D&D General Oh Please give me some Happy Backgrounds!!

[Hussar]

Yeah, I’ve done this. Having a character with no family ties means the DM isn’t going to be trying to create tragedy via family connections; it’s not always about having an edgy background.

I think this is probably the biggest reason right here.

Players, having been burned in the past, make characters that are Teflon. Nothing sticks. They are from far away, have zero ties, no family, no connections to the setting at all generally. Father Generic the Cleric, or, the PC with No Name.

It's an incredibly hard habit to break players out of.

 

[Hussar]

As a child of divorce my ultimate fantasy is to have a stable home life, so literally when I started playing D&D as a kid one of my subversions was that every character I ever played would have living parents and a positive relationship with their family.

This kind of creates a new conundrum; I inevitably describe my character's backstories as rather idyllic, which makes the fact that the job of an "adventurer" involves a lot of killing, trauma and mercenary work so then the characters kind of come across as being inherently violent sociopaths who choose a life of death and dismemberment over a clearly better alternative working at their family's bakery or something.

Kinda, sorta, but, there are all sorts of reasons. My Dragonborn Paladin that I mentioned, got religion and really hated dragons (I made him a paladin of Gilgeam). Sure, he had a fantastic home life, but, the call to adventure sounded and off he went.

 

[Maxperson]

Heh. I have been here so many times.
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Competing for the darkest backstory in D&D

In the last campaign I got to play in, 3 of the other players all had these horrific backstories. Abuse, substance abuse, torture. You name it. Then you had my halfling monk - Jammy Sixtoes. Loving family. Really nice home. Even after the family was inevitably killed, the master that took me in was still more or less kind and generous. Everyone else? Left to the wolves, scarred, tortured, broken. It was freaking hillarious.

I'm actually thinking that I'm just playing against the grain because I keep making happy characters. Or at least characters that don't have tragic backstories. My Paladin Dragonborn in Hoard of the Dragonqueen had a loving family near Beregost. Still does. My Thayan Druid of Fire in Decent into Avernus had a fairly happy childhood in Baldur's Gate. Two parents, couple of siblings, aunts, uncles. Honestly, it would be so refreshing to see a player come to the table with a character that wasn't another broken shell with dead family and a horrific childhood.

I very rarely write backstories that are that horrific, and neither do my players. The only time I'd consider it, would be if we were playing an evil campaign and I wanted a background to explain why his moral compass is so far off kilter.

My backgrounds are typically like yours. Mostly good/neutral, but with enough bad(killed parents, etc.) to explain why my character would go on a life of adventure and not just stay home and farm or whatever.

 

[Maxperson]

Wanderlust and happiness are not mutually exclusive. You can have a happy childhood but decide to spend a year travelling Europe.

If I am traveling Europe for a year due to wanderlust, I'm not going to take a job with a bunch of people I just met to go and free a kidnap victim from some highly armed terrorists or clear out a cellar infested with highly venomous snakes. I'm going to go to see places like the Roman Colosseum and the Louvre, or even less touristy sports that are still beautiful and/or storied.

 

[Morrus]

If I am traveling Europe for a year due to wanderlust, I'm not going to take a job with a bunch of people I just met to go and free a kidnap victim from some highly armed terrorists or clear out a cellar infested with highly venomous snakes. I'm going to go to see places like the Roman Colosseum and the Louvre, or even less touristy sports that are still beautiful and/or storied.

That’s what John McLane said. Sometimes adventure finds you.

 

[Maxperson]

That’s what John McLane said. Sometimes adventure finds you.

While that is true, there still generally needs to be some buy in on the part of the PC. Bilbo agreed to be a burglar. McLane was a cop who felt obligated to stop the bad guys. Had McClane been a student on a trip around Europe, he'd have stayed hidden in the bathroom or came out and surrendered.

I don't think you need to have a horribly tragic background to be an adventurer, but you do need buy in, and typically some sort of something in your background to explain why you'd risk your life. Being a cop, or retired ex-special forces who just wants to be a cook or something.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

While that is true, there still generally needs to be some buy in on the part of the PC. Bilbo agreed to be a burglar. McLane was a cop who felt obligated to stop the bad guys. Had McClane been a student on a trip around Europe, he'd have stayed hidden in the bathroom or came out and surrendered.

I don't think you need to have a horribly tragic background to be an adventurer, but you do need buy in, and typically some sort of something in your background to explain why you'd risk your life. Being a cop, or retired ex-special forces who just wants to be a cook or something.

Maybe McLane was a student from Europe but he's also a follower of some kind of viking religion who believes that the only way to go to heaven is to die in battle?

 

[Maxperson]

Maybe McLane was a student from Europe but he's also a follower of some kind of viking religion who believes that the only way to go to heaven is to die in battle?

That's still something in the background to explain the "adventuring."

 

[Hussar]

Unless you think every single soldier in existence comes from a tragic home situation, I don't think that tragic backstory is really much needed for an adventurer.

Again, I would point to the rather extensive number of super heroes who actually have two parents and come from loving families. Green Lantern (depending on which one). Tony Stark hardly has a tragic childhood, although his parents are killed. Henry Pym. T'challa (yes, his father gets killed, but he's already a superhero by this point). Pretty much the entire crew of any version of the Enterprise. There are tons of examples.

 

[aco175]

That’s what John McLane said. Sometimes adventure finds you.