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<blockquote data-quote="Scorponox" data-source="post: 5378308" data-attributes="member: 93144">Hi Carborundum, thanks for the complements. The backstory, to me, isn't a huge deal if they don't follow through with it, but gives the players some short term goals, and corresponding rewards. A mission to find out who is behind the assassin's guild that killed your former captain is better than a random mission that just says &quot;go kill the assassins.&quot; It can lead to more interesting story hooks and plots.Personally, I don't care if they ignore the backstory and just do what they want, but it gives them a history and more emotional investment in the story. For example, if a town or village has been raided by orcs, the adventurers will probably go &quot;oh well, I suppose we should go see what we can do to rescue them&quot;. But if the guy's father was there, suddenly there is more urgency to rescue the town. Plus, there are more incentives. Does the guy have a house he used to live in while growing up? Can he ask dad to use the spare room to store all the junk he's accumulated on his journey, possibly as a reward for rescuing the town? Does his dad have a story about orcs and how to fight them better? It can also make for more varied role playing. What if Rouge doesn't care that Fighter's father has been taken by orcs, and wants to explore the cave instead? Will this lead to animosity between the two characters?Having people they have a pre-adventuring history with, is also more realistic. We all know people in our lives we know and trust. If the adventurers don't have this, they can spend a lot of time on being paranoid and thinking everyone is out to get them. Don't get me wrong - this can be fun also, so why not have a mix?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scorponox, post: 5378308, member: 93144"] Hi Carborundum, thanks for the complements. The backstory, to me, isn't a huge deal if they don't follow through with it, but gives the players some short term goals, and corresponding rewards. A mission to find out who is behind the assassin's guild that killed your former captain is better than a random mission that just says "go kill the assassins." It can lead to more interesting story hooks and plots. Personally, I don't care if they ignore the backstory and just do what they want, but it gives them a history and more emotional investment in the story. For example, if a town or village has been raided by orcs, the adventurers will probably go "oh well, I suppose we should go see what we can do to rescue them". But if the guy's father was there, suddenly there is more urgency to rescue the town. Plus, there are more incentives. Does the guy have a house he used to live in while growing up? Can he ask dad to use the spare room to store all the junk he's accumulated on his journey, possibly as a reward for rescuing the town? Does his dad have a story about orcs and how to fight them better? It can also make for more varied role playing. What if Rouge doesn't care that Fighter's father has been taken by orcs, and wants to explore the cave instead? Will this lead to animosity between the two characters? Having people they have a pre-adventuring history with, is also more realistic. We all know people in our lives we know and trust. If the adventurers don't have this, they can spend a lot of time on being paranoid and thinking everyone is out to get them. Don't get me wrong - this can be fun also, so why not have a mix? [/QUOTE]

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