One question I like to ask, especially if we're starting at level one is, "has your character ever taken a life before? If so, tell me about that and, if not, how do you think they'll deal with killing someone who had a family, friends, and hobbies of their own?" I've gotten players to really think about their character's personality with that!
my oc has taken a life in defense She is trained in defense/combat and thievery at a young age She is a Tiefling who has been hidden from the world and she goes out to steal food and other supplies her parents might need. her parents are not that wealthy while she was out stealing food a boy come up and ask hello are you new around here? and pull’s down her hoodie. Revealing her horns. The boy screamed and pulled out a butterfly knife and aimed it at her neck as he was about to talk she kicked it out of his hand and grabbed her d@gger and oofed his throat making him fall to the ground. She quickly raced out of there. heading. In to the wood’s taking the shortcut to her house. (i’m still working on it though.)
My half drow Ranger (later gloomstalker ranger/rogue) had, but only beasts and maybe the odd other creature type when she was out hunting, never a humanoid (we usually start at level 3-5 so it made sense that she could've gotten to about level 3 maybe 4 from hunting animals for food or defending herself/her camp from predators so if I played her at that level I'd definitely say she'd never killed a humanoid) but I don't think she see it much differently due to not being raised around many people (she lived in a forest (her favoured terrain) with her two older siblings from the age of 3 and as she got older she still stayed at camp and learnt to hunt, cook, forage and eventually woodworking and herbalism/alchemy while her siblings did jobs around the city and brought her back books on monstrosities (her favoured enemy) and things like plants, herbalism or alchemy as well as languages (because rangers get a ridiculous amount of them) which I flavour as her being able to read and write them perfectly but her listening and speaking isn't amazing because she never had anyone to speak a lot of them with due to learning from a book (exceptions are common, elvish, thieves' cant because it's common in code and anything else her siblings speak too) and various other little trinkets) and she tends to view things as a threat level so unless she actively saw someone she had to kill behaving in a familial way with someone else she'd probably not even consider it anything more than removing a looming threat or defending her own she'd honestly probably be more excited about learning about the creature's anatomy and behaviours than distressed by the idea of taking a life (honestly she'd probably try and find a book on whatever kind of creature they were after the fight to add to her notes)
Mine is an ex-soldier turned Highwayman, so they have a decently high… score in the game of Life Robbery. Especially for a child. They’ve also lost a lot of loved ones to heists gone wrong, and they’re also weirdly terrified of Worgs. Why? A single superpowered one taken straight from BG3’s Honour mode wiped their whole backline {who were their friends} in one go while enemies were gushing in from the front. (Well, it was inspired by me choosing to go Tactician mode on my first BG3 playthrough, but still.)
I really like including "Culture" as a more independent item from "Birthplace" just to hit home concepts beyond just what is your hometown like and where is it geographically. For example: I ask my players if there are any idioms from their culture that they would use regularly. It can be great flavor for the characters and can cause some chain reaction lore creation of "what does this idiom mean?" "where does this idiom come from?".
I always appreciate discussing social status in my games (depending on the starting level) and see if they are a respected, watched, pursued, etc. All these little things end up making an interesting hook of when the game starts where you (the PC) are at in the world around. I also, love to inquire with my players on secrets. Everyones got em and they add such juice and flavor to a story.
Tell me something interesting about the culture you grew up in. Example: full blooded orcs are a largely matriarchal society, and as such, growing your hair long is common. Conversely, when someone's hair is cut, something significant has happened to them.
Here’s a question my friend came up with: What would they give up to accomplish their goals? What would they not give up or what line would they not cross to accomplish their goals?
I had a DM who invalidated my backstory by saying that everything I had written was altered memories caused by a false hydra. I was given a very brief backstory that the DM had written that contradicted the mechanics of the character. (Suddenly my low intelligence uneducated peasant who had been pretending to be someone else was actually a wealthy privately tutored noble’s son). The false hydra was never made to be much of the campaign, maybe 2 sessions. The new backstory also had the overused trope of being nearly the only survivor in a whole township, certainly the only survivor in my family. What do you think of a DM rewrtiting a player’s backstory for their character like this? I felt like I had lost agency almost entirely and later left because of what I perceived as railroading and the DM having predetermined outcomes for encounters.
I kinda did something like this once, where I left the players a note of someone's brother even though he didn't remember having a brother. On such a small scale it worked really well I think, he was really invested in it, but yeah making up a whole backstory is kinda cheap
I agree with the other replies so far. However I think the whole rewritting backstory thing could work as like a final reveal during the last session or something. That way you still got to play the character the way you wanted too and it wasn't invalidate. But I guess it could also depend on the theme of the campaign. Like if they campaign was design for the characters to slowly lose their memories thoughout and that sort of thing that would be better. But I would want to be very carful how I would implement this as a DM to not completly invalidate someone's character.
