I have a player in my 5e campaign, homebrew, who has given me almost nothing to work with when it comes to his character's motivations and goals. As such I've found myself seriously stalling out when it comes to creating a personalized story arc for him. I'd like to put something together which would make him feel like he's part of the world beyond the generic "hero who does good things". (skip to the bottom for the question)
He's playing a Half-Orc Barbarian of the Totem, and they're about half way through level 6. When the characters were created there was a random table that was used to generate a reason for the character to be in the starting location; his was that he was an orphan of war. The starting point of the game in a coastal town where they were surrounded by all manner of people (phb playable races). They knew a peaceful and fairly uneventful childhood while in this place, and began the game by going through a rite of adulthood. I then had them take a moment and figure out what they wanted their character's goal to be, the "When I grow up I wanna be..." type question. In response I got; "I want to be the general of an army", I inquired for more depth and got little more than that desire reworded.
Since the game has begun I have tossed out a number of things to get responses from him and how his character would act based on events and interactions.
I had him pass within a few miles of the site where it is assumed his tribe had fallen. I had NPCs refer to the site, as well as some books refer to the battle. In the nearest town I had citizens leaving to go rebuilt the outpost, wagons of supplies shipping out. He didn't even bother to explore that part of his history, simply let the opportunity pass by without a word.
I have put a racial struggle between the Orcs/H-Orcs and the humans, the Orchish people feeling that the humans settling on the continent are encroaching on their territories. The humans feel that the Orcish people are nothing short of savages and warmongers, every time they try to create new settlements the Orcish tribes swing through and raze the villages. His character has not risen to any of the comments, accusations, and blatant racism that I've tossed at him.
He has shown nothing but disregard to authority, in the presence of kings and thanes he will not show the respect one would assume should be present. This type of attitude contradicts what his goal is, the general of an army would show respect to their superior.
He has pointed out, out of character, that he has a high intelligence, yet he is willing to let other treat him like he's some big oaf. Up and to the point where one of the fellow players would simply point and go "Oh look, a door...quick go smash." while looking at him.
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He has just recently expressed that he feels like I've ignoring his character again. I pointed out, again, that I have little to work with and it's making it hard to present a strong story for him. I have asked many questions to get inside his head and he doesn't give any answers that help, "I'm not sure", "I dunno", "I'm just here to have fun", "I trust you to come up with something" etc.
What I'm asking is: What kind of story would you put together for a H-Orc Barbarian of the Totem who wants to be "The general of an army" yet doesn't rise to racial taunts, doesn't show respect to authority, doesn't seem interested in the reason he's an orphan, and doesn't play up to his character's intelligence. **If you wish to know more about anything in the game please ask, I'll flesh out anything you need to know**
Perhaps the character is as lost as the player, so disconnected as to not care, until a fateful chance meeting with the “one person” who still remembers this character’s parentage, that it was in fact once noble and honoured, a truth hidden by years of neglect and lies. And perhaps his family lineage are so noble as to have held high position amongst (insert h-orc power structure here) and that by family right has access to that, but perhaps, only by undergoing a “trial” of some sort to establish the credibility of his claim.
Have you thought about offering him position as a general among the orc tribes? They don't need to respect authority. His intelligence (and lack of interest in RPing it won't matter among orcs.
Perhaps the character is as lost as the player, so disconnected as to not care, until a fateful chance meeting with the “one person” who still remembers this character’s parentage, that it was in fact once noble and honoured, a truth hidden by years of neglect and lies. And perhaps his family lineage are so noble as to have held high position amongst (insert h-orc power structure here) and that by family right has access to that, but perhaps, only by undergoing a “trial” of some sort to establish the credibility of his claim.
As much as I'd love to do this for him...It's already being done with one of my other players, and I'm loathe to use the same plot line twice in the same game. I do understand that the story you've described can be told in a myriad of ways, I'm simply of the mind to try to keep each personal story unique.
Have you thought about offering him position as a general among the orc tribes? They don't need to respect authority. His intelligence (and lack of interest in RPing it won't matter among orcs.
I haven't introduced the Orc tribes, mostly because they haven't crossed paths yet. As to your suggestion, yes I have considered that this is a possibility, I'm at a loss of the "trigger" for him though. He's yet to show me any driving force to make him want to become the general/leader, his passive nature thus far doesn't lend to well to starting/maintaining a battle/war.
