When the wars were over I didn’t know what to do with myself, a soldier’s life is simple, just follow orders, but a civilian’s life… not so much. I tried my hand at a few trades, but no matter how hard I worked I just didn’t fit in anywhere, it was too complex, or I was too, well, touchy I guess. But now I’ve hired on with a crew, I get to fight for my supper again, and things are simple again, just the way I like them.

Chicory tilted her head and gave me a half smile. "My Backstory? In three sentences?" Her eyes lost focus, and I sat very still -- one does not annoy the the literal personification of a planet's entire existence, especially when you are a part of that planet. Grains of sand do not interrupt a beachcomber.

She sighed, refocused on me.

I lived in a time of great upheaval, and lost the one I loved the most, which killed me. I awoke in a box that was a sleep capsule that arrived on a new world, where I later found the Well of Souls and became the Anima Mundi. Unbound by time and space, I have lived before, within, and since then, even as I am eternally here and now.

I thanked her and quickly left. 

Leave it to deities to never give you a straight answer, or fill things with riddles.

When they found me I was more beast than man, a wild, savage creature who hunted with his bare hands, ate his meat raw, and was used to defending his territory against all comers. But my previous opponents had been my fellow beasts, when they came with their steel and their spells I was subdued with little effort, and they took me back with them to try and “help” me. Now I have steel, and I will rejoin the hunt, only this time I will hunt those who took me from my forest and brought me to this terrible land where I must wear pants and shoes, and am not free to run. 

I was still a child when they came, with their magic fire and their glowing steel; rampaging through our home, the great warren of my youth, and calling out in their strange voices and stranger tongues. I watched my shellkin fall, hacked through after they cut down my nest king and my clutch guards, burned our nest mothers and then sorted through the ruins as I hed beneath the refuse we had not yet taken to the pit that week. I know their faces, these humans, these halflings, these elves -- now my band and I hunt them, and we will find them, and we will kill them, for I am a Goblin with a special set of skills that make me a nightmare for monsters like them.

(Part 1 of 4; I'm copying Potato's system for longer backstories)

"I committed arson. I may or may not have committed arson several more times; The town hall was old and ugly after all, and I swear I had no idea that anyone lived in the mansions with massive gardens. Sadly, I was eventually unfairly and unjustly put in prison, waiting for the date of my execution to be decided upon."

Quote from BoringBard >>

(Part 1 of 4; I'm copying Potato's system for longer backstories)

 Those weren’t 4 parts of one backstory, they were 4 separate backstories for four separate characters that all stemmed from a single event. You get to read about that same event from 4 separate perspectives, and all of those 4 people go on to become adventurers because of that event. Go back and reread them and you’ll see. Whether or not those 4 characters come together to form a party is up to the reader to decide.

1. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=706
2. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=710
3. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=713
4. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=717

Quote from AWierdPotato >>

Quote from BoringBard >>

(Part 1 of 4; I'm copying Potato's system for longer backstories)

 Those weren’t 4 parts of one backstory, they were 4 separate backstories for four separate characters that all stemmed from a single event. You get to read about that same event from 4 separate perspectives, and all of those 4 people go on to become adventurers because of that event. Go back and reread them and you’ll see. Whether or not those 4 characters come together to form a party is up to the reader to decide.

1. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=706
2. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=710
3. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=713
4. https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/118709-three-sentence-backstory?comment=717

Interesting. I still stole the idea of dividing different connected stories into multiple posts from you though lol. :)

Awesome.

I was absent from that day, the day the nightmares spread into the waking world and ruined the town of Orms-by-Gore. I was wasting away in my study trying to find a higher consciousness, my mind soaring through realms most will never know. When I awoke I was but a eye, floating above the dust of my former body, the world opens before me and I see all.

*Inspired by a very old card from Magic the gathering called "Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore" and probably best for a horror themed campaign. Orms is apparently an old Norse word for Dragon and Gore is an old word for a fork in the road (I might be wrong, feel free to correct me). What I am thinking for this one is: You look like a large floating eye surrounded by shadowy smoke, use Aaracockra or Owlin so you can float/fly, Acolyte or Sage for Bacground and Aberrant MInd Sorcerer or GOO Warlock for Class. This does prove to have some interesting problems, any spells will need to be  Verbal or Somatic components as you can;t use material components, smoke could form into gestures for somatic components and your Telepathy could manifest various otherworldy tones for verbal. Probably best to think of the character astral projecting into the Far Realm and coming back as this weird eye creature...the fact it looks like the large central eye of a beholder could mean it was the failed materialisation of a Beholder into the Material Plane as Beholders are dreamed into exsistence.

I hate kobolds. They ruined my life. Now i adventure to slay all kobolds everywhere.