@@bnightsback4307No way you do this as a final drop because you could only pull that off if you don’t incorporate their background into the story at all which is not good DMing
There is a section in Xanathar's "This is your life" that can definitely help players with creating background like where you were born or life events that happened to you. I think making an outline of backstory even if not detailed can help players with focus or create camaraderie. One rule I have is each player has some sort of event or thing that either ties them to another character in the group or to the group patron, who ever it was giving them that first quest that got the game started. So could be like the urchin took shelter at the cathedral the acolyte worked at, or the guild artisan had to travel to another town through road known for highway men so an outlander guided the caravan. Having a goal is helpful or at least something that says why they can't or don't just go back to the life before. An important thing to remember about, let's say the soldier is they don't stop being a soldier just because they are now a cleric, those skills and talents they developed or the experiences they went through still continue. For the soldier maybe their was a war but it's over or maybe it's still happening and taking how a character reacts to that background as part of that backstory can be powerful. Think about what it could mean if the characters had embraced or rejected the following backgrounds: acolyte, charlatan, criminal, noble, soldier. This can be where you have things like that paladin who was once a criminal but is trying to change their ways and atone for their past and what might have happened? Who knows? Getting to know traits ideas for their personality I suggest have something they do in the company of others, vs something they do alone or in private, maybe a venn diagram. Maybe the rogue reads poetry before bed in a quiet spot, but when in the loud tavern they're picking a fight with the toughest person they see. The one done in public is kind of like their reputation of how they want to be seen while private is where they find solace and it's that questions of "why do they feel they need to be the strongest in a room?" or "Why are these poems so important to them?" and it can be set up later. On that note, I think knowing the purpose behind one's background is important. Why is the player thinking this information or giving it to the DM? Is it for roleplaying like "oh my character is a noble so they should talk all fancy" or something for DM like "oh you're character is a noble but you found your life too stuffy and restricted, you just had to get out there and so became a ranger". Is it to establish maybe other characters, like Entertainer part of an acting troupe where the first player was just one of them and if they die then another from the troupe joins the group. Maybe it's reason is just entertaining and not meant to mean anything. Like let's say a person born under a full moon during a storm, could be some prophecy the DM creates, or could just be some fun detail. That's why to me, outline backstory and then figure out purpose for each one and detail accordingly.
I ask my players (all of whom are experienced) “We don’t have to know your whole life story but give me some ‘ammo’ to work with.” I like giving the players this template with the caveat of “just fill out what you want.”
I appreciate this. I am kinda more the player between this. I do sound out which style is usually better for my dm however and have a pretty good instinct of when parts of backstory would be more world building based and I should hand over to the dm to fill in. But yeah, I tend to do this method I’ll mention for longer backstories, when requested for them. First, all backstories I make are summarized in two to three paragraphs, period. The last paragraph usually explains why I got where I am to meet the party and the context of that. The first parts are there to explain my overall motivations and my general mentality. But yeah, the main points are always covered in this length of 2-3 paragraphs. But I do write a long form. The way I do this is set up a word document which first starts with general looks and class information, the summary, and then I expand into family, friends, and rivals/enemies of importance (emphasis on importance). Usually this is one or two sentences on the general relationship my character has with them and maybe a blurb on looks if there is something of interest there. I might then expand into a personal preferences section after that, like favorite/least favorite colors, foods, fashions, etc. though this part is far more for me, which is why it’s further down. Anecdotes are next and are memories of importance to the character though nothing that might overlap with what is mentioned already, but stuff that explains certain rp quirks I’ll be utilizing. This might or might not be used but there is only one or two sentences per bullet point of these. And then the last two sections I create are “goals” and “questions.” The goals section is about what character arc stuff I want to try to achieve for my character. Basically these are story goals I wish to accomplish or touch on with my character but may not all be necessary to accomplish or may not be accomplished in the way a character might hope but are addressed. But there is a bullet point list of these. And then the questions. There are what they sound like. They are the questions I have as I look through the rough outline I have provided and are the questions I don’t know the answer to and may need to be addressed either in game or discussed above board with the dm. But yeah, they would basically be considered “audience” questions. And yeah, that’s the rough of it. Oh right, I also tend to add a section of pictures too but that’s not a big thing, it’s more for me to keep a general mood of the character. Anyway, this word document is usually not just used when I hand it in to the dm as a backstory. I usually expand on and update it as information is discovered in game and use it to remind me of the tone of my character which is a godsend on longer breaks between sessions. But again, this is the format I use for when I am requested for a longer backstory by the dm. Usually what I hand in is the character sheet and the summery that is only 2-3 paragraphs, that’s it. Maybe some character art if I’ve had the time.
One I've used since hearing it is rumors 2 truth full 1 lie which are about your character either explicitly or vaguely. These are spread to the other player and used in town gossip. To seed backstory talk and depending on the rumors rp drama. Well the good kind hopefully.
Great questions! I've got a lot of experience even as a player in helping players create characters (not stat blocks; characters) for games I'm playing in and games I'm not in. My specialty is working with people who have no idea what they want to do, either because they're new or because they haven't put any thought into it. Often the first question I ask is if there's a particular fantasy they'd like to play out. Basically, what would be cool to do in the game? It might be generic ("I want to cast spells!"), situational ("I want to wield a legendary sword and slay a dragon!"), or lay the groundwork for a whole story arc ("I want to avenge the death of my parents."), or anywhere in between. That can lead to picking a class, or developing a faction they came up with or were victimized by, or to delving into their childhood relationships and creating a hometown. It's great for organically developing a character from scratch, but I think it's also a great tool for a DM looking to - as you said - create a world or a connection for the character to the world. Now you'll have an idea of what opportunities or obstacles you can put into your campaign that you KNOW at least one of the players is going to jump on. It's a 100% fail-safe plot hook, and we all know those are hard to come by. So, to bring it out of the wall of text: What is the fantasy you'd like to play out with your character? What would be cool to do?
what was the person or the thing you hate the most when you where young, love the most when you where young. redo same thing for when your a teen and when you are a young adult. And Now do you still hate/love.
Additional questions I might add would be "what are your character's likes/dislikes & why does the character feel that way?" "What are the character's phobia(s) if any & why is the character so fearful of them?".
I like to have background ideas but not overly specific. In fact I try to leave it open so that the DM can take it where they want, thus hopefully making it easier to spin in to the campaign. It also allows the DM to leave hooks for your PC that you want to follow that you dont have too much details on. I was fooling around blurting out character ideas that were a bit silly, but each time I made an adjustment my brain started going a bit deeper. Then the next thing I knew, I made one of my most interesting characters yet (the DM loved the concept) and I still had not chosen my class.