Have you thought about offering him position as a general among the orc tribes? They don't need to respect authority. His intelligence (and lack of interest in RPing it won't matter among orcs.
You can not be a general of an army if your army doesn't follow what they are told. It is like playing chess where the chess pieces can move on their own free will and does not listen to what you tell them to do. Even Orcs listen to other people, just not any that doesn't serve their God.
OP. You sure have a problem on your hand. The player feel ignored, yet he have ignored you throwing hints. How old his this player, I feel like he is quite young, like a teenager. I got to wonder. Has this player made the choice to just randomize his character because he wasn't able to figure out a backstory for his character or was he not given a choice? I hate to randomize a character and their backstory, it gives me no attachment and I will find it hard to get into the character with such a character. I think you need to ask if the player actually like the character he has or if he has no attachment to the character. If he doesn't then throw the character away and retire him, make a new character of which the player makes the story himself without using a randomizer. As a DM you can only throw hints to the players, but the players have to actively seek the story and opportunity for themselves. You simply can not force them to do their story arc. You can throw them into a camp of his tribe where they confronts him, but you can not make him RP and gather more information unless he does it. It isn't the fault of the DM when the player ignore his own time in the spotlight, and he got only himself to be blamed for it. You are not his personal story writer, D&D is a shared story that everyone at the table write. You will just railroad him and force him to act like you want if he doesn't want to act on his own, and that is bad.
I should just ask him if he wants to have a story arc or not. If he doesn't help in working out that story arc then he can forget it, it is he that has to do the journey and not you, it isn't a video game with a pre-written story with no choices. You can not be the Observer type of player, and still be the active non-Obeserver type of player.
Orcs can be persuaded to follow by a pure show of force and strength, so the idea is not without possibility. Also, many of the races in my world aren't strictly stereotypical, I gave many of them slight changes to make them more similar to the different cultures of our world. Halflings are much like Romanian gypsies, Dragonborn are like the American Indians, Orcs are similar to migratory Inuits, and so on.
As to the player, he is young, but not a teen, if he were a teen I could handle this easier. He also chose his character/race, I never suggest randomly rolling a character to players unless they are very familiar with D&D.
I will probably toss him in front of more scenarios and see how he reacts to them, but I am enjoying the ideas that you, and the others have for me to think about.
He might just not be into the game as much, which is okay. Do you know what he was expecting when you guys started playing? Sometimes people’s exoectations and styles of play are very different.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
He might just not be into the game as much, which is okay. Do you know what he was expecting when you guys started playing? Sometimes people’s exoectations and styles of play are very different.
...well....um....It's been around 2 years into the campaign now, your question makes me consider readdressing the 'Session 0' again. It would be surprising if his motivations haven't changed since then.
In the onset, yes, I had a number of sessions which began by asking the players what they thought about the game, what they wanted from their characters, I encourage feed back and I'm lucky enough to get a good deal. He was the one who pointed out I missed giving them a level when I had thought I already had, he is generally good at being active and participating in every game, even getting into debates over rulings and taking on tactical strategies when necessary. However he never really seemed to explore his own character or development, he'll point out that it seems one person seems to get the spotlight a bit much, but never seems to try to shine when I point it at him.
I have a player in my 5e campaign, homebrew, who has given me almost nothing to work with when it comes to his character's motivations and goals. As such I've found myself seriously stalling out when it comes to creating a personalized story arc for him. I'd like to put something together which would make him feel like he's part of the world beyond the generic "hero who does good things". (skip to the bottom for the question)
He's playing a Half-Orc Barbarian of the Totem, and they're about half way through level 6. When the characters were created there was a random table that was used to generate a reason for the character to be in the starting location; his was that he was an orphan of war. The starting point of the game in a coastal town where they were surrounded by all manner of people (phb playable races). They knew a peaceful and fairly uneventful childhood while in this place, and began the game by going through a rite of adulthood. I then had them take a moment and figure out what they wanted their character's goal to be, the "When I grow up I wanna be..." type question. In response I got; "I want to be the general of an army", I inquired for more depth and got little more than that desire reworded.
Since the game has begun I have tossed out a number of things to get responses from him and how his character would act based on events and interactions.
