RfP #010 - Whose Story Is It Anyway? Using Backstories to Drive the Game
In this episode, we dive into the powerful role character backstories play in tabletop role-playing games. Backstories aren’t just optional flavor—they can be the fuel that propels an entire campaign.
We unpack how thoughtful backstories can deepen player investment, shape the game’s direction, and create unforgettable moments of storytelling at the table. But it’s not all roses and tragic pasts—we also shine a light on some common missteps, like backstories that are too sprawling or characters that unintentionally hog the spotlight.
You’ll also get practical advice on crafting backstories that are rich, focused, and easy for GMs to incorporate into the game. Whether you're a player looking to bring your character to life or a GM searching for better ways to weave player histories into your world, this episode is for you.
Let’s talk about how your character’s past can shape the party’s future.
Takeaways:
- This episode explores the critical importance of character backstories in tabletop role-playing games, discussing how they enhance player engagement and narrative depth.
- We emphasize the necessity of collaboration between GMs and players to effectively integrate backstories into the gameplay experience, creating richer narratives.
- Listeners are encouraged to maintain concise yet impactful backstories that leave room for character development and integration into the overarching campaign.
- We caution against overly detailed or convoluted backstories, which can hinder gameplay and lead to spotlight imbalances among players during sessions.
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Transcript
You're listening to episode 10. Whose story is It Anyway? Using backstories to drive the game. It's time once again to Roll for Percepticast.
I'm Terry, your forever GM and lover of all things roleplay.
Evelyn:And I'm Evelyn, role player, GM and unrepentant dice goblin.
Terry:Join us as we roll our dice.
Evelyn:And talk in strange voices and bring.
Terry:To you our excitement and joy for all things tabletop role playing.
Evelyn:For more on Roll for Perceptacast, head over to www.rollforperception.com.
Terry:Yes, you heard that right, folks. We are now in episode 10. We are double digits for roll for perceptic S. And it's hard to believe.
Evelyn:Actually, it is.
Terry:It was started over a year ago. No less than a year ago. It was August, so less than a year ago, the big break. And now we're in episode 10.
Evelyn:Well, we were. We were recording when we were still at the duplex.
Terry:Yeah. So July.
Evelyn:July.
Terry:Yeah, it was July, So. So this is exciting. We're. I'm excited. This is fantastic. I am thrilled. Episode 10. And as you heard, we're talking this week about backstories.
Whose Story Is It Anyways? And for anybody that doesn't get that reference, Whose Line Is It Anyways? A classic, wonderful show.
Evelyn:Improv galore.
Terry:Yeah. Hey, look, they're good improv. And there was actually Colin and Ryan. Ryan at one time performed at Westminster College when I was teaching.
Evelyn:That's so cool.
Terry:Yeah. So I did not get to see them, unfortunately. Yeah, it is what it is.
Evelyn:All right, that's some. That's some Terry backstory for you.
Terry:Terry backstory. All right, so let's. We're going to start very quickly a brief example highlighting how a character's backstory can influence the session.
And I'm going to use one of my characters, and it's a story that I've told. Lots of people have heard it.
And this is the character of Shorewin, who is a beloved character in a game that I really enjoyed playing with the players that I had. And it was my first Streamed game. And the character itself was really cool. It was a cavalier from D and D&D 3.5 Pathfinder 1E.
I had a horse named Winston, and.
Evelyn:He was really the most beloved of the two of them, to be fair.
Terry:Much more loved than me. But I had written a pretty significant backstory about the character having a half Orc sister.
And there was, I would say, probably four or five sessions that my backstory was part of what we were doing.
Evelyn:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Terry:We did end up. That character did end up finding his sister. She had been kidnapped by orcs and she had kind of lived with them.
I actually, the first time around, we went searching for. Did not find her.
Evelyn:No. Yeah.
Terry:As we were leaving. Was it. I can't remember which town we were leaving, but we were leaving a town. This was.
Evelyn:Well, so this was Post Hommlet.
Terry:Yeah, this is Greyhawk.
Evelyn:Yeah, it was. It was somewhere around the mountains.
Terry:Yeah, because that's where we found.
Evelyn:Yeah, because. Because we were looking for a specific plant to save another NPC who had gotten injured.
Terry:Yep.
Evelyn:And that's kind of what led up to that. But I don't remember. It's been a while.
Terry:I know, but. But we ended up finding her and taking her back home. Well, not back home, but taking her away from the Orcish establishment.
And that character actually retired because of that backstory.
Evelyn:Yeah, because that was. That was his objective. He succeeded.
Terry:There was a lot that had happened to him. We won't go into the full. But his backstory did end up playing a prominent role in the campaign.
Evelyn:Yeah, absolutely.
Terry:And for me, that was really exciting. I know there were other characters that had backstory moments. The gnome.
Evelyn:Gimbal.
Terry:Gimbal. I remember his backstory moments. You know, it's really cool to have that moment when you've created a backstory.
And so we're going to be talking a little bit about backstories, how we can integrate the backstories into games, the challenges, the pitfalls, some of the best practices and tips also that you as a GM can do that.
But before we do that, I want you to make sure to check out rollforperception.com you can find our podcasts there, you can find our blog posts there, you can find lots of information there. So stop by there and social media if you feel like it. We're kind of all over the place there, so. All right.
Evelyn:And all those links are on the website, so. Plus our Discord.
Terry:Oh, yeah. Definitely want to get in our Discord. We're currently doing a play by post which is using the Legend of the Mist system. Really, really excited.
And Evelyn and I have just been working on our first ever one page TTRPG using the Lasers and Feelings system.
Evelyn:Yes. So it would be a familiar system. If you've done any of the. Of the one page RPG's that are out and circulating around the Internet, especially.
Terry:One of the biggest ones used the same base. And that is Honey Heist.
Evelyn:Yes. If you know that one, it's a good one.
