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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7936975" data-attributes="member: 29398">By "forced" I mean the game would not have gone there had there been no PC backstory tied to that place.Let me try to explain a bit differently.Unless a player has specific ideas (rare) we somewhat randomly determine where the PC was born, where it grew up, etc.  Let's say one PC was born and grew up in the town of Tewys, a town near the frontier but not all that close to any significant adventuring sites.If the party passes through Tewys at some point where they would have passed throuugh it anyway then I've no problem bringing in that bit of backstory, assuming the player hasn't already done so, as it adds some depth to the town and thus the setting. But if they wouldn't otherwise go there, I'm not going to force the party to Tewys just so that bit of backstory can become relevant; nor am I going to place adventures there unless that's where they already would have been.You answered your own question: the trouble is that you're focusing on one player/PC's story instead of on that of the group as a whole.  That's trouble the second any other player feels less-than-equal.Each to their own.  Coming up with story has admittedly been a headache for me in past campaigns, but not (yet) in this one. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Sure, and that can (and I hope will) inform the player's roleplay. But for the most part it only matters to that PC's player, and not to me as DM unless the party happen to pass through or close to that backwoods farm town or unless the PC/player pulls the party there for some reason.Ah, you're looking at something on a different scale than I am, then.  I'm looking at material that exists purely in the background of whatever group story is taking place, where you're looking at material that determines what the story will be, in whole or in part.There's tons of ways to get parties together, even including ye olde "you all meet in a tavern"; and once in the field their experiences there will either bond them into a group or they won't.  I don't feel I need yet another layer of bonding; never mind that even were I to use such things it'd become largely moot after two adventures when 3/4 of the party lineup has turned over - maybe twice!</blockquote>

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