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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grogg of the North" data-source="post: 8219200" data-attributes="member: 6682960">Might as well throw my 2 cp in as well.Do backstories railroad the GM? Eh ... no, not in my experience. Can they help me try and make the adventures more relevant to your character? Yes, absolutely. One of the best pieces of advice I'd ever gotten as a GM was to ask my players what their character's goal is. What do they do when there are no monsters to slay or dungeons to delve? Are they trying to find their missing sister? Are they trying to become a lord? What is it they want to do?If a player comes to me with "I'm Bob the Fighter and I'm adventuring to make my fortune!" Ok ... Why? When? Where? How? There's not much to work with there. Compare that to "I'm the daughter of a failing noble household and was sent to live at the temple of St. Cuthbert as a child. I am estranged from my older sisters and my mother. My brother was murdered five years ago and his killer was never brought to justice. I still hope to right this wrong." Now I've got lots to work with as a GM. I don't feel constrained by anything the player has given me and there's plenty of wiggle room to fill in details as the campaign progresses. As a GM I am going to feel encouraged to work with the player to integrate it into the campaign.If we take the first example of Bob the Fighter and change it to "I'm adventuring to make my fortune because an ancient red dragon is demanding tribute" suddenly I have much more to work with. It doesn't take much to give the GM plot hooks and I feel that adds a lot to the game.</blockquote>

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