Terry:So. So, yeah, so check us out on Discord as well. All right, well, let's. Let's jump right in. Let's jump right into the. The power of backstories.
Okay, so what is a backstory?
Evelyn:It's a story about the history of your character.
It might include their hopes, their dreams, their family, their trauma, their happy moments, and everything that has kind of made them who they are and what their place is in the world, how other characters that might not necessarily be members of the party see them. It could be people in the party.
Sometimes, you know, players will have, like, make connections with other members in their group and add them to their backstories as well, which we can get into that later. But yeah, it's. It's. It's essentially the history of your character.
Terry:Which, you know, this matters in tabletop role playing games, because in most tabletop role playing games, your characters are the center of attention. They are the reason the game is happening. You take the characters out of a ttrpg, the GM has nobody to guide through the world.
Evelyn:That's when we just sit and play with our minis.
Terry:Look, I'm a goblin, all right? Enough of that. But that is. And, and, and so these backstories help to flesh out our characters.
It also lets us, as the player, have a pretty good idea on how we should act and react to things that happen within the game.
Evelyn:Yep. And it gives. A lot of times, it gives us, you know, things to strive toward.
You know, we've created gaps for ourselves to look for things or may, you know, have objectives that we want to achieve or whatever, you know, motivation that we leave open at the end of the story, essentially, which kind of.
Terry:Kind of pushes into this enhances engagement.
We've talked a little bit about engagement, both in podcast and in blog form, but one of the biggest things is making sure that your players are engaged, and those backstories can help to contribute to that player investment. It brings a part of what they've created into the story.
Evelyn:Absolutely. Yeah.
Terry:One of the cool things there is, you know, obviously, you and I, we do theater and.
Evelyn:Yeah, a little bit.
Terry:Collaboration is such a big part of that.
Evelyn:Absolutely.
Terry:And when a GM can work with a player and work with their backstory and weave it into the tales that are being told, you get a group that meshes really well together. Obviously, there are examples of popular media that have backstories.
I mean, most actual play podcasts are going to kind of lean into that because it allows the players to.
Evelyn:Well, in the streams you know, the.
If without those backstory elements, you're not going to have a lot of people really watching that because they're not going to be attached to the characters.
Because having like, going along with the players, like when you're listening to these podcasts of actual plays, if you're watching the streams of these actual plays going along with the characters and like, you know, rooting for them to find the answers to the questions that they have, or when you get like a big, like, history dump about like something like that happened to them. And it's this pivotal emotional scene in the game.
Like, that's what draws us in as outside viewers for people who enjoy watching actual plays, because it gives us emotional connection and something more, you know, I can't find the word, but more like, more connective. Yeah, to.
Because otherwise you're just watching a bunch of people roll dice around a table, which is honestly, without that, that the, the emotional connection and the, that aspect of things, it's not going to be as fun to watch.
Terry:That's exactly it. There's one that I've been listening to. It's.
It's a fairly old podcast called Pretending to Be People and they're running a Delta Green game through it.
But the three characters, and this is in the first section there, if you ever listen to their podcast, you see they kind of go through different parts, but their characters in the original section had really intriguing backstories that helped to solidify who they were and why they did what they did in their actions within the game. And it was such a strong, like, grounding piece.
Evelyn:Absolutely.
Terry:That it just made me want to listen week in and week out.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:So here's a question. What makes a backstory good? Is it the depth? The mystery, connection to the world? What would you say makes a backstory good?
Evelyn:I mean, having something that feels well developed.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:I mean, you don't have to go into like a huge, like, novella about the character, but something that makes them feel more three dimensional.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Rather than just like a name on a piece of paper and something that leaves plenty of open spaces to, you know, hook onto to find the ways that they would work in the story.
So, like, you know, you don't want someone who has it all figured out already, because what's the point of even playing that character if they already have it all figured out, you know, but, you know, a really good backstory is one that has opportunity for growth, not just story wise, but for character growth as far as, like, them learning more about themselves, learning more about, you know, the way stepping out of their comfort zone will affect not only them, but the people around them, not only in the party, but the rest of the world itself.
Terry:Yeah, yeah, I think you've hit on some really good points there with that.
One of the biggest things that I'm finding is newer players tend to struggle more with writing their backstories, and I think there are a couple of things that are involved with that. Right. So new player coming into a system might not have an understanding of the norms.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Because different groups are going to ask for different things when it comes to backstory.
Evelyn:Right, right, right.
Terry:And so as a new player, you've got to think about. Okay, or hopefully talk to your gm, what are you looking for out of my backstory?
The other part is, if they're brand new to TTRPGs, it's trying to understand how to incorporate that backstory into the game as a whole. And I know for DND and Pathfinder, it's a little easier because there are templates out there, questionnaires or roll tables.
Evelyn:I like the roll tables. They're very helpful, especially when you get really stuck.
Like, sometimes you have a general idea for a character, but it's hard to really know where you want to go with it. And the roll tables can be handy just looking at ideas. Oh, yeah, right.
But also if you like, really, really want your character to be kind of randomized, you can completely just roll it up and go, okay, that's cool. You know, and. And maybe that helps you come up with some other ideas.
And that's one of the big things for newer players sometimes, because especially if you're going into something where you don't necessarily know the lore of the game world very well, those pre existing tables can kind of assign you a place and the right feel for the. You know, especially if it's not. If it's a specific genre that is not kind of within your wheelhouse.
Terry:Yeah.
Evelyn:So, I mean, those are a big help. There's. I mean, there's also lots of other places looking at writing prompts and various other things can kind of inspire, get the.
Get the ideas flowing, essentially.
Terry:And I'm glad you mentioned writing props, because on the other spectrum, you might have players that come in who have great ideas about, like, new players who have great ideas about what they want their character to do, who they want them to be. I know the first character I made for the stream, my backstory was pretty significant. Based on roll tables.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:I rolled, but then I.
