Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 2677968" data-attributes="member: 13966">As a DM, I rarely demand backgrounds, but I do always suggest or ask players to come up with some kind of background for their characters if they can.  I don't always integrate the backgrounds into the campaign, but usually I at least make bits and pieces of the PC backgrounds come up or have some importance in the game.  I usually make backgrounds matter at least somewhat, though, and I usually reward players a bit when they do come up with good backgrounds.In my current DMing campaign, Rhunaria......  One PC is driven entirely by his background, and the rest of the PCs currently follow him around, though that wasn't always the case.....  Another two PCs are searching for some answers related to their backgrounds, seeking to understand a few events in their past or why they have certain talents.....  And the other PCs have little background or just nothing really useful or important in it, other than being the factor that drives them to wander and adventure with random folks.  A few of them do have minor bits of background that will come into use later, as of my current plans.I always make at least one paragraph of background for my characters, unless the game is simply a one-shot adventure with little background and little chance of growing into anything more.  On average I create 2-3 paragraphs of background, but on occasion I've devised considerably more background.  I also create 1-2 paragraphs of personality description and 1-2 paragraphs of appearance description, except, again, for one-shot games.Lessee.....characters I've played in the past few years (I mostly end up DMing though).....  Vaeron Dunerunner, 4 paragraphs of background.  Corvus Thoracius, one paragraph.  Magnus Krieghelm, one long paragraph of background with room for more.  Theodus Brightbeard, three paragraphs of background.  Argus of the West Wind, one paragraph.  Seruleus, two paragraphs.  Alazphraxion, two paragraphs.  Xerius Feldar, five short paragraphs of background.  Donovan "Van" Gallagher a.k.a. "Panzer" (for Shadowrun), 1 long paragraph of personal background but 15 small paragraphs of background for his many NPC contacts.  Corbin Reinhardt (also for Shadowrun), 3 paragraphs but also 3 shorter paragraphs for NPC contact backgrounds.There are one or two that I've forgotten the names for, due to having lost their character sheets, and can't recall how much background I had for them, but one on the tip of my tongue had about 2-3 paragraphs of description and even a bit of background on his magic items and some NPC allies/contacts....wish I could remember his name or find his sheet.  An earth genasi fighter in Forgotten Realms.</blockquote>

Verification