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

[Azzy]

I played a character, Lilah, who had a happy background, with upper-middleclass parents, a collegiate education into wizardry (with the goal to become a professor of history at the Grey College in the City of Greyhawk. Adventuring was an activity to learn and better herself. I played her in a 3.5e conversion of the Return to the Tomb of Horrors. If I were to 5e, she's be a human evoker wizard with the sage background.

 

[humble minion]

I'm currently playing a young halfling who made friends with an elderly widow in her neighbourhood. When the old lady died, she left most of her property to my PC - including a Ring of Wishes with one charge remaining, but which was tied to a particularly vindictive dao who liked messing with people via wishes. My PC ended up wishing 'that you and I have a long and mutually beneficial friendship', and so a genie pact warlock was born. There was a bit of unpleasantness with the widow's grasping distant cousins that were the excuse to get my PC on the road to where the adventure was, but no angst at all really.

My backup PC was an sorcerer, a noble lady of late middle age whose children were grown and whose older husband from an arranged marriage had recently passed away of natural causes. Relegated to the dower house as her eldest son took over the title, and with free time to pursue her own interests for the first time in decades, she began to explore her magical talents as a hobby. The road to adventure started when she hit the road to travel to another town where her daughter and newborn grandchild live.

I kinda have a preference for PCs who are relatively ordinary people who end up adventuring partly by accident. That CAN involve tragic backstories, but doesn't need to. Besides, I kinda like having friendly NPCs in my background that can make appearances during the game. Sole-survivor loner orphans make that a bit hard,\.

 

[Bae'zel]

Hawkeye in the MCU had a pretty sweet home life. He went out and fought aliens and cyborgs all the time.

Nothing wrong with "hero with a tragic and/or dark backstory", but I still push against the claim that "happy, content people are less likely to put themselves into dangrous occupations".

Firefighters, police, military, underwater welders, snow crab fishers... HMMMMMM

 

[Hussar]

Hawkeye in the MCU had a pretty sweet home life. He went out and fought aliens and cyborgs all the time.

Nothing wrong with "hero with a tragic and/or dark backstory", but I still push against the claim that "happy, content people are less likely to put themselves into dangrous occupations".

Firefighters, police, military, underwater welders, snow crab fishers... HMMMMMM

That's a point too. Peter Parker, despite the death of Uncle Ben at the beginning, has a very loving home. That's pretty much why he fights.

Ms. Marvel is another good example. The Fantastic Four all have very healthy relationships. Superman. Depending on which Green Lantern you want to look at. Wonder Woman has a pretty healthy childhood. Not every PC has to have Batman level trauma in their background.