So, I've played DND for a few years and our current DM is looking to finish our current campaign in the next few weeks. To this end he has asked if anyone had any ideas for a campaign they would like to run. I'm one of those players that tend to be a bit over enthusiastic when it comes to back stories, so I was thinking of offering to run a backstory campaign. The idea is that I would ask each player to create a minimum of backstory, with one plot hook, one NPC and an goal, and then create a campaign linking the goals and the NPCs to a larger quest, with a dark force linking to each player. I would probably have four character back stories to work from. Am I being overly ambitious for a first campaign, and are there any sensible limitations I should give the players when creating their back stories?
It can be done, but most DM’s and especially starting DM’s are running into somekind of fatigue. It’s a lot of work to make sure everybody’s backstory is on point and finished before you can make the tie-ins.
I rather have a setting where the boundaries of the adventure are set and that the PC’s with their backstory are implemented. This way you can search for tie-ins on that matter in the written adventure.
But if you prefer to write from the characters, that is a point of view that for some works. It is more a blossoming flower instead of coloring a circle which could become a flower.
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"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee "Time is relative" - Albert Einstein "It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake "Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
I find it’s better to keep backstories as more side quest area. If you have plot hinging on a PC, and the PC dies or player quits, you’ve blown a hole in your plot. But if you keep them peripheral, you can lose a character without losing a part of the story. Tie them in with things like a minor villain, or even just happening in a place they already have to go. So if the character isn’t there, it’s much easier to either cut it out entirely, or modify the people involved. It can work to tie the PC’s motivation to the BBEG, to give them a reason to keep going, but don’t make any PC instrumental to the plot.
I typically have backstories linked in to the campaign myself. Its 100% possible to craft a campaign strictly based on the backstory of your players. It just means that the hook they give you has to be good enough to carry the campaign, otherwise you just have a sandbox with loose plot hooks.
In most of my games, I create enough of a setting to show the ideas I am interested in exploring as a DM. Then, I ask/have the players create setting-appropriate characters and try to weave in backstory elements.
I've been thinking that my next setting will be a free-wheeling. "You make a character and backstory, I'll make a setting." just for fun and to let my friends play that "I've always wanted to try..." character.
This is basically what every DM that doesn't run a module does. I would recommend you watch Critical Role's Daggerheart Session Zero video. (It's two hours long.) Matt does exactly what you're describing. The players created their characters. A little bit of backstory. He then provided a blank map and allowed the players to each put one thing on it. Like the name of a forest, a magical gateway or a city/village. Then he made a one shot out of the information given.
This is basically what every DM that doesn't run a module does.
Incorrect. There are plenty of DMs that grunt at their players that their characters are nobodies from nowhere, and it is their job to change that by making it big in the dungeon.
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So, I've played DND for a few years and our current DM is looking to finish our current campaign in the next few weeks. To this end he has asked if anyone had any ideas for a campaign they would like to run. I'm one of those players that tend to be a bit over enthusiastic when it comes to back stories, so I was thinking of offering to run a backstory campaign. The idea is that I would ask each player to create a minimum of backstory, with one plot hook, one NPC and an goal, and then create a campaign linking the goals and the NPCs to a larger quest, with a dark force linking to each player. I would probably have four character back stories to work from. Am I being overly ambitious for a first campaign, and are there any sensible limitations I should give the players when creating their back stories?
It can be done, but most DM’s and especially starting DM’s are running into somekind of fatigue. It’s a lot of work to make sure everybody’s backstory is on point and finished before you can make the tie-ins.
I rather have a setting where the boundaries of the adventure are set and that the PC’s with their backstory are implemented. This way you can search for tie-ins on that matter in the written adventure.
But if you prefer to write from the characters, that is a point of view that for some works. It is more a blossoming flower instead of coloring a circle which could become a flower.
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee
"Time is relative" - Albert Einstein
"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake
"Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
I find it’s better to keep backstories as more side quest area. If you have plot hinging on a PC, and the PC dies or player quits, you’ve blown a hole in your plot. But if you keep them peripheral, you can lose a character without losing a part of the story. Tie them in with things like a minor villain, or even just happening in a place they already have to go. So if the character isn’t there, it’s much easier to either cut it out entirely, or modify the people involved.
It can work to tie the PC’s motivation to the BBEG, to give them a reason to keep going, but don’t make any PC instrumental to the plot.
I typically have backstories linked in to the campaign myself. Its 100% possible to craft a campaign strictly based on the backstory of your players. It just means that the hook they give you has to be good enough to carry the campaign, otherwise you just have a sandbox with loose plot hooks.
In most of my games, I create enough of a setting to show the ideas I am interested in exploring as a DM. Then, I ask/have the players create setting-appropriate characters and try to weave in backstory elements.
I've been thinking that my next setting will be a free-wheeling. "You make a character and backstory, I'll make a setting." just for fun and to let my friends play that "I've always wanted to try..." character.
This is basically what every DM that doesn't run a module does. I would recommend you watch Critical Role's Daggerheart Session Zero video. (It's two hours long.) Matt does exactly what you're describing. The players created their characters. A little bit of backstory. He then provided a blank map and allowed the players to each put one thing on it. Like the name of a forest, a magical gateway or a city/village. Then he made a one shot out of the information given.
Incorrect. There are plenty of DMs that grunt at their players that their characters are nobodies from nowhere, and it is their job to change that by making it big in the dungeon.