I wrote some stuff, but then My second character ended up writing 10 pages worth of stuff in a flashback journal system, which was really cool for me, but may have been a bit overboard.
Evelyn:Well, and one of the big things that affects what you want your players to have for backstories, it also depends on what level they're starting at.
Terry:That's true.
Evelyn:Because if you're starting a campaign at level one, like clearly they are not superpowered monster heroes already.
You know, like they, they may have a little bit of history that explains their abilities to do certain things like the, you know, their combat prowess and their ability to do magic or whatever. Depending on, you know, if we're talking fantasy, of course.
Terry:Oh yeah.
Evelyn:But if they're starting at level six, you know, they've been adventuring for a while so that, that can change some things. Obviously.
Another thing is, and the really big thing is with backstories, you know, depending on what you're trying to get from them, the big thing to work with them on during your session zero and explain expectations.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Of, you know, this is what I am looking for.
If you're a GM who doesn't want to read, you know, 10 pages, then that's something to really put out during that conversation, that session zero conversation. Because typically what I expect for my players when they come to session zero is have general idea of kind of what they're looking to play.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:But I don't expect them to have a fully fleshed out backstory yet. Especially because if they're a first time player at my table, they don't know my GM style yet.
You know, they haven't had a chance to have that conversation. And so sitting down and being able to have that full on. Okay. This is the type of game I'd like to run.
You know, I don't mind longer backstories, but you know, not all GMs are the same way. Some are like, just please give me like three sentences. I can't do more than that. But you know, I like a little more fleshed out.
Terry:Yeah. And I'm the same way.
I would prefer to read a little bit about your character because trust me, no matter how fleshed out you have it, I'm going to be able to roll with it in ways that you probably haven't thought about.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:And so that does kind of go to that both new and old players is you really do need to have a discussion with the GM so that they kind of have an idea of what they're getting from you and you have an idea of what you should.
Evelyn:Be Providing also, I'm a big fan of my players giving me, like, major character lists so I don't have to hunt through their backstories, so.
Terry:True.
Evelyn:To find them, because, like, if they put all that information at the end, it makes it easier for me to just plop that into my notes, you know, okay, this person, that's the name of their mother. That's the name of their father.
But one of the big things is make sure you're consistent with your naming, because sometimes you'll name your family member something up here in the body of your backstory, and then you'll come down here, and those same people have two different names, and I'm like, which? Which ones? You know? So just, like, double check within the consistency, and then, you know, like, have a conversation. Communication is key. Really?
That's the big thing.
Terry:Agreed. Communication is key. And, you know, we'll talk a little bit more about this.
But having those names, especially for family members and close friends, is super helpful.
I don't mind making things up for you, but you've got to have a player who's willing to allow that to happen because you don't want to take away their agency. And so I've had a mix of players. Some players have great ideas. Other players would rather just me come up with stuff.
Evelyn:Yeah. And those are the ones that leave you lots of, like, open things.
Terry:So that's exactly it. Now, have you ever had a backstory that changed the tone or the direction of a campaign?
Evelyn:I mean, kind of. So I played a. They were still called Az Aasimar back then.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:This was before the remaster, but in one E Pathfinder, there was a class that was essentially a hybrid of a bard and a barbarian called a Skald.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And I was playing in Rise of the Runelords, and I created this character knowing nothing at all about that particular adventure path, because I had never read it and didn't know anything about it.
And so I wrote this whole, like, elaborate backstory about all my family members and basically the characters, some of her siblings, have been kidnapped by this mysterious stranger who they had offered, you know, shelter in their home for the evening. And he turned out to be not such a great guy.
And one of the actual important NPCs in that campaign, and I'm not going to spoil anything for anybody who hasn't played that yet, but one of the important NPCs and that came is an ASIMAAR, and the GM for that actually managed to make that character one of my missing siblings. So that completely like flip that on head and added an extra depth to the dilemma because this NPC is also an evil character.
And it added this extra dilemma for my. My player character when dealing with that based on that backstory. So that was kind of cool. Yeah, and that was pretty early on too.
So that was like, it's always cool.
Terry:To have an evil brother. I mean, I was sister, but.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:Yeah. Oh, my goodness. All right, all right, so let's move into talking a little bit about integrating backstories into gameplay.
And we've kind of already talked a little bit about the collaboration. Right. I mean, if you don't have collaboration, that things are not going to work.
Evelyn:Well because, I mean, TTRPGs are in itself a collaborative style of storytelling and gameplay.
Terry:And there has to be communication there. Oh, my gosh.
Evelyn:Communication. A key, like I said, I think.
Terry:That'S been one of my biggest frustrations over the years as a DM is when I keep trying to get information from players about their backstories.
Evelyn:Oops.
Terry:And, you know, we, we get up to the, the day or two weeks in or three weeks in, and I still don't have anything to feed off of. And it makes it very difficult to be able to then incorporate that. Back that character into parts of the game. Because I'm a big.
I love incorporating backstories into the game. I think it is exciting both for me and for the players. They, you know, when that happens, there they are part of the game. Their story is being told.
This is cool, right? But if a player doesn't communicate that you could it. It'll almost feel like you're leaving them out, but there's nothing you can do about it.
Evelyn:Right. Because if you don't have anything to work with, then you don't have anything to work with.
Terry:Exactly. So that is a frustration by me. So look, if you're a player listening to this, not a gm.
If you're a player listening to this podcast, don't leave your GM hanging. You want to get them information because they want to make your, your, your, your, your adventure cool.
Evelyn:And then granted, this is speaking of GMs who like to play that way, because some don't like, they're just. They're gonna do their own thing. And some people like that sort of thing. Yeah, not my style.
Terry:Not my style either. But if it is your style, let us know.
Evelyn:Yes, but I know that that is a thing. Like a lot of. There are places where they just want to play the game and not worry about all the other stuff.
The backstory, everyone is a tragic backstory. Everyone is an orphan. No one. No one has any ties to the world.
