Three questions that help characters be fleshed out

[Klaus]

I used this in the past and will use them again. They are so off-beat that they catch players unaware and force them into trains of thought that usually lead to more developed charcaters.

Here they are (and feel free to answer them for your own PCs):

1) What does your character find funny?

2) What is your character's greatest fear?

3) What is your character's favorite dish?

 

[Andor]

Here's a great one most players hate answering: Who is your characters family?

 

[delericho]

Here's a great one most players hate answering: Who is your characters family?

Yes. There are a stunning number of orphans in my campaign. Usually only children, who have never made a single friend or enemy, or have ever spoken to anyone.

I quite like the WFRP notion where by default characters roll for their number of siblings, at least.

I tend to go for three aspects in character backgrounds:

The Past: Provide one detail about the character's past. ("My character left the family farm when his adoptive parents were killed by the Empire.")

The Present: Describe one quirk about the character. ("My character is a wide-eyed idealist, fighting the good fight just because.")

The Future: What does your character want to do/be? ("I want to become a Jedi like my father.")

 

[Byronic]

Yes. There are a stunning number of orphans in my campaign. Usually only children, who have never made a single friend or enemy, or have ever spoken to anyone.

I don't like such characters, unless of course they're heavily looking for a future, and even their past.

How about: "Name at least one person, fictional or real that your character is like."

Although that could be confining.

 

[delericho]

I don't like such characters, unless of course they're heavily looking for a future, and even their past.

Yeah, it's the bizarre paranoia that if you detail any aspect of your character's past, the DM will inevitably use it against you.

It doesn't seem to matter that in many years of gaming, I have never done that. Well, almost never...

 

[Klaus]

Yeah, it's the bizarre paranoia that if you detail any aspect of your character's past, the DM will inevitably use it against you.

It doesn't seem to matter that in many years of gaming, I have never done that. Well, almost never...

Back in 2e I made a half-elf bard and detailed his best friend, the three bullies that picked on him and the bartender who was like a father to him.

The DM killed them all in the first session.

 

[Celebrim]

1) What does your character find funny?

The problem with this question is that I'm not sure that I could describe what I find funny, much less invent a description of what someone else finds funny.

2) What is your character's greatest fear?

Likewise, while I could list a few things I'm afraid of, I'm not sure I even know what my own greatest fear is. I'm afraid that any answer I imagined for someone else would be, compared to a real person, too simple. I would consider simply having a clear cut 'greatest fear' to be a character defining trait, but not a trait necessarily shared by everyone. Not everyone has a fear that so stands out from the rest of their fears as to be a distinguishing and obvious feature.

3) What is your character's favorite dish?

Again, I'm not sure that I can answer this question with any clarity about myself, as the answer to the question depends on my mood, what I've eaten recently, the time of year, and so forth.

Personally, I think this is the kind of question that I think could be better summed up as, "Does you character have any notable quirks: for example, a slight phobia, a favorite dish, an obcession with a particular sort of humor, a favorite color, a lucky charm, a notable habit, a fondness for collecting some item, etc." Not everyone is going to possess any of these particular traits to a strong degree, but if they do possess it to a strong degree, then it will likely be noticable and character defining.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Back in 2e I made a half-elf bard and detailed his best friend, the three bullies that picked on him and the bartender who was like a father to him.

The DM killed them all in the first session.

Incidentally, this is the exact reason so many players don't have friends and family. Lots of DMs refer to them not as "friends and family" and more as "future blackmail and shows of villainy."

 

[Celebrim]

Incidentally, this is the exact reason so many players don't have friends and family. Lots of DMs refer to them not as "friends and family" and more as "future blackmail and shows of villainy."

Conversely, lots of players expect that if they take an 'mysterious orphan' background, the DM will be tempted to provide for them some influential connection - last scion of a mighty lineage, true heir to the throne, etc. - that they might not otherwise approve of in a background. Thus, 'mysterious orphan' becomes a win/win situation - they have no loved ones to have to protect and the DM is more likely to give them free bennies because of it.

This is frankly a DMing problem which is easily fixed by making having a family worth the hazards (ei your family is also a resource you can occasionally draw on for aid), while making having no family, no name, no connections, and no heritage be a significant drawback.

 

[CharlesRyan]

Don't discount the possibility that making up such details is, for many people, hard, and if there isn't some sort of positive reward, a lot of gamers just aren't into the exercise. Heck, in my campaign I do offer concrete rewards for players who put this sort of meat on the bone, and I still get a mixed uptake. I think it has more to do with the player's interest in that sort of backstory than deliberate decisions based on how the information will be used or abused.

I demand some level of backstory from my players, and I will take advantage of some of it, sooner or later. (But certainly not all, or even most of it--that would be too predictable!) I don't think it's a problem for my players, because I also use it to make the game and context much richer and more satisfying. Nonetheless, when players are slow to work on details like these, I've observed it has much more to do with how keen the player is on that sort of stuff than on what might or might not be done with it.

(Heck, some of the players who are the most keen about lots of backstory details would be most disappointed if I didn't take advantage of it eventually!)