Where does background goes too far?

[abri]

So I'm joining a new group (While I'm usually a DM). They needed a 4th level wizard.
Creating my character, i really started wondering: what is too far for a background?
I always make sure that what I write in the background is possible with the stats of my character.
Yep I'm the kind of player who write 3 pages of background and go back several time between background and stats.
But really what are the limits to a good bacground.
For example my L4 wizard is a wzard demon hunter, who at 8 years old was captured and tortured as sacrifice by orcs. He ended up learning magic after 8 years of torture (resume of 1.5 pages) and went into the human world hunting wizards that summon demons. After beeing betrayed by corupt governement in one of his hunt he swore to protect all his allies even if he cost him his life...

Honnestly what are the limit (if any) that you impose on Pc's background?

 

[Fenes 2]

I want the background to make sense, provide plot hooks, and detail the characters history while fitting into the campaign setting. Don't expect in my campaign to be able to justify anything unbalanced with a "background explanation" - if something is unbalanced, I will alter or ban it, no matter how central it is for your PC or background.

As an example of a background I would not accept: If your PC was found by gypsies as a baby, after crawling naked through a forest for an unknwon time, don't add a saber as the only link to your PC's origin without explaining how the saber was found and linked to your PC (I have doubts imaging a baby unable to walk dragging a saber with it through the woods...). Then, if you grow up with the gypsies and one day they suddenly disappear mysteriously leaving wagon tracks leading to the sea, prompting you to become a sailor on the Seasprite, fighting pirates alongside Drizzt, explain why you would suddenly leave after 2 years and become an adventurer - and give a reason why during the next 2 years in-game your PC will never ask a single question concering the disappearance of the aforementioned gispies...

 

[Fense]

That is the point. You should discuss the backround that you have in mind with your DM. He will be able to tell you if your backround fits into his campaign or if it is not usable.

And he will be able to give you the backround you need to integrate your story into the history of your game-world.

 

[Paradoxish]

That's a hard question.

I find there are three big points where I need to "cut off" players on their backgrounds:

1) Magical items, rich family, or other munchkiness - in some rare cases adding a powerful feature to your character background can be worked into the story, but in most cases it's just an excuse to force your DM into giving you something cool down the line. In some cases, though, the DM can work this into the plot without too much trouble. For example, one of my players wanted his character to be the excommunicated son of a King, fallen heir to the Throne of a powerful kingdom to which he would someday return. He did return, but by then the Kingdom was in ruins, having suffered terribly during an epic war. Unless you know your DM is able to work some kind of powerful feature into his campaign you should avoid them at all costs.

2) A history far beyond their capabilities - this is simple. If your character is level 4, for example, he was never the "most powerful wizard in the land" unless the land in question has very few wizards. I think a lot of people need to learn that it's possible to have an interesting background without making it seem as though your character's entire adventuring career existed pre-game.

3) Total nonconformity - The last point on which I usually draw the line with backgrounds is if the player's story really doesn't fit with the campaign world. Sometimes this is remotely workable (it's easy enough to say that an oriental character in a non-oriental campaign arrived from some distant continent), but oftentimes it's not. A character could not have been raised by demons in a campaign where demons don't exist, obviously.

Overall, I think character backgrounds are just about limiting yourself. RPGs are games, after all, and it doesn't make for a very interesting game when your character did all the fun stuff before the first session even begins.

 

[Fense]

I don't agree with your point that backrounds limit yourself. The backrgound of a character shows how he got there and what he has been through. That information is vital because it tells the player how his character would react in a given situation.

And it is very hard if not impossible to set goals for your character if he has no backrgound.

 

[Bagpuss]

I normally work on the personality traits I want to roleplay first and later design a background that would have helped form that personality. Often I haven't finally decided things like where he came from, if he's married, etc. until another player questions me about it in game and finalise it then.

Although we do, do a lot of character interaction in our games, our D&D game is basically set up like a dungeon crawl and hack and slash style of play. The last game we played the DM had two plots involving NPCs he'ld introduced to play, but the campaign also had 8 more plots various players had started up with various NPCs and 6 other inter-party plotlines going on.

The DM doesn't have to do much in our games, usually they write a 3 pages for a dungeon crawl adventure that might last the night and more often than not we don't get through the first paragraph of the first page during the evening.

The point being most of us never write up a background for our characters at all, but when questioned every character has a rich history behind them, rich as in full of trivial stories, not rich as in heroic events or wealthy families.

 

[Wormwood]

My background rules:

1. Short. Maybe a paragraph or two, tops.
2. Simple. Less is more.

 

[Fenes 2]

I already stated where I draw the line as a DM. As a player I almost always prepare a page or two detailing my character. It includes a character sketch, description, character traits, goals&reasons for adventuring, and history (place of birth, family, important forming experiences in its youth like betrayals or loss of parents etc.), if appropriate it includes descriptions of NPCs the character knows or knew. Everything subject to DM approval, of course.

Over the course of a campaign the history gets expanded with the history of the campaign, sometimes illustrated.

 

[abri]

I really use my background as the inspiration on how to play/create my character:
I start creating a character by choosing his role(s) in the party (for example: ranged firepower, translator/walking library...).
By then I will have an idea of some of the feats/skills my character will need (more often than not many possibilities).
I'll writte up a 1 page story on how he became adventurer, including all the basics (mentor, familly...) and all the important moments that made him become an adventure.
By then I should have a really good idea on how to assign the stats (He grew up as slave in an orc tribe, underfed and beaten: I feel a high Con is in order. He had a rare debilitating illness during his youth: I'm thinking low physical stats) and the skills.
In the background, it will become obvious how/why my character got his feats...
Finally a physical description.
At now around 2 pages of bacground, I'll know how to play him, how he behaves.

IMHO, you have to be special to be an adventurer instead of staying safely at home, so his past had to bring the character to this choice. Thi event WILL influence how he reacts to future adventures

 

[Gargoyle]

I ask all my players to write 3 paragraphs on their character upon creation (usually we start at level 1). These paragraphs detail:

- Appearance (What you look like...)
- Personality (How you behave...I encourage them to roll on the NPC traits table in the DMG a few times..)
- History (Their motiviation for adventuring)

I reward them 250XP for each paragraph, nearly putting them to 2nd level if they comply. That encourages them to write. If they write more, that's great, but I don't require it or reward them directly; I just try to integrate all the info into the campaign. If they write nothing, that's ok too; they'll usually catch up with the others soon enough.

I encourage them to make up places and events that I haven't defined to give them a sense of ownership in the world. I don't restrict them as to what kind of events they choose to write about, but they are sensible enough not to write off the wall things like "I've slain hundreds of dragons..."

This method really works to get them into their characters and into the campaign world without penalizing players who just aren't fond of writing.