I would also try to tie the background to the class so it makes narrative sense. It gives so much more flavor to both the class and the background. I've got a gnome who started traveling with a merchant caravan just because he was curious for new things. As a rock gnome, his natural curiosity and tinkering traits would combine with his merchant knowledge of items, to lead him to be an artificer. A satyr was raised in a shrine temple of Silvanus when the priest found him alone as a kid. As an acolyte, he was taught about the balance of nature (the trifecta of land, sea, & sky) that Silvanus would want to maintain. As he got older, he began showing signs of sky-based magic inside him (random breezes around him, etc.). The priest said his natural connection to nature would make him a good fit to go out and maintain that balance. Thus he went out as a storm sorcerer with acolyte vibes. A noble grew frustrated with the general expectations thrust on him, but kept it bottled up. When a thief snuck into his family's estate, he finally snapped and killed the thief with his bare hands. In order to not tarnish his family's reputation, he left on a "study abroad" to try and control his new barbarian rage. A goliath blacksmith would often be brought with his tribe as they traveled by ship to nearby regions to gather supplies, explore, or spar with other tribes. During the long journeys, he would sing sea shanties to the beat of his hammer. One day the ship got caught in a storm, and he woke up on a foreign beach. He crafted a trumpet at a forge, and began making some money as a bard, while trying to find a group that could eventually help him find his crew (if they were even still alive).
Agreed! I'm waiting to start my buddy's campaign. I like playing odd race/class combos. For this one I rolled up a Goliath Moon Druid. The setting is roughly Roman Empire. An empire has taken over the majority of the continent and forced its belief system on the conquered. The barbarian tribes to the north still worship the old gods in secret. My character is next in line to be the village shaman (druid). I can't wait to play this campaign and see how it all unfolds.
I absolutely adore you and your channel. I’ve been implementing so much from your books and resources. You’ve made my group and I make dnd even more fun!!! Thank you for all you do
story idea"rusty the goblin join adventures to make its clan proud and show them him worth the love that so desperatly searching and to earn the rank knight"
Questions I'd ask when creating a character: 1: Has your character ever killed anyone? 2: Would you consider them to be a liar? 3: Have they ever fallen in love? 4: Did they have a family? (Spouse and kids) 5: Whats the biggest trauma your character faced by the point of this adventure? Then, for each question, ask why? 1: Did they kill for protection? Wealth? The thrill? 2: Do they lie to protect themselves? Comes with a job they might have? To cause chaos? Or did they vow never to lie because its the right thing to do? 3: This is gets interesting with the characters age. If theyre a 100 year old human hermit, but have had a single encounter with love, did that bring them to hermithood? 4: Was this from love? Were they betrothed? Maybe they almost had a family until...THAT happened. Really depends on how deep you want your backstory to go. 5: This really tends to explain why their character is the way they are. The horrors we face tend to build armor around us that can change the way we speak to others. Hope this helps someone. If anyone has any other interesting questions worth asking, please feel free to reply. I'm always looking for better ways to improve character writing 😁
I know I just posted the comment, but another interesting question to ask is if you had to pick one, is your character an optimist or a pessimist? How far on the scale would you say they are?
Probably my favorite character backstory is for a ranger/artificer multi-class that was for a lvl 10 campaign. Folk hero background…. Was arrested as part of a revolution as a young ranger…. Because he was at the wrong place at the right time. Escaped with the leaders of rebellion, was with them until the rebellion won. The bosses went into power and he became famous and hated it. Left the area with his family and was taken as a smith’s apprentice in a new area. He sometimes adventures to help support the forge and shop he has opened.
I was about to download the pdf, then realized I already have it. Is there a newer version that is editable? Mine doesn't appear be... that or I'm just "special". Lol!
Coach! Do you have any tips or homebrew systems about running businesses? I've been trying to make running a business a bit more fun with my players that seems both balanced and rewarding. So far my idea is that there will be different things my players can invest in inside the business. For instance, they're running a tavern and so they could level up the kitchen to tier 1, 2, or 3 in order to get bonuses from meals as well as add a positive modifier to the usual d&d profit rolls. Any thoughts?
So glad you are going to film your CoS campaign!! If possible maybe it could go up a month later on a new channel or something! I don't wanna miss it but money is tight for me
Hi Coach! If you ask about familie or friends then maybe you should add question about loved once. Like ex-girlfriend, one night romance. That kind of peoples can make a lot of troubles in the future 😉
Origin: Kale a former soldier whose life fell apart with the death of his daughter. He walked away from everything becoming a hermit to deal with his loss. Then he learned his former unit were being targeted and suspecting the same foe responsible for his daughters death that he personally avenged is the reason behind those attacks. So the druid comes out of the wilds to protect the only family he has left.
Question: CoS states that backstories for this campaign arent really important since they're getting whisked away to a different land; so how do you work with their goals and backstory in this campaign
I just started a CoS campaign and my dm asked everyone for a goal they're trying to achieve/something they're looking for that can only be found in Barovia. For example, my character is looking for a way to break the curse that plagues her family. She didn't know that Barovia existed but the dm made it so that the answer could only be found there. It also gives us more incentive to explore the world rather than just trying to gtfo
In COS, you don't. It is not about achieving their goals and dreams. The quest is to escape Barovia. Something that can only be done if Strahd wants you to. And surprise surprise. He doesn't want you to leave. Therefore you have to kill him to escape.
