Campaigns are large sandboxes for adventurers to play in. Some DMs prefer to have more linear campaign progression, but the freedom of D&D is that you can do just about anything you want. For some players, that level of freedom brings forth a need for some stability. If that player is a DM, they can set whatever rules the table needs to achieve it. Your campaign’s world is whatever your group needs it to be. Players often react by creating extremely rich backstories for their characters as a pillar to lean on. A rogue princess with a royal curse to break; a lone barbarian who scoured the land from a young age, fighting for survival at every turn; or a prodigious mage’s assistant, finally being sent out into the world to learn and use magic as they’ve always dreamt of.
Many players are used to intricate backstories because that’s largely how many fantasy stories begin. And while that’s a completely valid way of building a character, there’s another side of (many sides of) character creation to explore. Frontstory. In my endless sea of lectures I’ve found that frontstory is best explained with the examples of the fictionally consistent, Jim Sterling inspired, Chungus and Grungus.
The Timeless Epic of Chungus and Grungus
Let’s call your adventurer with the two-page backstory, Chungus. They have, for example:
- A family lineage that includes some recent direct-family death or illness
- A personal mystery that they will allude to, but don’t plan to reveal until 12 weeks in
- One powerful childhood moment that set them on the path of becoming an adventurer
Because Chungus was built on these elements, all of the reactions they have to present events will be weighed against that backstory. That’s how our player figures out who Chungus is; using their backstory as a filter and seeing what comes out. A pitfall of this is that players keep their eyes on week 12 more so than what’s happening in front of them.
One day, Chungus’ time comes to an end. A victim of DM’s critical success and a player’s critical failure, dear Chungus perishes at a time and in a place where there’s no hope for them to continue on. We’ve lost Chungus. Gone, but never forgotten. Press F to pay respects. Chungus’ player didn’t get far enough in the campaign to reach their fulfilling reveals—and thus, all the backstory that was never revealed or never paid off is lost to the wind.
After the funeral and a hero’s sending, a new adventurer must take their place. Though Chungus’s journey is over, their player still wants to be a part of the game. And so our player has some options. They could whip out an old favorite from another campaign. They could make a brand new character who is so tied into the narrative that of COURSE they’d join the party—but our hypothetical player doesn’t have the time to write a chunky, plot hook-laden backstory this time. So instead of those options, they create Grungus.
Our player didn’t have a lot of time to write a chunky, plot hook-laden backstory for Grungus, so this new character is just a strong warrior who happens to have a horse in this narrative’s race. Since this player has little history to riff off of, they use each event as an opportunity to be a fresh eye peering into the lives of a close-knit group, just to remain relevant. To this player’s surprise this works. Not just as a way to navigate the game, but as a way to have fun. Why?
It’s because Grungus is all about what’s happening in the moment. The point of frontstory is to let go of the foundations and let the present be the beginning of your epic.
Backstory isn’t a dirty word. All good characters need motivation, and a character’s backstory can be rich with motivations. They give the player a clear path forward and a clear way to react to the things around them. Backstories are a guide on where to start before players get into the rhythm of who their characters grow into later on. Grungus, however, throws the guide out the window.
Frontstory is about making those important bullet points that Chungus had and creating them all later, based in the events that happened in the game’s present, not its hypothetical past. The personality and development of the character is heavily weighed in when they begin to understand their party and the journey they’re undertaking. Here’s an example:
In two different campaigns, Chungus and Grungus both find themselves in the same situation: collecting loot at the end of a battle. They both find out that one of the rogues that they killed had only joined this band of thieves to eventually find the assassin that killed her family. There’s a hidden diary filled with pictures and notes about her entire journey. It’s a very emotional moment for the players, but how do the characters react?
Chungus can often have their reaction tied down to the personality or experiences dictated in their history. Chungus decides that, because they’re supposed to be gruff and absent of emotion due to many past family deaths, that this assassin’s note isn’t an important development. It’s still completely possible for Chungus’ player to move their adventurer in the opposite direction, to help this deceased woman on her quest, but if backstory players aren’t careful, everything gets filtered through that dense history and passed by without a second thought.
