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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 1902764" data-attributes="member: 18253">Getting decent backgrounds out of players is a whole new topic (no doubt already covered smoewhere before on EnWorld). It can be tough. Usually one or two players will do a good job but the rest tend not to. I've done what you did above a few times. More recently it was a hybrid where I worked hard with the players to come up with something mutually acceptable. (Although I did write my wife's ;-) If you are doing player's background, you're probably well aware of this but one point I've found is to make sure the histories really matter which is easier said than done. If the players write up histories completely on their own, especially in a non-commercial setting (where the info to the players on the setting is limited) then very likely the places and people the player writes in are not of interest to the referee. On the latter point, I'm reminded of what budding writers are told: don't worry about someone plagiarizing your story concept. Almost never happens because no two writers will be that interested in each other's story concepts. A character background is like a story concept and a referee is like a story teller. He isn't likely to want to use someone else's story concept aka background. But if the two collaborate on the background, then you can get a usable background. Takes a concerted effort to make sure the background has usable hooks (that is, there is something on going and the places and people are accessible) but it can be worth it.As with not digressing from the story much, if your players have produced good backgrounds each with several interesting friend and foe NPCs, it is necessary to use them often and frequently. A game group with six players might have 18 NPCs or more referenced in their backgrounds (we used a recent system that forced 2 friend and 2 foes for 24 for the game group). If a campaign lasts two years and a scenario on average 2 sessions and you game every other week (well beyond my groups ability unfortunately), you'd have to refence a friend or foe 3 out of 4 scenarios to use them all. It isn't necessary to use them all but if you don't make much use of them, the players aren't really going to bother making detailed backgrounds. Our next session next weekend, one PC will get a fleeting glimpse of a Dracolich she has been chasing for decades (I like dracoliches, too) and another will find their long time foe lurking in an abandoned city. So one passing reference to a foe and another at the heart of the scenario. Plus another friend and a foe on a flying fortress that they are sharing (not all foes are of the variety "kill the PC on sight".)</blockquote>

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