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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 6421925" data-attributes="member: 6668292">This is me. I get control of the 99.99%, and I get to add details to PC backstory. About that...Whereas this doesn't happen with my PCs. In my RPG, my players currently have:(1) A PC whose parents and family were killed as a toddler... but then he was captured and raised as a different race, who took him in and elevated him to the status of an elder of their clan. Then he was "rescued" by his own race, and he's made strong ties to an organization that took him in.(2) A PC whose mother (his single parent) died in childbirth... but then he was adopted by nobility (along with his three older siblings) and raised as a noble (given the name, the status, the money, etc.). He was even trained as a knight for his nation.(3) A PC who was orphaned... but then he was raised by two "siblings" (a young man and woman adopted him), where he was taught by them and their friends. He has the most ties to organizations of all the players, and has put his neck on the line for his adopted parents in the past (as they have for him).(4) A PC who actually grew up in a pretty normal family until his magical potential was recognized by a major international mage guild. He lived with them while he learned their ways, and has strong ties to the organization and its many members.These PCs have spent the last three sessions (about 18 hours) playing over a couple days of game time. They've interacted with various organizations, friends, family, nobility, and so on. They've investigated at length because they care about the details (because the details affect these organizations, friends, family, nobility, and so on). They built strong ties during character creation, and they've only doubled down since play began. Moving on to my other campaign...In the 4e campaign I started just over a year ago, we've had the following PCs as of character-build (mostly copy-pasting for ease):(1) A Gnome Monk with the Infernal Prince theme, and the "Struck By Lightning - Follower of Kord" background. The character came from a wealthy background, and was essentially framed and sentenced to hard labor for 5 years with the other murderers, where she was fully expected to die. While working, she was struck by lightning and survived, taking it as a sign that she was here for a reason. Taking up the offer of a monk who had been protecting her up to this point (as she was rather meek), she used the five years of hard labor and defending against murderers to perfect her body as much as possible, and was released peacefully when her term was up. She has since been tempted by devils to help her control and grow her powers, but she's refused so far. The character has ambitions to start an illegal organization and take over a city (mostly by stealing from the rich, who can afford it), and to travel back home and take revenge on her brother (who framed her). She has ties to devils, monks, Kord's followers, criminals, gnomes, and her family back home (and, to a lesser extent, the Feywild).(2) A Mul Cleric (Warpriest) of the Raven Queen. He has the Ordained Priest theme, and the "Pivotal Event - You Die" background. At one point, he died, and the Raven Queen brought him back, telling him that it wasn't his time, or that he was to keep a few others from passing on (the other PCs, for example). He's going to be looking out for those whose time is near an end to help send them along, as well as making sure to keep people alive if it isn't their time yet. The character has ambitions to pursue what he believes is his mission from the Raven Queen wants: ushering some souls into the afterlife, and stopping others from moving on too soon. He has strong ties to followers of The Raven Queen, those marked to live (from any walk of life), and those marked for death.(3) A Dwarven Fighter (Knight) / multiclass Paladin of Kord. He has the Guardian theme, and the "Dwarf - Outcast" background (his clan exiled him for not having enough loyalty to his clan, and too much for himself). Since being exiled, he's looking for ways to make it on his own, and as a fellow follower of Kord, he has a connection with Amanda's character. The character has ambitions to make a living for himself now that he's separated from his clan, and engage in some battle along the way (while protecting his allies). So, he's got ties to dwarves (he wants to make up for his exile), followers of Kord, his friends, and adventurers.(4) A Genasi Wizard (Sha'ir... the elemental type). Very fire-themed, and very knowledgeable. The character worships Ioun, and was brought into the mortal world by wizards and studied by them (before they taught her magic and released her). She has ties to Wizards, followers of Ioun, her friends, and elementals. (5) A Wilden Ranger (Scout) / multi-class Druid (Initiate of the Old Faith). He has the Fey Beast Tamer theme (he has a young owlbear companion), and has the Orphan of the Gibbering Massacre background (his community of Wilden on the Feywild was wiped out by Mind Flayers when he was a young child). To sum up (his copy-paste is longer), he has ties to Wilden, nature, the Far Realm / aberrants, Druids, elves, the Feywild, and his friends.None of these PCs (including the first four from my RPG campaign) is a Man with No Name character. I think that ties much more strongly to players making PCs in unfamiliar settings and lack of PC generation mechanics (random or not... inspiration helps) than it does in anything else. My players routinely make characters with strong ties to the setting, including friends and enemies. They have goals based off backgrounds established during play, and they use and build on these backgrounds by actions taken during play.On the other hand, I add stuff to things they left blank. Last session, the noble PC found out that an uncle of his (who had drowned while he was growing up) had actually been assassinated by a spy organization. He is invested in finding out why, and quite like that when it came up. But it was entirely details added by me: (1) his adopted mother had a brother (an uncle), (2) that NPC was dead now, (3) that NPCs personality, and (4) that NPC had been involved in lending the PC books that had helped shape who he had become.Did the player dislike any of this? No. It makes for a better game for my group. Just like player control here makes for a better game for your group. Which is cool. Play what you like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />My point, of course, is that even though I get some say over that 0.01% (the PCs), my players still love it, and my players don't make Man with No Name characters, as you asserted. Players may do that, but I believe that's because of other factors, personally.</blockquote>

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