Terry:Everyone is a rogue. All right, continuing on that, here are some ways that you might think about integrating people's backstories into the game.
The first one, side quests.
Evelyn:Yep.
Terry:You know, designing missions that kind of delve into the character's past. I talked about mine already.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:And that is that, again, that gave us at least four to six sessions worth of stuff to do.
Evelyn:We had an objective.
Terry:Yeah.
Evelyn:I mean, there was. There was concurrent objectives.
Terry:Yes.
Evelyn:But that was one of them.
Terry:And again, in that same campaign, there was another character who. There were at least two or three sessions that I was a part of. In fact, he had his own solo session as part of it.
Again, right there, you're looking at almost 10 sessions worth of just side quests, dealing with characters, backstories. And, you know, that is a great way to kind of bring characters in.
Now, obviously, if you're doing something like an adventure path, it becomes a little more difficult to add in a side quest.
Evelyn:You can. Depending on. There's a few things, obviously, but, like, we had side quests in when I did Rise of the Run Lords, like.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:It just depends on how closely your players necessarily want to stick to the adventure that they have signed up to play, essentially.
Terry:And that's, you know, that's a. Well, and I think, you know, if you do. If you do kind of push off of the adventure path route, you might be making more difficulty for your gm.
Evelyn:Though, as well, right? Well, yeah, yes, absolutely.
Terry:And so you do have.
Evelyn:Especially if you have to, like, hit a certain amount of, like.
Terry:Yep.
Evelyn:The way a lot of adventure pass work is, like, XP is set up to make the encounters the right level at the right time.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And so now, this wasn't as big of a deal in one E, because you needed, like, millions of billions of experience to level up, like, at each level, whereas 2e, it's only a thousand every single level. So it's a little. With Adventure Pass, at least it's a little harder to, like, kick the rails a little bit.
Terry:And so side quests probably work best for. For homebrew campaigns.
I mean, they can be in the world of a system, but, you know, a homebrew campaign, I know side or using backstories of side quests is going to be pretty prominent in our upcoming Cipher system actual play.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Because I. I just feel like that's going to be a good way of going about that. So. Yeah. So side quests.
Think about how you can design experiences that are based on the character's backstory. Another way for integration is including recurring NPCs.
Evelyn:Yep. I love that. I'm doing a lot of that actually with my.
I'm running a homebrew campaign set in Galarian with a group and currently one of them, their sister, is traveling with them from Magnamar to Standpoint.
She's kind of acting as the intermediary between the two towns, which it was kind of the perfect opportunity and they kind of explained some stuff from the character's backstory. So. But I've had a lot of the, the, the skeletons in their closets pop up throughout this, this campaign.
So far there's been some ex fiance is strolling through town. There's been, there's been former mentors and things like that.
So I've had a good opportunity to kind of have a lot of those people from their stories because they gave me so many characters, which is awesome. And I love that they gave me so many characters to play with. I'm like, oh, I can pull this person in.
They can encounter them on the street or they, or they, you know, this person can give them their next big like objective that they need to, to face. You know, when there's that moment of okay, there's this kind of major thing going on.
But it's kind of fun to pull some little side threads in there potentially too, that can add a little bit more of possibly an obstacle or a little bit of a twist or a complication to the story.
Because it's always fun to kind of, you know, add a little bit of extra depth to an arc without like completely splitting off in 86, 86,000 different directions.
Terry:Correct? Yep. No, I'm, I am 100% in agreement with that. I love being able to do that when I have the chance. Now I will say you can. This is a place that in.
In an adventure path, you can easily introduce recurring NPCs because they can be at events or things that are happening. But in a homebrew campaign, these recurring NPCs can be. We had one Bloodlords, Victor.
Evelyn:Oh, I love Victor so much.
Terry:Victor ran the bar in Gab.
Evelyn:Victor was actually one of my characters objectives essentially that we never got to.
Terry:We never got to. Yeah, Victor was going to take Evelyn's character, Victoria.
Evelyn:Yeah, Victor and Victoria. Lovely, lovely time.
Terry:And was going to turn her into a full blooded vampire.
Evelyn:That's what you wanted.
Terry:And so, so yeah, so feel free to have those recurring NPC'S have some cool things. Third technique, world building. Incorporate elements from the backstories into the game world.
I think this is probably one of the easiest things you can do if somebody gives you like. So this is what I'd love to. So Eric. And talk about Eric, because he's awesome.
Hopefully you're listening to the podcast at some point and you get to hear your name. Eric's been on the podcast. He was an episode. It was the episode on Coriolis.
Evelyn:Yep.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Yeah, he talked with us about Coriolis because he actually GM'd that for that. For us. Wow. I cannot talk today. He actually GM'd that for us, and it was delightful.
Terry:And we're hoping. We're hoping to bring Eric back onto the podcast because he is such a creative and wonderful person.
And for those that are curious, that was episode five, Journey through the Dark between the Stars. So make sure you take a listen to that.
But the reason I bring him up is because he gives us a significant amount of information when he does backstories, and we're currently working on the cipher system.
And all I have to do is jump over to our Discord conversation and look at all of the stuff that he has given me, including entire cities that deal with, you know, his character. So I'm super excited about incorporating some of this stuff into what we see within the game.
Evelyn:Yeah, well, because we're entirely building that world from the ground up.
Terry:From the ground up. So that's another thing. If you're interested in listening to a podcast about a homebrew setting that's going to be built as we play, that's gonna be.
That's gonna be the one you're gonna wanna listen to.
Evelyn:Yeah, it should be cool.
Terry:But, yeah, incorporate, like, they talk about some war in their backstory. Incorporate that into it.
Evelyn:Yeah, absolutely.
Terry:They talk about a place. They talk about, you know, anything incorporated into your world.
Evelyn:So now I have a question for you.
Terry:All right.
