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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7936754" data-attributes="member: 29398">I actually don't mind the occasional ridiculous coincidence, in fact sometimes I'll play it up for the amusement.Me-as-DM: "Your party is down a Ranger, and Bob, you're down a character, but OH LOOK Bob, your retired Ranger JUST HAPPENS to be in town right now even though when last seen she was 1500 miles away!  What are the odds of that?!"Absent any qualifiers this is a bit of a red flag, in that what if your players decide, in character during play, to take things completely off-story?  Would you let it happen?You don't have to.I'm somewhere in between.I don't ask that players develop backgrounds for their characters but if one does so anyway I'd like to have at least a vague idea of what's in it; not so I can bend the game toward it but so I can incorporate it if the game otherwise happens to run on to it:<party has to travel through a somewhat-dangerous mountain pass en route to their next adventure>"Aloysius, you did time in the 7th Legion before you took up adventuring, didn't you?  They were stationed in this pass for a few seasons during that time, meaning you know the area at least a bit and probably have a few local contacts in the villages.  The 9th hold the pass these days..."</blockquote>