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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5662643" data-attributes="member: 54707">Halivar all of my (party) characters have well  developed backgrounds which occasionally they explore by back-story adventures.  As you suggested.  However I agree with the points made by most  everyone else.  The reasons I agree are these. Prologues are of  little value (except in writing) in a genre devoted mostly to action and  heroism. Only after the heroism is actually established by action does the  prologue make for an interesting fleshing out of behavioral motivations.    Secondly there is no real danger. In present time  games the player is not assured of survival (or definitely shouldn't be).  Anything he may encounter in the present or near future may be lethal. But a  prologue that merely explains behavior without inflicting any real sense of  danger or potential for danger doesn't really establish heroism, as much as it  does detail behavior (behavior you know cannot really endanger the character).  Therefore it is best written, not acted out, because when role played it feels  fake. As if the outcome and survival is already pre-determined. There are also  other more technical reasons but they aren't important to detail.  However there are exceptions and I think your idea  can work with certain caveats. This is how we do it, and it may work for you as  well.  After your characters have developed for awhile  then play a backstory adventure. However I agree very much with Umbran and how  and why, this is an exercise best conducted with single players or very small  sub-groups.   In the backstory adventures introduce things that  allow the players to train future adventuring skills, and give them things to do  which are semi-heroic and dangerous, but not lethal. (They are, barring some  very strange twist of fate or magic or miracle gonna survive it anyways and they  are already aware of this.) However the real trick is to make the things they do  dangerous not only to the character involved (as in they can be hurt badly or  lose something of real value - which they may later want to recover and this is  a good future adventure or campaign hook) but to friends, lovers, and family  caught up in the prologue adventures.   A family member may be slain, a friend kidnapped  or disappears, a chronic disease is contracted, an heirloom is stolen, a  reckless decision leads to manslaughter... the possibilities are nearly endless.  And nearly every possibility may lead to a future adventure or campaign while at  the same time adding depth to the character.  The prologue adventure cannot be lethal, but it  can still be very dangerous (in a psychological, economic, cultural,  professional, or even personal/reputation sense) and therefore worthwhile to  pursue. But in my opinion, for the reasons listed above, you can't really engage  in a  good prologue background story until the character is developed, and you  can't make it really interesting unless you can edgier something important to  them other than their own life.   And the prologue should be dangerous (in that  sense), should add to the character's nature, it should be truly interesting and  geared to that character specifically, and it should give the character  interesting things to do that may be similar to but not directly related to  their eventual adventuring profession. (Unfulfilled Quests are always good  prologue adventures and good future adventure ideas - a kid undertakes a Quest  he is unprepared for and unable to complete due to inexperience or lack of  support, tools, and training, and that can be played as a prologue, then later  taken up by the whole party as "Unfinished Business." Thus you have both a good  adventure hook, and an explanation for past or present behavior/motivations.)  Other kinds of prologue adventures can also be useful, it well constructed.  For instance some of my player characters Vad.   Vadding has been an extremely good source of both  prologue and especially of single-mission adventures for my PCs and is very  dangerous in its own right. Plus it gives them a chance to practice survival and  stealth skills, things they will later benefit from knowing as adventurers.    Anyway that is my take on the matter.    Good luck with it, and if you vary your approach a  little it might work out well for both you and your players.</blockquote>

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