I had him pass within a few miles of the site where it is assumed his tribe had fallen. I had NPCs refer to the site, as well as some books refer to the battle. In the nearest town I had citizens leaving to go rebuilt the outpost, wagons of supplies shipping out. He didn't even bother to explore that part of his history, simply let the opportunity pass by without a word.
I have put a racial struggle between the Orcs/H-Orcs and the humans, the Orchish people feeling that the humans settling on the continent are encroaching on their territories. The humans feel that the Orcish people are nothing short of savages and warmongers, every time they try to create new settlements the Orcish tribes swing through and raze the villages. His character has not risen to any of the comments, accusations, and blatant racism that I've tossed at him.
He has shown nothing but disregard to authority, in the presence of kings and thanes he will not show the respect one would assume should be present. This type of attitude contradicts what his goal is, the general of an army would show respect to their superior.
He has pointed out, out of character, that he has a high intelligence, yet he is willing to let other treat him like he's some big oaf. Up and to the point where one of the fellow players would simply point and go "Oh look, a door...quick go smash." while looking at him.
---
He has just recently expressed that he feels like I've ignoring his character again. I pointed out, again, that I have little to work with and it's making it hard to present a strong story for him. I have asked many questions to get inside his head and he doesn't give any answers that help, "I'm not sure", "I dunno", "I'm just here to have fun", "I trust you to come up with something" etc.
What I'm asking is: What kind of story would you put together for a H-Orc Barbarian of the Totem who wants to be "The general of an army" yet doesn't rise to racial taunts, doesn't show respect to authority, doesn't seem interested in the reason he's an orphan, and doesn't play up to his character's intelligence. **If you wish to know more about anything in the game please ask, I'll flesh out anything you need to know**
Perhaps the character is as lost as the player, so disconnected as to not care, until a fateful chance meeting with the “one person” who still remembers this character’s parentage, that it was in fact once noble and honoured, a truth hidden by years of neglect and lies. And perhaps his family lineage are so noble as to have held high position amongst (insert h-orc power structure here) and that by family right has access to that, but perhaps, only by undergoing a “trial” of some sort to establish the credibility of his claim.
Have you thought about offering him position as a general among the orc tribes? They don't need to respect authority. His intelligence (and lack of interest in RPing it won't matter among orcs.
As much as I'd love to do this for him...It's already being done with one of my other players, and I'm loathe to use the same plot line twice in the same game. I do understand that the story you've described can be told in a myriad of ways, I'm simply of the mind to try to keep each personal story unique.
I haven't introduced the Orc tribes, mostly because they haven't crossed paths yet. As to your suggestion, yes I have considered that this is a possibility, I'm at a loss of the "trigger" for him though. He's yet to show me any driving force to make him want to become the general/leader, his passive nature thus far doesn't lend to well to starting/maintaining a battle/war.
They're an unruly lot. If he's the chief and another tribe attacks, or a human army...
Just throwing out ideas.
Orcs can be persuaded to follow by a pure show of force and strength, so the idea is not without possibility. Also, many of the races in my world aren't strictly stereotypical, I gave many of them slight changes to make them more similar to the different cultures of our world. Halflings are much like Romanian gypsies, Dragonborn are like the American Indians, Orcs are similar to migratory Inuits, and so on.
As to the player, he is young, but not a teen, if he were a teen I could handle this easier. He also chose his character/race, I never suggest randomly rolling a character to players unless they are very familiar with D&D.
I will probably toss him in front of more scenarios and see how he reacts to them, but I am enjoying the ideas that you, and the others have for me to think about.
He might just not be into the game as much, which is okay. Do you know what he was expecting when you guys started playing? Sometimes people’s exoectations and styles of play are very different.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
...well....um....It's been around 2 years into the campaign now, your question makes me consider readdressing the 'Session 0' again. It would be surprising if his motivations haven't changed since then.
In the onset, yes, I had a number of sessions which began by asking the players what they thought about the game, what they wanted from their characters, I encourage feed back and I'm lucky enough to get a good deal. He was the one who pointed out I missed giving them a level when I had thought I already had, he is generally good at being active and participating in every game, even getting into debates over rulings and taking on tactical strategies when necessary. However he never really seemed to explore his own character or development, he'll point out that it seems one person seems to get the spotlight a bit much, but never seems to try to shine when I point it at him.