Quote from: Beagle;757315

 There is no character background worse than no character background. Seriously. Even the most trite and overused tropes are far superior to a blank slate.

This, all day.

Quote from: Scott Anderson;757488What, like on a dare?

No, he murdered them because he was homicidal and violent. You'd have to be crazy to murder your family on a dare.

Hey, I never said it was a good backstory.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;756278Well alright...

Me: So I see you're contemplating a mongrelfolk character. Interesting choice, but hey I'm open to it if the backstory's good. Whatcha got?

Potential New Player: *with flashing lascivious interest in his eyes* Well my mother was gang-raped by a mixed-race crime syndicate of animal people and all the sperm combined to make me!

Me: ... I... wha-... that's not how that works!

No longer Potential New Player: Oh, well one of them was half-demon, so it was the demon sperm that made them all fuse. Also, that's why I'll have a few demon powers if you're ok with it.

Me: I don't think I'll be ok with anything ever again.

That's the kind of player I want at my table.  

VS

Quote from: VengerSatanis;757730That's the kind of player I want at my table.  

VS

  Take that kind of player. The more we concentrate those of you who wallow in the foul, vile and depraved elements of the hobby into a few groups, the easier it is for the rest of us to avoid your games.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;757800Take that kind of player. The more we concentrate those of you who wallow in the foul, vile and depraved elements of the hobby into a few groups, the easier it is for the rest of us to avoid your games.

Yeah.

VS

Quote from: Beagle;757315[/B] Seriously. Even the most trite and overused tropes are far superior to a blank slate.

GM: What'S the character like
Player: Oh, I will make it up as I go along

Later.....

GM: (thinking) Hold on, isn't this exactly the same character this person played in the lat game, and the one before and the one before that... Oh my. The Chaotic Stupid Misanthrope is here to take us to his Magical Realm.

Players who revert to type, regardless of character or campaign. They NEED pregens and strongly determined back story to avoid the un-fun they might bring.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;757834GM: What'S the character like
Player: Oh, I will make it up as I go along

Later.....

GM: (thinking) Hold on, isn't this exactly the same character this person played in the lat game, and the one before and the one before that... Oh my. The Chaotic Stupid Misanthrope is here to take us to his Magical Realm.

Players who revert to type, regardless of character or campaign. They NEED pregens and strongly determined back story to avoid the un-fun they might bring.

as a GM I've learned that creating some back story should be part of every character generation session.  It could be random rolling, choosing from a list of options, or just making stuff up, but something needs to happen.  There should be space on the character sheet for motivation, personality, personal history... something.

VS

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;757834GM: What'S the character like
Player: Oh, I will make it up as I go along

Later.....

GM: (thinking) Hold on, isn't this exactly the same character this person played in the lat game, and the one before and the one before that... Oh my. The Chaotic Stupid Misanthrope is here to take us to his Magical Realm.

Players who revert to type, regardless of character or campaign. They NEED pregens and strongly determined back story to avoid the un-fun they might bring.

Been there, done that. Unfortunately it doesn't always work. I've had players that were so set on playing their type that any character, even pregens morphed into it over time. It was amusing (in a creepy way or creepy in an amusing way) to imagine it taking place in game. Like some kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Possession riff.

Quote from: Ladybird;757619No, he murdered them because he was homicidal and violent. You'd have to be crazy to murder your family on a dare.
.

Unless your family turned into a bunch of rampaging lycanthropes.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;757834GM: What'S the character like
Player: Oh, I will make it up as I go along

Later.....

GM: (thinking) Hold on, isn't this exactly the same character this person played in the lat game, and the one before and the one before that... Oh my. The Chaotic Stupid Misanthrope is here to take us to his Magical Realm.

Players who revert to type, regardless of character or campaign. They NEED pregens and strongly determined back story to avoid the un-fun they might bring.

I'm not sure that pregenerated characters are such a good solution; instead of offering some sort of orientation for a player to create a background that might work better in the context of the group, you just make them do less. Blablabla, loss of agency, fewer responsibilities, no learning by doing...

I think the best way to "solve" this issue is a game with a decent lifepath character creation system or some other random elements thrown in. Making the character background generation some sort of halfway entertaining activity or even a game might be more encouraging and in the end, be more productive: You get players who can write their own non-embarassing or disruptive background stories, and you don't have to waste any time on generating some pregens no one actually wants to play.