When I told my DM I wanted to be a Tortle Rogue for our Pirate campaign, I just wanted to use the standard island backstory from the Tortle book. He told me the Tortle race wasn't in his world, but he loved it regardless. Actually threw the entire Tortle book into his homebrew world. Thus, my Tortle who wanted to get away from home and explore the world was born. He became a Chef who specialized in orange dishes. His specialty was Orange Soup, basically just orange juice and mushroom broth. lol
This is fantastic. My table always has such exciting backstories like this. Turtle people are such a fun race, too. My best friend in high school played a turtle-folk druid who transformed into a dragon-turtle as a pledge to his god. Then he built a war band of turtle people and trekked across the desert with them to save his people from tyranny. It was such a blast at the table.
Really love this. This is exactly how I work with my own PCs but also the NPCs in my campaigns. Events can be fascinating if you have a few here and there, but its much more important to give a character shape and decisiveness in the long term. Thats how campaigns get their heart!
Hmmm... instead of, "My character is a forcefully-retired prodigal knight whose overconfidence caused him to have a pitifully short career when his arm had to be amputated", I could go with, "Wouldn't it be interesting to see a guy who once let the accolades get to his head throw himself into dangerous adventures he probably shouldn't be going on in a desparate bid to recapture a sense of purpose and self-fulfilment?" ... or something. I don't know if I'm qualified to portray such a person, but this is my attempt at thinking along these lines.
I built a character for my Tyranny campaign around the Talis connection (one of the provided bond suggestions). My first thought was that I wanted to create a character who seems like a typical hero storyline but whose story is actually about being the villian’s “dragon” (an archetype of minion). What trait and center could I give that made sense as both a hero and a villain? I figured out “Devotion” was the key, at least for my character. So I built around this concept of devotion. The inciting incident that led to my character’s journey actually starts long before the campaign opening scene. See, my character and Talis are from entirely different social backgrounds. My character is a commoner and I had Talis be a nobleman’s daughter. The two are tight-knit friends regardless, almost co-dependent to a degree. They have opposite personalities but are equally devoted to each other. The inciting incident that leads my character down her changed life trajectory is because she saved Talis when they were teens. That one lucky shot gave Talis’s father an excuse to separate the friends and cause the grief and pain both my character and Talis had to suffer. By this I mean he “rewarded” my character for saving his daughter by “gifting” (pressuring) her to accept an apprenticeship that was located well out of town. His goal was to isolate his daughter so he could properly indoctrinate Talis into the cult. My character was sent away because she was listened to more by Talis and it often undermined his efforts. However, he did want to make use of my character’s devotion so he did genuinely send my character to learn skillsets that he felt would make my character a good “guard” and “hunting dog” for his child. Anyway, because both Talis and my character are still highly devoted to each other, it leads to some interesting choices is fun to roleplay that nuance of the pair trying to figure out their new normal now that the father is dead, the pair are adults, and there is this whole conflict with the cult of the dragon. I keep the center of my character’s story as being about devotion. She works hard to convey that, works to protect all she cares about (guard dog is something she doesn’t see as an insult really), works to figure out what she can do to help or appease Talis’s worries and insecurities so she doesn’t make the same betrayal and mistakes of the past. And yes, this means taking down the cult. Because the way my character sees it, due to Tiamat’s entitlement, she will cause destruction and that will include Talis, regardless of any loyalty, or lack thereof, to the Dragon Queen. This means Talis is in danger. So, regardless of Talis seeing it as a betrayal, my character intends to finish the job. Talis being safe and healthy and with a chance to be happy is far more important to her than being part of Talis’s life. So yeah, that’s the devotion part. I did get rewarded for this recently. Namely, it seems my maneuvering behind the scenes has made Talis ally herself with us. Or more specifically, my character. I await to see if this is a trap but regardless it’s going to be a really fun story to play out. I look forward to seeing what the dm creates out of this hook.
