Character backstories
Now, most old-school players will argue that 1st level characters don't need a backstory. That would be fine and all, but I remember playing in the 80s. I have lost count of how many "disgraced princes," "lost royalty," or "tragic orphans" I ran into in games. I get it, it was fantasy and a way to play out various ideas, concepts, whatever. D&D was cheaper than therapy. I get it. I do. And it is fine you don't want to do them now.
But don't pretend it didn't happen.
I have no issues with backstories. In most of the RPGs I play a backstory is an excuse for the GM (me) to torture your character some more. Have the Love quality/drawback in the Buffy RPG? Yeah. Might want to rethink that one. But I don't always have to do that.
Our two primary modern examples of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joesph Campbell are Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter. By all accounts, they are 1st level characters. Luke is a farm kid. Harry is an abused 11-year-old. BOTH have great backstories. "Yer a wizard Harry!" "My name is Luke." "Yer a Jedi Luke!" But, yes, both are tragic backstories. Take Campbell's own example of the Monomyth, Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is already the King when the story starts. That's a backstory no one would accept!
Let's just say that there is going to be some sort of backstory. How should you do it?
Well once again let's turn to Ginny Di.
She might be new at D&D but her enthusiasm is greater and more infectious than a room full of Grogs blogging about it. Your humble author included.
Her recent video is overtly about one topic, but she actually makes two very good points here that pretty much everyone should agree with.
So her two major points are:
- Backstories don't need to be tragic or even dark
- Leave it open enough for your DM to work it into the campaign
That's solid advice. One I would like to hope that most Old-Schoolers follow already.
My oldest son has already instituted a "maximum" limit on what a backstory in his games are. Right now I think it is a page, but he has talked about a paragraph. Me? I don't care, make as long as you like just keep it in reason.
Ginny points out that characters, and this is true for every version of the game, are not normal people. A level 1 character is still better than a 0 level Normal Human. They have more hp, are better at fighting or even have magic. Even in Van Righten's Guide to Ravenloft, the Survivors are slightly better than normal humans. Luke already was Force-sensitive, Harry could still do some minor magic and talk to snakes.
Also, no normal person is going to live a life to go out adventuring. So find those reasons. Even if that reason is "I just want a pile of treasure."
Taking Ginny's Advice
At the end of the video, she asks us two questions.
Have you ever had a character with a happy backstory?
What kind of problems do you run into when writing character backstories?
These are good questions to ask.
Happy Backstory?
Yes. My wizard Phygora, like his namesake and idol Phygor, came from a well to do, happy prosperous family in Glantri. He was well-liked, no issues with school, loves, or friends. Just one day he decided, like Phygor before, him to travel the world to learn all the magic he could. While this could have been tragic, it was symbolic of my own desires to learn all sorts of things.
I have had fighters and thieves that have "only it for the money" or as the kids say "the lolz."
Backstory Problems?
Sadly I do find the tragic backstory easier to write. Larina's family died in their apothecary shop while she was away studying. Though I recently brought her mother and father back. Johan's twin brother was killed by ghouls, then he died to become another's character's back story. I have the usual suspects of orphans, outcasts and other murder hobos. They far outweigh the happy stories.
Over the years though I have been looking at other ways to generate characters and backstories.
It occurred to me years (ok. decades) ago when sitting in my History of Psychology course. We were going over Freud's theories of self and were contrasting them with later theorists. Now I have always preferred Jung over Freud. I guess I am just Jung at heart! (sorry. That joke is mandated by my university, if I don't use it they take away my degrees.)
I am planning to expand on this, but I came to see many of my characters as representations of various Freudian and Jungian concepts.
The easiest one to show is Larina, she is a manifestation of my Jungian Anima/Shadow Self. Phygora is my Freudian Super-Ego, Johan is my Ego and my assassin character represents my Id.
I have always been curious if others have done this.
You can find Ginny Di online at:
1 comment:
"Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is already the King when the story starts. That's a backstory no one would accept!"
Contrariwise, I've played in "epic" campaigns that started everyone at high-levels. Two of the PCs were a royal couple who'd earned the throne through pre-game adventuring they'd largely retired from until the game's "inciting incident" came along. Raised no objections from anyone because by the time you can cast Wish a small kingdom just isn't that much of an advantage compared to the challenges you'll face. Gilgamesh was dealing with the gods themselves and questing for immortality. Being a king didn't help him much "in game" either.
Post a Comment