I've been on a roll with making a rogue for a game I'll be joining soon, and since he's starting at level 5 I've given him a more fleshed out adventuring history.
In this case, I've been writing one such adventure in the form of a screenplay. Since the character is inspired by all sorts of adventure movie protagonists, a screenplay felt appropriate for a part of the backstory.
I'm probably not going to make it into a feature length screenplay, for several reasons. However, it's got me thinking about how this story would pan out as an actual adventure for players to experience.
Do you think PCs' backstories can make exciting adventures? Are adventures like this best suited to characters starting at higher levels than 1st, or does a level 1 character backstory have enough material to make a playable adventure out of?
Leave your thoughts below, I'd love to see what y'all have to say. Happy adventuring!
My level 1 character Dark wing a lvl 1 Dragonborn who had been hit by amnesia. All he remembers was that he was a pirate and he has a mental break down whenever he sees fire...
As a player and DM I don't think there should be too much adventure in a level 1 character's backstory, since you don't want to come into the first session feeling like a badass with your backstory, and then realize that you're weak and severely breakable :P However, I do think higher level characters can stand to have it, and I do think level 1 characters should have an interesting backstory. I always ask my players to have at least one mystery in their backstory. Something that they don't know, that they are 100% okay with me doing whatever I want with.
For my current party:
Someone's got a history as a castle guard that was attacked, and he is trying to discover if any of the royal family survived.
Another was enslaved until their sister murdered their slavers (including the slavers' children) and they've been searching for her since-- And they don't know what their life was like prior to slavery.
Another stole from and then abandoned their druid circle right on their Archdruid's orders right before he died, so they had to get out of dodge quick and don't know what their circle has done since.
The last one... Well, the last one doesn't have any mysteries unfortunately. :P Makes it harder to write personal story hooks for them, which is why I ask for a mystery! However, I've come up with something that should hopefully be of interest for her. :)
Whenever I write a backstory for my own character in games I try to keep it one page or shorter, and if I know the DM's world I'll ensure to include one connection to something/some place for them, as well as one mystery that I leave for them to do with what they will (or will not, if they choose not to use it).
I'm creating the Dark wing Character as we speak, and if you want the full backstory ill gladly tell you juts type 'muffins' and ill tell you his full backstory :P 'if you want to'
Hey Aruza, my post was in response to the questions that OP asked in the top post. See:
Do you think PCs' backstories can make exciting adventures? Are adventures like this best suited to characters starting at higher levels than 1st, or does a level 1 character backstory have enough material to make a playable adventure out of?
A character backstory informs how the player will behave during the campaign. It gives them motivation (gold? justice? revenge?) for being an adventurer at all.
This can become a problem when the adventurer is thrown in with a bunch of other players whose characters have their OWN backstories, and a DM who has a story she wants tell.
A clever DM can help weave interesting threads from the backstories into the main story, but really everyone should remember that their character is not interesting to anyone else. It's fun to come up with a detailed story for your character, but you shouldn't expect the rest of the group to care. And you REALLY shouldn't expect the campaign story to revolve around your character's history.
I've never done it, but it could be interesting for the players to get together and come up with a shared backstory and present that to the DM as the premise for the campaign.
This is an aspect of 5e that I've struggled with on more than one occasion. Assuming the adventure starts at level one, you pick your race and class, but you don't pick your archetype until level three. Several times now, the character's backstory assumes the archetype and how it plays into the overall background of the character... but levels one and two are this awkward time where you have to pretend that stuff doesn't apply until you get to level three and actually get to pick it. And if your archetype for level three involves some kind of a process or a change, you either have to hand wave it, shoehorn it into the story, or change the circumstances by which you came into that archetype.
I suppose that speaks to what I still have to learn as a story teller, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with how I made the transition for a few characters into their archetype as they leveled up from two to three in my campaign.
