D&D General It's Session Zero! How Much Backstory Do You Give Your Character?

[overgeeked]

The issue that I've run into with the funnel, having run three of them now, is that some players will do everything they can to protect their high stat-roll characters- sometimes to the extent of not participating in fights etc. SO I have to almost unrealistically target them, or throw in stuff that attacks the rear etc. but it hasn't disabused them of that behavior.

Yeah. That’s a thing. We have the players run their PC groups and they only get new ones after the existing set is wiped out. So the bad stat PCs die then the high stat PC doesn’t have a choice. XP is only for those who actively participate.

 

[Argyle King]

More than "some" but less than "lots."

 

[James Gasik]

I'm somewhere between some and lots- I've been known to turn in a short story of about 6 ish pages to explain my character's past and why they are adventuring, but while I might find a picture, I don't sketch and detailed family trees are a bit much lol.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'm sorta midway between "Lots!" and "Some." I like having enough weight and value to the story for it to feel like it's doing something, going somewhere. I'm not really much one for "the story is what we remember after." I'm absolutely fine, indeed quite happy, with things turning out in ways other than the expected--just feel like there has to be some idea of a destination in order for a change of course to mean anything.

I'm somewhere between some and lots- I've been known to turn in a short story of about 6 ish pages to explain my character's past and why they are adventuring, but while I might find a picture, I don't sketch and detailed family trees are a bit much lol.

Exactly. I do like to try to find art that looks good and fits my idea for the character, and I might care about immediate family. "Detailed family trees" though? I've never once done that.

 

[Tonguez]

I also like games that have tools to create a little shared backstory at a session 0. I think Fantasy Age might do that? I remember ?Titansgrave? had something like that and I always thought it was a cool part of character creation.

I really like how Spirit of the Century does it via 'Starring' and "Guest Star' roles in pulp novel titles

eg `Ras Benar Sekh and the Cursed City. (guest staring Hadan the Beggar)' - whereby The Paladin Ras Benar must confront the dark powers holding the City of Fez in thrall with the help of the wily street urchin Hadan Mul)

- like the Budapest Incident for Hawkeye and Black Widow it creates a backstory link that the PCs can flesh out between themselves.

Every PC gets both a Starring and a Guest Starring role

 

[Stormonu]

Generally pretty short, enough to get an initial personality and motivation for why my character's in the group, and as the game goes on I'll generally develop it more.

My current character was an islander who was abducted by raiders and forced to help them raid other isles. When he learned they all were to be taken back to another country's capital city to be sacrificed, he prayed to the sea and the leviathan-god Ur broke the ship in two amid a storm. When he woke up on the shore of the capital city, he heard the voice of Ur in his mind - "you owe me one." And thus started his Warlock (Hexblade) career.

 

[Lanefan]

Other:

The roll-up process forces me to determine past profession, a few prior-to-adventuring skill levels e.g. swimming and riding, and my native culture via determination of languages known. From that I can extrapolate a few basics if I have to.

Beyond that? None until later - sometimes much later, as in months if not years - when I sit down with the DM at and determine (via some charts and tables etc.) things like family makeup, pre-adventuring history, and the like. After this, I'll take the results and bang together a bit of backstory if I'm interested in it; otherwise I'll just note the results and stop there.

 

[GrimCo]

Before session 0? None. It's group policy. No character creation before session zero. Session 0 is where DM gives overview of campaign, setting, themes, style, type of characters that fit/don't fit in the game, house rules used for pc generation, house rules for future campaign. Those informations are crucial to create characters that fit into the game and mesh with each other.

After S 0, usually couple of sentences and that's it. It depends on the starting level. If we start in tier 1, very minimal backstory. And i try to stay away from convoluted complex backstories. Couple of sentences about his upbringing, how and why he got to where he is now in life.

For characters in tier 2 or 3, we, as a group, create parts of backstory together, since those are characters who are already established figures in the world.

Both as a player and DM, i don't like 5 pages long backstories, especially about low level characters. You are nobody in the world, hero of your village/ neighborhood at best. Keep it to paragraph or two max, bullet points are preferred. For higher level characters, shared background is must. How, why, and when did party met, what did they do together, what are their goals etc.

Now, for my VtM games, i want more backstory. Specially since i usually run games with characters of 10-11th generation with 150-200 years of active experience. I wanna know what you did, who are your allies and enemies, what schemes are in motions etc. General rule - older and more experienced character is, more info i want. But i appreciate when players keep it concise. Even then i don't like reading 5 pages. Half page bullet points with most important highlights of your past is enough.

 

[payn]

Before session 0? None. It's group policy. No character creation before session zero. Session 0 is where DM gives overview of campaign, setting, themes, style, type of characters that fit/don't fit in the game, house rules used for pc generation, house rules for future campaign. Those informations are crucial to create characters that fit into the game and mesh with each other.

Thats refreshing. So many groups just arrive with a motley band of whatevers with no idea of what the campaign will be.

 

[billd91]

I don't know if you've watched Critical Role, particularly campaign 1. One of the characters is the son of deposed nobility, whose ancestral lands were conquered by some unsavory folks when he was a young lad, and he managed to escape. Eventually, these unsavory folks make an entrance in the actual campaign, leading to the PCs liberating the ancestral lands from said unsavory folks. Would this have been more or less satisfying if the group had been leading a rebellion without any connection to one of the PCs?

<snip>

Of course, not every NPC (be they villain, rival, or ally) will be connected to anyone's backstory. But the ones that are feel a lot more satisfying.

Maybe? But I think we're seeing, with the Man in the Funny Hat and some others, is that there are players who will see a GM's working with backstory elements as having been given a tool to screw the PC. Whether it's actually coming from prior traumatic experiences or not, backstory use tends to be one of those flashpoints of distrust between players and GMs.

And if it's directly tied to MY PC that sorta suggests that it's NOT tied to anyone else's. Why is it suddenly NOT important that the challenges are "tied to them or their backstory" while it's tied to mine? If there's 4 PC's in play then if EVERY challenge is directly tied to one PC or another then it's only ever going to tie to MY PC's 25% of the time. 75% will be tied instead to someone else's PC and that percentages gets worse the more PC's there are to divide personal relevancy among.

Yes, some stories will be tied to fellow PCs' backstories not yours. So? Are those adventuring companions not relevant to your PC? Would you not want to help them through their difficulties or share in their triumphs? Do you not trust that it will eventually be your turn in games like these?