Plot Hole: his wife made a deal with a Coven of Hags in return for wealth and power in return for her unborn child at the behest of her parents. Her husband stumbled onto the event killing the Hexblood who collected the offering and tried to get his child raised. Fearing reprisals from the Hags they refused he made sure his daughter was safe before leaving both his unit and his faith rediscovering it out in the wilds as a druid follower of the moon.
1 - Family (Write like it's the back of a book, tell me about your family. Who were they? How was your relationship with them? What's your clearest childhood memory? Did you enjoy school? How were your basic motivations and attitudes forged? Did you live in one place or move around a lot? What did you do to spend your time?) 2 - You (Tell me about who your character is.) What kind of person were you? Were you a decent person, or were you an asshole? Were you popular? Did you have a family? Who were your friends and how did you make them? What did you do for fun? How did you earn a living? Did you have any real friends? What kept you going from day to day? Will anyone miss you? Did you have an idols or role models who influenced you or shaped who you are? 3 - What is the worst thing you have ever done? 4 - What is the worst thing you believe others are capable of? 5 - Hobbies? What are they and where do they stem from? 6 - Regrets? What are they and where do they stem from? 7 - What are your goals? What motivates you? 8 - What obstacles would you like to confront? 9 - What are your flaws as a person and how do you cope with them? 8 - What are some of your character's personal quirks? (Their favourite colour, do they wear an outrageous amount of accessories? etc.)
Slightly weird but while watching I just kept thinking “bro what’s your skincare routine because your skin is glowing?” 😂 great video! Very informative 🤗
Can you rate my backstory? The twins Ethan "gold" and Tessa "copper" were going to play DND (they exist outside the main universe) but one of copper's experiments spilled onto the book, which sucked gold into it, she, afraid her brother is going to get hurt, jumped in after him
Totally a valid take. Now that this is how I pay the bills, I do have to promote certain things so that I can keep doing this. I try and limited to once a month. And while I do it… I give away a lot of what is in the PDF (sometimes all of it) for free in the video. I look forward to when things are better financially to where I don’t have to do something like this, and I can just make videos and not worry about it. So there’s may be more information than you were looking for, but there you go. 😆
@TheDungeonCoach understandable but from this being the first video I seen from you (and didn't finish). Means I just won't click on videos from this channel again. Maybe a normal 20-30 second ad of your product next time not an 8 minute one so you can double up on ads ontop of selling a pdf.
no hate or anything i am here to critic the video, my guy it took you 6 min to get to the point that is a little to long for ppl to stick around to see the points/questions you are proposing, those 6 min could have been weaved in between the points instead so you can give a reference to how that affected your players instead of info dumping on the start ppl aren't going to wait around to hear what you have to say, second the points isn't useful tbh these are so basic that it doesn't actually help make a backstory it help make a check list nothing inherently help weave the points to an actual believable story, third the video is basically telling ppl to pay for a pdf page, i get that you need the money and promote your business but you could have give like 5 points and say "if you want 5 more points to help you out with making your character here is a pdf that help you keep things in one place and give you more things to spring ideas for your character" good luck with your channel
I get trying to make money and reach the ten minute mark but please, wasting 6 minutes of people's time with filler that's just ridiculous. Just for the questions to be the most basic things, some of them being the default found on 5e sheets.
Bro talked for 5 minutes about a handout only to then say oh yeah you have to buy it. Bro I thought you said you were a teacher wtf man, if it took any teacher of mine this long to get to the damn point and then tell me I have to buy their handout I'm walking out. Next video.
Some advice: Don't treat your audience as idiots. If you don't want to make a less than 5 minute video. Maybe combined two types Character creation and world building. Or a list of cool characters you or friends created. Good luck.
questions start at 6:46
thanks
Thank you
Took him over 6 minutes just to get to the actual questions and they weren't even good questions.
@@proteusblack8913 I know right, it felt like he nabbed them off a buzzfeed article, generic and not super helpful
God tier comment
One question I like to ask, especially if we're starting at level one is, "has your character ever taken a life before? If so, tell me about that and, if not, how do you think they'll deal with killing someone who had a family, friends, and hobbies of their own?" I've gotten players to really think about their character's personality with that!
That's good. I'm in the situation and never considered my pc has never killed. Ty
That's BRILLIANT!!
my oc has taken a life in defense She is trained in defense/combat and thievery at a young age She is a Tiefling who has been hidden from the world and she goes out to steal food and other supplies her parents might need. her parents are not that wealthy while she was out stealing food a boy come up and ask hello are you new around here? and pull’s down her hoodie. Revealing her horns. The boy screamed and pulled out a butterfly knife and aimed it at her neck as he was about to talk she kicked it out of his hand and grabbed her d@gger and oofed his throat making him fall to the ground. She quickly raced out of there. heading. In to the wood’s taking the shortcut to her house. (i’m still working on it though.)
My half drow Ranger (later gloomstalker ranger/rogue) had, but only beasts and maybe the odd other creature type when she was out hunting, never a humanoid (we usually start at level 3-5 so it made sense that she could've gotten to about level 3 maybe 4 from hunting animals for food or defending herself/her camp from predators so if I played her at that level I'd definitely say she'd never killed a humanoid) but I don't think she see it much differently due to not being raised around many people (she lived in a forest (her favoured terrain) with her two older siblings from the age of 3 and as she got older she still stayed at camp and learnt to hunt, cook, forage and eventually woodworking and herbalism/alchemy while her siblings did jobs around the city and brought her back books on monstrosities (her favoured enemy) and things like plants, herbalism or alchemy as well as languages (because rangers get a ridiculous amount of them) which I flavour as her being able to read and write them perfectly but her listening and speaking isn't amazing because she never had anyone to speak a lot of them with due to learning from a book (exceptions are common, elvish, thieves' cant because it's common in code and anything else her siblings speak too) and various other little trinkets) and she tends to view things as a threat level so unless she actively saw someone she had to kill behaving in a familial way with someone else she'd probably not even consider it anything more than removing a looming threat or defending her own she'd honestly probably be more excited about learning about the creature's anatomy and behaviours than distressed by the idea of taking a life (honestly she'd probably try and find a book on whatever kind of creature they were after the fight to add to her notes)
Mine is an ex-soldier turned Highwayman, so they have a decently high… score in the game of Life Robbery.
