennie4226]

Thanks for sharing.

[AcerbicOrb]

36) You're one of the King's Guardsmen, but after the King is assassinated, the assassin escapes and you are blamed for the murder, and arrested. After you escape, you have a high bounty placed on your head.

[Callin]

37) You got bored one morning, so you packed a lunch and set out down the road.

[Grim Portent]

38) You are the heir to the throne of the evil overlord. Things are good, the overlord is nearing the end of his/her life and soon all that they own will be yours, but trouble is on the horizon as a group of misfits has banded together to find the ancient McGuffin and overthrow the regime that is rightfully yours. To keep your soon-to-be-throne you must stop them.

[TechnoScrabble]

39) You are an experiment created by the Big Bad to perfect a faulty supersoldier design, but you were either a failure abandoned at a young age or your 'test run' resulted in a loss of memory.

40) When a grave threat came to your family, you turned to the dark arts in a desperate attempt to save them, but whatever spell, ritual, or curse you attempted backfired.

41) You are the last living and abled member of a famous group of calvarymen, continuing to adventure in the name of your noble legion.

42) Your life long love was kidnapped on the day you planned to propose to them, and so now you quest in the hopes of finding and saving them.

43) You were a rash, fast-blooded, firebrand of a youth, and your aggressive and self righteous manners cost you all your friends and family as they died or left, unable to pull you away from your self-destructive path. Now, either you are attempting to keep the fires within from consuming you by calming yourself and seeking to atone, or you've become bitter and lash out at others, never admitting out loud that you realize all your troubles are your own fault.

44) You saw something unnatural as a young child-a horrible monster, a glorious treasure, an unearthly beautiful woman-and now it returns in your dreams, guiding you to an unknown destiny and spurring you onward through a mix of fear and wonder.

45) You died, but someone brought you back years later, leaving their mark on you in some way. Something calls you to search for them, and you see their mark hidden everywhere you go, letting you know you're on the right path.

[AcerbicOrb]

46) You were once a famous pirate captain, raiding merchant ship after merchant ship, but one day your ship was caught in an ambush and sunk. You wake up somewhere you don't recognise, with nothing but what you had in your pockets.

[Drakeburn]

47) You were once the eldest child of a wealthy noble family. You had wealth, respect, and power. Then one day, it was discovered that the family fortune has been stolen. Armed with your father's armory, you set out to take back the family fortune, or to rebuild it from scratch.

[stupiddDice]

48) You have lived in an abandoned castle at the top of a mountain peak for as long as you can remember, however long that is. You don't remember having ever met any other humans, but you know what they are, though you don't know how. In fact, you know a lot of things, just not how you know them. You can also use magic, again, no idea how. One day you find a way to leave the castle and begin journeying the earth.

49) When you were a child, a mysterious artifact summoned a shadow that destroyed your hometown, leaving you as the only survivor. Now a paladin, you journey the world to fight the most eldritch and terrible creatures in existence, hoping to one day find that shadow again.

[QuintonBeck]

50) Your mother/father was an adventurer and though they retired happily and raised you well they never completed one task they intended to. Now you've taken it upon yourself to complete this task for them and keep the family name strong.

51) While you were orphaned at a young age you've lived a relatively happy life in your village even if you never knew your parents, one day however you are approached by a mysterious man who tells you, "The debt is now yours, find the macguffin and give it to me before your death or suffer eternal damnation as your father/mother does now after his/her death" So threatened and with a clear goal you set out to clear your soul from the bargaining table of a deal you weren't even aware existed.

[AcerbicOrb]

52) In a strange case of mistaken identity, you are targeted by assassins. You decide to leave behind your average, normal life to find out who these assassins were, and why you're on their list.

[Shred-Bot]

53) When the President was kidnapped by ninjas, you were the one challenged with the rescue operation. Sadly, you were not a bad enough dude to rescue the president. Ever since your failure, the memory has followed you everywhere, sometimes spurring you on to reach ever-increasing heights of badness, sometimes rendering you nearly catatonic with guilt.

[The Oni]

54.) A god sends his blessing to his most devoted and experienced follower to prepare her for an impossible mission. Unfortunately on the way to the site she was delayed by cultists of a dark god - and you found and received it instead. The nature of this god makes the blessing irrevocable - only you've got the power now.

[Drakeburn]

55) You were once one of the guards of a noble/royal family. But with their thoughts clouded by anger, they thrown you out, never to return again.

[GungHo]

You are you. A wizard/priest cast a wish/summoning spell to call a champion/hero/prophet and for some reason, possibly due to a sense of humor, the gods/genies/other powers that be pulled you (you) through the portal. You are naked, confused, and surrounded by a people who may or may not speak a language that you recognize. You may or may not have any special powers granted by the traverse/PTB. All you know is you don't know where the hell you are, but you do have enough genre savvy to know what an evil wizard looks like... and that he's casting a spell with mal-intent.

[Drakeburn]

57) Having won so many tournaments, you have risen to fame across the lands you have been to. When an evil threat rises, everyone is now expecting you to combat the approaching evil.