Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
DM question: how much do you incorporate PC backgrounds into the campaign?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ringtail" data-source="post: 7933861" data-attributes="member: 7015570"><p>I like to incorporate them, but only slightly. This is also because I like a short background. My goal is not to make the character's personal history the source of the adventure, but to make those character feel like a part of the world and not someone removed. Featuring NPCs, Factions or Locations whether prominently or not can make the characters feel like a part of the world.</p><p></p><p>In my opinion, a Player Character should have at MAX one paragraph of backstory. Maybe a few bullet points to summarize the important proper nouns. I like the details to be vague so its easier to improvise the background connections. </p><p></p><p>Here is an example from LMoP</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="LMOP Spoilers, but its been forever really"]Player, a Fighter, was leader of a mercenary band. The lieutenant betrayed him and left him for dead on the battlefield to usurp control. I told him they were called the Redbrands and gave the leader a name. Later when he encounters the Redbrands he is upset to see they have become simple bandits. I made a couple of "old hands" sympathetic to him while the majority were new blood who were just bandits. (Hell, it reminds me a lot of the Van der Linde gang now that I think of it.) He struck down the usurper boss, chased off or converted the new recruits and then reformed the Redbrands to become the City Watch of Phandalin. He eventually became Lord of Phandalin to boot. It was a great story, thoroughly focused on the here and now and consisted of a brief paragraph about the mercenary company and 4-5 names for NPCs within it. </p><p></p><p>Another player in the same group was a Dwarf brewer with a disgraced father who was actually innocent. I had him be framed by the Black Spider so it was very satisfying for that player. Another player was a refugee from Thundertree from the Hotenow eruption. He eventually became a vassal of Player 1 (Who became the Lord of Phandalin) and rebuilt Cragmaw Castle and Thundertree. [/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ringtail, post: 7933861, member: 7015570"] I like to incorporate them, but only slightly. This is also because I like a short background. My goal is not to make the character's personal history the source of the adventure, but to make those character feel like a part of the world and not someone removed. Featuring NPCs, Factions or Locations whether prominently or not can make the characters feel like a part of the world. In my opinion, a Player Character should have at MAX one paragraph of backstory. Maybe a few bullet points to summarize the important proper nouns. I like the details to be vague so its easier to improvise the background connections. Here is an example from LMoP [SPOILER="LMOP Spoilers, but its been forever really"]Player, a Fighter, was leader of a mercenary band. The lieutenant betrayed him and left him for dead on the battlefield to usurp control. I told him they were called the Redbrands and gave the leader a name. Later when he encounters the Redbrands he is upset to see they have become simple bandits. I made a couple of "old hands" sympathetic to him while the majority were new blood who were just bandits. (Hell, it reminds me a lot of the Van der Linde gang now that I think of it.) He struck down the usurper boss, chased off or converted the new recruits and then reformed the Redbrands to become the City Watch of Phandalin. He eventually became Lord of Phandalin to boot. It was a great story, thoroughly focused on the here and now and consisted of a brief paragraph about the mercenary company and 4-5 names for NPCs within it. Another player in the same group was a Dwarf brewer with a disgraced father who was actually innocent. I had him be framed by the Black Spider so it was very satisfying for that player. Another player was a refugee from Thundertree from the Hotenow eruption. He eventually became a vassal of Player 1 (Who became the Lord of Phandalin) and rebuilt Cragmaw Castle and Thundertree. [/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
DM question: how much do you incorporate PC backgrounds into the campaign?
Top