Handling Backstories

[Raven Crowking]

Hi there.

I was just working on a handout for tomorrow's game, with "The True Story of the Bonewardens." The idea is that the PCs can find a diary and letters, and piece together how this particular group of villians came into being. I thought I'd hand it to the players, and let them read it. It ties into my campaign cosmology and overstories, and so is a useful bit of "mystery solved." Even if they haven't defeated all of the Bonewardens yet, they did manage to drive them from their nest.

Sometimes I use narration to tell backstory snippets, or NPC conversations, but I have been planning a number of "The True Story of X and Y" type handouts to appear over the course of the campaign. In previous campaigns, I have found introducing important backstory in bits & pieces results in the PCs not figuring it out (i.e., not putting the pieces together) a few times more than I'd like.

I was curious about how some of my fellow EnWorlders handle backstory. How much of the BBEG's backstory do your characters become privy to? How do you relate it?

RC

 

[Ibram]

Alot of it depends on how much research the characters do. Often times the Truth behind the Big Bad is scattered across the land, finding it requires digging into libraries and talking to sages.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

It depends. In some instances, the players have become very familiar with certain villains background - more because it's been wrapped up a bit in their own - some one they used to serve with in the army, or a nobleman who's been a major factor in their home for decades. In other cases, the background has been less well-known, and this has its own appeal - the villains can seem more alien.

I like trying to give the PC's opportunities to interact with the villains in situations were they can't just haul off and kill them - or before they decide that the villain IS a villain. That way they can get some of that from the source.

I'm also a big believer in preparation - the great thing here is that if I'm several major plotlines ahead in my prep work, I can start littering the ground with information that is relevant several sessions down the road. I've set up villains that I know I won't get around to using for a year or more. That way the PC's can learn about them slowly, rather than in one big "info dump."

I've used a diary before with great success, though it was to tell the story of a previous group of heroes who had attempted the same quest - and failed. It gave a good backstory on the quest itself, and on the one surviving member of the expedition (who was not a villain, but a relative of one of the PC's).

 

[robberbaron]

Depends on how much effort the PCs put into research.
If they don't really care what the BBEG is up to (assuming they know he/she/it even exists) then he/she/it can get on with his/her/its plans with impunity.
If they dig around then I will tell them some small snippets of the big picture and leave them to figure out how it fits in with the other info they have.

Basically, I give them what they have found out but no more, and I sometimes use handouts and sometimes use a conversation with an NPC.

 

[the Jester]

Heheh.... the epic game I run includes a divine oracle, so the group pretty much always knows what's up.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I have, in the past, just not bothered to tell players anything when they didn't figure it out/bother to find out. This time around, though, I am running a game for largely new players. In this case, I want them to become aware of (and hopefully excited by) the possibilities of backstory.

Also, I tend to run complicated multiple-plot games. If some backstory elements don't become explicit, it can be difficult for players to get a handle on the campaign world. Heck, I want them to become aware of the plotting/machinations of the gods. It's one of the things that makes deities real, instead of just window dressing.