D&D 5E How often do you tie in backgrounds?

[Kite474]

I see it as the players' responsibility to bring their backgrounds to the fore first, then I as DM will respond by adapting to it during play. If the player is not pursuing goals based on the character's background, then I can't be given to care about adding those elements. If the character's parents were killed by orcs, but the player never does anything in the game to get revenge or seek out which tribe was responsible or whatever, then I don't feel obligated to stick orcs in his or her path just because he or she wrote it on a sheet of paper before we were actually playing.

Oftentimes what happens is a player will create a background and then they don't do anything with it. This is part of the reason that I ask players to create backgrounds that are the length of a tweet, then reveal more detail during play. Then in my usual "Yes, and..." fashion, I will accept and add to it, framing the PCs into conflicts that speak to what has been established. I definitely won't gather four or five background write-ups and plan my campaign around that.

Wait are we still talking about Backgrounds? Or are we moving to backstories?

 

[iserith]

Wait are we still talking about Backgrounds? Or are we moving to backstories?

Both, right? The published Backgrounds do imply a particular backstory. Questions the players can answer are provided in many entries so they are encouraged to add specifics.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Both, right? The published Backgrounds do imply a particular backstory. Questions the players can answer are provided in many entries so they are encouraged to add specifics.

Yeah, I think both are appropriate to the discussion. I was curious to know how many people make an effort to incorporate their players' PC's backgrounds into the actual campaign, as opposed to it being a way to "justify" the class chosen and/or to gain skills, but after chargen isn't really brought up again.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I do my best to incorporate PCs' backgrounds and histories. Generally, I let players dictate the details of their past as they see fit. But they know that any details they don't provide are open game for me. It's kind of a win/win because my players generally come up with pretty detailed pasts to go along with their background choice, and those that don't know that I am going to use the blank slate of their past however I see fit. Either way, I'm happy.

I either get well developed PCs with lots of details I can draw from, or unde tailed characters who I can mold as I need.

 

[Arial Black]

Coming from a player's POV, the City Watch Investigator background from SCAG I'm using for my AL CoS PC informs just about everything I do!