Can’t have conflicting backstories if you don’t write a backstory. My latest character was Gruk the Orc. His backstory was one word, smash.
unironically, this has become my favorite approach to character background over the years. Build out what the character can do, first, maybe pick a theme too. But create the character you want to play when you’re at the table. The first few encounters are a great forge to make a character from, and then you can extrapolate and improvise from there when necessary.
This is the way we do it in the OSR, background max three sentences.
I like it better when the character emerges from play than preplanned, makes it easier to fit the puzzle piece into the group and world.
Honestly, I think it depends on the context.
When I played AL I put in the minimum effort. Playing with a random group every week means no one is really going to appreciate it.
On the other hand, my current group is my close friends. Not only did we have to up write a fairly comprehensive backstories, but we also create a bunch of NPCs specifically bonded to our characters that the DM weaves into the plot. It’s really fun and engaging.
we also create a bunch of NPCs specifically bonded to our characters that the DM weaves into the plot.
That’s the kind of good backstory a DM can use in crafting the campaign, things like:
- Past friends and foes to bring in as impactful NPCs
- Things your character might want/love/hate/fear enough to drastically affect the way they’ll behave
- What your character wants to get or achieve as a basis for a personal quest
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a DM who wouldn’t love a trove of these for your character.
Conversely, stuff like inconsequential past deeds, unnecessarily detailed physical descriptions and personality traits are things that people can pick up on as you play and not something a DM can really use. Save your DM’s time and cut that unnecessary fluff.
Same. I like starting with almost random combinations of class/race/skills that aren’t close to min/maxed together, then discovering the character at the table.
I get that some people have a harder time improvising or really want to play essentially a character from some media they like. And that’s fine. Different strokes for different folks. The essay backstories just wear me out and don’t seem appropriate for low level characters, though.
That’s what I prefer to do. Maybe just a general reason for going adventuring with the party, but otherwise discover and develop characters in play!
By all means people can write backstories if they want. I just sometimes see it being treated as mandatory and a sign of taking the game seriously, when really it’s just a matter of style and taste.
That’s Yamcha in the hole.
Honestly if you used Yamcha on the 2 Goku panels it would’ve worked better, on account of Yamcha looking awesome as hell at first.
Idk who this Yamcha character is but he sounds disappointing.
He was pretty cool, but then just became a jobber because Dragon Ball is “Power Creep the Series”.
Yamcha not only looked awesome first, but he is genuinely one of the strongest human characters in the entire series. In his first fights with Goku he even clearly has the upper hand. It’s just that the series is also infamous for the rapid power creep and starts rolling in all kinds of non-human monstrosities and alien races that his strength as a mere human is dwarved in comparison.
He’s definitely strong, Tien and Krillin just never seemed all that far behind the aliens comparatively.
I had a player who pitched a backstory like this.
We changed it so on their last big job, it went sideways and they barely survived. Now they’re recovering and slowly getting back on their feet, which is why they’re level 1.
The player likes it because they can have a cool backstory.
As a DM, I like it because I tied their reputation and fame to the campaign.
A party of all Metroided characters actually sounds pretty dope.
Especially when old allies or responsibilities come knocking… Or old enemies.
So basically the characters from Baldur’s Gate 3. We’ve got an archmage, a local hero, and a barbarian that has spent the last decade fighting in the Blood War, and all of them join at level 1. Though at least Gale and Karlach have decent excuses for the power drop.
Yeah I noticed that too. In an early conversation with Wyll he talks about how he slew a minotaur, which seems improbable for a level 1 or 2 character.
Now maybe he’s lying. I haven’t gotten far enough into the game to find out of he’s actually a complete fraud or not. But as of right now it causes a bit of narrative dissonance.
Sometimes I like making a character who used to be very powerful, but retired, or list their strength for another reason, you can give the DM a lot of hooks that way.
One time I made a bard who was famous in stories across the land for their heroic endeavours, but they were all made up.
A good option, if you want that kind of story, is to give a reason for your character suddenly becoming weak again. Maybe they have a traumatic brain injury and have to relearn things. Or maybe they somehow get switched into a new body and nothing is quite the same. In TTRPGs the possibilities are almost endless!
