Backgrounds--Does your PC have one? Does it get used?

[Shadowslayer]

As a DM, I like it when the players have a background that I can actually use as a hook on occasion. Nothing fancy, just a little writeup.

As a player, I enjoy having a little backstory, just for roleplaying purposes.

Here's a peeve though. I had a DM who wanted detailed background, so I wrote one up. He then vetoed some of the stuff because it didn't fit "his" world. SO I went back to the drawing board, well, that got vetoed too. (Mind you, this was mainly basic stuff...nothing off the wall)

Afterwards I just told him "OK, my parents took off as I was getting old enough to take care of myself. They left a warm note saying goodbye and dissapeared in the night. Its up to you what happened to them. Can we just play the damn game now?"

(I hate guys that want to recreate the game in their own image)

 

[Whimsical]

I ask that if the player has any notes about their character's past or personality to please share them with me.

Since I'm plan on running Shackled City, I plan on creating a basic background sheet of the setting to distribute to the players so that they can craft their characters around the setting. I don't have the book yet; it's ordered.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I don't think it's a good idea to make adventures too "player-centric" or "background-centric". The plot of an adventure is what the villain is doing if the players don't interfere.

I find a lot more RP between players and between them and friendly (or sometimes unfriendly) NPCs than anything based on their backgrounds.

 

[Seonaid]

I love making backgrounds and tend to write ridiculously long, in-depth ones . . . but after many GMs who didn't use them, I stopped. Now the backgrounds are just in my head and in-game appear only as motivations for my characters' actions.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

It depends.

For my Birthright character, I had this whole involved thing that actually wound up being used in game (PC's evil sorceress mom? Turned herself into a succubus and had like 20 levels of Sorcerer...oy.). We also got to make up the histories of our bloodlines, and mine also got used, at least a bit.

For my current Eberron character, her only background is that she's a mercenary, and likes to read cheap bodice-ripper romance novels.

Brad

 

[Soel]

I suggest backgrounds for players, but I do not mine them for adventure hooks, or use them against the pcs. I usually run groups, and I don't like to shine on one player over another. I also am not a fan of too many coincidences (the villain happens to be the guy who so-and so had a rivalry with in their home-village...) A nice background does help color the character, and mainly helps the player establish a better framework for their future.

I tend to take awhile, usually a few levels to really get the feel for a character, but I generally start with a loose concept when I play one.

 

[Wombat]

In the games that I run everyone needs to come up with a background. It doesn't necessarily have to be deep (at least to begin with), but it has to be there so that we know where the character fits into the larger world.

I hand out questionnaires to the players regarding their character backgrounds. As I tell them, they don't need to answer every question, but answering at least half will go a long way towards "settling" their character. And then the information is used throughout the campaign, sometimes strictly as "filler schtick", but often creating plot hooks, motivations, and social/moral dilemnas.

Simply playing a brooding loner with no connection to the world strikes me a being very little fun. I like it when characters (mine or anyone else's) fits into the larger world, with likes, dislikes, and even **gasp!** family **close gasp!** These are the kinds of things I look for in a literary character; why not in a rpg character?

 

[eris404]

So how about your group? Do you have PC backgrounds and do they get used by the DM?

Yes. Much to our dismay. In KidCharlemagne's game, one player plays a psion who is being hunted by assassins sent by her crazy sister. So KC took her up on that and occasionally we have to fight psionic assassins.

But sometimes it comes up in less deadly ways. KC also had each of us choose a small (non-magical, not valuable) item that had special significance to our characters. One player has a staff with unusual runes on it that no one can seem to translate and that comes into the plot from time to time. Sometimes NPCs treat us differently when they see it, too.

As a player, I think I have less enjoyment of the game if I don't have a good background for the character I'm playing. The DM doesn't have to actively include elements of the character's background into the game necessarily, but I have to be able to enjoy the character's story personally. If the DM decides to use part of that, it's icing on the cake.

 

[eljaspero]

In my current campaign, the DM encouraged background creation by giving us awards (a minor feat or magic item) that were appropriate to the background. My character's background hasn't come into play yet, save that he's comically paranoid.

 

[genshou]

As a player, I always create backgrounds. They almost never get used...

As a Gamemaster? I don't require my players to write anything formal up, but I talk with them about where their character came from, what their family situation is like, how they came to be an adventurer, etc. It really gets the juices flowing in their brains and preps them for play. If they want to fill out the character questionnaire from the Role-playing Weekly e-zine, they start with 150 XP and 50 extra gp.