Evelyn:Because you always ask me the questions, but I have a question for you.
Terry:Okay.
Evelyn:So as a gm, how do you decide which backstory threads to pick up first, especially in a big group?
Terry:Oh, that's a. Oh, that's a good question. Oh, and. And we've played with a lot of big groups. We've played a lot with five players and six players. So that is.
That's a. That's a great, tough question. So the first thing, I'm early in a campaign, it's going to be whatever's easiest to incorporate.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Something that doesn't need a Lot of buildup that can be plopped into a situation and worked through very early, where characters are not necessarily fully comfortable with each other yet they're still getting to know each other. There's, you know, that camaraderie, that groupsmanship isn't there yet.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:And so I'm looking for something that is easy. And then as the group starts to mesh, you can start to see where you can start to pull threads from backstories and allow the group to follow those.
And so as a gm, what I would say to players is make sure you have both short term and long term pieces in your backstory that can be incorporated into what we do. Because those short terms may happen either quickly or at easily opportune times.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Where those long ones, those long form stories are going to take some build up. So just be aware that they're going to happen, but they're going to take some time to get there.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:A lot of times, you know, the first things that I'm looking for is something that's going to create some tension, maybe explosions, those sorts of things just to kind of get the group meshing.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:And honestly, if I can build the beginnings of a campaign based off of a group's backstories, I think it's actually more interesting than going specifically with what I'm creating because then they're going to buy into the campaign that much quicker. That I think.
That I think is one of the great things about incorporating backstories is their buy in which once they're bought into a campaign, it goes.
Evelyn:Right. Yeah.
Terry:So on that note, then, what are some subtle ways to incorporate backstory without making it the character's episode?
Evelyn:I mean, there are, I mean there are different ways to do it really.
Terry:I mean, I have, I have an answer to this, but I wanted to see where you come from first.
Evelyn:So for me, like the, the big thing is when, especially when you have characters who have connections with each other, right. Pulling something from their shared backstory can get not only them sort of dealing with whatever that conflict might be or that not or the.
The related objective.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Whether it be conflict or not. Because it can be a similar objective.
A lot of times when it's two or more player characters that have similar thing in a shared item in their backstory, right. That can also bring the other player characters in it to help kind of resolve whatever that might be.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And it doesn't necessarily make it about them, but a way for everybody to explore and achieve a goal collectively, which I think is big. Also Bringing in a character. These recurring NPC characters, for example.
Once again, I'm going to refer to my Thursday afternoon group a lot because they have. Because it's so homebrew y. Oh, yeah.
But they had kind of an early recurrent character who is a cleric in a temple there, who's kind of one of their regular contact points.
Terry:All right.
Evelyn:And so they go to her a lot for information, but she's tied to one backstory. But it's not all about that character's backstory with her existence. She's. Is she also.
You know, she has those moments with that character, but she also serves a purpose for the entire party, which I think is a way to bring those elements in without making it just about them. Now, it's important to give them spotlight time for their stories, because they are their stories.
Terry:Yes.
Evelyn:But you also don't want to turn the entire however many hours session into that character's spotlight time.
Terry:No. And that. That's exactly it is. Is whenever.
Whenever I'm working with a backstory piece, I try to find threads where I can pull in other characters to help collaborate on that backstory. Because when you can again. And what are we doing as a gm?
We're trying to tell a story, but also make sure that the group as a whole is having fun and that the group as a whole are coming together to go on missions, solve problems. Call it what you will. Right. So I think you're exactly right.
I think that finding ways to bring in the other players is exactly what needs to happen also. Yeah.
Evelyn:Side note, side note, I love a villain that has the ability to at will read minds because it's such a fun way to taunt your characters or your player characters with their own backstory information without completely, like, spreading it out on the table. Just those little things that you can kind of pick at them with as the villain, you know, and as Terry.
Terry:Begins to write notes for the Cipher campaign. Okay.
Evelyn:Because I actually did that to your character.
Terry:I know you did.
Evelyn:And like, every. In that. In that scene where that villain was trying to kind of taunting them because that villain was stronger than they were.
Oh, yeah, taunting them.
They just give just little tidbits of information about each of those characters that it wasn't enough to give anything away for all the other players.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:But it was enough that the. The players who wrote that backstory information could latch onto that and go, oh, this is real, real, real. Getting real real.
Right now it's getting serious.
Terry:It's time to really kind of put our Shades on and go at it. All right, all right. So that gives us kind of, you know, ways you can integrate those backstories.
Now let's talk a little bit about the challenges and pitfalls of backstories. And the easiest to talk about is the over complicated backstories and you know, something that is overly detailed or convoluted.
One of the, one of my issues are I, please don't give me a backstory where you're a brooding loner.
Evelyn:Oh man. Because there's, that's, that's that backstory gone.
Terry:There is not much I'm gonna be able to do with it, no matter how much you put that. Because if you're a loner, why are you with this group?
Evelyn:Exactly. Well, and like that character just doesn't. Yeah.
Terry:Now, you know, I have been known to maybe write overly detailed backstories, maybe. But I also try to make sure that I leave openings for the GM to incorporate things that they want to.
I oftentimes in my backstories will leave very open ended things such as I don't know what happened to my brother or I ran and I believe my parents are dead. Not that my parents are dead, but that I believe my parents are dead.
Because what that does is now the GM can decide, okay, are the parents dead or not? Yeah, let's make them dead. And this is the villain or they're not dead. They've been captured and brainwashed.
So it allows the GM to go in multiple different ways.
Evelyn:Right. Well, and like your character is a person or some version of that. I mean, a humanoid to backsi. A humanoid entity, a marshmallow unicorn.
Okay, but the point is like you as a person, right, the player that I am currently talking to.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:You don't know things about your own life.
Terry:I don't.
Evelyn:There are things you are that are blind spots to you that you don't have all the information about. So your character should be like you, a well rounded human that you are and should not know everything. They are not omniscient. Correct.
