So... I'm playing in my first ever campaign and having a blast! But I'm worried my character backstory is subpar, even though it works with the campaign.
First some background, I mod a LGBT discord server that comprises of fans of a (now shut down) visual novel app that focused on romance and had different series, (including mythology, gangs, fantasy and superheroes) that was also full of LGBT romance options. One day I jokingly suggested we do a D&D campaign where we romance our favorite characters... well one of the other mods took it quite literally and it became reality. The campaign itself is a home brew campaign and our big baddie is power hungry and willing to do anything to secure it.
so, I created a fairy life domain cleric and I rolled for siblings and wound up with 6, so I went with the village was destroyed trope, (Mostly because there's gonna be a ton of NPCs to keep track of and I didn't want to add 7 more to the mix and... let's say my character didn't just have mental scars and leave it at that. My village was fairly large as it was a popular stop for trade caravans and thrived until a group of orcs attacked, and destroyed the whole village , leaving my character as sole survivor, a large elf clan managed to save me and took me to their capital when I lived with a group of nuns worshiping Hestia. (Now not all of my siblings are dead, the 2 eldest left prior and my character doesn't know where they are or if they are alive, I suggested to my DM that we could tie them into a plot line introduced by a different PC). I am also not doing the whole revenge is the only thing I want thing, instead my character was raised at a nunnery to the Greek Goddess Hestia and spent many years there learning medicine and helping people, praying for them and treating wounds, and just before meeting the rest of the party, was charged by Hestia to protect her followers and was granted the abilities of a cleric. (Essentially the big bad is destroying families her own first and foremost and I’m charged with helping stop her, hence why Hestia is having me get involved, it’s something that would attract her attention)
So... I'm playing in my first ever campaign and having a blast! But I'm worried my character backstory is subpar, even though it works with the campaign.
First some background, I mod a LGBT discord server that comprises of fans of a (now shut down) visual novel app that focused on romance and had different series, (including mythology, gangs, fantasy and superheroes) that was also full of LGBT romance options. One day I jokingly suggested we do a D&D campaign where we romance our favorite characters... well one of the other mods took it quite literally and it became reality.
so, I created a fairy life domain cleric and I rolled for siblings and wound up with 6, so I went with the village was destroyed trope, (Mostly because there's gonna be a ton of NPCs to keep track of and I didn't want to add 7 more to the mix and... let's say my character didn't just have mental scars and leave it at that. (Now not all of my siblings are dead, the 2 eldest left prior and my character doesn't know where they are or if they are alive, I suggested to my DM that we could tie them into a plot line introduced by a different PC). I am also not doing the whole revenge is the only thing I want thing, instead my character was raised at a nunnery to the Greek Goddess Hestia and spent many years there learning medicine and helping people, praying for them and treating wounds, and just before meeting the rest of the party, was charged by Hestia to protect her followers and was granted the abilities of a cleric.
so... what do you all think?
Did you grow up in the feywild?-or on different plane? That would really effect who your characters had interacted with previously.
Just thinking, as it is at the end of your backstory, it feels a little bit tied on for the part about Hestia. Maybe your character was in the village when it was destroyed by ___ (what was it destroyed by?)-and only escaped when their magical powers from Hestia manifested.
Also, if you chose what or how your village was destroyed, it could help give you a bond or flaw, such as hating what type of creatures destroyed your village, or being afraid of a natural disaster if that destroyed the village.
My proposed advice/changes: If I were you, I would have the nunnery be located in the village you grew up in, (it may already be, I don't know,) and say that your magical clerical powers manifested and you thank Hestia for you being able to escape. If that's when your powers manifested, maybe that's also when Hestia said that your character will find a party and you should use you powers to protect them. Maybe the nunnery was destroyed as well?
PS- Nice back story, everything in the world could do to be better, but overall your back story is quite good.
So... I'm playing in my first ever campaign and having a blast! But I'm worried my character backstory is subpar, even though it works with the campaign.
