Has Anyone Actually Ever Played Through Their Background?

[wait... what?]

Hi all, first time poster and thread-starter.

As the title implies, has anyone actually played through their character's background and developed it? There are a number of very popular story (series) that follow one character through his/her adventures and eventually end up with the adult character, changed through his/her experiences.

As a side question to GMs, how would you run a game that focused on just one PC? Would you just play it through with just one player with supporting NPCs rotating around the player's character, or would talk to your gaming group and see how comfortable they are with the game focusing on just one of their fellows?

wait... what? out.

[Lo'Tek]

Hi all, first time poster and thread-starter.

Welcome

has anyone actually played through their character's background and developed it?

If you play characters long enough their adventures become their background.

how would you run a game that focused on just one PC?

With one Player

talk to your gaming group and see how comfortable they are with the game

yes. And while you are at it, ask them if they want their background to be plot relevant. Some want it, some do not.

[RazorChain]

No....if I play through my characters background then in a sense it ceases to be background, at least in the sense of RPG's

Background is the baggage your character carries from before you start playing said character.

I've played games where our characters started as teenagers....kinda the pre-hero stage of the game, an origin story or whatnot. But in RPG's sense it cant count as an background because background is what happens before you start playing your character.

[sktarq]

Yes-most as a GM/ST/DM.

I tend to have a couple hours of one-on-one time devoted to making a character. We go through ideas wants various versions, the layout of the world and how their character may fit in. But also towards the end of the generation I start asking seemingly random questions like if they went to prom? How they delt with the loss of a loved one, etc. Those can lead to mini scenes played out. I really like doing this so that the first time the characters meet the players are already out of the first exploratory gear in how they deal with the character and focus on how their character relates to the plot and the other PC's. Usually at the end I toss the players some freebie XP or points to either get them started or to be used to start plug holes between how things were originally conceived vs they play out.

As a player I've done some of it too. More in White Wolf/World of Darkness game and CoC types than D&D games. But playing out key scenes.

[eru001]

My standard for a campaign when I dm often involves me doing an hour or so one-on-one session for each character's background.

[Katrina]

On occasion, I have had what started as impromptu in character banter between me and the GM turn into a backstory. Usually it starts with the Gm asking an odd question and me responding in character (and in said character's voice, which helps designate when I'm OOC and IC. i use accents and tones. ). It then turns into the Gm being basically a sort of vague NPC that my character is explaining her views to based on what questions are asked. More than once, the GM has given me a funny look and replied "You really thought about this." in surprise. I play with a lot of "Kick in the door" style players and I'm more of a Deep RP style player myself. Not that either is wrong, they're just different and each style brings different expectations to the table.

[John Campbell]

That seems impossible, by definition. Background is the stuff that happened to your character before the game started. If you play through it, all you've done is make the start of the game earlier, and the stuff you're playing through ceases to be background.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I think Akira Toriyama did this. He called it Dragonball.

Except kid Goku still had backstory. He was still one of the last Saiyans, Vegeta knew of his existence, etc. even if he had amnesia.

So you'd have to start at like, the day of birth. You can kinda cheat by implementing some timeskips.

[goto124]

A Session 0 could have players playing their PCs as children, or at a younger age than their current. It would be pretty much 'playing through your background'.

[Darth Ultron]

Yes.

I have always done side solo games for characters. Either by meeting them for an hour or so to game out side the normal game, or more often by e-mail/post. Most often we'd start with the character background and ''fill it in''. Once that was done, we'd move on to ''filling'' the days and weeks of the character in the main game. In a general sense the ''side adventures'' would always be a couple game days behind the main game.

[Lord Raziere]

I think Akira Toriyama did this. He called it Dragonball.

Except kid Goku still had backstory. He was still one of the last Saiyans, Vegeta knew of his existence, etc. even if he had amnesia.

So you'd have to start at like, the day of birth. You can kinda cheat by implementing some timeskips.

I highly doubt it.

