I am looking for help to help flush our my campaigns characters.
I was in a campaign where my DM asked us questions that we had to answer to help make our characters rounder. I was wondering if you all wouldn’t mind me thinking up some questions for my new campaign to help with their character development.
I wouldn't advise going overboard with this. Some people like writing 10,000 words of backstory - but that's not needed. Character background can always be filled in retroactively by the Player.
I'd say a nice middle ground to start would be:
In 1-2 sentences, describe where your Character came from, what was their family life like, and what was their life growing up.
In 1-2 sentences, describe how and why your Character became an adventurer.
In 1-2 sentences, describe your Character's current appearance.
In 1-2 sentences, describe a goal or two that your Character is trying to accomplish.
Name something that your Character enjoys, or loves ( can be a person ).Name something that your Character dislikes, or hates ( can be a person ).
Describe 1 or 2 personality quirks of your Character that you are willing to play.
That's should be enough to get a Character started, without being a complete cipher with no defining characteristics, and it should be no more than a mid-sized paragraph.
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Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
The first things I always tell my players when we start on their backstory: Your family does not have to be dead. They don't have to be involved in your life either, but they don't have to be dead. Too many people tend to default to orphan or I never knew my parents, which is fine, but then they stop there. New or narrow-minded players often don't consider how this would really affect their character. After that, I ask them the following:
Who are your closest family members? (With an emphasis on the parents)
Are they alive?
If alive, where are they and what do they do.
If dead, how did they die and how did it affect you?
Depending on their answers, they pretty much always lead to new questions to figure out how this all relates to their current profession and how they ended up at the designated "start of campaign" locale, which I always tell them beforehand.
Another big question to ask is "what do you know and how do you know it?" For example, if they do decide that their family was murdered, that is pretty easy to justify how they know this to be true. If they say their family was murdered because Dad was a member of an occult, had decided he no longer wanted to be a part of it and was going to expose the cult to the authorities, and was murdered before he could speak, well I would ask how did you find out all of this information. We would work together to find out what clues were left behind, how the player managed to avoid the slaughter, and where they are going now.
However, for the above example, I would also say to the player you don't have to know why they were murdered, and that could still be a part of your quest. You have a couple of clues but so far they have all led to dead-ends. Players should always know when, where and what happened to them (more or less), but they don't always have to know the who and very rarely the how and why. This allows the DM more creativity in fitting the baddies into the story and adds an element of mystery for the player.
Hello all,
I am looking for help to help flush our my campaigns characters.
I was in a campaign where my DM asked us questions that we had to answer to help make our characters rounder. I was wondering if you all wouldn’t mind me thinking up some questions for my new campaign to help with their character development.
Thanks in advance for the help!
I wouldn't advise going overboard with this. Some people like writing 10,000 words of backstory - but that's not needed. Character background can always be filled in retroactively by the Player.
I'd say a nice middle ground to start would be:
That's should be enough to get a Character started, without being a complete cipher with no defining characteristics, and it should be no more than a mid-sized paragraph.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
http://dndspeak.com/2019/03/100-warm-up-roleplaying-questions-for-players/
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
The first things I always tell my players when we start on their backstory: Your family does not have to be dead. They don't have to be involved in your life either, but they don't have to be dead. Too many people tend to default to orphan or I never knew my parents, which is fine, but then they stop there. New or narrow-minded players often don't consider how this would really affect their character. After that, I ask them the following:
Depending on their answers, they pretty much always lead to new questions to figure out how this all relates to their current profession and how they ended up at the designated "start of campaign" locale, which I always tell them beforehand.
Another big question to ask is "what do you know and how do you know it?" For example, if they do decide that their family was murdered, that is pretty easy to justify how they know this to be true. If they say their family was murdered because Dad was a member of an occult, had decided he no longer wanted to be a part of it and was going to expose the cult to the authorities, and was murdered before he could speak, well I would ask how did you find out all of this information. We would work together to find out what clues were left behind, how the player managed to avoid the slaughter, and where they are going now.
However, for the above example, I would also say to the player you don't have to know why they were murdered, and that could still be a part of your quest. You have a couple of clues but so far they have all led to dead-ends. Players should always know when, where and what happened to them (more or less), but they don't always have to know the who and very rarely the how and why. This allows the DM more creativity in fitting the baddies into the story and adds an element of mystery for the player.
Thank you all so much for your help!