Hello, Internet! Seth Skorkowsky,
and a few years back I did a video on Crafting Character Backstories, going over
various tips and ways to approach and use backstories in your tabletop role-playing
game, for both players and for Game Masters. And because that's a subject that really has a
lot more than just a single video can cover on it, it's time to revisit and expand on that topic.
So using our first video as our foundation, I've retitled that one as Character Backstories
101, making this our 201-level video. As before, this video is not directed at
any one role-playing system. So whether you're playing Dungeons & Dragons, or Call of
Cthulhu, or Edge of the Empire, whatever it is, that really doesn't matter for this.
Now some games have backstory elements that are built into the Character Creation System.
And if your game has that, then great! Maybe you can use some of these tips to expand on that. Many
of the ideas that I'm going to be offering I have blatantly stolen from various role-playing
games that I've played over the years. First: Name the Characters In Your Backstory.
This one seems painfully obvious. But it's amazing how often players forget to do this.
If your character has a sister, name her. If they were trained by a mentor, or have an enemy
from their past, go ahead and give them a name. If they grew up on a ship, either sailing
the seas, or flying across the galaxy, tell us what its name is.
Simply stating that your character has a sibling, and that you both grew up on the streets
until a master thief took you under his wing, that isn't likely to get as referenced
in the game by you or by the Game Master if none of those characters have names.
If they're not important enough for you to name, then they're not going to be seen as
important enough to remember and use later on. Characters or places that are named
feel more important and memorable for both the player and for the Game Master.
In the last video, I talked about giving your Game Master a copy of your backstory.
And I stressed that it shouldn't be any longer than what the Game Master asks for.
Giving them a 20-page epic when they only asked for a single-page synopsis is all but
assured that your GM is not going to read it. And if they do read it, it's not going to be as
easy for them to reference and therefore use. So make the Backstory easy to reference.
For example, let's say that this is my character's backstory. It's written out
across two pages, much like a short story. And while it might make for good reading, this
isn't laid out in an easy-to-reference way. Rock music blares as you step into the
smoke-filled bar. People sit at the various tables, some of them talking and laughing loudly,
while others kind of huddle close together and whisper, their hands passing palmed items to
one another. Several pool games are going on, but one of the tables looks like it's empty. A few
people stand before the stage watching the band. This is Red Blade territory, so I'm gonna look
and make sure I don't recognize anyone here. And I got an 18 on my Perception.
You don't recognize any of the Red Blade gangers here. But across the room you notice somebody that
looks a little bit familiar. His back is to you, but then he turns his head to say something to
a waitress and you recognize him as, um... um... Who?
Hold on, I know it is in here somewhere. Which one do I see?
It's that guy. The one from before. Which one?
Am I missing a page? I think... Hold on. I think it's in this
paragraph somewhere. Just give me a second. So here we have a Game Master who's wanting to
use an NPC from a character's past and backstory, but because that name has been lost in a
wall of text, the Game Master isn't able to easily find that, and now the game
is stalling. So here are some ways to prevent that from happening in your game.
First, there's rarely a need to write out the backstory like a novel.
A synopsis is probably fine. Bullet Points are great for
making it easy to reference. Next, names should be put in an easy-to-spot
format. Maybe all of them in CAPS, or bolded, or underlined. Something that I do whenever I get
a long backstory is I bold the names of important characters because it makes them easier to
find when I'm trying to scan the page. I might even put them in a different color. Red for
enemies. Green for allies, or something like that. And the easier they are to find, and
therefore use, the more often I'm going to be inclined to use and incorporate
those characters in our games going forward. Now, Game Masters, I recommend that you go ahead
and tell your players to do this whenever you're asking them to give you backstories. But,
players, even if your Game Master does not ask you to do this when they're asking you for
a backstory, go ahead and do this part for them. Also, if a Game Master says that, yes, they'll
gladly take your multi-page backstory epic, then great. But go ahead and include with it
a short, bullet-pointed synopsis of all the critical details. That way they can easily
reference them. This is all going to be the core information that you need to get through
throughout the backstory. And if the Game Master wants a little bit more elaboration on any of
those details, they can then go and read the longer backstory that you wrote out for them.
But the more easy that you make it for them to reference and get to that key information, the
better off that both of you are going to be. Next, the Game Master can
overrule parts of your backstory. I know some viewers are already typing out their
angry responses to this, but let me explain. The Game Master is in charge of the Game
World. They know where the campaign is most likely going to go, and they know what will
and won't be the most appropriate for the game. So when they receive a character's backstory,
if something doesn't fit into that world or into that story, then the Game Master
should feel perfectly okay in vetoing that. Now they should also explain why it is
they're vetoing that. Maybe offer some suggested alternatives that work far better
than just simply looking at them and saying, "No," and giving no feedback or direction at
all as to what the players should provide. And Game Master should really only use this veto
when it's really necessary, and not without some consideration first as to how both the GM
and the player can make that backstory work. But in the end, the Player Character and the
Backstory are really up to the Game Master's approval. That's like Rule Zero in just
about every role-playing game out there. Now once the game does begin, and that character
has been activated, and we're getting to play the character, the backstory is pretty much
locked in. So, Game Masters, if you're gonna veto any parts of the Backstory, it's best to
do that before that character is activated. Next, the characters from your past aren't static.
