How do you get involved in your character ?

[Ednoc]

Hi,

I was wondering, for a long time, how do you guys get involved in your characters ?

Since I'm a GM more than a player, I often ask to my players to make brackgrounds even if they are not really comfortable with this. I thought that it was easier for them to get into their characters after that.
Now I'm thinking I was wrong all the time.

I have read somewhere in Enworld, and I aplogize to the member who said that to be unable to quote him, that you could ask to your players to have a negative bond and a positive bond with other players. (In the case that they're knowing each other in game)
And to have secrets that they want to preserve and hide to other. Each player know that others have secrets too. And I find that very interesting.

Some people don't like to do a proper background for their character. And I always think'd that it was a simple way to be involved in your fresh character and create a relation between the player and his character. But someone said here that he didn't like to write and think about a whole background since he's not sure that this character is going to love his character.
And a lot of people are not really comfortable about writing a lot of text and thinking about a whole story... So...

I liked these kind of tips and I think I have a better comprehension and I'm trying to improve my DM skills and understand what my players want/love instead of doing what I think it's better for them.

Do yous guys have more tips ?
What do you do to get involved in your character ?
Do you try to build a relationship with other character ? If yes, how ?
Do you prefer ask some questions about their characters, or do you ask to your players a background ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[KahlessNestor]

It depends on the character. Sometimes one comes to me with a backstory, or develops one in creation. So I happily go with it. Sometimes I am creatively tapped out and nothing comes, or I don't know enough about the setting or other characters, so something very bland and genericized comes out. Sometimes I loke to discover the character as I play.

Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app

 

[MNblockhead]

The effectiveness of a player backstory depends a lot on how willing a DM is to Accommodate it in the campaign. If the character backstories do not impact campaign development, it is more difficult for players to identify their character with it. Actual in-game experiences will quickly dominate how players think of their characters and unengaged aspects of their character backstories will be forgotten.

5e does a nice job trying to make a mechanic for bringing backstory into play and making it matter. Both by giving skills associated with backgrounds and inspiration by playing to your background. The problem is that it can be hard to play to many background items if the DM doesn't provide in game opportunities to do so and inspiration can be a ham fisted way for DMs to reward what they like about character backgrounds and players will take actions they know are more likely to result in getting inspiration rather than playing their character they way THEY find most compelling. This is one reason I like inspiration to be rewarded by players—if I use inspiration at all.

When I'm playing, I try to keep to broad strokes and fill in the details as the game progresses.

 

[CydKnight]

I think the how depends a lot on the type of story the DM is trying to portray in the campaign adventure and how connected the players feel to the theme of that story. There will be an instance sooner or later where a character may feel no connection whatsoever to a particular theme a DM has offered. In that case it won't matter much what tools you give your players to help them become more involved in their character.

It seems like a good place to start would be to have a discussion with your players about what type of story setting they would like to play. Let them know what ideas you have for the next campaign and find out if they are excited about them or simply "interested". If it's a story they are excited to play you are more likely than not to get them to become more engaged in their characters without a lot of motivation from you (presumed the DM?).

 

[werecorpse]

I prefer to use a light touch to sketch out my character before the game starts, then find out how I react along the way. I usually sketch out how I know the other PC's and a justification for adventuring but not much else.

I have found when I go with a detailed backstory unless it's a big part of the plot I'm disappointed that it ends up being mostly irrelevant. IMO having no backstory is better than having an irrelevant backstory because an irrelevant backstory is just an anchor on future development whereas no backstory is that delicious blank space waiting to be developed.

I haven't found the 5e mechanic that useful. Those that enjoy story elements tend not to need it,method that don't tend not to use it.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I don't ask my players for a background and none of them have ever came up with one beyond the 5e stuff. Sometimes they will make up stuff on the fly during gameplay but its not a terribly important part of our campaigns. As for characters I run if I need to come up with something to RP a particular interaction I will but I don't write up a back story.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For me, when I play, if I had to give one tip, it’s to think of something about your character that only they know about themselves. For me, that really helps build their identity and inform their actions as meaningful and consistent.

So Rel the Last seeks a glorious death in battle after seeing his wife and children slain, Akretos Noone is on the run from a thieves guild he betrayed, and Malrek Redhammer, for all his bluster feels that he lives in the shadow of the great deeds of his ancestor.

As far as the amount of character detail, I don’t think volume is as important as seeing it in how the character is played. Pages of background or a unique character concept matter little if the character has all the personality of a Monopoly token being moved around a board, if they're played the same as the last seven characters were.

 

[was]

..I'd second the vote for character pictures. For those who can't draw, they could try Heromachine. http://www.heromachine.com/heromachine-3-lab/

 

[DragonMan]

The effectiveness of a player backstory depends a lot on how willing a DM is to Accommodate it in the campaign. If the character backstories do not impact campaign development, it is more difficult for players to identify their character with it. Actual in-game experiences will quickly dominate how players think of their characters and unengaged aspects of their character backstories will be forgotten.

I agree. Our prime DM likes to come up with quests and story lines on his own. With no input by the players, no one really does much other than kill monsters and take their stuff. I've tried to come up with backstories and motivations for my own characters, but the DM hasn't included them in his campaign.

Now that I'm running the game, I required all players to come up with a backstory, in the hopes of getting them stoked about my campaign and their character. However most of the players came up with near identical backstories. Their motivation is to acquire wealth and get experience.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, to get backstories you can work with, you need to give the players some campaign info to let them find their PC's place in the world. It isn't a panacea, though.

The best campaign I ever ran was a supers game set in 1900, as it might have been imagined by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. I used the Space:1889 setting as the backdrop, and let the players know I was drawing from any & all fiction I could think of that was set in a similar time period (like Wild, Wild West and Kung Fu) or could be made to fit*. 10+ years later, I reused the setting in a different city with different players, but set in 1914.

The first group bought into it wholeheartedly, and their PC concepts and backstories harmomized perfectly with the game world. Some of their backgrounds and table-talk became adventures.

The second group? Many (not all) ignored my communications and made generic, fit anywhere PCs. One guy didn't realize the nature of the setting until the campaign collapsed.








* I stole from James Bond, William Gibson's Difference Engine, Michael Moorcock's Oswald Bastable novels, Alien Nation, DC Comics, anime, etc.