Especially for a child.
They’ve also lost a lot of loved ones to heists gone wrong, and they’re also weirdly terrified of Worgs.
Why?
A single superpowered one taken straight from BG3’s Honour mode wiped their whole backline {who were their friends} in one go while enemies were gushing in from the front. (Well, it was inspired by me choosing to go Tactician mode on my first BG3 playthrough, but still.)
I can't believe that the actual content begins almost 6 minutes in
video's pretty nice but brev I was about to say lol
@@rodrigoc.974nah he literally just read the notes out of the PHB. He literally offered no new “interesting” questions
I really like including "Culture" as a more independent item from "Birthplace" just to hit home concepts beyond just what is your hometown like and where is it geographically. For example: I ask my players if there are any idioms from their culture that they would use regularly. It can be great flavor for the characters and can cause some chain reaction lore creation of "what does this idiom mean?" "where does this idiom come from?".
I always appreciate discussing social status in my games (depending on the starting level) and see if they are a respected, watched, pursued, etc. All these little things end up making an interesting hook of when the game starts where you (the PC) are at in the world around.
I also, love to inquire with my players on secrets. Everyones got em and they add such juice and flavor to a story.
Perfect timing! I was just trying to find ways to fill out my character backstories more
Omg you have characters?!?!? Let’s go cuz!!
Tell me something interesting about the culture you grew up in. Example: full blooded orcs are a largely matriarchal society, and as such, growing your hair long is common. Conversely, when someone's hair is cut, something significant has happened to them.
That is GREAT!!! I am adding that to the update list!!
Here’s a question my friend came up with:
What would they give up to accomplish their goals?
What would they not give up or what line would they not cross to accomplish their goals?
I had a DM who invalidated my backstory by saying that everything I had written was altered memories caused by a false hydra. I was given a very brief backstory that the DM had written that contradicted the mechanics of the character. (Suddenly my low intelligence uneducated peasant who had been pretending to be someone else was actually a wealthy privately tutored noble’s son). The false hydra was never made to be much of the campaign, maybe 2 sessions. The new backstory also had the overused trope of being nearly the only survivor in a whole township, certainly the only survivor in my family. What do you think of a DM rewrtiting a player’s backstory for their character like this? I felt like I had lost agency almost entirely and later left because of what I perceived as railroading and the DM having predetermined outcomes for encounters.
That is uncool.
That is only cool if you have written Amnesia into the character, that is the ONLY time I think that is ok.
thats a bad DM, they should have discussed it with you at least, or better, not done it at all
I kinda did something like this once, where I left the players a note of someone's brother even though he didn't remember having a brother. On such a small scale it worked really well I think, he was really invested in it, but yeah making up a whole backstory is kinda cheap
I agree with the other replies so far. However I think the whole rewritting backstory thing could work as like a final reveal during the last session or something. That way you still got to play the character the way you wanted too and it wasn't invalidate. But I guess it could also depend on the theme of the campaign. Like if they campaign was design for the characters to slowly lose their memories thoughout and that sort of thing that would be better. But I would want to be very carful how I would implement this as a DM to not completly invalidate someone's character.
@@bnightsback4307No way you do this as a final drop because you could only pull that off if you don’t incorporate their background into the story at all which is not good DMing
There is a section in Xanathar's "This is your life" that can definitely help players with creating background like where you were born or life events that happened to you. I think making an outline of backstory even if not detailed can help players with focus or create camaraderie. One rule I have is each player has some sort of event or thing that either ties them to another character in the group or to the group patron, who ever it was giving them that first quest that got the game started. So could be like the urchin took shelter at the cathedral the acolyte worked at, or the guild artisan had to travel to another town through road known for highway men so an outlander guided the caravan. Having a goal is helpful or at least something that says why they can't or don't just go back to the life before. An important thing to remember about, let's say the soldier is they don't stop being a soldier just because they are now a cleric, those skills and talents they developed or the experiences they went through still continue. For the soldier maybe their was a war but it's over or maybe it's still happening and taking how a character reacts to that background as part of that backstory can be powerful. Think about what it could mean if the characters had embraced or rejected the following backgrounds: acolyte, charlatan, criminal, noble, soldier. This can be where you have things like that paladin who was once a criminal but is trying to change their ways and atone for their past and what might have happened? Who knows?
Getting to know traits ideas for their personality I suggest have something they do in the company of others, vs something they do alone or in private, maybe a venn diagram. Maybe the rogue reads poetry before bed in a quiet spot, but when in the loud tavern they're picking a fight with the toughest person they see. The one done in public is kind of like their reputation of how they want to be seen while private is where they find solace and it's that questions of "why do they feel they need to be the strongest in a room?" or "Why are these poems so important to them?" and it can be set up later.