First some background, I mod a LGBT discord server that comprises of fans of a (now shut down) visual novel app that focused on romance and had different series, (including mythology, gangs, fantasy and superheroes) that was also full of LGBT romance options. One day I jokingly suggested we do a D&D campaign where we romance our favorite characters... well one of the other mods took it quite literally and it became reality.
so, I created a fairy life domain cleric and I rolled for siblings and wound up with 6, so I went with the village was destroyed trope, (Mostly because there's gonna be a ton of NPCs to keep track of and I didn't want to add 7 more to the mix and... let's say my character didn't just have mental scars and leave it at that. (Now not all of my siblings are dead, the 2 eldest left prior and my character doesn't know where they are or if they are alive, I suggested to my DM that we could tie them into a plot line introduced by a different PC). I am also not doing the whole revenge is the only thing I want thing, instead my character was raised at a nunnery to the Greek Goddess Hestia and spent many years there learning medicine and helping people, praying for them and treating wounds, and just before meeting the rest of the party, was charged by Hestia to protect her followers and was granted the abilities of a cleric.
so... what do you all think?
Serviceable. There's a problem with characters who died before the narrative started... They don't get to participate in creating the narrative. In a novel you can write a flashback, and so have those characters' actions matter, and if your game is moderated through text, you might be able to do so in a certain kind of D&D game, but mostly you've written out formative relationships which could reveal a lot about the character.
Likewise, Hestia makes for complications. These could be productive complications or interfering complications--mostly, the description here makes them unaddressed complications. The existence of Hestia in the game world creates a connection between the game world and the out-of-game world. Tolkien's Middle Earth is our world in an age past--mostly so that Tuesday could be a thing in the story. How does your gameworld benefit from that connection?
So... I'm playing in my first ever campaign and having a blast! But I'm worried my character backstory is subpar, even though it works with the campaign.
First some background, I mod a LGBT discord server that comprises of fans of a (now shut down) visual novel app that focused on romance and had different series, (including mythology, gangs, fantasy and superheroes) that was also full of LGBT romance options. One day I jokingly suggested we do a D&D campaign where we romance our favorite characters... well one of the other mods took it quite literally and it became reality.
so, I created a fairy life domain cleric and I rolled for siblings and wound up with 6, so I went with the village was destroyed trope, (Mostly because there's gonna be a ton of NPCs to keep track of and I didn't want to add 7 more to the mix and... let's say my character didn't just have mental scars and leave it at that. (Now not all of my siblings are dead, the 2 eldest left prior and my character doesn't know where they are or if they are alive, I suggested to my DM that we could tie them into a plot line introduced by a different PC). I am also not doing the whole revenge is the only thing I want thing, instead my character was raised at a nunnery to the Greek Goddess Hestia and spent many years there learning medicine and helping people, praying for them and treating wounds, and just before meeting the rest of the party, was charged by Hestia to protect her followers and was granted the abilities of a cleric.
so... what do you all think?
Did you grow up in the feywild?-or on different plane? That would really effect who your characters had interacted with previously.
Just thinking, as it is at the end of your backstory, it feels a little bit tied on for the part about Hestia. Maybe your character was in the village when it was destroyed by ___ (what was it destroyed by?)-and only escaped when their magical powers from Hestia manifested.
Also, if you chose what or how your village was destroyed, it could help give you a bond or flaw, such as hating what type of creatures destroyed your village, or being afraid of a natural disaster if that destroyed the village.
My proposed advice/changes: If I were you, I would have the nunnery be located in the village you grew up in, (it may already be, I don't know,) and say that your magical clerical powers manifested and you thank Hestia for you being able to escape. If that's when your powers manifested, maybe that's also when Hestia said that your character will find a party and you should use you powers to protect them. Maybe the nunnery was destroyed as well?
PS- Nice back story, everything in the world could do to be better, but overall your back story is quite good.
Thanks, I forgot to mention that my village was located on a trade route between two cites so it was a popular stop for trade caravans. It was destroyed by orcs (essentially a mafia enforcer squad, but my character doesn’t know that). So, before I joined the party, the nunnery I lived at is in one of the capital cities of the world, (home brew world). I was rescued by elves from that city (although you suggestion that my Cleric powers manifested and allowed me to escape, and I thank Hestia for it is really good) anyway I appreciate you taking the time to read it and giving feedback. Thanks a lot.
If I were your DM, I'd sit down with you and ask you to clarify some things (you've put quite a few things in there which can serve as potential plot hooks), but overall there's nothing wrong with it. A backstory doesn't have to be a novel, all it has to do is explain how the character ended up where they are now. I always tell my players that if they need only 2 words, then use only 2 words; if they need 10 pages, then write 10 pages (please don't write 10 pages).
The question you should be asking is if the backstory serves the goals of the campaing well. You only need a fully fleshed out backstory if your DM leans heavily into character drama, but if it's just about progressing a plot, you can get away with basically a simple timeline of events.
