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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801718" data-source="post: 7115079">I have a couple of questions that I ask my players.&nbsp; I ask them for things to help role play, like asking for personality quirks or if they have an object of sentimental value.&nbsp; Sometimes asking what their greatest success and greatest failure was will get them thinking.&nbsp; The thing I had the most success with though is giving them a hand in creating a small piece of the game world.&nbsp; Every campaign starts somewhere.&nbsp; So I ask them who their friends and family are in the town/city/village where the games starts.&nbsp; Then I ask if they have relatives or friends in other parts of the world.&nbsp; It gets them thinking about their personal history while getting them more involved in the game world.&nbsp; They will care about the world more if their character is a bigger part of it.&nbsp; I don't buy into the whole adventurers are orphans with no living relatives.&nbsp; They are people in the world who have connections and a history.&nbsp; So when you ask them about their family and friends, it gets them thinking more about the character's life.&nbsp; The simple answer of how to get more out of a character history is simply to ask for more.&nbsp; See what they give you and ask them questions about it.&nbsp; Ask for more details on interesting things from their background.&nbsp; Then you can sprinkle in stuff from their backgrounds as they adventure.&nbsp; I try to get this stuff ahead of the actual start of the game, so I can place all their NPCs and stories in the campaign ahead of time.&nbsp; That way it feels more natural.&nbsp; Though you don't always have that option with some groups.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Guest 6801718, post: 7115079"] I have a couple of questions that I ask my players. I ask them for things to help role play, like asking for personality quirks or if they have an object of sentimental value. Sometimes asking what their greatest success and greatest failure was will get them thinking. The thing I had the most success with though is giving them a hand in creating a small piece of the game world. Every campaign starts somewhere. So I ask them who their friends and family are in the town/city/village where the games starts. Then I ask if they have relatives or friends in other parts of the world. It gets them thinking about their personal history while getting them more involved in the game world. They will care about the world more if their character is a bigger part of it. I don't buy into the whole adventurers are orphans with no living relatives. They are people in the world who have connections and a history. So when you ask them about their family and friends, it gets them thinking more about the character's life. The simple answer of how to get more out of a character history is simply to ask for more. See what they give you and ask them questions about it. Ask for more details on interesting things from their background. Then you can sprinkle in stuff from their backgrounds as they adventure. I try to get this stuff ahead of the actual start of the game, so I can place all their NPCs and stories in the campaign ahead of time. That way it feels more natural. Though you don't always have that option with some groups. [/QUOTE]

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