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

[Dragonhelm]

Ginny Di addressed this very topic. Her video got me to thinking about creating characters without tragic backstories.


To me, tragic backstories are fine, but they have become cliche'. So I'm challenging myself these days to come up with characters that aren't tragic. I've had some great results by doing this.

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

Glorymonger, a wagger, own a magic shop and need things for it, a retired pinnacle of their field out to prove they've still "got it", a clueless innocent crusader for a church, a peasant was the only one left for a job. The tragedy can be pretty minimal to start the adventure, then the true motivation can come later. Maybe you are roped into adventure by proxy, maybe you need to clear your name because you happened to be in the same place as the party during the wrong-place-wrong-time

1) You can be a braggart: one adventure I have going, the campaign is a magic invitation to glory. The character reminds me of Big Fish a little. Character is a big fish in a small pond.
2) Be a gambler that loves the promise of riches.
3) Let a culture guide you? So a nomadic culture of "odd-job" types. Maybe you have to earn your keep to get that cushy job you want?
4) I made an eternally youthful Paladin that was basically a Missoura river boy. Motivation was complex, but the darkness was minimal