Update: So, it did work out. My character fully, just by keeping in regular contact, lured Talis to her side. Nothing special, just reminding Talis she exists and cares for Talis unconditionally, and we had already characterized Talis, in our version, as being week to my character, quite the gooey one who lets her get away with just about anything. The devotion goes both ways after all. So far that Talis stole the blue mask and was on the run from the cult, to which my character needed to save her (and succeeded). Anyway, the other part of this update is sad news. I have actually just recently retired my character after that rescue. I wasn’t having fun with that campaign due to a lot of play style incompatibility. No one’s fault, just different play styles which is valid. So I finally stopped letting sink cost fallacy control me and bit the bullet. I left after settling my affairs, especially with this character. Both my character and Talis walked away, hand in hand. It was very sweet. If you are sensing romantic undertones, that’s because there was some woven in, though it was never addressed due to neither character being the sort who would risk saying anything of that nature. So yeah, it is over yet it was an open-ended but happy conclusion. A pity though. I did love this dynamic and my character too. Kinda sad still about it.
Love it. When I make a backstory I make a concept and a want. So right now I'm currently making a rogue that is fateless. Basically the rogue was gonna die within the astral sea looking for a treasure called Solarus with his crew. However, Lady Fate smiled on him and unbounded him from fate with the contract she will kill him some day and that he will help her destroy the powers above since he didn't have a destine fate anymore. So the powers above are gonna try and correct this problem. Want is the treasure Solarus. The concept is being a fateless being that goes against the powers above plans for every living creature to have destined fates. That's what I'm going with and I think is currently a strong concept and potential story for my DM.
Yeah bro i love dnd! (Never played dnd, have infiltrated the air vents after that one guy said "im just doing what my character would do" and proceeded to bomb the map* and am actually from the warhammer community because im not creative, dont mind me)
Alternate viewpoint. Just because the 'initial motivation' or inciting incident from the character's backstory is resolved, that does not mean the character is 'done'. Because characters motivations can change over time. And the question I have is this: If a character is just 'done' when a specific element from their backstory is complete, why have they not developed any ties or motivations during the campaign? For example, if a character is seeking revenge upon an old accomplice who betrayed them, and during the campaign they meet and interact with countless other people, both in and out of the party, why would the character simply retire when they get their revenge? Do they care nothing about their party? Are they not being given a reason to work towards whatever the party is doing in the campaign? If that is a case, that's a failing for both the DM and the Player. The player because they're treating the character as one note. They have a single thing they care about and they don't exist outside of that desire. That's a shallow character. The DM, because you should definitely be able to introduce other things that a character can care about, be it greed, desire for glory, desire to defend, etc. Backstories should be a jumping off point that explains why the character is out doing the things they are. And while it can fun and rewarding to resolve their conflicts and incorporate that into the campaign, that should not be the character's sole reason for existing. As a final point, I will acknowledge I had a bad experience with a DM which colors my view a bit. But I always feel a little iffy every time a DM says "I don't want you to put details in your backstory, let me do that" because its taking away the one thing the player should have ownership of. For me, good dnd is about communal or collaborative storytelling, but I feel too many DM aren't interested in that collaboration. They want control of the stories that are being told. Some players like that. Some of them want to be more of an audience. But many are not. Just my two cents.
isn't this developing a personality for the character, rather than just a back story?? A good character needs both, a back story defense where they came from and a personality defined who they are. "Concepts" you mention like not feeling joy, are personality traits.
I am gifted with story writing, so I don't have this problem. What I do is very simple. I brainstorm a few events in a few words, or search for ideas on the internet. Like: "Burning house" "kidnapped", "locked up in prison". And then I use these short events and write at least 2 paragraphs of what exactly happened. The events can be short ones, but also long ones. Sometimes I am extremely vague. For example, I wrote that one of my characters proposed to all pretty women whom he met on his long journey. The DM can create a lot of characters whom I proposed to, and integrate it into the campaign. Or, it let's say I stayed I am small village at an oasis, where I rested for a few days. But mostly I am very precise and detailed about the events. All my events provide the DM a lot of things to work with. Many events have mysteries to it, which i didn't figure out and i let the DM decide on why something happened as it did in my backstory. i have at least 10 events written down.
Thank you for helping me. I have been stuck on creating events for my characters, this idea of concepts is so much better. You rock
Glad I could help!