Grungus doesn’t have any large traumas or past incidents that hold them back from assessing the character choice presented before them. Thus, whatever decision they make is based on the principles that the player is being faced with rather than being filtered. Do you want Grungus to be more empathetic? Do you want them to dash immediately into this new quest, or are they going to support whatever decision is made by the party at large? Is Grungus more hopeful than the others because they’ve seen fewer horrors? Or are they cold-hearted and focused on the main story quest? Any type of character can face these questions, but frontstory characters have each and every decision they make impacted by how much character there is to build. A character that isn’t burdened by backstory is able to act dynamically, and make the most interesting decision in the moment. Grungus is a vehicle made to learn that lesson.
The Great Reflector
There are a great many uses for characters build solely from frontstory, but one of the most useful is the ability to turn pieces of the party’s identity back at the characters. Adventures take a toll on adventurers. We receive battle scars of the body as well as the mind. The longer that this continues on, the more that people begin to become accustomed to the process of scarring. Seeing a young warrior die doesn’t carry the weight that it once did, because it can’t. To journey toward one’s final destination, the normalcy of war is an inevitability.
Grungus, as someone who can join a campaign at any point in the narrative curve, is able to look at the other characters from the perspective of one who doesn’t carry that burden. They can be a vehicle to ask some big questions like, “How have we changed from where we began?” For the group of players who enjoy some deep philosophical thinking, this question can lead to some major character development.
Not all of the reflections that Grungus brings to the table have to be loaded with heavy undertones. For more mischievous players, you can use them as a way to poke at tense romances and friendly rivalries. A brand new teammate is unknowing of the “this is complicated” energy standing between your “two ladies just bein’ pals and swinging swords”. It’s a fair question to ask what that tension is about, especially at a very tense romantic moment between the two.
Not every Grungus has to be born yesterday. Being focused on frontstory doesn’t mean that a character can’t have defining ideals or experiences. Grungus can be brand new to adventures of this scale, or they can be a seasoned warrior of even higher caliber than the character they’re replacing. The core of frontstory is to let the major details of who they are and what moves their motivations be decided in the tense moments of the present to a much larger degree than in the past.
How to Build Frontstory
So we know what Grungus can do and how they can use their position in their social group to mix things up, but how does one make the beautiful, most amazing Grungus of legend? Well, it comes down to fundamental theming. Building as you go, which is the core of frontstory, doesn’t mean that you have no foundation from which to progress. The road you begin from can stand on a principle or idea.
Most players encounter a “Grungus opportunity” when their character dies, as mentioned earlier. If the campaign has been going on for some time and you’re choosing to add a brand new hero to the story, having an illustrious backstory may solve the question as to why you arrive, but it may not give you time to explore the potential value of said story in what little time the campaign has left. A new character can connect and blend into the campaign by reflecting off of the existing narrative themes.
What are those themes? If you aren’t sure, try talking to your DM or fellow players. In heroic campaigns, these themes can include empathy, the concept of good and evil, personal loss, fear of the future, or of the past coming back to haunt a world of peace. These elements of your hero’s journey are just as valuable as making an old friend, or as pragmatic as choosing to play a non-player character. The set of skills you use to bring your adventurer into the fold are focused on what the story is about, rather than what a character might have been before the story took place. The nuance of this awareness can bring about new ways to enjoy not only D&D, but roleplaying in general.
Why Would I Grungus When I Can Chungus
Or, why would I ever make a backstory-less character if I enjoy writing elaborate backstories? A fantastic question! Here’s another: how many times have you begun a campaign as someone who has yet to hold a sword, or who has never cast a spell? If that number is zero, then there’s an opportunity to experience something you never have before.
When you create a character with a dense backstory, you partially answer a great deal of questions on your own that you may wish to explore together with your party. How did I learn to fight? Who were my mentors or teachers? What difficulties arose that made me venture out into this grand world of fantasy? Sometimes a backstory is used as a way for players to set a checkmark next to these questions to signify that they’re answered rather than letting the campaign be the host for those answers.
