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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8629256" data-attributes="member: 82106">From direct experience: there were 3 reasons why character background could be seen as a negative:1. It implied a significant investment in the character, and real OS play was done with basically throw-away characters. The GM might feel compelled to respect your investment by going light on you. So it was almost like a form of 'plot armor', and thus cheating.2. It gave your character some sort of material experience that could be invoked during play to your advantage. Whether it was &quot;I must know X&quot; or &quot;I must be an ally of Y&quot; or whatever. GMs are highly suspicious of this kind of thing is OS.3. It is stepping on the GM's prerogatives. The player has now drawn a part of the 'map', effectively. This gives them an unfair advantage. At best it is stepping on the GM's toes.For all these reasons backgrounds/backstories could be frowned upon. They were really not adding much to the game anyway, as the whole gist of the thing was &quot;enter the maze of death, get the gold, and survive.&quot; It was kind of immaterial where your home town was...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8629256, member: 82106"] From direct experience: there were 3 reasons why character background could be seen as a negative: 1. It implied a significant investment in the character, and real OS play was done with basically throw-away characters. The GM might feel compelled to respect your investment by going light on you. So it was almost like a form of 'plot armor', and thus cheating. 2. It gave your character some sort of material experience that could be invoked during play to your advantage. Whether it was "I must know X" or "I must be an ally of Y" or whatever. GMs are highly suspicious of this kind of thing is OS. 3. It is stepping on the GM's prerogatives. The player has now drawn a part of the 'map', effectively. This gives them an unfair advantage. At best it is stepping on the GM's toes. For all these reasons backgrounds/backstories could be frowned upon. They were really not adding much to the game anyway, as the whole gist of the thing was "enter the maze of death, get the gold, and survive." It was kind of immaterial where your home town was... [/QUOTE]

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