Does a PC Have Amnesia? Try This!

Well said, Nifft.

This can also be a really cool way for the player to tell the DM, "Look, there's some things about my character I haven't fleshed out yet or just don't know. I'll leave it to you to work this into the narrative. I trust you."

I did this when I created a character for an infrequent ongoing teen mutant supers campaign my buddy runs. I inserted a few key mystery elements into my backstory [my character's parents brokered a deal with an organization to do some experimental surgery to cure my mutant power, but instead it opened up the floodgates and made me more powerful -- and more dangerous. Now my PC doesn't know who did this, or why. Was it accidental? Did one of my parents set me up?], with the understanding that answering these questions would become part of the unfolding story.
 

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Nifft and Atom have it figured out. I've always made it clear to my players (regardless of the game) that the Forgotten Backstory is usually the last resort of the lazy, and that any character made with this is essentially giving me free rein to do whatever I want with their history. I've had some players intentionally do this, knowing that I'm going to create something inconvenient, possibly off-the-wall.

If your group doesn't have decent camaraderie, and don't have the understanding beforehand that an amnesiac character is basically an invitation for the GM to make his life hard, then you're going to have upset players. But if you make it clear to them VERY early that you will generally make that character's life unpleasant, you'll probably get two results: everyone will put at least a little thought into their backgrounds, and once in a while you'll get someone who'll say "I want to see what you come up with. So what if it hurts?"
 

i guess i'm not as forgiveing as most of you i'd kill all the rest the party during my watch then hand in my typed character backgruond
"how about that i got my mimory back i was a CE assassin who bumped his head while escaping the guard after i killed that king a few months ago what a odd world we live in i think i'll go cook up some orphins now.

remimber if someones being a dick to you you should be a dick to them
 

Never had anyone trying the amnesia stunt. That's because they know me. They just *know* any character of theirs who has amnesia - whether because they're lazy or because they think it's cool - might just have others remember him.

"We go into the tavern"
"Okay... It's moderately crowded. There's a pretty girl at one table. She sees you, walks up to you, knees you in the groin, calls you a bastard, and storms out"


"'DADDYYYYY! YOU'RE BACK!'"

"'Have you accomplished the... mission you were paid for by us? Only I hear the feds got a description and have sicced their nastiest hunter on you - and, by proxy, on us. You know we don't like that'"

These are just samples of the service I provide as a DM, free of charge. Players who play amnesia characters should always be grateful that you don't go Jason Bourne on their buttocks! :]

Of course, if he works with me on that background, and comes up with stuff that happened, things like that will probably hppen less often. I had a character like this once. He didn't know who he was, how old he was, or that he wasn't human, he just knew that he could beat the hell out of people with his bare hands, that he could make himself stronger by just thinking about it, and that he thought that the weak should be suppressed (it was a LE gestalt monk/egoist, formerly human, now elan. I left his former identity, actual age, old alignment, and identity on the creature who exprerimented with him to the DM. But I never knew what the DM had in store for him, since I retired him soon after creation).


Now, this thread inspires me. I think the next character I'm gonna play will have amnesia. I'm going to tell the DM to knock himself out.
 

I have played a character with amnesia before. IIRC, though, I did work out his history before the amnesia event (with DM's approval, of course), it was just that the character did not know it, even though I knew the history as the player.

Both as a player and as a DM, I think amnesia is a legitimate background for a character.
 

Roman said:
I have played a character with amnesia before. IIRC, though, I did work out his history before the amnesia event (with DM's approval, of course), it was just that the character did not know it, even though I knew the history as the player.

But where you sure the DM wouldn't ignore what you wrote and invent a infinitely nastier back story for you?

If you were, your DM sucks ;) :p
 

I've actually done this type of scenario in a current game I'm in. I came up with how he lost his memory, some bits and pieces of what his life was, and pretty much turned it over to the DM. I did this mainly because everyone else was already very familiar with the campaign world and I wasn't. So instead of always asking about names/places/things I could learn as things progressed and not slow everything down. The DM also said he liked the idea, although to what purpose has yet to be determined.
 

Kae'Yoss said:
But where you sure the DM wouldn't ignore what you wrote and invent a infinitely nastier back story for you?

If you were, your DM sucks ;) :p

No, I was joining a new group at the time, so I certainly was not sure.
 

Nifft said:
Improv is adversarial?

"Whose blood-stained dagger is it, anyway?", -- N
its handle towards my hand

come let me clutch thee.


d00d,
the bard did that one years ago.

and the bard still suXX.
 
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Lazy player punishment FTW!

I would totally do this. Want to cop out of thinking of a backstory? Fine, myself and the other players are going to craft one for you. Sure, it might set an adversarial tone to that player's interactions with the GM and other players, but to be honest, most players I deal with end up in adversarial relationships with everyone else involved, both in-game and out-of-game. I've had two players (one of whom was running a paladin) arrange the theft of a recently-acquired artifact and pin the theft on a third member of the party. I've also had a player character attempt to take down a spitted, roasting animal from her Orcish NPC hosts because she was offended by the prospect of meat-eating. This started a brawl between the party and said host where her character ended up as the sole casualty.

Now what we need is a brainstorming session / thread to help us deal with players who insist on having the most outrageous backgrounds possible.

Case in point: my soon-to-start modern campaign features a rich dilettante who's running her own bordello, and a street thug entangled in what he calls the "lunch truck mafia" (an organized crime syndicate revolving around those portable cafeteria trucks that frequent businesses). I've already got plans for turning the bordello plot into something meaningful... but lunch truck mafia? This player must be punished.
 

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