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DM question: how much do you incorporate PC backgrounds into the campaign?
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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7936834" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>What’s the difference? I mean....what do the players in your game run into that you didn’t place? </p><p></p><p>What makes one thing “forced” and another “discovered”? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>What trouble do you think is brewing? </p><p></p><p>When I say backstory, I mean something meaningful....a goal or a secret or something else that can contribute to the ongoing story in a meaningful way. </p><p></p><p>I don’t mean chatting with grandma.</p><p></p><p>So you think it may be troublesome to focus on a player offered but of backstory. Why? What trouble? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is one of the reasons I enjoy player offered material....so I don’t have to come up with so much story myself. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No, the background can always matter. Maybe the PC is from a backwoods farm town....this seems to be the default assumption in many cases, and it’s a pretty common trope in fantasy and adventure fiction. Doesn’t that upbringing always matter yo thee character? They go to the big city and are overwhelmed. Then they go to the <em>really</em> big city and realize just how small their town was. Then they encounter entirely different cultures and so on. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This isn’t remotely true. Again, I’m not talking about stopping by grandma’s farmhouse for some in character banter. I’m talking about goals that can help move the story forward. Maybe the PCs are from all over the place....but maybe they’ve all been wronged by the same person. </p><p></p><p>It doesn't even need to be that specific. There’s any number of reasons you can come up with to connect a group together. Very often what I’ve seen is a natural “you help me kill the warlord who destroyed my village and I’ll help you recover the lost artifact” kind of bonding.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 7936834, member: 6785785"] What’s the difference? I mean....what do the players in your game run into that you didn’t place? What makes one thing “forced” and another “discovered”? What trouble do you think is brewing? When I say backstory, I mean something meaningful....a goal or a secret or something else that can contribute to the ongoing story in a meaningful way. I don’t mean chatting with grandma. So you think it may be troublesome to focus on a player offered but of backstory. Why? What trouble? This is one of the reasons I enjoy player offered material....so I don’t have to come up with so much story myself. No, the background can always matter. Maybe the PC is from a backwoods farm town....this seems to be the default assumption in many cases, and it’s a pretty common trope in fantasy and adventure fiction. Doesn’t that upbringing always matter yo thee character? They go to the big city and are overwhelmed. Then they go to the [I]really[/I] big city and realize just how small their town was. Then they encounter entirely different cultures and so on. This isn’t remotely true. Again, I’m not talking about stopping by grandma’s farmhouse for some in character banter. I’m talking about goals that can help move the story forward. Maybe the PCs are from all over the place....but maybe they’ve all been wronged by the same person. It doesn't even need to be that specific. There’s any number of reasons you can come up with to connect a group together. Very often what I’ve seen is a natural “you help me kill the warlord who destroyed my village and I’ll help you recover the lost artifact” kind of bonding. [/QUOTE]
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DM question: how much do you incorporate PC backgrounds into the campaign?
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