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

[THEMNGMNT]

I've incorporated PC backstory into my two current campaigns. To me it's really important to make the stakes of the adventure as personal as possible. I'll be even more aggressive in using backstory in future campaigns.

It takes practice to get players (and DMs) to make actionable backstories. I think to use backstory properly you need to do two things.

First, backstories need to be concise and evocative. Ideally that means 3 to 5 single-sentence bullet points. Players don't need to write a short story about their mercenary legion's betrayal on the battlefield; "lone survivor of a betrayed mercenary company" is enough. 13th Age's backgrounds and One Unique Things are great examples of this.

Second, assuming you're not co-authoring the campaign with players ala 13th Age or Blades In The Dark, you need to give players strong prompts to tie into your storyline. Don't be afraid to use leading questions. For example, if I was playing Descent Into Avernus, I might ask players to build their backstories off of questions like: "For what are you willing to sell your soul? Name a person, place, or thing in Elturel that you would kill (or die) for. Is your relationship with the authority figures in Elturel positive, negative, or in some way conflicted?"

As a default, I may ask players to write a single sentence each on an interesting and exciting aspect related to their class, race, and background. That should result in three sentences which, hopefully, have great story hooks. Example: "I'm a warrior, like my father before me, and his father before him. The shaman of my clan told me I was destined to betray someone I loved. I was kicked out of the brewer's guild after refusing to pay off a Zhentarim protection racket."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For me, it depends on the campaign and the player buy-in. I make an effort if the players do. I have found it to be a tool that can really help, but its use or disuse also isn’t a guarantee of quality.

For example, the best campaign I ever ran, I had 100% player buy-in, and the PC’s backgrounds definitely helped shape the world.

OTOH, one of the best D&D adventures I ever cooked up was a Dark Sun one-shot, and the backgrounds were irrelevant.

 

[S'mon]

It really depends on the campaign. In some, the player character backgrounds are the campaign. In others, the player character backgrounds have no bearing at all on the campaign.

Yeah, it varies a lot. In my Primeval Thule sandbox 5e game the PC backgrounds & Heroic Narratives are central to the campaign. In my Princes of the Apocalypse AP game only backgrounds tied in to the AP matter much, the PCs mostly just have a basic Fight Elemental Evil motivation though a couple PCs have special background issues with a particular elemental cult - one PC the Fire Cult burned her monastery, another PC was a member of the Shadowed Chain dwarf secret society who oppose the Earth Cult.

 

[Ringtail]

These days, sure, if a player feels that passionately about their PC that they're going to craft some awesome story, I'll totally draw from that into the campaign.

The one thing that old me and current me still agree on is that the backstory needs to keep in mind that your PC is only first level - there's only so much you can justify based on that.

Yeah, I'm not likely to ignore or turn away a large backstory. If you made the effort I'm going to at least give it a look, but my preference for shorter more usable backstories still stands. That also tends to agree with what you say about first level. Not much adventuring you can do before 1st Level and justify not being a higher level!

 

[Blue]

I only run years long homebrew campaigns. I haven't run a module in decades. I don't do one shots. With that context in mind...

I freaking love character backstories. They are strong signalling what the player is interested in. They are instant buy-in whenever details of it hit the table. They are hooks I don't need to expect effort to make the players care about. It's world building I don't have to do, organizations and settlements and NPCs.

I will go as to say that every DM running a homebrew campaign that doesn't incorporate backstories is ignoring valuable tools and making their job harder. You don't need to use them, but why wouldn't you use them when they are full of help for the small price of reading a few pages per charactrer, much less time then you'd spend prepping a single session but with long term payouts.

Because really, "winning" in RPGs is having fun, and this is a low-work shortcut to providing fun to your players that can come up again and again.

 

[Maestrino]

For me, it depends on the campaign and the player buy-in. I make an effort if the players do. I have found it to be a tool that can really help, but its use or disuse also isn’t a guarantee of quality.

For example, the best campaign I ever ran, I had 100% player buy-in, and the PC’s backgrounds definitely helped shape the world.

OTOH, one of the best D&D adventures I ever cooked up was a Dark Sun one-shot, and the backgrounds were irrelevant.

Now, I agree 100% that in a one-shot you don't have time to do character development. The backstory isn't important there. Much more fun to have a tight (actually pretty railroad-y) scenario cooked up and let the players use whatever crazy nonsensical character they have. Want to run that gnome artificer? Sure! Want to play that always-just-too-late battlefield medic-turned-necromancer? Go for it! A grappler monk that's basically Hulk Hogan? Right on, brother! A paladin who's one week from retirement and "getting too old for this sh**?" Great!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

On the rare occasions when I get to play, my backstories are generally a paragraph long. But I try to make them flavorful.

Yeah, I'm not likely to ignore or turn away a large backstory. If you made the effort I'm going to at least give it a look, but my preference for shorter more usable backstories still stands. That also tends to agree with what you say about first level. Not much adventuring you can do before 1st Level and justify not being a higher level!

This, definitely. A backstory should ground your character, and give the DM plenty of things to hook into. As a DM, for example, if the PC has a sworn enemy in their background, you can pretty much use that to get buy-in from them on any adventure you want by including them.

I will go as to say that every DM running a homebrew campaign that doesn't incorporate backstories is ignoring valuable tools and making their job harder. You don't need to use them, but why wouldn't you use them when they are full of help for the small price of reading a few pages per charactrer, much less time then you'd spend prepping a single session but with long term payouts.

 

[uzirath]

I'm planning out my next campaign right now and I'm eagerly awaiting backstories from the players who haven't written them yet. Whether a page, a paragraph, or a sentence, they give me a lot of material to work with. At this point in my gaming life, I can't quite imagine how I would start a campaign without them.

I agree with others who have said that a campaign is different from a quick one-shot. In an ongoing campaign, I'd like the players to feel as if their characters are truly a part of a living setting.

 

[pogre]

I don't require backgrounds except a reason the PC is motivated to work with the group.

If the player provides background I'm happy to incorporate it and even use it as a focus for the campaign. This is particularly true for my homebrew stuff.

Many of my players prefer not to lay out too much background and let their goals develop organically through play.

 

[Panda-s1]

I mean can you really get away with not addressing background or backstory in a campaign? every character has a place in the world, no matter how small, and unless they literally came into existence right as the campaign started it would follow they have a history in the world.

it doesn't need to come up obviously, but if you're in a place that a character has a history with it shouldn't be out of the question for that history to become relevant to the game.