Backstory Relevance
Have you had trouble finding the voice for your character. Maybe you just can’t figure out how to make your character’s drive match the story that the Overlord wishes to place in front of you. Maybe you are an Overlord and want to make sure your players have a detailed backstory with facts of your world or the setting you are running. Well here are some tips to hopefully help you out!
Character creation can be an amazing time and amazing ideas can come out of it. One of the major problems that I have seen from playing and also seen in the community is not combining the idea of the character with the world that they will be in. For example I want to play a character who has served in the army of a kingdom for many years but the resent ruler-ship has taken to having innocent citizens slaughtered and my character has given up his position in the army he once loved to go against the murder of the innocents, his name will be Dagonight. Pretty good backstory but it lacks the depth into the world that he lives. If I was in a sandbox session or a one shot then perhaps that will work because it doesn't need to be a huge drive for a plot. If this however was a pre-built campaign or even a home-brew there is a whole base plot to the world it would lack the depth to create a drive for the character to want to follow the story built for the characters. To help the Overlord out talk with them to maybe add what kingdom your character served for, who the ruler was at the time, name of an order they might have joined to fight this tyranny. Add in a home village or what brought them into the area, how long they have been there, where have they have been in the world. All of these create a deeper root system for your character in the world which allows you to get into the characters shoes. Next will be an example of adding in those details mentioned above.
Dagonight had served King Fredrick for many years achieving his dream since birth of wanting to be in the royal army of Zentric. He has helped to fight goblin hoards, barbaric wild men, and even some undead uprisings from destroying the country he loves so much. After the sad passing of King Fredrick his only son, Mozdin took the throne. Under Mozdin the country had started to crumble and innocent people were executed to his cruel tyranny. Dagonight cast down the colors he once so proudly wore and decided to help fight for those unable to fight for themselves and try and better the world that is unfolding around him. This backstory adds much more info to the character Dagonight and helps show what he is willing to fight for.
These are some of the things that as a Overlord you will want to request from players or what a player may request from you so make sure they have the proper information on the campaign at hand. This info does not need to maybe tie into the direct nature of the story but you now have any easier way to connect the roleplay of that character into the story you have fashioned without it seeming forced. Weaving a players story into your own plot will keep a players attention and if a player is actively reaching out for a way to tie into the Overlord's plot it is easy to keep everything on track without making it feel like their character would not do such a thing. It will also allow the events to follow in a manner of it’s own, instead of trying to constantly create a catalyst every time to make the characters move in one direction they will already feel that catalyst from their backstory.
As a player I always find this method to bring me to question more of the culture of the area. Making me understand some of the key plot points a lot better because of my own involvement in the story. It also makes me find my characters voice and reasoning a lot easier in the sense of roleplay. If you wish to have a better roleplay in your sessions you should try this method the next character you have to create I am sure your Overlord will love to help you in this endeavor.
We at TableTop Totality hope you enjoyed our article and if you have any questions feel free to message us over any of our social media or even send us an email! Until next time keep on having fun!