There should be blind spots in their own knowledge. You know, there's something that happened that they heard a story about. They want to look into it. They don't know actually what happened with that.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:That's a blind spot.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And so you shouldn't know everything. If your character knows everything, why are they adventuring?
Terry:So, yeah. So overly detailed, convoluted backstories. These are going to hinder gameplay. Try to avoid them.
If you're a player, the next thing is addressing Player spotlight imbalance. Right. If a single player's backstory dominates the narrative, there are issues. Unless.
And I'm going to put a caveat here, unless there's agreement among the players. And what I mean by that is, right now, in our cipher system, one of our characters has. Or one of our players has created a character that could.
In a group that is not done a lot of TTRPGs could easily become a main focus.
And I'm talking about Eric's character, but Eric talked with the group, and we have a pretty good idea on how we're going to incorporate everybody into this idea. And so I'm not worried about that.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:But if I was in a group of people who may not know each other or people less experienced than that group, that would not be it. So Eric is playing this character who wants to catch them all. It truly is. The feeling is Pokemon. But he didn't get to it by that.
He didn't even think about it until I said, oh, so, like Pokemon. He's like, oh, yeah, I guess. I guess you're right. And. But. But that ended up becoming a focus.
And so, Evelyn, your character now is his bodyguard, essentially.
Evelyn:Yeah. Like, he. He's hired my character to. To act as a bodyguard, though that's not her only objective.
Terry:Correct.
Evelyn:But that is her function in connection to that other character.
Terry:And then the third player has created a character where to start, they're going to get some information from, and that person is then going to continue with the group.
Evelyn:Correct? Yeah.
Terry:So Eric's backstory has kind of started the direction of this. But again, in this group, I'm not worried because these players, I know, can very much balance themselves and know when to give and take.
Evelyn:Absolutely.
Terry:But you do. You have to keep an eye out for. Because some players want to be the center of attention. Yeah.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:And that's. That's difficult. All right, let's. Then you've got things like inconsistencies and retcons.
Changing backstory elements can affect the game's continuity.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:You know, don't. Don't, you know, 15 sessions in, decide that you don't like the backstory and change it.
Evelyn:Yeah. Because then. Then stuff doesn't work anymore, especially things that might be planned further down the road.
Like, you can't just, like, object, like just randomly go, ah, I decided that my parents are actually alive, and they own three vineyards on the western coast of the. The. The country. It's like, well, suddenly that changes everything.
Terry:Yeah. And that's. That is like, you're messing with the GM at that point.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:Because GM might have planned stuff.
Evelyn:Yeah. Well, and that's the thing too. Like, if your backstory isn't immediately, like, approached.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:It might be something that's already planned for in the works coming down the road. It's just you have to hit like the right point, the long form. Yeah.
Because a lot of you can't just dump all of the backstory elements in the middle of the game in like session one, because then it's just. It's just all out. Like, there's nothing to really explore anymore at that point.
So you have to understand that there is a point where you have to say, this is a completed history of my character. I am not going to touch it again. And. And that's usually around like, session three, four for me.
Because, like, if you touch it again after that point, there's no guarantee that, like, it's going to make sense when it comes to that. To the point that had been planned for.
And yes, you can adjust somewhat, but if it's like a major inconsistency with what has been previously established.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:That can completely throw off not only the flow of the story, but it can throw off the, the mood and the, the build up to it.
Terry:Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, I mean, like, I'm just. I'm thinking of past instances like, oh.
Additionally, you've got to think about the table and think about your session zero. Obviously, backstories can get traumatic.
Evelyn:Oh, yeah.
Terry:And you have to be cognizant of what trauma you're bringing to the table and make sure that people are comfortable with that.
Evelyn:Yeah. And that's one of the big reasons that I do the consent checklist. It's Moni Cook's consent checklist.
Terry:Love, Monique.
Evelyn:Which is why we're running the Cyber system. But the, the consent checklist that that Money Cut Games has for their. I mean, pretty much any of their publications.
It's included in the book somewhere. But it functions very well for any game, really, because it just kind of covers like, what might be potentially a trigger.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:For a player. Because, you know, you don't want to put a situation where anybody is horrendously uncomfortable at the table.
You know, if discomfort is something that they want to play around with, that's. That's one thing. Right, right.
But you don't want to put someone in a situation where they are going to completely dissociate from what's happening in the game because it's just so, like, traumatic for them. And I Mean, there are certain things as a GM that I won't run at all.
Terry:No.
Evelyn:Because of, you know, my own reasons behind that. Right now, I may toe the line of some of those things, depending on my pillars comfort level, but that's where that checklist comes in.
I can look at that and know, okay, you know, these people are comfortable with this. They're not comfortable with that.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And a big, like, one of the big things on there is a lot of the fantasy games have, like, massive spiders or massive snakes, and those are some of the most common phobias for people.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:So if you see that on there, you're like, okay, no spiders in this game. No snakes in this one. You know, because it's just. It's. It's easy enough to. To pick a different monster.
Terry:Oh, yeah, no, I. I completely agree. And. And if you've got dark content in your backstory, better make sure that your GM knows before you bring it up at the table.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Because don't, you know, don't have it something that you've got planned and then you decide to spring it on the group. Because that's just a no. No.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:You don't. You don't do that kind of stuff that, you know, that is. That's the best way to get you booted from one of my tables.
Evelyn:Yeah. Because big stuff like that, it shouldn't be an instant job.
Like, it's one thing for, like, a PC to have a crush on an NPC or a PC to have a crush on another PC that, like, that comes up naturally in the story. That's fine. That doesn't bother me. Some GMs don't want to deal with that. That's also fine. But, like, for me, that's way less of a.
Of an issue than suddenly I'm throwing out here that something horribly, like, traumatic happened that I didn't mention in the backstory that I submitted, and this was not part of the conversation in the session. Zero. Like that. That. No. That would get you. That would get you kicked off the table 100%.