When I told my DM I wanted to be a Tortle Rogue for our Pirate campaign, I just wanted to use the standard island backstory from the Tortle book. He told me the Tortle race wasn't in his world, but he loved it regardless. Actually threw the entire Tortle book into his homebrew world. Thus, my Tortle who wanted to get away from home and explore the world was born. He became a Chef who specialized in orange dishes. His specialty was Orange Soup, basically just orange juice and mushroom broth. lol
This is fantastic. My table always has such exciting backstories like this. Turtle people are such a fun race, too. My best friend in high school played a turtle-folk druid who transformed into a dragon-turtle as a pledge to his god. Then he built a war band of turtle people and trekked across the desert with them to save his people from tyranny. It was such a blast at the table.
Great example of an awesome concept to throw into a backstory. Thank you for commenting!
Really love this. This is exactly how I work with my own PCs but also the NPCs in my campaigns. Events can be fascinating if you have a few here and there, but its much more important to give a character shape and decisiveness in the long term. Thats how campaigns get their heart!
The final sentence nails it
Hmmm... instead of, "My character is a forcefully-retired prodigal knight whose overconfidence caused him to have a pitifully short career when his arm had to be amputated", I could go with, "Wouldn't it be interesting to see a guy who once let the accolades get to his head throw himself into dangerous adventures he probably shouldn't be going on in a desparate bid to recapture a sense of purpose and self-fulfilment?"
... or something. I don't know if I'm qualified to portray such a person, but this is my attempt at thinking along these lines.
Michael De Santa?
I built a character for my Tyranny campaign around the Talis connection (one of the provided bond suggestions). My first thought was that I wanted to create a character who seems like a typical hero storyline but whose story is actually about being the villian’s “dragon” (an archetype of minion). What trait and center could I give that made sense as both a hero and a villain? I figured out “Devotion” was the key, at least for my character. So I built around this concept of devotion. The inciting incident that led to my character’s journey actually starts long before the campaign opening scene.
See, my character and Talis are from entirely different social backgrounds. My character is a commoner and I had Talis be a nobleman’s daughter. The two are tight-knit friends regardless, almost co-dependent to a degree. They have opposite personalities but are equally devoted to each other. The inciting incident that leads my character down her changed life trajectory is because she saved Talis when they were teens. That one lucky shot gave Talis’s father an excuse to separate the friends and cause the grief and pain both my character and Talis had to suffer. By this I mean he “rewarded” my character for saving his daughter by “gifting” (pressuring) her to accept an apprenticeship that was located well out of town. His goal was to isolate his daughter so he could properly indoctrinate Talis into the cult. My character was sent away because she was listened to more by Talis and it often undermined his efforts. However, he did want to make use of my character’s devotion so he did genuinely send my character to learn skillsets that he felt would make my character a good “guard” and “hunting dog” for his child.
Anyway, because both Talis and my character are still highly devoted to each other, it leads to some interesting choices is fun to roleplay that nuance of the pair trying to figure out their new normal now that the father is dead, the pair are adults, and there is this whole conflict with the cult of the dragon. I keep the center of my character’s story as being about devotion. She works hard to convey that, works to protect all she cares about (guard dog is something she doesn’t see as an insult really), works to figure out what she can do to help or appease Talis’s worries and insecurities so she doesn’t make the same betrayal and mistakes of the past. And yes, this means taking down the cult. Because the way my character sees it, due to Tiamat’s entitlement, she will cause destruction and that will include Talis, regardless of any loyalty, or lack thereof, to the Dragon Queen. This means Talis is in danger. So, regardless of Talis seeing it as a betrayal, my character intends to finish the job. Talis being safe and healthy and with a chance to be happy is far more important to her than being part of Talis’s life. So yeah, that’s the devotion part.
I did get rewarded for this recently. Namely, it seems my maneuvering behind the scenes has made Talis ally herself with us. Or more specifically, my character. I await to see if this is a trap but regardless it’s going to be a really fun story to play out. I look forward to seeing what the dm creates out of this hook.
Update: So, it did work out. My character fully, just by keeping in regular contact, lured Talis to her side. Nothing special, just reminding Talis she exists and cares for Talis unconditionally, and we had already characterized Talis, in our version, as being week to my character, quite the gooey one who lets her get away with just about anything. The devotion goes both ways after all. So far that Talis stole the blue mask and was on the run from the cult, to which my character needed to save her (and succeeded).
