DM question: how much do you incorporate PC backgrounds into the campaign?

[prabe]

Like many of the others here, I sometimes use the backstories, and I sometimes do not. I like having the option, though. I'm running a homebrew setting, and there are blank spaces in the map where it's easy to put things if a character's backstory calls for it. I'm willing to fit events in, if needed, too. I do not, however, allow players to "dictate" what goes into my world. I'll work with them, but I have the final say.

 

[Fenris-77]

Let's keep in mind that background and backstory aren't the same thing. The latter could be part of the former, but it's not the whole enchilada.

 

[Maestrino]

Wait, some people don't?

Current campaign:

One PC was involved in a business deal that went bad with a cousin. Killed his cousin, ran away, became a pirate for a bit. This is definitely going to come up later on. Cousin was saved through a pact with some strange entity and is now going to be a warlock big bad for later in the campaign. They'll start getting hints about it next time they pass through that city.

Another PC was squire to a paladin who got banished to another plane while fighting minions of Yan-C-Bin. They're secretly looking for a means of planar travel to try to find their former lord while not letting on to the rest of the party that they're just pretending to be a paladin. This is going to get fun when the PC winds up taking a seemingly meaningless oath that powers up a bunch of paladin abilities for them...

Yet another PC is a stowaway from a distant continent who became basically a retired Dread Pirate Roberts type. There's going to be some surprise connections with PC 1's pirate background and - of course - a surprise twin. (There's already a tabaxi rogue NPC coming in the story. Now the NPC is going to be identical to the PC, but with their "eyepatch" fur marking across the opposite eye so it's like looking into a mirror...)

 

[Talltomwright]

Back in the early 80s, whenever we DMd, we rarely incorporated PC backgrounds into the actual adventure. PCs were pretty generic at level 1, and it was the adventure that created and was the catalyst for the stories. Perhaps it was because the game was more lethal back then, especially at low level, so you really didn’t spend a lot of time creating a background if there was a good chance you’d die. When we DMd, we had a story and adventure in mind. Either from a published adventure or a home brew adventure and world we fleshed out, and we stuck to key NPCs, monsters, and areas as they appeared.

Now I notice I DM much differently. Sure, I have an adventure and plot all in mind, but the players spend a lot more time creating character backgrounds. And I do my best to incorporate them into the game before session one. And in between sessions, I continue to have private conversations with players about their PC specific story arcs. I’ll change NPC names, or add a few NPCs based on the backgrounds I get, and make them core to the adventure. The overall plots stay the same, but what I’ve found by doing this is that it makes no two campaigns the same, even if they are the same adventure I’m DMing. It’s a much more collaborative approach to story telling while still maintaining control of the game world, story, and NPCs

so where do you fall? Do you pretty much run adventures as written, without changing them based on character backstory? Or do you fully let players dictate parts of the game to fit their story? Or somewhere in the middle, like where I’m at currently?

Exactly like you are describing, my favourite part of DMing at the moment is taking a published adventure and the backstories my players come up with and meshing them together till it feels like the adventure was written for them. It doesn't take a lot of work (well, not true, I spend ages thinking about it, but only because I enjoy it, I'm sure I could blast through it if I was pushed for time) and the players seem to appreciate it. I recently replaced a boss in Descent Into Avernus with a nemesis from one PC's backstory and the look on their face at the surprise reveal made my week.

And yes, I did that less in 2e when they were dying more often! Feels like in 5e they'll be around for a while (as discussed on other threads) so it's worth investing some time in those characters.

It was really interesting listening to Dice, Camera, Action in the early days, having read Curse of Strahd, and seeing how Chris Perkins adapted it to his players and their backstories so they felt part of the world and connected to the action. He did everything from bringing in characters from their backstories to tailoring encounters to appeal to their ideals and fears and it was pretty great.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

In the temple, there's this bandit leader general. So I changed the bandit leader to be this half orc (who left the circus to fulfill his desires of crime and violence). The orc ended up running into the PCs a few times throughout the adventure but didn't reveal himself until later in a typical "big reveal" trope.

That's the sort of twist which is much more common in a novel, and inserting those elements can make the world feel more like mere fiction rather than a believable place.

While coincidences do happen in real life, that's rarely a satisfying explanation, and it's as important to avoid the appearance of meta-gaming as it is to avoid the actuality of meta-gaming.

 

[Sacrosanct]

That's the sort of twist which is much more common in a novel, and inserting those elements can make the world feel more like mere fiction rather than a believable place.

While coincidences do happen in real life, that's rarely a satisfying explanation, and it's as important to avoid the appearance of meta-gaming as it is to avoid the actuality of meta-gaming.

They players enjoyed it , and were much more engaged than if it was still just random bandit captain Bob #13*. So while I agree metagaming can lead to issues, it doesn't have to and can be a good thing, leading to greater player enjoyment. It is a game after all.

* Doesn't matter how much I flesh out Bob behind the scenes, the players don't care because they have no connection to Bob. Make a connection, suddenly the players take more notice

 

[Talltomwright]

They players enjoyed it , and were much more engaged than if it was still just random bandit captain Bob #13*. So while I agree metagaming can lead to issues, it doesn't have to and can be a good thing, leading to greater player enjoyment. It is a game after all.

* Doesn't matter how much I flesh out Bob behind the scenes, the players don't care because they have no connection to Bob. Make a connection, suddenly the players take more notice

Yup 100% this. Believable or otherwise, if not over-used, players, or at least my players, seem to enjoy these connections.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yup 100% this. Believable or otherwise, if not over-used, players, or at least my players, seem to enjoy these connections.

I think a really good example of what this looks like in practice is how Matt Mercer DMs. For those who have seen even a dozen episodes, you can see how PC backgrounds pop up at certain times during the campaign. I think it's pretty clear he inserts NPCs and areas at certain times into the game that are related to a particular players' backstory.

But as you say, and as @Saelorn warns, too much metagaming can ruin a campaign because it strips immersion. Going back to CR, look at how frustrated the rest of players and Matt became with Orion and his constant meta gaming.

 

[ccs]

I dont incorporate backstories at all. On the whole I find them generally obnoxious, both as a player and a gm. I tell people that right from the beginning though. Keep it generic, just explain why your character chose to involve themselves in life and death adventures instead of a 9-5 job. You can should use it to guide your characters personality and choices, not to try to co-author the campaign. The campaign develops from choices made during play not before it starts.

But then i hardly ever run a published adventure either. So i dont need to worry about customizing generic content for the characters.

So what would happen if I made choices during play based off my background? Let's say it's something as simple as "My character became an adventurer because he wants to visit the island of _____.

 

[ccs]

In my opinion, a Player Character should have at MAX one paragraph of backstory.

Ok, but it might look like a wall of text written by a Krynn Gnome....