Like with your own Player Character, they're going to grow, change careers, and become something
else. The Backstory says who those characters were in the past, but once the game starts,
the Game Master gets to say who they are now. My favorite example of this - and I used
this before in another one of my Traveller videos - is Lando Calrissian. Back in Han Solo's
backstory, Lando was a gambler, a scoundrel, and just damn smooth. Then, years later, when
Han needed help fixing the Falcon's hyperdrive, and he was searching for a safe place to land
and get it fixed, his Game Master decided to bring Lando back into Han's life. But now
Lando was the respectable mayor of a city. That is a big change. But it's no more
than Han's own change from being a smuggler into a hero of the Rebel Alliance.
So Game Masters, if your player gives you a named character from that character's
past, feel free to change and turn them into a totally different character once the
PCs encounter them, and don't lock them into whatever role it was that they had during the
course of the Player Character's Backstory. If the character's sibling, who they grew
up with on the street, suddenly shows back up after many years, but they're now the wealthy
leader of a religious sect, then that is awesome. What a great evolution of that character!
And players, if your Game Master does take a character from your backstory, and
then cast them in a totally new role, don't resist that. Don't argue with them, or
say, "That's not how I saw that character being." Just go ahead and lean into it. Have your
own PC ask that character, like, "How did you end up here? What's the story behind that?"
And Backstory NPCs aren't the only characters that should be changing and evolving once the
game begins. So should the Player Characters. The Backstory says who your character was and how
they got here. But that was also who they were up until the game's start. Once the game begins,
the characters new experiences should add to and alter them after that. So don't lock yourself
into the trap of who your character was is how they're just always going to be after that.
The game is really about who your character becomes during the course of their adventures.
After a few games, your characters should have changed. Maybe they're going to have new
Skills, Powers, or Levels. But those are really just the mechanical changes. That's
not what we're talking about here today. You should also consider the evolution of
the character themselves. Have their values, or their motivations, or their personality evolved
as well during the course of their adventures? This is one of those areas that I do think is very
important. And if you feel that your character has had a shift in personality, as far as you What and
Who it is that they value, then a player should go ahead and announce that and let the Game Master
know about that evolution. "Hey, three games ago I said that my character's big motivation was money,
and that my most cherished person was my childhood buddy. But that's not going to be the case
anymore." This can also help a Game Master really tailor the games around that character and make
the games a lot more fun and personal for you. Game Masters, after a few games, if your
players haven't told you how their character's personalities have changed, maybe it's that those
players just haven't considered that portion yet. So go ahead and ask them how their characters
have changed. Go ahead and update their Backstory records that you have to reflect any sort of
changes that have occurred in that character. Next, Tropes aren't bad.
Tropes are familiar storytelling aspects or archetypes. Clichés are what
we call Tropes that we're tired of, or consider overused. So the difference between
a Trope and a Cliché is pretty much subjective. Many gamers out there are going to staunchly
avoid Tropes, considering all of them just tired and unimaginative Clichés deserving of scorn.
However, I disagree with that opinion. I don't mind Tropes at all. Part of why many of us play
these games is giving us the opportunity to play some of our favorite Tropes that are out there.
So if you want your character to be an orphan, then fine. Go for it. Many of my favorite
fictional characters were orphans as well. You want to play an elven archer because you
read or watched Lord of the Rings and you thought Legolas was awesome, then cool. I did
that for my first D&D character, too. Not everything needs to be totally original,
or something that no one has ever seen before. Often, the reason that nobody's seen that
before is because it's kind of a bad idea. Now that being said, while I don't mind Tropes,
don't feel yourself becoming limited by them. I still want to have a unique character. I want
YOUR character. So go ahead and mix it up as far as what Tropes it is you want. Give us a little
bit of a mix-n-match, or try something new here. Go ahead and make it YOUR character. Tropes
are meant to flavor the PC, not define the PC. And whatever you do, do not make
a clone of an existing character. So if you want to have an orphan that
becomes a wizard, that's perfectly fine. But don't hand me what's clearly a Harry Potter
knockoff, complete with a dark lord, facial scar, wicked and uncle who lock 'em under the stairs,
glasses, maybe the ability to talk to snakes. If your character is exactly like Legolas,
then I don't want that character in our group. The reason isn't because I require a
totally original character and backstory, but if a player is trying to play Drizzt, then
they're essentially locking themselves into the path of Drizzt, railroading themselves before
the adventure even begins. And clones rarely grow beyond the characters that they're trying to copy.