Akira Toriyama is someone who writes by the seat of his pants. He didn't actually plan any of this out. The reason he made Dragon Ball? because he liked kung fu movies. the reason Krillin was introduced? to give Goku a rival and expand the story, the reason why capsules are there? so he didn't have to explain where people put their equipment. Senzu beans are just another convenient plot device to easily heal characters, the reason why he made Super Saiyan? So that he didn't have to ink Goku's hair. No I'm serious, he made the concept of Super Saiyan, so he wouldn't have to use as much ink.

DBZ was way too far off for him to ever think about making Goku's current full backstory down until he was sure that his manga would last long enough, that people would react well to the change, since he would be basically aging up Goku from a very short 15 year old to an adult while at the same introducing his brother and Saiyan origins all at once, which was very shocking to the japanese community at the time it was introduced, and Toriyama is someone who doesn't really plan, he just writes stuff then leaves things lying around then he goes back and finds an old thing and says "hey I haven't used this in a while, and this might help in my current situation, and people will think I planned this out!"

[TheCountAlucard]

Well, more that so his assistants wouldn't have to use so much ink, but yes.

[Jay R]

I don't think we're all talking about the same thing.

My Flashing Blades character Jean-Louis had a secret origin. He was left as a foundling on the steps of Notre Dame. A few adventures revolved around his tracking down his family and finding out who he was, and then trying to learn how to live up (and down) to being the natural son of a nobleman.

My 2e character Treewalker was an elf who was raised by humans, and had never met any elves until third level. He wanted to learn about elves, and eventually translated his name into Elvish as Ornrandir. Among other aspects of his life, when he became the Earl of Devon, he had no problem at all forming an alliance with dwarves, since he didn't know there should be any animosity.

My nine-year-old oD&D Thief David was the lost son of a deposed king, and intended to get enough power that he could lead an army and take back the kingdom.

My 1e Egyptian prince Pteppic is trying to prove worthy to become the next Pharaoh when his father dies - like all the other PCs (and 100 more) are trying to do.

My 3.5e gnome illusionist Gwystyl has an Ancestral Relic, a hooked hammer about which he knows nothing, and he's trying to learn its history, because he has reason to believe it's connected to a quest. [A gnome hooked hammer is a weapon with a hammer on one end and a plothook on the other.]

Obviously, I can't play out what happened before play started, but I can certainly play out consequences of it.

[BWR]

As the title implies, has anyone actually played through their character's background and developed it? There are a number of very popular story (series) that follow one character through his/her adventures and eventually end up with the adult character, changed through his/her experiences.

Yes.
I've been playing a solo game off and on (mostly off now, sadly) with my girlfriend since before we hooked up. The descendants of my original PC have all been stat'ed at birth and several of them have been given one or more adventures. These are characters whose heritage is what we played years ago, the politics, the family relations, the setting, everything is the result of nearly 15 years of play. Some of the kids have lstarted their careers as literal kids. The background, the setting into which they are born is in large part shaped by gameplay.

As a side question to GMs, how would you run a game that focused on just one PC? Would you just play it through with just one player with supporting NPCs rotating around the player's character, or would talk to your gaming group and see how comfortable they are with the game focusing on just one of their fellows?

Depends on what you mean by focus on. If you mean a single player, that works. It works better than two players, IME.
Tons of NPCs, probably a DMPC or two. DMPCs get a bad rap around here but I have had nothing but good experiences with them. So long as you remember they are not there to be the focus of the game or to always outshine the primary PC, they work wonderfully.

If you mean as one player getting the spotlight and others being supporting cast, this can work fine too. Ars Magica's troupe system can do wonders. Each player has a primary PC who is basically the Protagonist. They also usually have a secondary PC who is not quite as important but still useful and important, and you have a ton of lesser characters that people can pull and play almost arbitrarily.
Doing something similar in other games should be possible.

