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<blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 5477049" data-attributes="member: 26473">Well, like d'Artagnan you'd miss out on things like the time Rochefort kidnapped his sister and forced d'Artagnan to go on a secret mission to Rome in exchange for her freedom, or when d'Artagnan and Athos freed d'Artagnan's father from the Bastille, or when d'Artagnan's best friend from childhood became the captain of the Cardinal's Guard . . . . . . except none of that ever happened, of course, and somehow the Musketeers saga managed to be pretty epic anyway, with a bright line between &quot;d'Artagnan leaves home&quot; and &quot;everything else.&quot;Or they could actually have a very normal relationship with their parents, write home often, send little gifts at birthdays and holidays, and still not involve them in their adventuring careers, provided the referee has enough forebearance to not go scrounging around the adventurers' backstories for 'gotchas!' to spring on them.(And I'll skip a discussion of anachronistic inclusion of modern nuclear family dynamics into fantasy, sci fi, and historical settings.)I'm actually all for characters having families; one of these days I'll finally get around to adapting the Pendragon family rules for Flashing Blades. The difference here is between backstories which are player-fiction, and a backstory which is bounded by the rules mechanics.Traveller characters, for example, each come equipped with extensive backstories, but those are generated in actual play, one of the most innovative and enjoyable features of the game, in my experience.In the game I'm running now, the characters may begin with Advantages and Secrets, many of which originate in the character's past. They provide the adventurers with many different sorts of resources and complications, but the nature and scope of those resources and complications are bounded by the rules of the game.I'm not sure why getting away from the player-passivity of, &quot;Do I know anyone in this town?&quot; and moving toward the player-engagement of, &quot;I'm going to get to know the captain of the watch,&quot; is so controversial to some people.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Shaman, post: 5477049, member: 26473"] Well, like d'Artagnan you'd miss out on things like the time Rochefort kidnapped his sister and forced d'Artagnan to go on a secret mission to Rome in exchange for her freedom, or when d'Artagnan and Athos freed d'Artagnan's father from the Bastille, or when d'Artagnan's best friend from childhood became the captain of the Cardinal's Guard . . . . . . except none of that ever happened, of course, and somehow the Musketeers saga managed to be pretty epic anyway, with a bright line between "d'Artagnan leaves home" and "everything else."Or they could actually have a very normal relationship with their parents, write home often, send little gifts at birthdays and holidays, and [i]still not involve them in their adventuring careers[/i], provided the referee has enough forebearance to not go scrounging around the adventurers' backstories for 'gotchas!' to spring on them. (And I'll skip a discussion of anachronistic inclusion of modern nuclear family dynamics into fantasy, sci fi, and historical settings.) I'm actually all for characters having families; one of these days I'll finally get around to adapting the [i]Pendragon[/i] family rules for [i]Flashing Blades[/i]. The difference here is between backstories which are player-fiction, and a backstory which is bounded by the rules mechanics. [i]Traveller[/i] characters, for example, each come equipped with extensive backstories, but those are generated in actual play, one of the most innovative and enjoyable features of the game, in my experience. In the game I'm running now, the characters may begin with Advantages and Secrets, many of which originate in the character's past. They provide the adventurers with many different sorts of resources and complications, but the nature and scope of those resources and complications are bounded by the rules of the game. I'm not sure why getting away from the player-passivity of, "Do I know anyone in this town?" and moving toward the player-engagement of, "I'm going to get to know the captain of the watch," is so controversial to some people. [/QUOTE]

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