Looking for character background advice and theory

[howandwhy99]

I'm writing up a character history for a new PC of mine and was looking for inspiration. Below are some details I'm thinking of filling in, but I remember reading the Character Contests awhile back and was wondering if anyone had a link.

If you could post something about your own theory on character design, I'd appreciate. In the past I've always gone with the "less is more" philosophy where personality is developed while gaming. But since I've been brushing up on my DMing skill, I know that more would be helpful; especially background storyhooks.

The list below is mostly details. I'm looking more for fun and fascinating character hooks, things you've seen and liked in the past, and/or your theory on what makes for a good character.


Likes & Dislikes:

• · Loves, hates, fears, worst fear
  · Hobbies, interests
  · Lifestyle, food, drink, equipment, toys
  · Music, books, pastimes, sports, games
  · How do you relax?

Attitudes & Beliefs:

• · Religion – attendance, afterlife, death, rites, undead, church
  · Magic -
  · Nature – water, forests, farming
  · Moral code – chivalry, violence, sex, good and evil, killing, helping others, drinking, life, love, honor, loyalty, competition, deceit, law, heroism, military
  · People – social, friends, prejudice
  · Science and Philosophy –

Edges & Flaws:

• · Enemies, flaws, weaknesses, bad habits, neuroses, psychoses, obsessions, phobias, allergies – (seasick, airsick)
  · Knacks, style, wit, uniqueness, quirks
  · Secrets, conflicts – hunted
  · Awards, honors, etc.

Background:

• · Birthplace, birthdate
  · Social status, previous occupations, schooling
  · Family, parents, siblings, extended family, star chart, birth position, age, age of relatives, names, locations, description, accessibility, birth rank, dowry, titles, fame, relationship status, social class, occupations, marital status, living or dead, teen rebellion
  · Friends, from childhood, current
  · Major Events, quality of childhood, unique benefits, traumas, family moves, boons
  · Previous adventuring experience
  · Rolemodels, mentors, heroes, and idols – have you met them?

Miscellaneous Information and Sketch:

• · Meeting of other PC’s, forming of the group, adventures together
  · Impression of fellow adventures, pacts, loyalties, friendships, dislikes
  · Pets, familiars, steeds, animal companions
  · Followers, squires, apprentices, paid laborers
  · Unusual possessions, family heirlooms; Value of each – practical, sentimental, familial, combat stats
  · Dreams, desires, practicality of these, advancement towards, forgotten, heeded
  · Objectives, aspirations, goals – short and long term, drives
  · Net worth, bank accounts, cash on hand, monthly income
  · Carried weight, current readiness and placement of carried items
  · Weapons, artillery, location, night storage
  · Residences, property owned, livestock, slaves, businesses
  · Most treasured possessions – charms, pictures, watch, etc.
  · Combat styles, strategies, tactics, personal function in the group
  · Will, burial preference, attitude towards resurrection, memorial – how would you prefer to die?

Appearance & Personality

• · Race, gender, attractiveness, style of dress, personal style, hair, eyes, body weight, height, build and/or frame, type, size, hygiene, beard, tattoos (significance and location), jewelry, complexion, coloration, handedness, birthmarks, scars, speech patterns, mannerisms, limbs, tail, fur, fins, gills, wings, exotic features
  · Name, full name, nickname, secret name, real name, aliases, titles
  · Sayings, quotes
  · First impressions
  · Dynamics – selfish/selfless, emotional/unemotional, pure/corrupt, optimistic/pessimistic, pride/insecurity, introversion/extroversion, trust/distrust, active/inactive, town/country, (some may not be listed or may not apply)
  · Poise, balance, grace, expressiveness, vocal tone, sophistication
  · Cosmetics, make up, hair pieces
  · Normal daily routine, dominant traits.
  · Things your PC doesn’t know about themselves.

Education & Job

• · Work history, training (apprenticeships or journeyman status) – formal, informal, self-taught
  · Teachers, Masters – relationships, description, treatment
  · Fellow students, accomplices
  · Length of positions, self-employment, time and dates, locations
  · Literacy levels by language
  · Military experience, criminal experience, criminal record, wanted or not
  · Type of student, learning style
  · Current means of support

Friends & Allies

• · Friends – childhood, adolescence, adulthood, adventuring, best friends
  · Contacts – by city, speciality, background, how met, accessibility
  · Connection to groups, membership status, qualifications, duties, rank
  · Type of aid available to you.

Love & Relationships

• · Number of past loves, length, gender, orientation, reciprocation, description
  · Spouse, current, description, current relations, children
  · Are you looking for a spouse, kids?
  · Who or what is your ideal mate?

Culture & Society

• · Class, wealth, titles, reputation, fame
  · Morals of the culture, nationality
  · Political views, towards law, theft, murder
  · Governmental preference, regulation, military
  · Patriotism, opinions, witness to any historical events
  · Town name, location rules, rulers, laws, personal involvment.
  · Where do you live?

Why did you choose your class?
Why did you become an adventurer?
What advice would you give to this character?
If you went missing, who would notice? (how long?)
If you were in danger, who would fight to protect you?

 

[tarchon]

Sheesh - I couldn't even tell you that much about myself.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Sheesh - I couldn't even tell you that much about myself.

This is a very real point. Especially since, if you came up with all that stuff, you're probably not going to remember much of it. So you're going to be forced to either print out a dossier on your PC to constantly reference during play, or ignore most of it anyway.

I think a page or two of backstory is usually the best way to start out. Not a list of facts, but rather some descriptive text about your PC, and some of the most important events that shaped his/her life.

Make up the rest of the stuff on the fly if it ever comes up. It's more fun, and you're more likely to remember it that way.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I would say that for more characters I expand out the Attitudes and beliefs section, shorten down the others, add a section on general mood, and then a special section on pants.

Since defining a character's moral, practical, aesthetic, rhetorical, and humorous views of the world can be easily implied from they way they create an argument on such a normally unquestioned subject.

I picked this up from White Wolf's brief treatment on trickster characters and I've always found it to be the perfect question to ask one's characters in order to establish a personality.

Example responses include:

Pants? Bahhh!

Pants? I only wear designer and anyone who gives me generic obviously has no concern for me or my feelings.

Pants? Arrr, the blessed Lord Tharrd Harr has long taught that pants are shackles for the weak civilized man and that a true feral dwarf is never comfortable without a healthy nether breeze.

Pants? Don't trust 'em, never will.

Pants? Useful for riding horse, but not even a peasant would wear them under other circumstances. Well, he wouldn't if he had a choice about what he wore.

Pants? Here, have mine, you obviously need them more than I do.

Pants? Well, if you can't fill 'em, shouldn't wear em.

And so forth.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

For my current character, I wrote up a 2 page history incorporating how she came to be (father had an affair with a female elf), how her fathers "other" family never really accepted her, how she got to her profession (she's an artifact dealer), how she stays in touch with one family memeber more than others, has one neice she's close to and how she met up with the party in this campaign. I didn't use much more description than this in the history and did it as sort of a timeline almost. Then I wrote up a list of people in her life, an old boyfriend, his new girlfriend who my character thinks is up to no good, her various family members, friends etc. With one or two line descriptions of them. Most of the time they are just on the backburner, but we had one session in which the party wound up back in Sembia (where my character is from) and the GM used a few of these people as NPCs to move along the plot.

Most of the time, my character is not thinking about them during play, and her past doesn't come up often, but I think it's good , and helpful to the rest of the players, and the GM that they are there. The more history, the more ideas for various adventures.