So while drawing inspiration from your favorite characters and Tropes is fine,
make the character your own. The reason that I mention this, and I'm kind
of going off on Tropes the way that I am, is it's a response to a common internet
advice that I've encountered, as some online personality disdainfully puts down "tired
Clichés that they've seen a hundred times." Which, yeah, sure, maybe they've seen those
100 times until they consider it Cliché, but your group might not have seen those
before. So it's not going to be a Cliché to you. So don't feel that you have to avoid
Tropes. Just don't be limited by them, or don't even feel obligated to play a Trope if
you don't want to. That's perfectly fine to do. But if someone, who's not even in your group
that you're playing with, considers something that you're playing to be a tired and overused
Cliché, then really, that's their problem. Next, consider linking your Backstory
with the other members of the party. For many campaigns, the opening scene is the
characters all getting to meet one another. Maybe in a bar, or a jail cell, or something like
that. Then we go through the motions of learning to like one another's characters, or even trying
to figure out why these characters would all be hanging out with one another in the first place.
But is there a reason that your characters can't begin the campaign already knowing
one another, or being family members? So go ahead and talk with your Game Master
and the rest of your group about that, and consider incorporating one another's
characters into each of your Backstories. This is something that other games
like Traveller and Kult include in the Character Creation process, where we're
given the option to link characters together, meaning that the game begins with them
already having an established bond. Maybe they went to school together. Maybe they
served in the military, or they did time together. Maybe a common interest introduced
them to one another years before. Maybe they share some sort of dark secret, or
sort of hidden goal that they have in common. And if the Player Characters do know each
other prior to the start of the campaign, we could incorporate one aspect from the Alien
Roleplaying game called Buddies & Rivals, which is listing who their character considers
their favorite, and least favorite PC. This doesn't require any sort of in-game
mechanical effect. This is really just a roleplay tool of your character's opinion
of some of the other members of their party. Their Buddy is probably going to be the
one that they're going to offer aid to first. While the Rival is going to be the
one they'll probably be offering aid to last. It doesn't mean that they necessarily hate or
dislike their Rival. It just means that they're the least favorite party member for that PC.
And Buddy and Rival status doesn't have to be reciprocated. These are YOUR characters
feelings about the OTHER PCs in the group. So Character A might consider Character B their
best friend. But Character B considers Character C their favorite. Now because of that, Character
A might consider Character C their Rival because he doesn't think that she's good for his Buddy.
As I mentioned, characters should be evolving. And who their character considers their
Buddy in one adventure might not be their Buddy by the next adventure. And whoever they
consider their Rival might eventually work their way into becoming the Buddy of those
characters, where they kind of go from being opposites and not really liking each other as
much, to becoming inseparable best friends. Finally - and really what I consider
the key part of this video - is the first thing that you need to do is ask
yourself, "What are the Backstories for?" Now the answer to that question can
change group to group. But for me, Backstories are about establishing the aspects
of this characters, well as some roleplay tools and hooks. They need to answer certain questions,
and that's really what I want from a Backstory. A long, detailed backstory that's written out
like a novel, doesn't necessarily mean that it's helpful. So instead of asking your players
to give you a long and detailed Backstory - or maybe in addition to a Backstory. You
could maybe just add this as well - is to consider doing a survey of questions.
Now this list can change group to group or campaign to campaign. And I have directly stolen
many of these from several different RPGs, because they're pretty good questions. So you don't
need to use all of these questions by any means, because I'm about to blast out a lot of them. You
might limit yourself to maybe 6 or 8 of these. Or the ones that you think are the most important
or the most interesting. Or you can just simply make up your own questions that are more
suited to whatever it is that you're playing. What motivates your character, and why? Is
it money, power, revenge, family, honor, having a good time, what? This is a simple
question. And it is amazing for helping a Game Master come up with story hooks.
And many long and detailed backstories, that are more like novels than anything else,
fail to answer this very critical question. What trait describes you? Are you
honest, distrustful, loyal, selfish, frequently chewing your fingernails? Do you
laugh a lot, possibly at inappropriate times? This is how you're going to roleplay this
character. And it is great for a player to think about whenever they're trying to come up with
how they're going to make this character unique. What is your physical appearance? When a
character meets you, what is it they see? This just isn't your physical looks, like height
and hair color. But how does your character dress? Is it bright and expensive clothing, or worn-out
and practical? How do you carry yourself? What is it you smell like? Is it like crisp aftershave, or
maybe the lingering stink of cigarettes and motor oil? Do you have any notable scars, or tattoos, or
other features that somebody would see about you? What is your dark secret? Or what is your biggest
fear? What is your greatest tragedy? Now these don't have to be big. Your dark secret could
simply be something that your character finds embarrassing. But these are leverages and roleplay
aspects for both Game Masters and players to use. Where did you grow up? And I don't mean what city
you grew up in, like, "I grew up in New York." But what was the environment to where you grew up?
