How much back story for a low-level PC?

[Michael Silverbane]

I like to have a couple of sentences, though they don't have to form an actual paragraph. Just enough so that I might be able to get a sense of what the player thinks is important to his character.

Something like, "My name is Fred. My parents decided that i was a sociopath, so it is the adventurer's life for me. I like fast cars and the color red. Sometimes I poop too much." would probably be acceptable, depending on the flavor of the game.

 

[TerraDave]

if someone goes overboard, well, then they've gone overboard and that's an issue.

Uhm. They go overboard, it really happens.

All of your examples were good examples. (and I bet they weren't pages long, either.) From what you posted, they connect to the actual game charecter, to the world, and gave non-binding reasons for adventure. Liberties taken were creative in the good way and far, far from earth shattering.

Not all backgrounds are like that.

 

[Ourph]

As a player, I only provide a background if asked (although I usually have some sort of personality/motivation in mind when creating the character). Any backgrounds are limited to the bare minimum that the DM requires. I think I'd choose not to play in any game where more than 1 paragraph was a requirement.

As a DM, I'll read a backstory of 1 paragraph or less if the player provides it. I might even incorporate some of it into my world/adventure design if it seems like a good fit with my other ideas. But I don't feel obligated to do so and I think it's perfectly reasonable to change or disallow something if I don't agree with it.

Anything over 1 paragraph for a 1st level character seems unreasonable to me (for a D&D game).

 

[weem]

I prefer what I have been calling Character Foregrounds (I talk about it here).

Working up elaborate backgrounds is fine (I do it sometimes) but I often find I don't use much if any of it. I might use it to base certain characteristics of my character on, but really I find I enjoy coming up with this as we play - or that even if I have it established before we start, I change it later.

The example I give in the linked post is this...

DM: What about you, what's your background?

ME: "Me? Until a few minutes ago, I was standing on the corner holding three of my teeth in my hand. This town almost took my life about an hour ago when two men jumped me behind the tavern. This cut on my face? as you can see, it's fresh! I have no money, no friends, and no future. I heard these guys offering people money to help them clear out a basement? I mean, are you kidding me? I'm thinking hell yea... at this point, I would scrape barnacles off the pier for a whole day if I could get a drink at the end of the night"

Often times, that's about all I need.

It gives me an opportunity to explore my background with other players DURING the game.

 

[Shemeska]

When I DM I want you to give me an interesting and evocative character personality, description, and backstory and I'll have fun with it. Normally this means give me a few pages, but really awesome ideas don't absolutely have to be fleshed out with tons of details (like the amnesiac PC that I developed with weeks on online RP with the player well before the game began - they started with few to no pre-prepared details).

And when I come up with a character, if I get behind the character and their concept, I tend to go crazy. I wrote something like 4 pages of partially in-character details, and I've been enjoying the hell out of them in the game (1/2 faerie dragon wizard/sorcerer).

 

[Nagol]

OK, so you personally would prefer to not have your backstory be a part of the game because you don't want the DM to mess with your PC. I can understand that, having experienced the dickery on a couple of occasions.

For me, the same player who didn't like me adding details to his backstory also didn't like following when the game pursued a thread from the backstory of another PC. There was plenty for the group to do, but the main thread of the adventure was centered on one PC at that time and he didn't seem to like that.

Of course this one player also seemed to want the lion's share of attention from his amazing character builds and his PC's combat skills. Perhaps that is why he didn't like it when the story centered on somebody else. Disconnect in gaming styles I guess. He wanted to hack-n-slash so he could shine, while some other players also wanted to have non-combat screen time to have their fun as well.

I tried to take this to a private conversation, but for some reason I can't find the option for you.

If I don't include much of a backstory then I don't want it involved either because I don't want the complication (let's kill things and take their stuff!), because I don't want the extra attention (I'll take a back seat, who wants to drive?), or because I find it distracting (What do you mean the Mcguffin is a few months away on the other side of the continent? I need to stay here and protect the farmstead from goblins!).

Many times I do want the extra level of involvement and attachment to the campaign world and will happily include a page or so. That generally applies for other types of campaigns than coming-into-power games typical of D&D though.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I tried to take this to a private conversation, but for some reason I can't find the option for you.

If I don't include much of a backstory then I don't want it involved either because I don't want the complication (let's kill things and take their stuff!), because I don't want the extra attention (I'll take a back seat, who wants to drive?), or because I find it distracting (What do you mean the Mcguffin is a few months away on the other side of the continent? I need to stay here and protect the farmstead from goblins!).

Many times I do want the extra level of involvement and attachment to the campaign world and will happily include a page or so. That generally applies for other types of campaigns than coming-into-power games typical of D&D though.

Sorry, I disabled private messaging years ago when I got some really odd messages from somebody and never turned it back on.

I guess I never really thought that much about the difference in games, but I guess I have done the same thing. I spend more time and have a much more lengthy backstory for my Champions game, where my PC is a full-fledged hero, than I do for my 1st level D&D characters. Usually 1-2 pages for Champions, but 3-4 paragraphs for D&D.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I like some background. I like to know where he was born, and where he was raised. I also like to know who his family and friends are., and the people who most influenced his life. Usually ranges from a few paragraphs to a coupld of pages depending on how long I'm going to be running the character.

 

[airwalkrr]

One sentence describing a new character is enough, whether it is a character I am playing or a character a player in a game I DM is playing. I like for character personalities and background to develop organically through play rather than being novelized before a play session even begins. Of course, I won't refuse someone the opportunity if they want to write up six pages of background for Turdle, the 1st-level wizard. So long as they aren't going to be disappointed if Turdle makes a deadly mistake and doesn't make it out of his first adventure alive.

 

[ourchair]

I don't require backstory and will try to incorporate elements of it into the story.

However, the way I see it the characters are rarely defined by their backstory and the fact that they are a “dragonmarked scion of the Aundair branch of House Cannith who has chosen to become an Orla-un monk,” matters far less than the actions they take now.

All too often I see players try to provide descriptions of their character's personalities but then either contradict or slowly turn their character's personality towards something else.

As such instead of saying who they are, what they're like and where they come from, I'd rather players DISCOVER their characters through the actions they take. Take a look at the D&D Robot Chicken videos: Tom Root doesn’t say, “I’m the practical drow!” nor does Kevin Shinick declare, “Yes! I’m the helpful one!” Those are qualities they discover through the course of the game through the things they do.