Terry:All right, let's. Real quick, let's talk a little bit about best practices. So for players, we want them to keep it concise.
Craft your backstories that are detailed enough to provide depth, but concise enough to be manageable.
You want to align with campaign themes, ensure the backstories are relevant to the game setting and its tone, and then at the same point, leave open threads, while so essentially include unresolved elements that can be explored during the campaign. As a player, these are important. So let me ask you, what's your.
What's your best tip for players who want to write an engaging backstory but don't know where to start?
Evelyn:Well, it depends on how comfortable you are with writing. First of all, like, if you're not someone who's like, man, I super love to write, just being able to put down a bunch of bullet points can be super.
It can be enough. You know, it can be they put.
Terry:Them in hierarchy of what they feel for themselves would be most important to least important. Or would you just want them to put them in any list?
Evelyn:For me, as a gm, like, going for a player, I think whatever makes them most comfortable for their reference, because they need to be able to refer to it just as much as I do.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Because if they forget their entire backstory, then suddenly we're dealing with something. That's another thing, by the way, don't forget your backstory.
Because if you've forgotten your backstory, like, when it gets to that point, you're like, huh? What's going on? And then suddenly it's like, this is the things you wrote, like, 16 sessions ago, my guy. Like, let's. We're delving in.
Please refer to your own notes. But no, like, I think one of the things is, like, if you love to write and it's something you want to. To.
To, like, really write an engaging thing, you know, find. Find something that inspires you. You know, even if it's just like those roll tables, for example, if that helps, you know, get the. The. Your.
Your gears turning.
Terry:Yep.
Evelyn:Or, you know, like a writing prompt, if that gets the, you know, the. The writing going, then that's fine.
But if you're not a writer, if you're not someone who's passionate about, like, writing down, you know, histories of character, but you love, like, doing the storytelling of, like, your character's journey. Because some people aren't good at writing, but they love just to delve into the action of the game.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Then that's where I think just providing points that we can really hook on to and at least have enough information about who your character is. Even if it's like, I was born here, I, you know, lived here, my family's here.
I've been in this place for this long, and these are the people I know here. This is my connection to them. That's all you kind of need. And then this is what I want to do. This is what I'm looking for.
This is why I became an adventurer. You know that sort of stuff.
Terry:And this is a question that I think some TTRPGs are forcing the answer to more so these days. But should a backstory include connections to other party members? And we're finding like PBTA does this a lot.
Powered by the Apocalypse, where connections are part of building your character. And honestly, if a group can come in with some pre built connections, for me it makes it easier. It doesn't need to be the entire group.
No, but you could have a pair, a pair here and a pair here. You could have a couple of pairs that have connections who then, you know, once they get together, those connections grow, etc.
I think using it in that way is great, but not everybody is comfortable with that. Not everybody is. Especially if you're going to a table where you don't know everybody. It's, you know, new table, that sort of thing.
So if that's for the players, we've got some for the game masters then as well. First one is encourage backstory submission. Prompt players to share their backstories before the campaign starts and then prompt them again.
And then when they don't give it to you, prompt them again and just keep prompting them.
Evelyn:Yes.
Terry:Sometimes you'll just never get it, but that's. It is. That's life.
Evelyn:You can only say so much.
Terry:Use the backstories as plot hooks. Integrate elements from the backstories into the main plot to enhance engagement. Yes, yes and yes. And then finally maintain the balance.
Ensure that all the players have opportunities to their backstories to influence the game. And I think that's important is backstories should influence the campaign. And I think everybody's backstory should influence the campaign.
Evelyn:Can I go back to the players for one second?
Terry:Yeah, let's jump on back to the players. Nobody cares about GMs.
Evelyn:Well, you know, we are GM, so we talk about ourselves a lot. But no, another thing that I would like to mention because a lot of what we've talked about so far is kind of the. The solo aspects of it.
Terry:Yeah.
Evelyn:But as a group, like of players at around the table.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Be your fellow players, cheerleaders when it comes to their story happening. Get in there, take part, be interested. Don't just tune out and play on your phone.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:While I've seen this happen before.
Terry:Yeah.
Evelyn:Where something major is happening in someone's backstory and other people around the table will just completely tune out, tune out for it.
And then it just like it kind of sucks as the player who's like having that like their stories start to come out because I, like, it's just something that I.
It makes me a little sad as a gm to see, like, a player get really excited and no one else be as excited for them for their story starting to kind of spill forth.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:And so, like, I think that's really important is be an active participant. You get your time to shine to.
Terry:Yep.
Evelyn:Partake in these other people's discoveries because sometimes in character, they need the support of the other characters in that moment, you know, because it could be a. A difficult challenge, possibly, or even something victorious.
You know, they've learned that someone they thought was dead this whole time was actually alive, and they. They want to share that with you and be excited about that. So, like, it should. Everybody should be involved. It's not just about the single player.
Terry:And it's gotten worse, unfortunately, in the digital age where we do a lot of online. Because if players are not actively engaged via video cameras, whether they're, you know, webcams or whatever, if.
If players are not fully engaged there, you can feel it. And it is.
It is very frustrating as both a GM and as a player to know that, especially in combat, because that's probably the easiest when it's noticeable.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:But to notice that, you know, that person wasn't paying attention anything that was happening, and now it's their turn and they're going to do their turn and then they're going to go back to doing whatever else they were doing, and that is super, super frustrating. So I completely agree with that. If you're doing stuff online, try and do it with videos so that you can see each other.
I find being able to react off of other people's faces is super important.
Evelyn:Yeah. It helps make it at least feel a little more similar to being around the table. Because one of the things you lose with digital. Oh, this is a.
This would be a good podcast topic, actually, is digital versus analog gameplay. But like the. The body language and the eye contact that you make when you play in person, it completely changes the.