I hate kobold slayers. They ruined my life. Now i adventure to slay all kobold slayers everywhere.

I was born and raised in the village that sits beneath the great Wizard's Tower, and I have seen the grand Table at which he sits, towering over us all. I have served. I will be of service.

I hate kobold slayer slayers. They ruined my life. Now i adventure to slay all kobold slayer slayers everywhere.

:)

You were born into high society, pampered to your every whim. As a young adult, you had a wake up call when ruffians attacked your carriage killing everyone and almost you, too, and people from a nearby, destitute village came to the rescue and nursed you back to health, having no idea who you are. Since a flyer has reported your name as lost among the dead in the attack and assumed everyone knew your face by omitting it from the print, you have forsaken your name and title and embraced the simple life with the good folk of the village... until one day, a DM came along with a campaign in tow...

Several possible hooks. The fact that the character still lives will likely be a point of contention. Good for a level 1 character who's only "real world" experience has been living among the village. Simple skills.

I hate life. It ruined my kobolds. Now i adventure to slay all lives everywhere.

Good evening one and all, I’d like to tell you all a little story about the best damned bard in the land, a lass who overcame poverty and desperation, a girl who was forced to slay a monster in the arena in single combat, a woman who needs no further introduction… me. I want from playing for bit copper on street corners and running away from local gangs, to playing for nobles and running away from jealous husbands after I seduced their wives. Now I’m off to find yet more adventure with my friends and fellow miscreants, but first lemme finish my beer and play you a song!!

So, there I was, minding my own business, walking along the Great Road in search of adventure, and I heard a tune that had my tapping my toes and shuffling my feet — and I mean shuffling, just like everyone else was shuffling, you couldn’t help it, you heard it and you started shuffling — and I came to this small campsite on the side of the road. Well, it was there I paused, still shuffling, and you could hear my coin purse jing-jangling away and this lass in clothes that were stained and that reeked of some foul beast’s death, just plain walked up to me as she played and relieved me of all my burdens, just as she had all the others. I am now looking for her, but not for what you might think; I have fallen in love with a girl who made me shuffle…

I was born in the Great City, lived in a grand manor, and when I was 15 I was apprenticed to the Castellan’s guild to be a maid. I learned my job and received the highest marks, and so was selected for a special program for only a few Maids, Maids who have great responsibility and so need great power. Now I travel beside my charge as he adventures, ensuring that not only are his needs taken care of, but that no beast nor man will harm him — for I am a combat maid!

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I was born in the Great City, lived in a grand manor, and when I was 15 I was apprenticed to the Castellan’s guild to be a maid. I learned my job and received the highest marks, and so was selected for a special program for only a few Maids, Maids who have great responsibility and so need great power. Now I travel beside my charge as he adventures, ensuring that not only are his needs taken care of, but that no beast nor man will harm him — for I am a combat maid!

 Hayate? Or Kamen no maid guy? That's an olllllld reference.

Quote from Bob_the_fish12 >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I was born in the Great City, lived in a grand manor, and when I was 15 I was apprenticed to the Castellan’s guild to be a maid. I learned my job and received the highest marks, and so was selected for a special program for only a few Maids, Maids who have great responsibility and so need great power. Now I travel beside my charge as he adventures, ensuring that not only are his needs taken care of, but that no beast nor man will harm him — for I am a combat maid!

 Hayate? Or Kamen no maid guy? That's an olllllld reference.

none of the above, lol. A conversation with one of my players, who asked for a ball jointed doll that could be a maid, the new rules for guilds in my game (background dev), and her decision to be a maid that switched to being a Paladin to protect her little brother (who will be playing his first game soon). I still have the construct species, but she didn’t use it this time.

But, knowing her father, I am willing to bet she watched all the Hayate episodes (I say after looking up hayate, lol). He probably has them on dvd.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from Bob_the_fish12 >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I was born in the Great City, lived in a grand manor, and when I was 15 I was apprenticed to the Castellan’s guild to be a maid. I learned my job and received the highest marks, and so was selected for a special program for only a few Maids, Maids who have great responsibility and so need great power. Now I travel beside my charge as he adventures, ensuring that not only are his needs taken care of, but that no beast nor man will harm him — for I am a combat maid!

 Hayate? Or Kamen no maid guy? That's an olllllld reference.

 

none of the above, lol. A conversation with one of my players, who asked for a ball jointed doll that could be a maid, the new rules for guilds in my game (background dev), and her decision to be a maid that switched to being a Paladin to protect her little brother (who will be playing his first game soon). I still have the construct species, but she didn’t use it this time.

But, knowing her father, I am willing to bet she watched all the Hayate episodes (I say after looking up hayate, lol). He probably has them on dvd.

 Ahhh lol. You're missing out on Kamen no maid guy though... you should also look him up, :3