How long is your characters...

Dominus Nox · September 20, 2006, 11:58:14 PM

background? (What'd you think I was going to say? Jeez, gityer minds outta the gutter for a minute....)

Seriously, how long is your character's background and how you do you think a character's background should be? I mean, there are a lot of characters who's background is just to damn short, like "Last survivor of a royal family killed by usurpers, fled into forrest, was found and raised by a tribe of ninja chipmunks."

The of course you get people with character backgrounds that are maybe only 3 paragraphs shorter than LotR and before they're done reading it off you feel like :seppuku:

So how long should a character background generally be for a beginner in a campaign, or do you have any prefferences?

Yamo · September 21, 2006, 12:00:46 AM

A sentence or three is enough. I don't want a lengthy biography, just a quick description of who your character is at the start of the campaign.

I normally hate comparisons with other media, but in a movie or a book or a television show, how much do we really know about any character prior to their first scene?

So just give me what I need to know for Your Guy's first scene.

Bagpuss · September 21, 2006, 03:45:30 AM

A paragraph does me fine, upper limit of maybe one or two sides of typed A4 (12pt font) much more than that and I'm unlikely to read it.

There are various RPG's that have the "20 questions" type thing in them, and they are handy to prompt players that haven't really thought of a background.

Saying that I'm prefectly happy for characters to start with no background and have that fleshed out in play.... for example, the player only decide where his character is from when asked in character, and the same about his family.

Seems like Yamo and I agree on something.

David R · September 21, 2006, 04:07:29 AM

I prefer if it when the players development their characters through campaign play - we normally play long term campaigns - so character backgrounds are normaly be pretty short. But having said that, I leave it up to the individual player to write his/her own background (and although they normally generate characters as a group) the lenght of backgrounds I have received have ranged from a couple of paragraphs to at the most a couple of pages.

Regards,
David R

Bagpuss · September 21, 2006, 04:36:38 AM

It also depends on the game. In games like D&D where a 1st level character is just a teenager, then I don't expect or do much of a background. Games like Shadowrun or Cyberpunk where you start of as an experienced operative, then I tend to do more of a history to explain where he got the skills he has.

Some games also help with backgrounds like the Lifepath in Cyberpunk or the career character generation method in GDW games.

Mr. Analytical · September 21, 2006, 05:09:07 AM

I'm not overly bothered about background but I do like to have a good idea where my character is coming from and what his niche is, which is one of the reasons why I like random character generation... you generate combinations of attributes you wouldn't think to combine naturally.

Some characters though never come together.

mattormeg · September 21, 2006, 05:50:44 AM

I tend to keep a sort of oral history of my characters that I flesh out as I play, but I rarely feel compelled to commit it to paper unless the GM feels strongly about it.

Mr. Analytical · September 21, 2006, 06:14:47 AM

Has anyone here actually done the infamous "And my first level character fights with Gurthring, his grand-father's sword which, for generations has been handed down to the eldest son of the... oooh... a +1 sword I found in a dungeon *sound of Gurthring being dumped*"?

Bagpuss · September 21, 2006, 07:25:13 AM

I did it as DM for a Birthright Campaign, I gave every starting character a magic artifact that they had some how come across, either a family heirloom or they stole it, or found it. The artifacts had hidden potential that was linked to their bloodline/level and so increased in power with them.

But I've never had a player try it on, or tried it on as a player.

Mr. Analytical · September 21, 2006, 09:52:04 AM

I had it back when I DMed AD&D but mercifully there were some more experienced players in our group and they took the piss out of the player in question.

jrients · September 21, 2006, 10:03:28 AM

Quote from: mattormegI tend to keep a sort of oral history of my characters that I flesh out as I play, but I rarely feel compelled to commit it to paper unless the GM feels strongly about it.

That's my approach as well. I start with nothing and fill-in backstory as needed, but I always prefer backstory to be constructed by actual events in play whenever possible.

Abyssal Maw · September 21, 2006, 10:26:09 AM

In our old campaign we had a rule that you could write up your character's background and post it on a group blog for a bonus of XP, but you could only do this after you had been playing a while (at least one session, I think).

Xavier Lang · September 21, 2006, 11:32:40 AM

Depends on the game being played and the person running.

I know some people are going to want a significant background for plot mining when they are the GM. Others could care less as long as they have a rough idea.

The longer I've been playing with a group of people the less I write out or expect others to have prepared ahead of time.

Bagpuss · September 21, 2006, 12:28:24 PM

Talking of background coming during play.

In our D&D group the other players get to vote on what alignment your character should be after you've played the character for three sessions, you get a vote as well, and are allowed to explain why you think you should be the alignment you want to be, since actions do not always accurately reflect the characters motivations.

joewolz · September 21, 2006, 01:46:14 PM

Quote from: BagpussIn our D&D group the other players get to vote on what alignment your character should be after you've played the character for three sessions, you get a vote as well, and are allowed to explain why you think you should be the alignment you want to be, since actions do not always accurately reflect the characters motivations.

That's a really good idea. I agonized over ditching alignment in my C&C game, and I wish I had heard this before I did that...voting for alignment is a damn god idea.

In response to the OP: I usually don't like a huge written background, as I like the PCs to come up with most of the backstory during play. But I encourage more than a little thought into who a character is.

How long is your characters...

Mr. Analytical

Mr. Analytical

Mr. Analytical