Anyway, the other part of this update is sad news. I have actually just recently retired my character after that rescue. I wasn’t having fun with that campaign due to a lot of play style incompatibility. No one’s fault, just different play styles which is valid. So I finally stopped letting sink cost fallacy control me and bit the bullet. I left after settling my affairs, especially with this character. Both my character and Talis walked away, hand in hand. It was very sweet. If you are sensing romantic undertones, that’s because there was some woven in, though it was never addressed due to neither character being the sort who would risk saying anything of that nature. So yeah, it is over yet it was an open-ended but happy conclusion. A pity though. I did love this dynamic and my character too. Kinda sad still about it.
Love it. When I make a backstory I make a concept and a want. So right now I'm currently making a rogue that is fateless. Basically the rogue was gonna die within the astral sea looking for a treasure called Solarus with his crew. However, Lady Fate smiled on him and unbounded him from fate with the contract she will kill him some day and that he will help her destroy the powers above since he didn't have a destine fate anymore. So the powers above are gonna try and correct this problem.
Want is the treasure Solarus.
The concept is being a fateless being that goes against the powers above plans for every living creature to have destined fates. That's what I'm going with and I think is currently a strong concept and potential story for my DM.
Yeah bro i love dnd!
(Never played dnd, have infiltrated the air vents after that one guy said "im just doing what my character would do" and proceeded to bomb the map* and am actually from the warhammer community because im not creative, dont mind me)
THANK YOU
I think this video would be much better if you listed 10 examples of the concepts you are talking about. Your one example leaves much to be desired.
I'd also love to see more examples!
My thoughts exactly! The provided example is very insufficient to make a clear point, and furthermore it felt incomparable to event-based backstories.
Love comments like this where they’re actual criticism and not just saying it’s bad
Alternate viewpoint.
Just because the 'initial motivation' or inciting incident from the character's backstory is resolved, that does not mean the character is 'done'.
Because characters motivations can change over time.
And the question I have is this: If a character is just 'done' when a specific element from their backstory is complete, why have they not developed any ties or motivations during the campaign?
For example, if a character is seeking revenge upon an old accomplice who betrayed them, and during the campaign they meet and interact with countless other people, both in and out of the party, why would the character simply retire when they get their revenge? Do they care nothing about their party? Are they not being given a reason to work towards whatever the party is doing in the campaign?
If that is a case, that's a failing for both the DM and the Player. The player because they're treating the character as one note. They have a single thing they care about and they don't exist outside of that desire. That's a shallow character. The DM, because you should definitely be able to introduce other things that a character can care about, be it greed, desire for glory, desire to defend, etc.
Backstories should be a jumping off point that explains why the character is out doing the things they are. And while it can fun and rewarding to resolve their conflicts and incorporate that into the campaign, that should not be the character's sole reason for existing.
As a final point, I will acknowledge I had a bad experience with a DM which colors my view a bit. But I always feel a little iffy every time a DM says "I don't want you to put details in your backstory, let me do that" because its taking away the one thing the player should have ownership of. For me, good dnd is about communal or collaborative storytelling, but I feel too many DM aren't interested in that collaboration. They want control of the stories that are being told.
Some players like that. Some of them want to be more of an audience. But many are not.
Just my two cents.
idk I don't think solving an issue in a backstory is a problem?
isn't this developing a personality for the character, rather than just a back story?? A good character needs both, a back story defense where they came from and a personality defined who they are. "Concepts" you mention like not feeling joy, are personality traits.
Good video.
I am gifted with story writing, so I don't have this problem.
What I do is very simple.
I brainstorm a few events in a few words, or search for ideas on the internet.
Like: "Burning house" "kidnapped", "locked up in prison".
And then I use these short events and write at least 2 paragraphs of what exactly happened.
The events can be short ones, but also long ones.
Sometimes I am extremely vague. For example, I wrote that one of my characters proposed to all pretty women
whom he met on his long journey. The DM can create a lot of characters whom I proposed to, and integrate it into the campaign.
Or, it let's say I stayed I am small village at an oasis, where I rested for a few days.
But mostly I am very precise and detailed about the events.
All my events provide the DM a lot of things to work with. Many events have mysteries to it, which i didn't figure out and i let the DM decide on
why something happened as it did in my backstory.
i have at least 10 events written down.