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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 9361619" data-attributes="member: 177">And that's cool.But, learning about a style of play isn't just about learning if you will adopt the whole thing, jumping in the deep end.&nbsp; It is also learning about the techniques, some of which may be useful even if you don't adopt the thing entirely.Like, way upthread, the bit about Ashen Stars character arcs, which gives a GM a structured way to find out what the PCs want, without having that long backstory you seem to dislike.So, with all due respect, the backstory that tells you &quot;how cool&quot; the character was before the game starts is, in my eyes, a failed neotrad element.&nbsp; Painting the entire style with the brush of a poor implementation of one of the methods is not doing the thing justice. It is like eating at McDonalds and swearing off burgers.&nbsp; Maybe don't measure the thing by the sub-standard examples, hm?To me, a good backstory for neotrad play isn't about how cool you were.&nbsp; It is about backstory plot and events, about what is important to the PC, about their moral/ethical positions, their friends and enemies, and about their internal conflicts.&nbsp; The good backstory lays out the starting narrative position of the character, and the story elements and themes the player expects to engage with as play begins - and for neotrad play that can be very useful for everyone to have. Indeed, structurally, a backstory that is about failure the character experienced is far more useful for neotrad play than one showing a major impressive powerful success.&nbsp; Because a failure then starts you with an initial narrative target - finally succeeding at whatever you failed at before..</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 9361619, member: 177"] And that's cool. But, learning about a style of play isn't just about learning if you will adopt the whole thing, jumping in the deep end. It is also learning about the techniques, some of which may be useful even if you don't adopt the thing entirely. Like, way upthread, the bit about [I]Ashen Stars[/I] character arcs, which gives a GM a [I]structured[/I] way to find out what the PCs want, without having that long backstory you seem to dislike. So, with all due respect, the backstory that tells you "how cool" the character was before the game starts is, in my eyes, a [I]failed[/I] neotrad element. Painting the entire style with the brush of a poor implementation of one of the methods is not doing the thing justice. It is like eating at McDonalds and swearing off burgers. Maybe don't measure the thing by the sub-standard examples, hm? To me, a good backstory for neotrad play isn't about how cool you were. It is about backstory plot and events, about what is important to the PC, about their moral/ethical positions, their friends and enemies, and about their internal conflicts. The good backstory lays out the starting narrative position of the character, and the story elements and themes the player expects to engage with as play begins - and for neotrad play that can be very useful for everyone to have. Indeed, structurally, a backstory that is about [I]failure[/I] the character experienced is far more useful for neotrad play than one showing a major impressive powerful success. Because a failure then starts you with an initial narrative target - finally succeeding at whatever you failed at before.. [/QUOTE]

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