D&D 5E Building out backstory for a neophyte player

[bedir than]

I have a player who is quite new to DnD and we are building out his backstory. He is a goliath fighter (scout) who was once enslaved. Unlike most in the world he has no knowledge of his tribal history. The basics are that he has the blood of the phoenix (which in my world is the size of the roc with all the phoenix attributes). As he levels up he will discover some of his background.

He learns from an enemy (deceased) that there is a legend that "The Blood of Fire will return when the freeman finds his path, hears the call and works with the redeemer."

I'm trying to figure out why the tribe dissolved and why the Blood of Fire abandoned them. I thought I would open this up to others to broaden my ideas, clues and potential choices the character could make.

 

[Lanliss]

What cools Fire better than water? They decided to broaden their horizons, spread across a sea or river which previously marked the edge of their territory. The gods feared their passage, and threw an endless tirade of threats against the tribe, storms and monsters nearly killing them to a man. The few who survived managed to drift back to their original homeland, and went their separate ways in an attempt to rebuild the tribe.

This means that some of the tribe might hear of his existence, a Freed slave with the markings of their tribe. This could lead to a few different paths.

1) One of the survivors, who fancies himself the "Leader" of the remainder of the tribe, wants the Freed man dead, lest he be dethroned.

2) They try to kidnap him and press him into leadership, attempting to convince him that this is his destiny.

3) He finds the tribe already being rebuilt, under a False Freed man who shares a story of himself that could fit an interpretation of the prophecy.

 

[hastur_nz]

Personally, for a player who is new to D&D I'd help them with one or two actual *hooks*, then leave any actual back-story for another day / campaign. Let them learn the game, learn by watching the others, see how you all like to play, and hopefully you can get them working on their improv. skills e.g. if they are asked about their history or it becomes important later, let them make something up. As DM, don't feel you need to know every PC's back-story - if it's important, it can be made up as you go along; and most of the time, it's not that important...

A simple hook or two, to get them started and interested in helping develop the future plot at the table, is far more important than a rich (and largely un-used) back-story. In fact IMO that holds true for veteran players, as much as newbies - over the years,I've personally wasted time on back-story that never saw the light of play at the table, and I've DM'd numerous players where we all struggled to actually make much use of a huge back-story, too.

So... you have a Goliath, that was once a Slave, who knows nothing of his/her heritage. All good. You need a simple Hook, to get them involved in the future Plot(s). Have a look at your list of potential (future) NPC's - does the Goliath know one of them, hate them, thirst for revenge maybe? Or do they not know, but have finally heard a rumour that someone that does know, has come to town? Is the slavery even relevant, going forward, or would you rather keep the future focused on the PC learning their heritage, in which case maybe they hear about someone who knows more of that than they do... (for fun, that person could be a potential 'enemy').

Keep it simple, help give them something small that gets them involved and interested in what's to come next.

 

[bedir than]

We're at levels 5-7 now depending on how many drop-in sessions the player has done.

 

[bedir than]

What cools Fire better than water? They decided to broaden their horizons, spread across a sea or river which previously marked the edge of their territory. The gods feared their passage, and threw an endless tirade of threats against the tribe, storms and monsters nearly killing them to a man. The few who survived managed to drift back to their original homeland, and went their separate ways in an attempt to rebuild the tribe.

This means that some of the tribe might hear of his existence, a Freed slave with the markings of their tribe. This could lead to a few different paths.

1) One of the survivors, who fancies himself the "Leader" of the remainder of the tribe, wants the Freed man dead, lest he be dethroned.

2) They try to kidnap him and press him into leadership, attempting to convince him that this is his destiny.

3) He finds the tribe already being rebuilt, under a False Freed man who shares a story of himself that could fit an interpretation of the prophecy.

My goodness this fits so well. The River Crinth is the border between tribal lands and the slave-holding/making peoples. Having one of the earliest tribes that crossed the river be the one that violated their sacred oath fits perfectly. That they would be captives for so long to not even know they were a tribe is essentially already written.

 

[BoldItalic]

Keep it simple. The entire tribe was enslaved, and that's why their spirit broke. He was just one of them.

Hook: He hates the slave-masters and has a burning desire to liberate the surviving tribe members from them.

Hook: His girl-friend also escaped and he would like to find her.

Hook: He knows that the slave-masters were secretly in league with some bad guys but they know that he knows and will try to silence him.