How much back story do you allow/expect at the start of the game?

[Jhaelen]

Simple, time travel and a sex change.

Actually, I misread that as turning the BBEG into his father, girlfriend AND sister.

Yup, Heinlein's been there and done that back in 1958...

 

[Caliban]

Even that assumes you want the DM to contrive plot around your character, as though your character was some sort of protagonist in a story. For those of us who prefer to consider our character as an actual person living within that world, rather than a mere narrative construct, both types of intervention are equally bad. Whether my family is killed, or whether they win the lottery and gift me a +3 sword, anything that happens to them because I'm a PC is equally unwanted.

Orphan PCs serve to ward off the well-meaning DMs who simply don't understand that point, as well as the malevolent DMs trying to make you suffer for the sake of art.

I'm pretty sure you are the only person who thinks that way, but thanks for sharing.

 

[Lylandra]

There's that fine line between well-written drama and cheap slaughter for the effects. And I agree that giving players the option to intervene when their loved ones are threatened does make a big difference.

As a player, I almost never kill off my whole family. And if we are in the same area, I don't mind if my DM uses them for drama when it is appropriate. Heck, sometimes I include "drama hooks" so the DM can already choose that one I'm totally okay with.
For example, I once played a noble daughter whose brother fell ill after a trip to another country. Her reason for adventuring was to find a cure for that mysterious disease. When she returned after months of adventuring and finding out that there was no cure (other than defeating BBEG in that far off land and mind you, other people caught the disease as well), she returned home only to find that her brother had passed away. And her parents didn't want to let her go, but marry her off to another noble where she would be safe and off to another duty. This caused one of our players (the one Paladin who had become her mentor as she had become a swashbuckler/paladin) to step in and propose in front of parents and suitor while also revealing that he was a noble of higher rank in addition to being a paladin of Torm and that he wouldn't give a damn for societal conventions if they'd try to get his student off her duty.

As a DM I once abducted the father/adoptive father of two of my PCs so they'd agree to exchange prisoners and hand them over a magic tome. The fun fact was that the villain didn't even know the NPC was the father of the PC, but he rather captured him because he was an enemy general. And they totally managed to give said villain neither of the two while still rescuing their dad.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm pretty sure you are the only person who thinks that way, but thanks for sharing.

Actually, no he's not - for the most part I also prefer my character not be the protagonist in a story. The party as a whole can be, sure, and probably should be; but my character is just one more or less temporary member of said party and both (s)he and the party are seen as actual people living in the game world.

It's a question of whether your story is the history of the Liverpool Football Club (the party) or the story of a guy who played midfield for them for their first 6 seasons (my first character).

As a player, I almost never kill off my whole family.

In context this sort of makes sense but my first thought on reading it was still "Almost never? Does that mean I should be calling the cops?".

Lanefan

 

[Caliban]

Actually, no he's not - for the most part I also prefer my character not be the protagonist in a story.

So do you also use this as a reason to make all your characters orphans?

 

[Imaculata]

Heck, sometimes I include "drama hooks" so the DM can already choose that one I'm totally okay with.

Same for me. For my current character, I intentionally wrote in a plot hook that a business-competitor of my character died under suspicious circumstances, and that my character has a love interest on a distant planet whom he keeps at a distance for his own safety.

 

[pemerton]

Sounds like a lot of people have experiences with terrible DM's.

Agreed.

if I can't motivate players with my plot hooks, killing their friends won't help any.

The whole idea is bizarre. I've never come across it, except by reading about it on these boards.

As far as family are concerned, a lot depends on the social context of the game, as well as the mechanics and other expectations for the system and campaign being played.

In Burning Wheel, for instance, paying for relationships is part of PC building. And it is cheaper to pay for an adversarial than friendly relationship. Either way, you can expect the GM to put pressure on your PC via the relationship - quite directly, if the relationship is adversarial. In effect, the point-buy cost of the relationship is paying for spotlight time.

D&D doesn't really have formal systems for this (the 5e Backgrounds maybe come closest), but similar ideas might be useable.

I don't mind putting friends and family in peril, directly, indrectly and so forth, but only if the adventurers are people worthy of note.

I don't agree with this, though. A PC might be no one particularly famous, but nevertheless find his/her loved one being threatened in some fashion, thus requiring the player of the PC to respond in some fashion.

Not all systems work well for more low-scale/intimate adventures, but they are possible.

 

[pemerton]

I've played and run PLENTY of games with gamers who simply DO NOT HAVE THE ROLEPLAYING SKILLS to support more than limited attention to their PC. Are they unworthy of attention? Because other players are better roleplayers are they to be given all the attention and glory at the cost of always relegating other PC's to token importance and easily replaced by any other disposable character?

Maybe. It's not unusual for a game to reward those who have better skills.

When I play boardgames with my friends who are good boardgame players, I expect to lose - and generally do. It's not about me being "unworthy". It's about them being better.

It's not obvious that RPGing shouldn't be similar. Those who build and play richer characters, and give more to the shared fiction, might expect to have their PCs enjoy a greater focus and significance within that fiction.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Maybe. It's not unusual for a game to reward those who have better skills.

When I play boardgames with my friends who are good boardgame players, I expect to lose - and generally do. It's not about me being "unworthy". It's about them being better.

It's not obvious that RPGing shouldn't be similar. Those who build and play richer characters, and give more to the shared fiction, might expect to have their PCs enjoy a greater focus and significance within that fiction.

Hmm, so, in corollary, someone that isn't as good at roleplaying but is working on it should be content to watch his/her/xir betters and be thankful for the scraps? Improvement is a matter of practice, for most things. Doesn't your concept actively reduce practice time for those most needing it while giving extra to those already proficient?

And, then there's the whole 'group activity' where roleplaying isn't a competition to be rewarded with spotlight time but someone you do as a group for a shared purpose. However, it is good to remember that your preferred games do pit PCs against each other as a matter of play, and skilled play increases the chances that the story moves in the direction you push.

 

[Schmoe]

Player goes through the trouble to write a backstory. DM throws it away unread.

Me (handing it back unread): "That's nice, it looks like you put a lot of work into it. Maybe you can post it to ENWorld? Ok folks, so here's what is happening right now in the tavern..."

Nothing wrong about that at all.