The feel of the game in a lot of ways. Yeah, but that. That's. Yeah, that's a whole other topic. But yeah.
Terry:Oh, yeah.
Evelyn:But. So what tools or techniques do you use to actually keep track of those things?
Terry:So. So my biggest, Obsidian, probably for the past year, Obsidian md. It's a markdown editor.
I like it for a lot of reasons, but it also frustrates me for a lot of reasons. I'm actually moving to using Typora on my computer for our Cipher system. I've started writing some stuff in that.
One of the things, one of the issues with me, and I'll kind of characterize it like that, is that I'm a designer and if it doesn't look like I want it to look, it makes me angry and I won't use it.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:And so when it comes to tools like that, I need to make it look a certain way. And Obsidian has a lot of capabilities. I've used Legend Keeper, I've used World Anvil, I've looked at Conquer.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:I have used so many or tried out so many tools. Goblin, Dungeon Goblin. There's another one.
Evelyn:Yeah, I know which one we're talking about.
Terry:So I have, I have used a lot of different tools, but I'm moving towards Typora for this most the the newest one because it is a. It's a tool that allows me to write without any distractions. It's the same thing that I've been using to write my blogs with.
And other than Google, Google Docs, which I use for a lot of our podcast stuff.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:I just need something that's not going to distract me. And so I've decided and I like working in Markdown.
I'm a huge fan of Markdown editors because it's quick, it's easy, and I can make it look usually roughly how I want it to fairly quickly. And so that's what we're going to go with for the cipher system. We'll see how things go. One of my big problems is organization because I.
I like things organized and I can never seem to get them exactly how I want them organized. And so oftentimes I'll ask my players to send me a PDF or a text document and then I will take that and put it somewhere for me.
When I was using Obsidian, I was doing full character sheets.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:To be able to track lots of information from them. Now I'm going to try for Cypher. I'm going much simpler and we'll see how it works out.
But anything really that you can use to make you feel comfortable and find things quickly I think are key. One of the nice things about the Google Docs is if you use headings correctly, it essentially creates a table of contents on the left hand side.
So that is one direction to go for. I mean, lots of people have Google Docs.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:And so, you know, it really, it comes down to what makes you comfortable when you're doing it. All right, we are, we're pulling into the end here. So we're going to kind of Do a quick recap.
So today we talked a little bit about the power of backstories, integrating them into the game, challenges and pitfalls, best practice and tips. And all of this comes back to making sure that backstories are a part of the campaign.
Evelyn:Right.
Terry:Making sure that. Making sure that your players feel heard, honestly. So however you do that is going to be important.
Really would love to hear from you all on what you think or share your experiences with character backstories and how they might have impacted their games. You can head to rollforperception.com and leave a voicemail right there on the webpage.
You can send us an email@contactoll4 Perception.com you can chat me up on Discord. I always like, you know, we'll take.
Evelyn:You know, send your messages there.
Terry:Yeah. So send us at Blue sky, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. We're kind of all over the place, but just do a search for roll for perception.
And remember, that's R O L E, not R O L L. Because it's a pun. It's a pun. Like role play. Yeah, it's a. Yeah, we think it's funny. And so. Yeah, definitely. So final question for you.
Evelyn:Yeah.
Terry:Do you think backstories are more important in some systems than other systems?
Evelyn:I would say yes.
Terry:All right.
Evelyn:Probably, Especially. But it can be much more effective in certain scenarios.
Terry:Okay.
Evelyn:Than others.
Terry:All right.
Evelyn:And I think it really depends more on the story you're trying to tell. Like, I've had. I've had players say I have amnesia. I don't remember anything. Help me reveal all of my. His history. That's kind of cool.
Like, having no past and actually revealing it together through the storytelling can be really cool. But I think a lot of the time, like, if you have nothing at all, it's hard to really establish an identity for your character.
But I think in settings where they're more modern or more real to our world, it's much easier to get by without having as much of a detailed backstory as, like a fantasy setting.
Terry:Gotcha.
Evelyn:Because a fantasy setting or something that is not similar to our lived experience.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Kind of requires a little more buy in.
Terry:Yes.
Evelyn:And so you have to have a more kind of well sketched out idea of what the character is beyond. I am a cleric that worships this deity. You know what I mean?
Terry:Yeah.
Evelyn:So, like, for example, we had started working on characters for glitter hearts.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:Which. It's a really cool little rpg. You should look into it. But there's magical elements to it.
But it is also very much a familiar, you know, thing to us because the characters are all high school students. And pretty much as a human being in this day and age, you've been to high school, maybe not, but, you know, most people have experienced high school.
So with that, like, there might not necessarily need to be as much detail in the, the character backstory, you know.
Terry:Right.
Evelyn:So that, that's kind of the, I think difference for me is like the, the setting as well as what kind of story you're trying to tell together.
Terry:Completely agree. All right, folks, with that, we're, yeah, we're. I think, I think we're good next week. Super excited about next week's podcast.
It's probably the first of many sessions where we'll talk about this kind of topic, but it is titled so you want to become a Game master, Question mark. We're gonna talk a little bit about what it is to be a game master. Some things to think about if you're looking to go into that.
And it really is for the players who, who possibly have never GM'd before. So, you know, tune in next week and, and let us.
And if you have any, you know, you have anything that, you know, a soon to be game master should know, let us know, send it.
Evelyn:Or if you have questions about becoming a game master, if you're like, wow, I've been playing this game for a long time and I like to stick a toe into that GM pond there. You know, let us know what your questions might be.
Terry:As always, I want to thank you for joining us for this week's podcast. We hope we inspired you to continue your TTRPG journey, however that may look.
Evelyn:Make sure to stop by www.rollforperception.com and leave a comment on our podcast page. We're always looking to answer questions and discuss new TTRPGs, so make sure to.
Terry:Have your D20 ready and your goblin voice arrested as you head out into the world of TTRPGs with roll for Percept.
