Adventures with extensive backstory

Morrus

Well, that was fun

Staff member

• Oct 11, 2018

• #1

I am rubbish at reading all the backstory in published adventures. It always feels like I'm revising for an exam.

I"m reading one now. It's only 4 pages of backstory, but it is *dense* with names and places and history. It very much feels like I'm doing schoolwork! Especially since it's 4 page of backstory and then about 16 pages of adventure. It feels like a history book.

Reached a sentence with 4 different place names and two different character names in it. I keep re-reading it in the hope I can parse it!

Anybody else have this problem, or is it just me?

 

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aramis erak

Legend

• Oct 11, 2018

• #2

Not just you, Morrus.

I find that, in prepping for such, I take notes. And then keep those notes handy.

 

hawkeyefan

Legend

• Oct 11, 2018

• #3

I don't mind some backstory, but that definitely sounds like too much. In a case like that, I'd likely jettison all but what I thought was essential.

 

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer

• Oct 11, 2018

• #4

Morrus said:

It feels like a history book.

Click to expand...

Many HS students feel your pain.

 

Istbor

Dances with Gnolls

• Oct 11, 2018

• #5

I do as well. Honestly, it is what has kept me running homebrew settings for so long. It also makes it feel... alien to me. Like... I have to be true to the cannon or something. Like I am a guest in that world instead of the actual true DM. Hard to describe...

Though if I think on it, if I had to write up all of my world's info for someone else to read and understand, it would like feel the same for them. Maybe that means I am being unfair.

 

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

• Oct 11, 2018

• #6

For my purposes, the backstory* contained in most if not all modules is close to useless as I'm going to be stripping it all out and replacing it with my own anyway. This is one huge advantage to most (but not all!) early 1e-era modules: they mostly just gave you the bare-bones adventure and left it to the DM to fill in the backstory. More recent modules - particularly PF - sometimes seem to be more backstory than adventure. Very annoying.

* - exception: brief notes about the intended personality-traits-characterization of the module's significant NPCs or bosses are sometimes handy.

 

S

S'mon

Legend

• Oct 11, 2018

• #7

LOL. It's definitely not just you!

I got used to suffering through reams of low-quality* backstory while running Paizo APs. So when I started running Village of Hommlet recently I skipped the introductory page and went straight to the map-keyed locations... this was a mistake, Hommlet is Gygax at his Gygaxian best, and that intro page is full of cool stuff to use in play.

*The stuff in Book 1 is usually decent, it's around books 3-5 of the 6-part AP it really drags. Rise of the Runelords hardback was ok though.

 

Arilyn

Hero

• Oct 12, 2018

• #8

Lanefan said:

For my purposes, the backstory* contained in most if not all modules is close to useless as I'm going to be stripping it all out and replacing it with my own anyway. This is one huge advantage to most (but not all!) early 1e-era modules: they mostly just gave you the bare-bones adventure and left it to the DM to fill in the backstory. More recent modules - particularly PF - sometimes seem to be more backstory than adventure. Very annoying.

* - exception: brief notes about the intended personality-traits-characterization of the module's significant NPCs or bosses are sometimes handy.

Click to expand...

Yes, the PF modules I've run end up very different from what's written, so I don't sweat over learning all that detail anymore. What drives me crazy is Paizo module authors putting in elaborate details about a npc that is just going to attack the players and get killed. No chance for that backstory to come to light at all. If the backstory interests me, the npc will end up becoming more than a bag of xp. Why do module writers design cool story details that, as written, will never see the light of day?

 

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)

• Oct 12, 2018

• #9

It depends on if I’m enjoying the writing. If it’s good, 4 pages is nothing. If it’s bad, a paragraph is a chore.

And for the most part, I like the Paizo APs. Even if I don’t plan on running specific ones or exposing all of an NPC’s biography, I still have fun reading them. And that’s partly why they do include some copious detail - because there are people like me reading them.

 

J

jamesrich1

First Post

• Oct 12, 2018

• #10

You know this is just a one-shot, one-off game, right? I love writing extensive character backgrounds as much as the next guy, but I have to tell you, this game doesn't support them very well, and I hate to see you put so much time and effort into something that will never be used. Moreover, we gotta get this thing going.

So here's what I need: I need half a page to a page of information, with just basic background stuff like these specific items... and I need it by Tuesday, so we can get started on Friday.