You're Doing It Wrong: Creating Character Backstories
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The bane of all GMs with the exception of those who are running purely gameist groups, is the player character backstory.
You want to talk about a topic that unites GMs everywhere? Everyone from Ginny Di and Indastructasoy to Double D and RPG Pundit agrees that players turn in some migraine inducing piles of useless crap when they have an "awesome backstory" that is "So cool" to hand in.
From characters that make no since in world to characters that make no sense in general, you can always count on at least one player will turn in a backstory that includes 99 years of life in an 18 year old character and brings up races, countries, and concepts that are wholly alien to the world oh yeah, and they also inherited a Staff of the Magi from their poor farmer who was really an archmage daddy.
Well, too late for this go around, but next time you have a stuck stud, take a moment and hit it with a blow torch. Rust doesn't conduct heat very well, so the differential expansion rates between the stud and the engine block will usually break it loose from the corrosion holding it in place. You may even get a nice, satisfying PING as it breaks free. If it gets too hot, let it cool down and hit it with some penetrating oil (if you've got a buddy that does weld inspection, ask for some Dye Penetrant.) Let it cool, clean it up so the oil doesn't catch fire, then heat it again. Usually the first cycle is enough to do the trick, but I've seen some older stuff (like from the 1940s) take two or three heat cycles. Much faster than re-tapping a hole and if you have wait time, you can crack open a beverage of choice and take the time to enjoy it. Either way, you're a winner.
Top tier advice,
The only thing I would add is you can now buy induction heating tools for this specific scenario. Can work by fuel lines etc without much stress
I was trying to avoid using a torch, but it was very close to that point on the list.
Blow torch is usually my second option the moment they don't want to budge. I'm going to SAY that's because once you have to extract one sheared off stud, you've done it enough...
but the real reason is I love excuses to play with a blow torch.
I guess I'm weird. I've not had the tragic parents were murdered backstory. I'm not the child of prophecy. I didn't pull the sword from the stone. I'm usually following in the footsteps of the father who's retired after being a soldier or adventurer or priesthood. The call to adventure is usually actually seeing a dragon or some grand magical beast for the first time, or some adventurers saved the town from an orc raid & my character managed to fight one off (not even slay it, just lucky enough to defend against the orc), or 1 of the adventurers say he shows great potential & push him to explore the world himself.
I think level 1 characters should have 3-5 short sentences & that's it. Just a simple starting point for the reason they are risking themselves instead of being the commoner/npc.
My character is always Jesse Ventura.
I ain't got time to bleed.
My characters Furries background is so important you have to hear it all or your not inclusive!
Lol you're right, I'm not inclusive. For instance, I'm not including your furry in my game
I think joke characters can work in a serious game if the player knows when and where to be funny and how much funny to do. They just can't be gimmick one trick cardboard cutouts of a character who thinks being annoying or random is funny just to stand out in a somber game.
There's always an exception to the rule, but in general a comic relief character, and especially a joke character (not the same), wear thin pretty quick in games with a serious tone. The heavier the subject matter and more somber the tone, the quicker the shtick gets old and the smaller the bullseye to land jokes in gets.
@@drivinganddragons1818 Dandelion is a perfect example of this in the Witcher Stories. He's funny, he's the joke to Wither's straight man. It amplifies the Serious characters when done properly...
it also means something serious in the story when the joker stops joking.
it can also be used to show a character that is a nervous nelly... or naive... or so jaded that they joke about dark things.
but this is on the player... and if they need guidance to reel it in some... that's on the GM.
@@DiscoBarbarian true, but there's a big difference between a jokester character that provides relief, like Siben the bard in Drenai or Dandelion in Witcher, and Richard Johnson-Private Dick or the elven druid Lichen Peckerwood.
is it that time again? Did we not just do this like a week ago.
I didn't lol. But yeah, backstory is one of those things with thousand different ways to share the same advice
@@drivinganddragons1818 i do not care about your backstory, i care about the story going forward.
If you wrote 99 pages already, ill give the email of a publisher
Lol and that would be a fair response.
I used to tell people "write all the backstory you want, but I'm only reading 2 pages and that's all that will every be referenced or used in game."
consider using an outline vs writing a story... this forces you to use less words, also easier for GM to utilize.
@@DiscoBarbarian certainly a valid approach.
It's like anything else, the extremes are generally bad and best result is something of a balance.
Too little gives nothing to play off of and can reduce player investment and emersion. Too much can land lock the character's development and can also lead to and unsatisfied player who has defacto main character syndrome.