This is an aspect of 5e that I've struggled with on more than one occasion. Assuming the adventure starts at level one, you pick your race and class, but you don't pick your archetype until level three. Several times now, the character's backstory assumes the archetype and how it plays into the overall background of the character... but levels one and two are this awkward time where you have to pretend that stuff doesn't apply until you get to level three and actually get to pick it. And if your archetype for level three involves some kind of a process or a change, you either have to hand wave it, shoehorn it into the story, or change the circumstances by which you came into that archetype.
I suppose that speaks to what I still have to learn as a story teller, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with how I made the transition for a few characters into their archetype as they leveled up from two to three in my campaign.
Perhaps levels 1 and 2 is your character honing those skills, training during rest and downtime to be able to do them properly and reliably?
I've been on a roll with making a rogue for a game I'll be joining soon, and since he's starting at level 5 I've given him a more fleshed out adventuring history.
In this case, I've been writing one such adventure in the form of a screenplay. Since the character is inspired by all sorts of adventure movie protagonists, a screenplay felt appropriate for a part of the backstory.
I'm probably not going to make it into a feature length screenplay, for several reasons. However, it's got me thinking about how this story would pan out as an actual adventure for players to experience.
Do you think PCs' backstories can make exciting adventures? Are adventures like this best suited to characters starting at higher levels than 1st, or does a level 1 character backstory have enough material to make a playable adventure out of?
Leave your thoughts below, I'd love to see what y'all have to say. Happy adventuring!
My level 1 character Dark wing a lvl 1 Dragonborn who had been hit by amnesia. All he remembers was that he was a pirate and he has a mental break down whenever he sees fire...
reply if you want the full story
I'd love to learn more about this amnesiac dragonborn pirate. What kind of adventure do you think could stem from Dark Wing's past?
As a player and DM I don't think there should be too much adventure in a level 1 character's backstory, since you don't want to come into the first session feeling like a badass with your backstory, and then realize that you're weak and severely breakable :P However, I do think higher level characters can stand to have it, and I do think level 1 characters should have an interesting backstory. I always ask my players to have at least one mystery in their backstory. Something that they don't know, that they are 100% okay with me doing whatever I want with.
For my current party:
Whenever I write a backstory for my own character in games I try to keep it one page or shorter, and if I know the DM's world I'll ensure to include one connection to something/some place for them, as well as one mystery that I leave for them to do with what they will (or will not, if they choose not to use it).
I don't want him to be badass, I just want a original backstory.
I'm creating the Dark wing Character as we speak, and if you want the full backstory ill gladly tell you juts type 'muffins' and ill tell you his full backstory :P 'if you want to'
Hey Aruza, my post was in response to the questions that OP asked in the top post. See:
you can make any backstory for a lvl 1 character and it will make an amazing adventure as long as you don't make them over powered.
Ok so I'm bored right now you guys have any campaigns?
A character backstory informs how the player will behave during the campaign. It gives them motivation (gold? justice? revenge?) for being an adventurer at all.
This can become a problem when the adventurer is thrown in with a bunch of other players whose characters have their OWN backstories, and a DM who has a story she wants tell.
A clever DM can help weave interesting threads from the backstories into the main story, but really everyone should remember that their character is not interesting to anyone else. It's fun to come up with a detailed story for your character, but you shouldn't expect the rest of the group to care. And you REALLY shouldn't expect the campaign story to revolve around your character's history.
I've never done it, but it could be interesting for the players to get together and come up with a shared backstory and present that to the DM as the premise for the campaign.
This is an aspect of 5e that I've struggled with on more than one occasion. Assuming the adventure starts at level one, you pick your race and class, but you don't pick your archetype until level three. Several times now, the character's backstory assumes the archetype and how it plays into the overall background of the character... but levels one and two are this awkward time where you have to pretend that stuff doesn't apply until you get to level three and actually get to pick it. And if your archetype for level three involves some kind of a process or a change, you either have to hand wave it, shoehorn it into the story, or change the circumstances by which you came into that archetype.
I suppose that speaks to what I still have to learn as a story teller, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with how I made the transition for a few characters into their archetype as they leveled up from two to three in my campaign.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Perhaps levels 1 and 2 is your character honing those skills, training during rest and downtime to be able to do them properly and reliably?
hello 2 new people TexasDevin and summerlion