Everyone’s heard horror stories of players writing 20-page backstories for an RPG campaign, only to have none of it ever come up in play! While excitement and enthusiasm for your character is awesome for you and your game table, nobody wants that much effort to just go to waste. Here’s what your backstory actually needs to be easy to write, useful for your Game Master, and leave room for your character to grow in play.
Named, Living NPCs
While the no-doubt tragic death of your character’s parents is important to their backstory, what really gives them the juice is NPCs, or non-player characters, who are still around. Living relatives like parents, siblings, or even children, childhood friends, colleagues and coworkers, and my personal favorite, lovers and ex-lovers, all give your GM interesting characters to play with and incorporate into adventure hooks and scenarios.
Consider your character’s abilities as you’re starting out and figure out who taught them what they know. A mentor or trainer figure is an awesome gift to give both yourself and your GM, who may be looking to create a patron or quest-giver NPC. If you like the idea of a rivalry, create a rival or even an enemy for yourself; your GM will almost certainly love to include a character who’s made it their mission to make your life worse.
If you’re worried about these characters coming to harm or being used against you, reach out to your GM and ask if they’d consider certain characters off-limits, or respect some boundaries you set about how your backstory NPCs might operate. In almost all cases, depending on the tone of the game and setting, a reasonable GM will agree! If you would love to see these characters imperiled or used against you, tell your GM that too; I can practically guarantee you they’ll give you your wish.
Secrets and Mistakes
Everybody wants to brag about the amazing accomplishments of their level 1 adventurer, but secrets and mistakes are way more interesting. A failure your character cannot forget, an obligation they broke, a crime they committed, or a crime people think they committed, gives them both momentum at the start of the game and a bit of heroic duty, assuming they don’t intend to repeat their mistakes. Beginning with a mistake in the rearview mirror propels your character into action, and gives your GM a nice consequence to bring to bear if you’re interested in your past catching up with you.
Similarly, a few well-placed secrets your character keeps can add texture, intrigue, and mystique to your roleplay. Maybe one of those mistakes is your dark secret, or maybe you work with the GM to figure out a piece of critical information you know but can’t readily reveal. Note that just because your character keeps a secret doesn’t mean you as a player have to. In fact, I’ve had great experiences with all my players at the table being fully aware of the characters’ secrets, allowing them to play into them and making sure the “big reveal” doesn’t fall flat.
In any case, don’t hang onto secrets too tightly, and don’t overdo it. Secrets are a light spice on a character’s backstory, so just sprinkle a little in for flavor.
Motivations
Perhaps the most important thing your backstory can give you is motivation. Your character should want to go on adventures, and their history can give them a reason. Maybe they have an obligation to keep, or wish to atone for one of their mistakes. Maybe their parent or mentor has grand expectations of them, or the grandeur of their own ambitions drives them forward. A strong motivation, even if it’s not immediately achievable, can carry you through an entire campaign. A fresh character who wishes to become a king will never lack motivation!
Be careful if your only motivation is “money;” what does your character want all that money for? A character who only desires wealth and comfort can retire pretty quickly from adventuring, but one who wants to build their own academy or guild has a great long-term project.
If their goal is immediately or readily achievable, be ready to figure out why your character might keep adventuring after they’ve ostensibly accomplished their goal—or be open to the possibility of retiring them and creating a new highly motivated PC!
Whitespace
Most players have the impulse to know their characters completely, inside and out, right from the start. It’s understandable, but I strongly recommend leaving your new character some room to grow. A few gaps in the backstory not only make room for your party members to fit in, but also for you to discover surprises about your character in play. As fun as backstory can be, the actual game is going to be all “frontstory;” the things your character actually does! Some space for new motivations and connections to emerge, found family, and evolving character development make your character dynamic, instead of a crystallized, static character with a full, actualized history at the start of the game.
Playability
All of these elements are aimed at your character’s playability. They help the GM build the world, populate it with interesting characters your PC is connected to, and give your character the push they need at the start of the game to go on an adventure. Most importantly, they leave stories untold, for you to actually experience them in the game, rather than beginning with your story having already happened.
Give your GM a (brief! BRIEF!!) backstory with these elements, and you hand them a toolbox of characters and narrative hooks that they can use to involve, intrigue, and envelop your character in the events of your campaign together.
If you’ve got a new character ready just waiting for a campaign, be sure to check out open tables on StartPlaying!
Sean Foer is a game designer, editor, writer, video creator and professional GM.
