Brodie
Explorer
Ever since I started watching Dark Matter, I've been really intrigued by the idea of characters that don't know their own backgrounds and slowly discovering who they are. Or rather, who they were. Because of that I've wanted to try a game where I make my each of players write up a character backstory, take them, and randomly assign them. Now, the idea is that they would know their characters are going to have amnesia and that they won't necessarily wind up with the background they wrote.
The one thing stopping me from trying this out is my particular gaming group. Getting them to write backgrounds is the easy part. Getting them to go along with an idea like this? Not so much. I get it, though; it can be difficult to come up with a compelling background for a pc if you know going in that it won't be yours. Alternatively, there's the idea where I tell them not to make backstories because I would do that. That would give me narrative freedom and more creative control but it wouldn't feel as organic, not to mention the ideas that could be generated upon seeing what they wrote.
What about you GMs and players out there? GMs, do you think your group would go along with something like that? Players, would you go along with it? I'm really curious.
The one thing stopping me from trying this out is my particular gaming group. Getting them to write backgrounds is the easy part. Getting them to go along with an idea like this? Not so much. I get it, though; it can be difficult to come up with a compelling background for a pc if you know going in that it won't be yours. Alternatively, there's the idea where I tell them not to make backstories because I would do that. That would give me narrative freedom and more creative control but it wouldn't feel as organic, not to mention the ideas that could be generated upon seeing what they wrote.
What about you GMs and players out there? GMs, do you think your group would go along with something like that? Players, would you go along with it? I'm really curious.