On that note, I think knowing the purpose behind one's background is important. Why is the player thinking this information or giving it to the DM? Is it for roleplaying like "oh my character is a noble so they should talk all fancy" or something for DM like "oh you're character is a noble but you found your life too stuffy and restricted, you just had to get out there and so became a ranger". Is it to establish maybe other characters, like Entertainer part of an acting troupe where the first player was just one of them and if they die then another from the troupe joins the group. Maybe it's reason is just entertaining and not meant to mean anything. Like let's say a person born under a full moon during a storm, could be some prophecy the DM creates, or could just be some fun detail. That's why to me, outline backstory and then figure out purpose for each one and detail accordingly.
Video starts at 6:05
I ask my players (all of whom are experienced) “We don’t have to know your whole life story but give me some ‘ammo’ to work with.” I like giving the players this template with the caveat of “just fill out what you want.”
Damn dude get to the point
He wasted six minutes and 1 second into an 11 minute 26 second video to tell us what the video was about
@SKo.4882 thank you for the time stamp... it was needed
I appreciate this. I am kinda more the player between this. I do sound out which style is usually better for my dm however and have a pretty good instinct of when parts of backstory would be more world building based and I should hand over to the dm to fill in. But yeah, I tend to do this method I’ll mention for longer backstories, when requested for them. First, all backstories I make are summarized in two to three paragraphs, period. The last paragraph usually explains why I got where I am to meet the party and the context of that. The first parts are there to explain my overall motivations and my general mentality. But yeah, the main points are always covered in this length of 2-3 paragraphs. But I do write a long form. The way I do this is set up a word document which first starts with general looks and class information, the summary, and then I expand into family, friends, and rivals/enemies of importance (emphasis on importance). Usually this is one or two sentences on the general relationship my character has with them and maybe a blurb on looks if there is something of interest there. I might then expand into a personal preferences section after that, like favorite/least favorite colors, foods, fashions, etc. though this part is far more for me, which is why it’s further down. Anecdotes are next and are memories of importance to the character though nothing that might overlap with what is mentioned already, but stuff that explains certain rp quirks I’ll be utilizing. This might or might not be used but there is only one or two sentences per bullet point of these. And then the last two sections I create are “goals” and “questions.” The goals section is about what character arc stuff I want to try to achieve for my character. Basically these are story goals I wish to accomplish or touch on with my character but may not all be necessary to accomplish or may not be accomplished in the way a character might hope but are addressed. But there is a bullet point list of these. And then the questions. There are what they sound like. They are the questions I have as I look through the rough outline I have provided and are the questions I don’t know the answer to and may need to be addressed either in game or discussed above board with the dm. But yeah, they would basically be considered “audience” questions. And yeah, that’s the rough of it. Oh right, I also tend to add a section of pictures too but that’s not a big thing, it’s more for me to keep a general mood of the character. Anyway, this word document is usually not just used when I hand it in to the dm as a backstory. I usually expand on and update it as information is discovered in game and use it to remind me of the tone of my character which is a godsend on longer breaks between sessions. But again, this is the format I use for when I am requested for a longer backstory by the dm. Usually what I hand in is the character sheet and the summery that is only 2-3 paragraphs, that’s it. Maybe some character art if I’ve had the time.
One I've used since hearing it is rumors
2 truth full 1 lie which are about your character either explicitly or vaguely.
These are spread to the other player and used in town gossip. To seed backstory talk and depending on the rumors rp drama.
Well the good kind hopefully.
Great questions! I've got a lot of experience even as a player in helping players create characters (not stat blocks; characters) for games I'm playing in and games I'm not in. My specialty is working with people who have no idea what they want to do, either because they're new or because they haven't put any thought into it. Often the first question I ask is if there's a particular fantasy they'd like to play out. Basically, what would be cool to do in the game? It might be generic ("I want to cast spells!"), situational ("I want to wield a legendary sword and slay a dragon!"), or lay the groundwork for a whole story arc ("I want to avenge the death of my parents."), or anywhere in between. That can lead to picking a class, or developing a faction they came up with or were victimized by, or to delving into their childhood relationships and creating a hometown. It's great for organically developing a character from scratch, but I think it's also a great tool for a DM looking to - as you said - create a world or a connection for the character to the world. Now you'll have an idea of what opportunities or obstacles you can put into your campaign that you KNOW at least one of the players is going to jump on. It's a 100% fail-safe plot hook, and we all know those are hard to come by.
So, to bring it out of the wall of text: What is the fantasy you'd like to play out with your character? What would be cool to do?
what was the person or the thing you hate the most when you where young, love the most when you where young. redo same thing for when your a teen and when you are a young adult. And Now do you still hate/love.
Additional questions I might add would be "what are your character's likes/dislikes & why does the character feel that way?" "What are the character's phobia(s) if any & why is the character so fearful of them?".
I like to have background ideas but not overly specific. In fact I try to leave it open so that the DM can take it where they want, thus hopefully making it easier to spin in to the campaign. It also allows the DM to leave hooks for your PC that you want to follow that you dont have too much details on. I was fooling around blurting out character ideas that were a bit silly, but each time I made an adjustment my brain started going a bit deeper. Then the next thing I knew, I made one of my most interesting characters yet (the DM loved the concept) and I still had not chosen my class.
I would also try to tie the background to the class so it makes narrative sense. It gives so much more flavor to both the class and the background.
I've got a gnome who started traveling with a merchant caravan just because he was curious for new things. As a rock gnome, his natural curiosity and tinkering traits would combine with his merchant knowledge of items, to lead him to be an artificer.
A satyr was raised in a shrine temple of Silvanus when the priest found him alone as a kid. As an acolyte, he was taught about the balance of nature (the trifecta of land, sea, & sky) that Silvanus would want to maintain. As he got older, he began showing signs of sky-based magic inside him (random breezes around him, etc.). The priest said his natural connection to nature would make him a good fit to go out and maintain that balance. Thus he went out as a storm sorcerer with acolyte vibes.
