Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 5477192" data-attributes="member: 10784">I think if a player writes up a background that includes a &quot;bitter &amp; angry&quot; family member that the PC abandoned a decade earlier, it's fair game for a DM to use that family member as a potential opponent.&nbsp; (Happened in a game of mine, and the family member became a memorable nemesis for a few sessions...)However, I would think it crosses the line if every player's family is a hostage or threatened or killed by the bad guys.&nbsp; While I think a ruthless BBEG would go out of his or her way to exploit a potential weakness in their PC nemeses (i.e., kidnap or threaten the PC's mom, dad, sister, grandma, etc, instead of directly confronting the PCs), I do think there should be a limit to how often a DM goes to the well on that sort of thing.What is the limit is hard to say - some groups might love rescuing their sister from slavers and then turning around to have another PC's family member in a village under siege by hobgoblins, and another PC's brother tries to assassinate the local duke.&nbsp; While, in other groups, that sort of thing would not work at all and they prefer any background stuff to be background/history, or they would prefer the DM not to expand on what they already have.As a DM, I tend to allow a lot of freedom in terms of background before a campaign starts - short is fine, detailed is fine, lots of plot hooks or none.&nbsp; However, once the campaign starts, I would want the players to make their own history and build upon what happens in game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="NewJeffCT, post: 5477192, member: 10784"] I think if a player writes up a background that includes a "bitter & angry" family member that the PC abandoned a decade earlier, it's fair game for a DM to use that family member as a potential opponent. (Happened in a game of mine, and the family member became a memorable nemesis for a few sessions...) However, I would think it crosses the line if every player's family is a hostage or threatened or killed by the bad guys. While I think a ruthless BBEG would go out of his or her way to exploit a potential weakness in their PC nemeses (i.e., kidnap or threaten the PC's mom, dad, sister, grandma, etc, instead of directly confronting the PCs), I do think there should be a limit to how often a DM goes to the well on that sort of thing. What is the limit is hard to say - some groups might love rescuing their sister from slavers and then turning around to have another PC's family member in a village under siege by hobgoblins, and another PC's brother tries to assassinate the local duke. While, in other groups, that sort of thing would not work at all and they prefer any background stuff to be background/history, or they would prefer the DM not to expand on what they already have. As a DM, I tend to allow a lot of freedom in terms of background before a campaign starts - short is fine, detailed is fine, lots of plot hooks or none. However, once the campaign starts, I would want the players to make their own history and build upon what happens in game. [/QUOTE]

Verification