Something I've been thinking about recently, but am yet to try out...feedback appreciated.
Instead of pre-gening the PCs or tying their backgrounds into the world by making them for them, come up with "schticks" that tie into the campaign which the players can take for their character, and build from there. Big character hooks that you can hang your hat off, and establish a strong link between the campaign and the PC.
Examples I've been chewing over:
* PC has an "imaginary friend" only he can see. This ghostly NPC has shown up occasionally and talked to him all his life, chatting, berating, or offering advice in classic annoying Elminster stylee. Once or twice, he may have even saved his life, or told him secrets. The PC is convinced that he may be insane, and that the "imaginary friend" is not real but, just a symptom of that. (In actual fact, he's a ghost who has haunted the family for decades. Later the PC finds out about the history of the haunting, and for the DM, the NPC ghost can be used as a mcguffin for adventure hooks. And for the record, I think Elminster would be a better character as a ghost - it fits his "snide giver of advice" role to a tee!)
* I mentioned this one in a recent thread: PC has been brought up by a crusty old sea captain who was a contemporary of his dead father. The captain has a chest which ever since a young age the PC hasn't been able to know what's in there (it leads to the demi-plane of the adventure Nbod's Room, which the captain occasionally visits). Another secret regarding this character that the PC will find out later in the campaign is that the killed his friend, the PC's father, and built his grave in the demiplane. The captain and is looking after the PC out of guilt...or maybe a geas.
* Borrowed idea from the WotC site: PC has amnesia, and no idea of his/her background before about a year ago. He/she was first discovered by another PC's woodcutter family when released from stasis from inside a buried sarcophagus in the woods. He has since then become a part of the family, and is accepted by another of the PCs as a sort of long lost brother. They've since left for a life of adventure together, but the amnesiac soon finds that his past begins to catch up with him. (PC could be anything, from any time, and locked in there for any reason. Maybe he/she was a villain in the past, or has been sleeping since the days of Netheril and gradually remembers forgotten places and magic from days past.)
Any other ideas?
Instead of pre-gening the PCs or tying their backgrounds into the world by making them for them, come up with "schticks" that tie into the campaign which the players can take for their character, and build from there. Big character hooks that you can hang your hat off, and establish a strong link between the campaign and the PC.
Examples I've been chewing over:
* PC has an "imaginary friend" only he can see. This ghostly NPC has shown up occasionally and talked to him all his life, chatting, berating, or offering advice in classic annoying Elminster stylee. Once or twice, he may have even saved his life, or told him secrets. The PC is convinced that he may be insane, and that the "imaginary friend" is not real but, just a symptom of that. (In actual fact, he's a ghost who has haunted the family for decades. Later the PC finds out about the history of the haunting, and for the DM, the NPC ghost can be used as a mcguffin for adventure hooks. And for the record, I think Elminster would be a better character as a ghost - it fits his "snide giver of advice" role to a tee!)
* I mentioned this one in a recent thread: PC has been brought up by a crusty old sea captain who was a contemporary of his dead father. The captain has a chest which ever since a young age the PC hasn't been able to know what's in there (it leads to the demi-plane of the adventure Nbod's Room, which the captain occasionally visits). Another secret regarding this character that the PC will find out later in the campaign is that the killed his friend, the PC's father, and built his grave in the demiplane. The captain and is looking after the PC out of guilt...or maybe a geas.
* Borrowed idea from the WotC site: PC has amnesia, and no idea of his/her background before about a year ago. He/she was first discovered by another PC's woodcutter family when released from stasis from inside a buried sarcophagus in the woods. He has since then become a part of the family, and is accepted by another of the PCs as a sort of long lost brother. They've since left for a life of adventure together, but the amnesiac soon finds that his past begins to catch up with him. (PC could be anything, from any time, and locked in there for any reason. Maybe he/she was a villain in the past, or has been sleeping since the days of Netheril and gradually remembers forgotten places and magic from days past.)
Any other ideas?
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