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

[Campbell]

Of course, this all assumes the dm hasn't stated what they want beforehand - if the dm says they want a one-page backstory, or for us to fill out a list of 20-questions we'd all endeavor to do that.

Yeah. More than anything else I want a consistent level of detail (and relevant situation) from every character.

 

[Blue]

As one of those DM-s who dislikes multi page background, i can share my 2c on that topic.

First and foremost, i hate lore dump expositions both as a player and as a DM.

Now, when i'm running 5e, 95% of the time, characters start at lv 1-3 and campaign ends by lv 8-10. Characters at those starting levels aren't adventurers yet, or at best, they had only dipped they little toe into adventuring. They didn't do anything so important to warrant multi page background. Usually, they are also young, so not much life experience in general. I look at their backstory same as i look at CV for junior positions. Clear, concise and short. Give me highlights.

Now, for more established starting characters ( mid tier 2 or above), i put more emphasis on party backstory. What did they as collective do up to that point. It's team game. Story isn't about Tom,Dick and Jane individually. It's about Tom,Dick and Jane together as a group. I highly value good group cohesion and shared interests and goals that align with campaign theme and setting. That's why we have rule that no one creates characters before session 0.

Now, i get that some people like to write and flesh out details. But question for you, for low level characters, what would multi page background even contain?

Details from them growing up until they became an adventurer, which might be age of majority or middle of their life. I've got a character on deck who's a granny who's husband of 40 years just passed. But really, I don't care -- if they have enough pre-adventuring details that will help them play an interesting character, I don't mind that it's four pages instead of the same number of bullet points. I'm not going to project that my writing style is the one they must use.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How much backstory do you give a brand-new character?

It depends on how inspired I am by the character. I’ve designed PCs with only a few lines or an outline as a backstory. Others have a dossier.

 

[Umbran]

Do you pull out a sheaf of paper and dive into a half-hour PowerPoint presentation? Do you skip the backstory altogether? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

At what font size are you writing in which three paragraphs isn't already basically a page?

How much backstory I create is significantly dependent on what the GM has requested, and how much I think it will be relevant outside my own head. The past several times I made characters for long-term play, I haven't really needed backstory except insofar as I use it to inform my own decisions.

 

[CleverNickName]

At what font size are you writing in which three paragraphs isn't already basically a page?

I guess my paragraphs are leaner than most...

 

[nevin]

really depends on the game and my mood. Could be anywhere from a novella to a sentence.

 

[Tonguez]

Put it this way - does it increase the DM's enjoyment when -I- dictate to them that they must have a certain town, or nation, or NPC's, or historical events in order to fit my character's backstory?

World building is fun, but even better is a dynamic world where characters and setting interact creating surprises for DM and player alike. It's that aspect of shared storytelling which makes roleplaying fun for me as a DM.
Which is also why I like backstory to be written via 'Aspects' whatever the system - they give permissions both PCs and DM to include particular things in the game narrative to make the world interesting

 

[cbwjm]

World building is fun, but even better is a dynamic world where characters and setting interact creating surprises for DM and player alike. It's that aspect of shared storytelling which makes roleplaying fun for me as a DM.
Which is also why I like backstory to be written via 'Aspects' whatever the system - they give permissions both PCs and DM to include particular things in the game narrative to make the world interesting

What is an aspect? Is this an idea from a specific system? I'm thinking of putting together a fabula ultima game for my friends and it includes shared world building so I'm currently interested in different ways the world can be shared.

 

[TiQuinn]

I ask my DM how much backstory they want for my character and then will give them that. My preference is to go in with just a little bit of backstory and let the campaign build up who my character is.

 

[cbwjm]

I think if I had a DM that required more than a couple of bullet points/single paragraph, as in asking for even just a single page of backstory, I probably say something like "You guys have fun, I'm going to do something else". Thankfully, most DMs I've had don't really care, though I will admit that they can do more with people who have thought up a more extensive background. I'd much rather just ride along on the quests though.