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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 1228189" data-attributes="member: 10784">I am a big advocate of the K.I.S.S. method of character background – Keep it Simple, Stupid.  I have found too many players (both, in person and online) will make up these hugely complex backgrounds that are more appropriate for a character that already has several levels than one that is just starting out at first level… A sample would be something like “my character started out as a pirate for a year, but was then kidnapped while in port by hobgoblins who used him as slave labor for a year, he then led an uprising against his hobgoblin masters and escaped into the nearby forest where he, and some of the other escaped slaves, have waged a guerilla war against the hobgoblins of the area for the last two years.  Among the escaped slaves, he has been smitten with an attractive young female with a fiery attitude, who is secretly the estranged daughter of a local noble. Etc, etc…”Rather than crush the player’s dream background, I would rather they have something simple that can be built upon.  You can include a plot hook or two in there (inspired to become a ranger to fight the constant goblin raids into his village…or, a chance encounter with a swashbuckling fighter with a woman on each arm led said PC to have the dream of becoming an adventurer…)  If the background gets too complex, the DM will feel constrained to get all of the plot hooks into his or her campaign in the hopes of not disappointing the player.</blockquote>

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