Currently I'm running a Mystara Path to Immortality campaign, and two of the players have characters who are doing Path of the Polymath, which means they get reincarnated several times to quest for an artifact with a band of heroes. This means the other players, because of time constraints, have to run what amounts to disposable PCs. This has not been a problem since I have relaxed my standards somewhat and allowed them to play character concepts I otherwise would have frowned on, and everyone has had a blast, even if the supporting cast tends to die. Most notably so far we've had Lollipop Chainsaw the paladin, Paladin from Bikini Warriors and Battle Lover Scarlet. The troll bard with Int and Cha 3 (because they can't go lower) had to be nixed because it didn't fit in with the rest of the game.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I highly doubt it.

Akira Toriyama is someone who writes by the seat of his pants.

Okay, but it was still stuff that was stated to happen before the events of Dragonball.

[Pugwampy]

I dont force any player to make a background story for me , although I will reward someone who makes the effort with standard two traits .

Yes I played my background story in my first campaign , hoping for an "inheritance" freebie . No luck . My reason my halforc barbarian for being in th town of Red Water was to seek out human relatives .
Found "Grand Pa" who immediately rejected me .

[Thrudd]

It's not "background" if you're actually playing - it's just playing perhaps a very weak character without all the resources players normally start with.

As for playing one-on-one sessions where you introduce each player to the world individually and set up their character's involvement in the story you've planned, I've seen that happen before. It can be time-consuming for the DM and can get boring if it's done in real-time, face to face, with the rest of the group sitting around waiting for their turn to get introduced. If you meet with each person alone and do a short session, that works fine.

I'd never run a game with multiple players where one player had the "main character" that the plot revolved around, not unless the position of "main character" rotated regularly, so everyone knows that they take turns with each session focusing on a different character.

When running a game for just one player, include a lot of things that one character alone can handle, and also give the opportunity for NPC companions that the player can control in combat. My very early D&D games were often just for one or two players, as I sought to run the game with anyone and everyone I ran into and took that starter box with me whenever we went to visit friends or cousins or whatever. Although I was really young and didn't have the strongest grasp of everything in the rules, they were still fun times.

[Deophaun]

So you'd have to start at like, the day of birth. You can kinda cheat by implementing some timeskips.

Even then, you have the backstory to explain how his father is the golem king of the fae and his mother is a red dragon polymorphed into minotaur.

No I'm serious, he made the concept of Super Saiyan, so he wouldn't have to use as much ink.

And that is now the most awesome thing I know about DBZ proper.

[solidork]

Ways I've seen it done:
-Flashback story arcs/"episodes". Campaign podcast does these and they are a lot of fun. The way they've set it up though is that they have new players come in to play along side one of the main cast members, which isn't a viable option for regular games.
-"Journey into the mind" type scenarios where a character's past is put front and center, literally or metaphorically. Mage: the Awakening is the best example I've seen of a game that sets out to make these kinds of stories possible.

[Redstick]

I've done it with a new player to flesh out the character's story for a group game. The pitch of the character was an heir to a merchant empire whose father was murdered, and the player was framed for it.

As we played it out, I gave the PC challenges that fit the characters skills and put a legion of NPCs around them for fights and other challenges. This made the characters in the "backstory" more real, and I was able to get the player invested in a good group of them. Then I put a twist on the pitched backstory. Instead of being framed for the father's murder, the PC was bewitched and actually did the deed personally.

Overall, it worked really well, I think. But it took a long time. It's not really practical for every player in every game.

[Jay R]

You can kinda cheat by implementing some timeskips.

Don't be silly. Unless you roleplay every meal, every yawn, every bowel movement, then OF COURSE there are timeskips.

Far more time is skipped than is ever played. And a good thing, too.

[sktarq]

I don't want to think about what would be involved with RPing a bowel movement.

Oh wait - FATAL probably has that on a table somewhere. . . colour and consistency included.

[TheCountAlucard]

I don't want to think about what would be involved with RPing a bowel movement.

Oh wait - FATAL probably has that on a table somewhere. . . colour and consistency included.

"Rolling randomly on a table" : "roleplaying" :: "drinking coffee" : "playing football."