Results 301 to 310 of 310
-
2016-07-29, 08:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
- Location
- San Francisco Bay area
- Gender
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
The first PbP I was lucky enough to play was
this one.
I tried to do some "real" role-playing instead of just 'monster stompin', but I'm not sure I succeeded, and the game didn't last long anywhere.
At the Post your crazy RPG theories thread, Since writing rants and diatribes come easy for me, I decided to do it in character.
If I still DM'd I can imagine making a crazed NPC or doing some Worldbuilding with something like that, but for making an acceptable PC backstory? I'm at a loss.
Making up villains and scenarios as a DM is something I learned to do decades ago, but my PC's were 3d6 in order, and really didn't become "characters" until they survived a bit (and the majority of our PC's never lived past First level).
So I welcome any extra pointers, in getting into a PC (not NPC) back story writing mindset.
Thanks
-
2016-07-29, 08:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
My approach is simple, but a bit backwards for some people. What does the crunch and party lead to? How will the character interact with the party and the story?
For instance, let's use 3.5 DnD, because that's close enough for this excerise to 2e (which I just plain don't know). let's say we have made ourselves a nice druid with Greenbound summoning (that's a feat that allows you to make your summons into plant monsters). Let's assume a rather standardish DnD setting here, but oh no, the rest of the party are all civilized types! The DM has proposed a campaign centered not on dungeons, but on defending people from orcs!
So we make the character into a farming druid, and select some sort of harvest god to worship. Even if the rest of the party doesn't follow that god, it does tie them into civilized types better. Also explains the whole summoning plant monsters thing, don't eff with the harvest, or the harvest will eff you up. These orcs might have killed or set fire to many farms, which may have included several of the druids allies or family members, so they aren't going to be picky about new allies.
Now, make a simple backstory event to explain a very basic aspect of the personality or reactions. If there's a face in the group, play up the whole strong and silent angle and let the face do their magic. Maybe they are very used to a more charismatic druid doing the talking for them. If the group has a paladin, put in that the druid's circle was aided by members of the paladin's faith or the two are somehow allied. This gives the druid a strong respect for the faith of the paladin. If there's a wizard, perhaps the character is wary of arcane magic, but quickly learns to trust this particular wizard.
Ask your DM if you can add to the backstory as you go along. Many don't really care, but it's always good to ask.
The TL;DR verison is make a very simple concept like 'farming druid who respects other good aligned faiths' and work out a few events or details to support this. Leave the rest vague and make it up as you go along.For all of your completely and utterly honest needs. Zaydos made, Tiefling approved.
-
2016-07-30, 08:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2014
-
2016-07-30, 09:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
I made something like that, a while back. It'd not the best thing ever, I'll admit.
-
2016-07-30, 11:56 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2015
- Location
- 41°6'53N, 73°24'21W
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
What about a seagull hivemind with bard spellcasting instead of sorcerer?
3e │ 5e : Quintessa's Dweomerdrain (Drain power from a magic item to fuel your spells)
3e │ 5e : Quintessa's Dweomershield (Protect target from the full effects of a magic item)
3e │ 5e : Hordling Generator (Edit "cr=" in the address bar to adjust the Challenge Rating)
3e │ 5e : Battle Sorcerer Tables (For Unearthed Arcana)
-
2016-07-30, 02:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2015
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
Thinking back to my free-form days I remembered something. We would have a slot on the character sheet called "Personality". We would fill this in with things like there general temperament, notable exceptions there of and sometimes would go onto likes and dislikes.
You can actually do a lot with slots on a character sheet. I played one game where the character sheet had a slot called Previous Injuries/Medical Conditions: (still not sure why it was there). But we had a couple people who were coming off of something at the time. Because of this my character had cracked his skull at some unspecified point in the past and had metal in his head to fix it. It didn't come up in play, game didn't last long enough, but it was something extra that I never would have considered without it.
That is way more interesting then... nothing at all. Also creepy.
-
2016-07-30, 02:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
- Location
- San Francisco Bay area
- Gender
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
I'm guessing that it was inspired by:
http://www.montypython.net/scripts/fairytale.php
-
2016-07-30, 03:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- Next to the Mandolinist
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
Last edited by 5a Violista; 2016-07-30 at 03:11 PM.
Favorite sports:
Fencing
Football (Soccer)
Figure Skating
(and basically everything else that starts with 'f')ALSO! Come roleplay FFRPG in the Nexus!Nexus Characters.
-
2016-07-31, 05:17 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
Re: PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
Which is exactly why I put such things into their Blue Book to fill in at some point. Even if they simply put in 'None' or 'N/A' in that category, it means they have thought about said question for at least 3 seconds - which they may have not done before...
My online 'cabinet of curios'; a collection of seemingly random thoughts, experiences, stories and investigations: https://talesfromtheminority.wordpress.com/
'This is my truth, tell me yours.' - Nye Bevan
-
2016-07-31, 08:18 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2016
- Location
- The Frozen North
- Gender