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So... I'm playing in my first ever campaign and having a blast! But I'm worried my character backstory is subpar, even though it works with the campaign.
First some background, I mod a LGBT discord server that comprises of fans of a (now shut down) visual novel app that focused on romance and had different series, (including mythology, gangs, fantasy and superheroes) that was also full of LGBT romance options. One day I jokingly suggested we do a D&D campaign where we romance our favorite characters... well one of the other mods took it quite literally and it became reality. The campaign itself is a home brew campaign and our big baddie is power hungry and willing to do anything to secure it.
so, I created a fairy life domain cleric and I rolled for siblings and wound up with 6, so I went with the village was destroyed trope, (Mostly because there's gonna be a ton of NPCs to keep track of and I didn't want to add 7 more to the mix and... let's say my character didn't just have mental scars and leave it at that. My village was fairly large as it was a popular stop for trade caravans and thrived until a group of orcs attacked, and destroyed the whole village , leaving my character as sole survivor, a large elf clan managed to save me and took me to their capital when I lived with a group of nuns worshiping Hestia. (Now not all of my siblings are dead, the 2 eldest left prior and my character doesn't know where they are or if they are alive, I suggested to my DM that we could tie them into a plot line introduced by a different PC). I am also not doing the whole revenge is the only thing I want thing, instead my character was raised at a nunnery to the Greek Goddess Hestia and spent many years there learning medicine and helping people, praying for them and treating wounds, and just before meeting the rest of the party, was charged by Hestia to protect her followers and was granted the abilities of a cleric. (Essentially the big bad is destroying families her own first and foremost and I’m charged with helping stop her, hence why Hestia is having me get involved, it’s something that would attract her attention)
so... what do you all think?
Did you grow up in the feywild?-or on different plane? That would really effect who your characters had interacted with previously.
Just thinking, as it is at the end of your backstory, it feels a little bit tied on for the part about Hestia. Maybe your character was in the village when it was destroyed by ___ (what was it destroyed by?)-and only escaped when their magical powers from Hestia manifested.
Also, if you chose what or how your village was destroyed, it could help give you a bond or flaw, such as hating what type of creatures destroyed your village, or being afraid of a natural disaster if that destroyed the village.
My proposed advice/changes: If I were you, I would have the nunnery be located in the village you grew up in, (it may already be, I don't know,) and say that your magical clerical powers manifested and you thank Hestia for you being able to escape. If that's when your powers manifested, maybe that's also when Hestia said that your character will find a party and you should use you powers to protect them. Maybe the nunnery was destroyed as well?
PS- Nice back story, everything in the world could do to be better, but overall your back story is quite good.
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HERE.Serviceable. There's a problem with characters who died before the narrative started... They don't get to participate in creating the narrative. In a novel you can write a flashback, and so have those characters' actions matter, and if your game is moderated through text, you might be able to do so in a certain kind of D&D game, but mostly you've written out formative relationships which could reveal a lot about the character.
Likewise, Hestia makes for complications. These could be productive complications or interfering complications--mostly, the description here makes them unaddressed complications. The existence of Hestia in the game world creates a connection between the game world and the out-of-game world. Tolkien's Middle Earth is our world in an age past--mostly so that Tuesday could be a thing in the story. How does your gameworld benefit from that connection?
Thanks, I forgot to mention that my village was located on a trade route between two cites so it was a popular stop for trade caravans. It was destroyed by orcs (essentially a mafia enforcer squad, but my character doesn’t know that). So, before I joined the party, the nunnery I lived at is in one of the capital cities of the world, (home brew world). I was rescued by elves from that city (although you suggestion that my Cleric powers manifested and allowed me to escape, and I thank Hestia for it is really good) anyway I appreciate you taking the time to read it and giving feedback. Thanks a lot.
If I were your DM, I'd sit down with you and ask you to clarify some things (you've put quite a few things in there which can serve as potential plot hooks), but overall there's nothing wrong with it. A backstory doesn't have to be a novel, all it has to do is explain how the character ended up where they are now. I always tell my players that if they need only 2 words, then use only 2 words; if they need 10 pages, then write 10 pages (please don't write 10 pages).
The question you should be asking is if the backstory serves the goals of the campaing well. You only need a fully fleshed out backstory if your DM leans heavily into character drama, but if it's just about progressing a plot, you can get away with basically a simple timeline of events.
What's the worst that could happen?