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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 7908579" data-attributes="member: 1465">I think PC's backstories require a bit of suspension of disbelief and gentleman's agreement among DM and players.The reason lies in the original problem of D&D typical very fast level progression for the game's sake. If you think too much about how your level relates to your actual story, you'll have troubles. Most campaigns still start at level 1 for practical reasons: some players need to learn the rules, others have played already but are trying a new class and need to enjoy low-level features before moving forward, the DM might have an adventure that is simply designed for low-level PCs... If you write a long & detailed backstory for your PC, how are you justifying the fact that she's still only level 1? How can you have a "veteran of the ogre wars" who is a Fighter 1, or a Gandalf-aged mage who is a Wizard 1, only to see them quickly jump to level 3 or 4 after a few skirmishes with kobolds and giant spiders? The answer is suspension of disbelief: just forget about trying to match your character's age and backstory with your level. Think that level only serves a playability purpose, to match the game with players' skills and with the adventure available. This will then make a long character backstory acceptable even at level 1.The other potential problem remains, that of a highly detailed backstory possibly conflicting with the DM's fantasy world design. For example, if your PC's backstory include specific mentions of NPCs, organizations, kingdoms etc. then quite obviously the DM is forced to make them exist in the fantasy world, and may possibly feel the need to feature your backstory elements specifically in the adventures to make your PC feel more connected. This is very subjective, because some players might be themselves wannabe-writers of the fantasy world and write a novel in place of a backstory, while most players aren't probably interested, and at the same time a DM might find it useful to incorporate a PC's backstory elements into the adventure, while another will find it annoying. I don't think anything else than a gentleman's agreement can help balancing different ideas within a group.For the record, I never require my players to define anything of their PC's past if they don't want it. It's a useful tool to help you roleplay your PC, but it should not be mandatory. I hate DMs which force everyone to write too many character details (particularly about a PC's family). I think the focus should always be more onto what happens during the adventures than what happened before.</blockquote>

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