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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6090318" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Well, I remember A LOT of 'cardboard cut-out' AD&D characters and earlier. Gygaxian play certainly encouraged the "don't bother to name him till 3rd level" sort of play. Gygax in fact never ever mentioned anything about establishing background for PCs beyond the most basic "here's where we met" sort of thing. I remember being considered unusual in asking for more than a name (and a jerk for asking for more than "Joe III"). I remember many characters named "Mufmul" and "Triborb 5" and etc.</p><p></p><p>2e definitely changed the tone some, and added enough options to make mechanical uniqueness start to be an option, plus by then every other game was far beyond D&D in that regard, so it was kind of more expected. 4e certainly has some nice fluff attached to character options and I've found that my players nowadays tend to make fairly decent backgrounds. The worst I've gotten in 3 sentences of modestly boilerplate, but even that character's background turned out pretty rich and his whole family ended up part of the story. I have no opinion on 3e, I'd assume it is equally rich in options, though maybe they lack the close tie-in to suggested thematics that 4e and 2e have?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 6090318, member: 82106"] Well, I remember A LOT of 'cardboard cut-out' AD&D characters and earlier. Gygaxian play certainly encouraged the "don't bother to name him till 3rd level" sort of play. Gygax in fact never ever mentioned anything about establishing background for PCs beyond the most basic "here's where we met" sort of thing. I remember being considered unusual in asking for more than a name (and a jerk for asking for more than "Joe III"). I remember many characters named "Mufmul" and "Triborb 5" and etc. 2e definitely changed the tone some, and added enough options to make mechanical uniqueness start to be an option, plus by then every other game was far beyond D&D in that regard, so it was kind of more expected. 4e certainly has some nice fluff attached to character options and I've found that my players nowadays tend to make fairly decent backgrounds. The worst I've gotten in 3 sentences of modestly boilerplate, but even that character's background turned out pretty rich and his whole family ended up part of the story. I have no opinion on 3e, I'd assume it is equally rich in options, though maybe they lack the close tie-in to suggested thematics that 4e and 2e have? [/QUOTE]
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