Like, "I grew up in a run-down New York apartment building with rampant crime." Or, "I grew up in
a luxurious uptown high rise overlooking Central Park. But my parents' constant fighting meant that
I spent as little time there as possible." Both of those, if the player had just said, "New York,"
mean vastly different things from one another. Who are your siblings? How many do you
have? How old are they in relation to you? What adjective best describes them? Such as, "My
athletic, younger by three years, sister Julia, and my bookworm brother Eric
who's one year older than I am." Who are your enemies and rivals? Give us
their names, a few details about them, and what did they do to earn your dislike?
Game Masters, depending on the player, you might want to set a cap on this at maybe
3 or so, because some players can kind of go a little crazy with this one.
What do you hate? Omicrons.
Okay. But why do you hate Omicrons? They know what they did.
[sigh] Who is your best friend? And if
you have no friends, why not? Who is your hero and why? This could
be someone that the character knows, or just some famous person
that the character knows of. Have you ever hurt another person?
How? And do you feel bad about that? What is your proudest accomplishment?
What is your biggest goal? Do you live with somebody else?
Where and how do you live? Who or what are you the most passionate about?
What do you do in your spare time? This is one of those ones that can really
round out a character as we discover some sort of hobby or activity that the character
likes to do when they're not adventuring. How do you feel about most people?
What is your biggest flaw? How do you feel about that? As I've said before, I love a
character that's got some flaws. And here we get to establish some quirks or maybe different things
about the character that aren't perfect. Now these don't need any sort of in-game mechanical effects
if you don't want it. They just really have to be just some sort of flaw that that character has.
What is your most cherished possession and why? What is your most cherished place and why?
And how did you meet the other Player Characters? These questions can be extremely useful. Not
just for the Game Master, but for the players, because they're forcing a player to consider all
these different things about their character. A few months back we were making our characters
for a campaign of Kult. And one of the things that you do at the end of that process is
you ask each of them this list of questions. My players kind of eye-rolled
that I insisted that we do that. We're all veteran gamers that have decades
worth of experience under our belts. But we went ahead and did it. And it was through
the players considering and answering these questions that we really fell in love with
these characters. Where they changed from just being characters that are written on
a piece of paper to becoming people that we considered separate entities from ourselves,
and people that we were affectionate about. Personally, this list of questions - or this
survey - is far more helpful to me than just having a simple backstory, because it goes
straight to the point and gives us all the important details that we can use. And everything
that a Game Master wants - or at least all the details that I want and can use as a Game Master.
Now with this list of questions, the answers of course can change over time. A character's
experience from one game is going to become their Backstory to the next game. And
that character should always be evolving. So both players and Game Masters should
periodically revisit these questions and kind of look them over. And any time that the
answer to one of those changes, it should go ahead and be noted, and announced to the GM
and maybe the other players around the table. Now players, if your Game Master does not ask you
for this list of questions or anything like this, feel free to do it for yourself. Because it's
really going to help you visualize and be able to play this character as somebody that's
very unique and very different from yourself, because now you've considered all
these different aspects about them. For me, this part right here, is the most
important part of a Backstory. It's actually more important than giving me a Backstory
that's written out like a short story with all the details of your life, because this
answers the essential questions of where your character came from, what it was that
influenced you, who your character is now, and provides us with several interesting characters
and events and places that a Game Master can use. Anyway, that is it for this video. Hopefully you
found something here that was helpful to you, either as a player who's wanting to craft
a backstory that their Game Master can use and incorporate in the game, or just a better
way of crafting a little bit of information about your character that you can use in your game.
Because, as I mentioned in the previous video, that most of the Backstory stuff is
really for the players to be using. Or if you're a Game Master who's wanting to
get a little bit more out of your players' Backstories in order to have better rounded
characters and plenty of details and different things like that that you could use in adventure
hooks and really personalize the game for them. Hey, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the
video, please give it a Thumbs Up. If you want to see some more of our stuff, such as Game Reviews,
How-Tos, or just some weird videos about beholders and stuff, just hit that Subscribe Button.
Till next time, amigos, ya'll have a great day. Seriously, why do you hate Omicron so much?
It's too painful to talk about. Dude, please. I just want to answer the question.
Answers? Well I want answers, too. And one day, I'm gonna get them.
[Sigh]