A noble grew frustrated with the general expectations thrust on him, but kept it bottled up. When a thief snuck into his family's estate, he finally snapped and killed the thief with his bare hands. In order to not tarnish his family's reputation, he left on a "study abroad" to try and control his new barbarian rage.
A goliath blacksmith would often be brought with his tribe as they traveled by ship to nearby regions to gather supplies, explore, or spar with other tribes. During the long journeys, he would sing sea shanties to the beat of his hammer. One day the ship got caught in a storm, and he woke up on a foreign beach. He crafted a trumpet at a forge, and began making some money as a bard, while trying to find a group that could eventually help him find his crew (if they were even still alive).
Agreed! I'm waiting to start my buddy's campaign. I like playing odd race/class combos. For this one I rolled up a Goliath Moon Druid. The setting is roughly Roman Empire. An empire has taken over the majority of the continent and forced its belief system on the conquered. The barbarian tribes to the north still worship the old gods in secret. My character is next in line to be the village shaman (druid). I can't wait to play this campaign and see how it all unfolds.
I absolutely adore you and your channel. I’ve been implementing so much from your books and resources. You’ve made my group and I make dnd even more fun!!! Thank you for all you do
Omg!!! Thank you for that! Just made my day with that comment!
story idea"rusty the goblin join adventures to make its clan proud and show them him worth the love that so desperatly searching and to earn the rank knight"
Questions I'd ask when creating a character:
1: Has your character ever killed anyone?
2: Would you consider them to be a liar?
3: Have they ever fallen in love?
4: Did they have a family? (Spouse and kids)
5: Whats the biggest trauma your character faced by the point of this adventure?
Then, for each question, ask why?
1: Did they kill for protection? Wealth? The thrill?
2: Do they lie to protect themselves? Comes with a job they might have? To cause chaos? Or did they vow never to lie because its the right thing to do?
3: This is gets interesting with the characters age. If theyre a 100 year old human hermit, but have had a single encounter with love, did that bring them to hermithood?
4: Was this from love? Were they betrothed? Maybe they almost had a family until...THAT happened. Really depends on how deep you want your backstory to go.
5: This really tends to explain why their character is the way they are. The horrors we face tend to build armor around us that can change the way we speak to others.
Hope this helps someone. If anyone has any other interesting questions worth asking, please feel free to reply. I'm always looking for better ways to improve character writing 😁
I know I just posted the comment, but another interesting question to ask is if you had to pick one, is your character an optimist or a pessimist? How far on the scale would you say they are?
Your videos are always great and get me thinking. Thanks DC!
Wow thanks Rob!! 💜💜💜
bro took almost 7 minutes to get to the point wow
Probably my favorite character backstory is for a ranger/artificer multi-class that was for a lvl 10 campaign. Folk hero background…. Was arrested as part of a revolution as a young ranger…. Because he was at the wrong place at the right time. Escaped with the leaders of rebellion, was with them until the rebellion won. The bosses went into power and he became famous and hated it. Left the area with his family and was taken as a smith’s apprentice in a new area. He sometimes adventures to help support the forge and shop he has opened.
5:58 the video actually starts here
thanks man
I was about to download the pdf, then realized I already have it. Is there a newer version that is editable? Mine doesn't appear be... that or I'm just "special". Lol!
Ooooo I am about to send that one out!! You are so right! You should get an update tonight!! Let me know if you don’t (email me)
@@TheDungeonCoach got it! Thanks!
Can't wait to see the home games live(ish)! Still working on my DM style. Can't wait to see yours! Gonna be EPIC! Peace! 😉
Loved that PEACE! Haha yea gonna be fun showing the behind the scenes!
Coach! Do you have any tips or homebrew systems about running businesses? I've been trying to make running a business a bit more fun with my players that seems both balanced and rewarding. So far my idea is that there will be different things my players can invest in inside the business. For instance, they're running a tavern and so they could level up the kitchen to tier 1, 2, or 3 in order to get bonuses from meals as well as add a positive modifier to the usual d&d profit rolls. Any thoughts?
The next Kickstarter is entirely about that! So, stay tuned 💜
So glad you are going to film your CoS campaign!! If possible maybe it could go up a month later on a new channel or something! I don't wanna miss it but money is tight for me
I’ll make an announcement for sure!!
Cant wait
Use old adventures as back stories, it requires no writing, and gives each player a unique BBEG.
Hi Coach! If you ask about familie or friends then maybe you should add question about loved once. Like ex-girlfriend, one night romance.
That kind of peoples can make a lot of troubles in the future 😉
Origin:
Kale a former soldier whose life fell apart with the death of his daughter.
He walked away from everything becoming a hermit to deal with his loss.
Then he learned his former unit were being targeted and suspecting the same foe responsible for his daughters death that he personally avenged is the reason behind those attacks.
So the druid comes out of the wilds to protect the only family he has left.
Question: CoS states that backstories for this campaign arent really important since they're getting whisked away to a different land; so how do you work with their goals and backstory in this campaign
I just started a CoS campaign and my dm asked everyone for a goal they're trying to achieve/something they're looking for that can only be found in Barovia. For example, my character is looking for a way to break the curse that plagues her family. She didn't know that Barovia existed but the dm made it so that the answer could only be found there. It also gives us more incentive to explore the world rather than just trying to gtfo
In COS, you don't. It is not about achieving their goals and dreams. The quest is to escape Barovia. Something that can only be done if Strahd wants you to. And surprise surprise. He doesn't want you to leave. Therefore you have to kill him to escape.
Plot Hole: his wife made a deal with a Coven of Hags in return for wealth and power in return for her unborn child at the behest of her parents.
