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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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*"?
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
I tend to get word diarrhea when it comes time to put down a character's backstory. I restrict myself to less than a page, though. More than that, and things just get masturbatory.
And a lot of does depend on system. WFRP is kingly in the way it forces the player to think on his feet about his character's life. Why is a Marienburger Ratcatcher with cystic acne trying to get to Araby, anyway?
Then you have games like Exalted, where half of chargen is spooging out an epic poem about your travails and exploits before you ever roll a single die in anger.
I had a character once with a very long and detailed history who had a delusion that he was "just a character in somebody's RPG game" (yes, it was a modern-day game).
Every time something bad would happen, I'd say in character "Blasted player! Roll some different dice!" At which point, I'd pick different dice to roll. The schtick was funny for about half the game session and then I left it alone.
EDIT: But, he did have a very long and detailed history, something on the order of 2500 words or so (about 2 1/2 pages, typed).
I like something between 50 words and a page. But it depends on the situation For a one shot, 5-10 words of personality description might be enough. I hate super long descriptions that don't match the character sheet, like a long heroic history from a 1st level character. I also hate the munchkin approach of justifying extra powers because it's in their background - nope, you should have built your character that way; I'm talking about big things like ability to fly, use magic, talk to god, or such based solely on a line in the background.
As a DM, personality, outlook, and goals are more useful than history usually. I don't care what your grampy's name was or what he did, knowing that you are searching for his lost ear is enough.
Quote from: NicephorusAs a DM, personality, outlook, and goals are more useful than history usually. I don't care what your grampy's name was or what he did, knowing that you are searching for his lost ear is enough.
Good point. I think a 3x5 card summary of a longer background would be most useful from a GM standpoint. Trim away the fluff and dungeon dressing and you've got fifteen square inches of plot hooks.
I mostly GM and my view is you can have as long a background as you wish as long as you don't expect me to read the bloody thing.
Seriously, if you can't sketch an interesting character in a paragraph or less you're not trying. Don't write down the good stuff, show it to me in play for god's sake. I game to game, not to read.
Harald is a young man recently come to Iceland after being outlawed in Denmark, where he was involved in a kinslaying. He is a large man, powerfully built but with a wary air.
See that above? That for me is entirely adequate. Does he still have family back home? Was he guilty of the kinslaying? Is he being hunted? Don't tell me, let's find out in play.