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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7087525" data-attributes="member: 16814"><p>I kinda agree with the poster that said that the division you propose above is more 'good DM' vs 'poor DM'.  To me, it seems that your biggest beef with the concept of secret backstory is that you assume it's used to negate player intent and action declaration without the players knowing beforehand.  To me, that's just bad DMing -- I've failed as a DM if an element of the backstory acts in this way.  I do everything possible to prevent it -- I foreshadow these things, and limit surprises to things discovered by player actions, not their thwarting.  Or, I build in the discovery of the secret as part of the challenge so that some failures are accounted for.  This is commonly used by me when encountering an unknown enemy that has some ability that would negate a player ability.  In these cases, the setting would include strong clues and/or I would modify the difficulty to account for a 'figuring out process'.  For social encounters, rumor usually suffices, ("The Baron is accounted to be afraid of nothing.  His fearlessness is legendary!")  So, while I may engage in the practice of 'secret backstory', it doesn't function in any way like you've presented.  Instead, it gives me a way to know what I need to foreshadow, how to best plan encounters, and a lynchpin for immersive and natural storytelling.  I don't do as well with off the cuff as I do with a bit of backstory, even if it's a set of mannerisms and a motivation.  Heck, mannerism and a goal or motivation are pretty much the majority of my NPC prep.  I do it for combatants as well, so even if the players never find out, I know that this group of wandering goblins is looking for a new watering hole to camp and hunt for awhile.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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