Her husband stumbled onto the event killing the Hexblood who collected the offering and tried to get his child raised.
Fearing reprisals from the Hags they refused he made sure his daughter was safe before leaving both his unit and his faith rediscovering it out in the wilds as a druid follower of the moon.
How do you deal with new people who want to play but don’t want to read or take notes
1 - Family (Write like it's the back of a book, tell me about your family. Who were they? How was your relationship with them? What's your clearest childhood memory? Did you enjoy school? How were your basic motivations and attitudes forged? Did you live in one place or move around a lot? What did you do to spend your time?)
2 - You (Tell me about who your character is.)
What kind of person were you? Were you a decent person, or were you an asshole? Were you popular? Did you have a family? Who were your friends and how did you make them? What did you do for fun? How did you earn a living? Did you have any real friends? What kept you going from day to day? Will anyone miss you? Did you have an idols or role models who influenced you or shaped who you are?
3 - What is the worst thing you have ever done?
4 - What is the worst thing you believe others are capable of?
5 - Hobbies? What are they and where do they stem from?
6 - Regrets? What are they and where do they stem from?
7 - What are your goals? What motivates you?
8 - What obstacles would you like to confront?
9 - What are your flaws as a person and how do you cope with them?
8 - What are some of your character's personal quirks? (Their favourite colour, do they wear an outrageous amount of accessories? etc.)
Slightly weird but while watching I just kept thinking “bro what’s your skincare routine because your skin is glowing?” 😂 great video! Very informative 🤗
ffs the video doesnt even start til 5 mins in
Did you use to be the Clear Springs pole-vaulting coach?
Haha! Yup! That’s me!
Can you rate my backstory?
The twins Ethan "gold" and Tessa "copper" were going to play DND (they exist outside the main universe) but one of copper's experiments spilled onto the book, which sucked gold into it, she, afraid her brother is going to get hurt, jumped in after him
Im a teaching student who is just getting into DnD, and i was wondering, why did you leave teaching behind?
DCBF: Dungeon Coach Best Friend
Or Dungeon Coach’s Backstory Fiend
That’s totally what it should have been!!
Thanks for the tips. ^^
Great video love the questions
Sara's QUICK! :D
So much waffling!
I have a huge pair of giant swollen honkers annd they aree engorged with a thick, rich, nutritious milk
Great content!! But does anyone else think he looks like Ben Platt with bigger balls?
No one GAF about your backstory. Just start playing and create a real backstory.
6 minutes in finally starts talking about it Mainly a shill for their PDF you have to pay for.
Totally a valid take. Now that this is how I pay the bills, I do have to promote certain things so that I can keep doing this. I try and limited to once a month. And while I do it… I give away a lot of what is in the PDF (sometimes all of it) for free in the video. I look forward to when things are better financially to where I don’t have to do something like this, and I can just make videos and not worry about it. So there’s may be more information than you were looking for, but there you go. 😆
@TheDungeonCoach understandable but from this being the first video I seen from you (and didn't finish). Means I just won't click on videos from this channel again. Maybe a normal 20-30 second ad of your product next time not an 8 minute one so you can double up on ads ontop of selling a pdf.
I have big backstory too... At least my character
Six minutes in and the video has not started yet 🤨
Video starts at 6:00
What a terribly-paced video. Gonna go find one that respects my time.
This video could have been 4 minutes long and deliver the same amount of information.
no hate or anything i am here to critic the video, my guy it took you 6 min to get to the point that is a little to long for ppl to stick around to see the points/questions you are proposing, those 6 min could have been weaved in between the points instead so you can give a reference to how that affected your players instead of info dumping on the start ppl aren't going to wait around to hear what you have to say, second the points isn't useful tbh these are so basic that it doesn't actually help make a backstory it help make a check list nothing inherently help weave the points to an actual believable story, third the video is basically telling ppl to pay for a pdf page, i get that you need the money and promote your business but you could have give like 5 points and say "if you want 5 more points to help you out with making your character here is a pdf that help you keep things in one place and give you more things to spring ideas for your character"
good luck with your channel
40 pages is a novella
This pdf would be useful but hell no am I paying $5 for this.
starts at 5 minutes
thank you man but 6 minutes to get to the meat sheesh
lvl UP!!!!
Definite
GM for over 4 decades...
and I still have no use for a backstory!
💜💜💜
How about not gate keeping shit with pay walls 😂
Holy s*** get to the point
That was 6 minutes of unessessary and repeating blabla at the beginning 😅
Four minutes in and I still haven't heard a single question to ask yourself. This video is wasting my time.
6 minutes and 20 seconds,more than half the video and you haven’t even mentioned # 1
Video is way too long for the information conveyed
I get trying to make money and reach the ten minute mark but please, wasting 6 minutes of people's time with filler that's just ridiculous. Just for the questions to be the most basic things, some of them being the default found on 5e sheets.
why did you take six goddamn minutes to get to the main topic of the video
Bro talked for 5 minutes about a handout only to then say oh yeah you have to buy it. Bro I thought you said you were a teacher wtf man, if it took any teacher of mine this long to get to the damn point and then tell me I have to buy their handout I'm walking out. Next video.
*6!!+ minutes of "use it its easy"
If thats how you introduce stuff im out before the content starts. That's an F!
TMG;NECF.
(Too much gabble, not enough content FFS!)
Some advice: Don't treat your audience as idiots. If you don't want to make a less than 5 minute video. Maybe combined two types Character creation and world building. Or a list of cool characters you or friends created.
Good luck.
nine minutes of bullshit for 30 seconds of information
....... how did D&D become a narritive exclusive game instead of just a story driven game?