In early editions of Dungeons and Dragons, non-player characters that don’t have stat blocks or character sheets are level 0. They don’t have skills to check or scores to modify. They are normal, everyday people. Your character was likely just like them, until one day they weren’t. You begin the journey that will one day become a story better than you could have written alone.
So if you’re from the land of backstories, try piloting a Grungus around in your next oneshot. And for those living for each moment to moment engagement, give backstory a try and see what it brings out of you as a player.
Whatever happens, new experiences help freshen up old skills. So take the leap and see what’s on the other side.
Have you ever created a character with no backstory, and whose personality developed exclusively through frontstory? Tell us about them in the comments!
DC is an independent game designer, and the creator and author of plot ARMOR, as well as a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast. You can find them assisting the tabletop roleplaying game community’s growth on Twitter @DungeonCommandr.
Grungus is the better character by far. So much better to play this way then with a backstory. A first level character doesn't need an essay on things you wish to impose on the adventure. Let things develop as you play
F for Chungus
Awesome article. Thank you.
Another great article, DC! Your insightful perspectives are really interesting and useful, and your examples are quite funny. I hope to see more articles from you soon!
I'm definitely going to try to work some more frontstory into my characters as I find backstory-heavy to often be too rigid in the course of actual play.
It's also great to see another NB RPG player!
This is how I play most of my characters. Because most of the people I've played with have created complicated backstories for their characters I've always been afraid that I was playing D&D "incorrectly" by not creating a backstory for whatever character I'm playing, so it's nice to see an article that encourages creating a character in the moment of gameplay.
It doesn't encourage "that kind of play" the article is a look at two different styles of character building with an invitation to explore both. Seems like you just wanna be bitter and make sure everyone knows it
Rip chungus
"My character killed everyone close to him" can absolutely catch up to him.
"My character (thought he) killed everyone close to him, so he was quite surprised to discover that one (survived and swore revenge/had a family member who swore revenge/rose as an undead driven by revenge/was kept from death by a powerful being and is now a warlock who may be an ally and may want revenge/wizard from his home city implanted false memories to persuade him to leave and escape a looming disaster)"
Thank you so much for writing this! I've often found that games aren't as fun with deep, convoluted backstories, and you've helped me figure out why. Plus, now I feel like my opinion is valid and I'm not crazy. :-)
I may have a unique experience to this, but I have found that players who don’t backstory characters always play the same characters (personality and attitude) with different stats.
My view of character creation in the 5e PHB; that being race, class, background, is that it is in the wrong order.
I think it should be:
1) Race (what you were born as)
2) Background (what you did before becoming an adventurer)
3) Class (what you do now you are an adventurer)
Following that you get your back story through race / back ground and your catalyst for adventuring through background /class, plenty of scope to be as detailed as you want.
Great article! I tend to write far too much backstory for my characters, and this article has helped me realize the benefits of frontstory.
Yess!!!
All my characters are well adjusted farmkids, scholars, or tourists who decide to answer the call to adventure.
If they die, well. They didn't have a grand destiny set before them anyway.
If they do better than the lady who reincarnated from another world after fighting through 12 mechs and 100 assassins on her wedding night, well. :p
Ok here's the thing, background is supposed to give your character perspective and give a few plothooks for the dm. This front story thing is something every character should go through. It's called character growth. A background can be as detailed or light as desired, but there should be some.
No background should be so rigid and all defining a character can't grow or not care about the dms plot, and no hooks so all invasive that it requires the dm to design the game around it, or becomes an all defining obsession for your character.
Balance in all things. My issue with this article is it's billing this as two ways to make a character, but in my opinion both must be half a character as apparently the background character is too defined and the frontstory character too undefined.
Both are viable but incomplete. I've seen too many characters with tons of overdefined backgrounds with no room for growth and care for the dms plot and too many characters on the opposite extreme totally undefined and with no real personality or connections.
The best characters have a backstory to filter through, but with enough room for growth and reasons built into to care about things in the world outside their own little microcosm. A character build with a defined microcosm but connects and cares about the macrocosm outside that microcosm.
