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<blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 5410328" data-attributes="member: 26473">I have very little use for backstory or background.As a player, my character backgrounds are very sketchy: &quot;Arnaud is a decent swordsman who believes he could someday be a fencing master.&quot;Sometimes the motivations may be a little more involved - for a D&amp;D game many years ago I ran a halfling thief who wanted to start an exotic spell components supply business, frex.My character is not searching for the sister he never knew. He is not looking to avenge himself on the orcs who killed his family. He's not the bastard son of some mucky-muck. He's just this guy, and the most interesting things in his life are ahead of him - that's his motivation for becoming an adventurer right there.As a referee I pay very little attention to backstory. A character's relevant backstory begins on the second night of actual play with a recounting of the first night's events.A player in my games should write as much or as little backstory as she wishes as a personal tool for running her character, but she should not expect me to draw from it during the game. I don't have plots, so 'plot hooks' are wasted on me, and I prefer that players don't write conflicts into their characters which project forward into the game - your character is going to make friends and enemies in short order, so instead of creating a revenge plot whole-cloth, take revenge on someone or something your character met in actual play. &quot;I want to avenge my parents' death!&quot; is nowhere near as interesting to me as, &quot;I want to avenge [fill-in-player-character's-name-here] death!&quot;In my experience, players have far more stake in the experiences they share at the table than they do in stuff created as part of a character's backstory. Adventurers have skin in the game as a result of actual play unfolding, so I encourage the players to take their motivations from that experience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Shaman, post: 5410328, member: 26473"] I have very little use for backstory or background. As a player, my character backgrounds are very sketchy: "Arnaud is a decent swordsman who believes he could someday be a fencing master." Sometimes the motivations may be a little more involved - for a [i]D&D[/i] game many years ago I ran a halfling thief who wanted to start an exotic spell components supply business, frex. My character is not searching for the sister he never knew. He is not looking to avenge himself on the orcs who killed his family. He's not the bastard son of some mucky-muck. He's just this guy, and the most interesting things in his life are [I]ahead[/I] of him - that's his motivation for becoming an adventurer right there. As a referee I pay very little attention to backstory. A character's relevant backstory begins on the second night of actual play with a recounting of the first night's events. A player in my games should write as much or as little backstory as she wishes as a personal tool for running her character, but she should not expect me to draw from it during the game. I don't have plots, so 'plot hooks' are wasted on me, and I prefer that players don't write conflicts into their characters which project forward into the game - your character is going to make friends and enemies in short order, so instead of creating a revenge plot whole-cloth, take revenge on someone or something your character met in actual play. "I want to avenge my parents' death!" is nowhere near as interesting to me as, "I want to avenge [[I]fill-in-player-character's-name-here[/I]] death!" In my experience, players have far more stake in the experiences they share at the table than they do in stuff created as part of a character's backstory. Adventurers have skin in the game as a result of actual play unfolding, so I encourage the players to take their motivations from that experience. [/QUOTE]

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