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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 8456469" data-attributes="member: 6779310">Fundamentally, player backgrounds are equally capable of rendering a character great or lame...The detailed setting is sometimes a help or hindrance...I've seen players take the Waterdeep set and tie themselves in just below the listed characters, and feel great...... but they had to work to fit to it.Many of the deep lore games have this same issue: Lots of details that hardly ever intersect with PCs - in either direction.This was common for the early deep lore games - RuneQuest, post-1981 Traveller, HârnMaster, Rolemaster's Shadow World...Lots of lovely detail to read... very little to use.Player backgrounds, especially when not done jointly, often suffer similarly - Hooks that the GM has no interest in, no ties to the other PCs, and all too often, nothing shared with other players; even when shared, often nothing aimed at other players to hook into.I wondered why my last few Traveller games didn't feel right... this thread got me thinking. I used to ask players for their means of knowing each other... often, it was "We Hit outprocessing the same day."My last two, I had to supply a why. The one before? I didn't exactly care for the why they chose, because it was a poor fit for the setting.As a GM, I need to remember, "I am a player, too," and also to remind all to give each other hooks to hang stories off of. Also, remind players not to build big backstories because small ones are easier to make interesting use of.</blockquote>

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