As for my distaste that the being told to respect someone for my giving my opinion of full character's being split into two halves and seprated... I treat everyone the same until I've grown to know them personally. Besides I said sounds like, not is. I didn't accuse them I gave my opinion of what this line of thinking sounds like. It's great advice for time sensitive character creation, but that's it. Is not something to encourage as a standard.
As for background on me, I'm a home health aide that works sixty to eighty hours a week for crap pay, while spending my own money to help my clients and go above and beyond to do things my clients need that falls far outside the purview of my job. All respectable things that might cause a person to respect me. I'd still rather people give me their honest opinion of things I say or do, and would find it annoying if people who barely know me as a person started demanding people give me respect. Especially for an honest opinion. Is not like I threatened him, or implied he was a disgusting human being, or treated him with nothing but scorn. Could I have said it nicer? Sure I suppose.
I just find it crazy when people demand respect for people they don't know. Both he and I could outside the things we do that's so respectable, be serial killers or do other terrible things you know nothing about. You don't know us personally. Plenty of terrible people do great things, and no matter how great a person, they can be wrong, and no one should be above reproach or questioning and no idea free from other perspectives.
So no it was not a trolling triggered comment, it was distaste for people demanding me to respect someone neither I nor they know.
I treat people and ideas as I see it at the moment til I learn more. Don't like it, too bad. King or pauper all the same to me until I know what goes on behind closed doors. Besides, one if the best ways to get to know the character of a person is to challenge them, not shove your nose up thier ass.
I don't even read the blurbs on who wrote the article, I don't really care, why should I? I thought we were reading an article not a bio? I said what the article sounded like and what mentality it felt in support of.
Great article!
Brilliant article!
see that’s when player character knowledge comes into play the backstory there are parts that I know that my character may not know happened behind his back but I’m just saying he was in a war and rolled a nat 20 and killed everyone it’s a very complex backstory and I don’t want to type it all here but since I made the backstory I say he killed everyone no exceptions
This is a great and refreshing perspective!!
I DM mostly and have to make up a lot of NPCs on the spot. That situational awareness that comes from being dropped into a moment is really fun. I love it and I will be starting my next campaign as a player in this fashion.
Good read, although I think it leans too heavily on the idea that backstory represents handcuffs to a player's story building ability, whereas I see it more as crutch. I mean, it's nice to have some background, and if something doesn't work, you can just drop or change it. It's not like most share their entire backstory with the other players at session 1.
I like backstories. I like to write them up in short story form. I like to see the effect that filter has on interpreting events the party sees totally differently. For example, we just had a session in one campaign where a council of bigwigs was deciding whether to deal with the growing threat directly or go to their homes, shut the gates and ride out the storm. Most of the party looked at this as an annoyance and that there was no point in making an argument for the direct option. They responded, but in a defensive way. Nothing wrong with that. My character, a half-orc with a traumatic brain injury that left him very childlike, made an impassioned plea based almost exclusively on his tragic backstory that gave him that injury. I feel that going with the flow of the party would have limited my ability to do that, and that the backstory gave weight to his plea.
On the other hand, I'm playing a dwarven diviner in another campaign. His backstory is negligible. It amounts to "He's an inspector for the city constabulary." This is in a campaign where the DM set up before-hand that the party were all members of the constabulary. I've had a blast adapting his story as the campaign has progressed (still fairly early at th\e moment. We're level 5). What has been great is that the DM has allowed me to create backstory elements as we've progressed provided they are not attempts to get past something. "Oh, the library won't let anyone in who isn't a member? I was gifted a lifetime membership from my parents when I graduated the Inspectors Academy. They're both members, and my mother is an assistant to the Chief Archivist- we can get in no problem," would not fly. But small details like the fact that he has an ex-wife, minor contacts and history and so on have come up organically in ways that work into the overall party's story.
I guess I'm saying that Backstory and Frontstory both have their places. In most characters, you'll probably have some blend of both. They're kind of two sides of the same coin, IMO. This article is a great reminder that you can swing a character toward one side or the other to take a fresh spin on a character.