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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5935342" data-attributes="member: 42582">On backgrounds: I want my players to provide their PCs with backgrounds that give them a place in the world and give me something to hook onto. In my previous (Rolemaster) campaign, the PCs included two samurai from a family down on its luck, their retainer from a middle class family hoping to move up in the world, an animal spirit banished from the heavens, and a couple of monks with mysterious pasts. These backgrounds weren't everything in the game - a lot of relevant material was generated, and came out, during play. But they certainly helped push the game.In my current (4e) campaign, I gave instructions at the beginning that every PC must (i) have a loyalty to someone/something, and (ii) must have a reason to be ready to fight goblins. Once again, those backstories have played an important role in driving the game forward.When PCs don't have backstories, or some other way for the player to run up a flag for the GM, I find the game tends to default to GM-dominated and driven plotting. Which is not what I'm really interested in.</blockquote>