Developing a Backstory

The bar, the campfire, there are plenty of places in roleplaying games to tell stories within stories. Fleshing out a characters background helps delve deeper into the psyche and allow for greater understanding of this person. But how does one get started?

Start with keeping your idea for the story simple, and short. Although people may be interested in hearing the story they are not going to want to listen to a player drone on and on about something their character did. Try to keep it to less than 3 minutes as any more time and you might be hogging the spotlight.

Keep the story personal to your character, maybe a story of how they started adventuring? Or someone the character looked up to as a child that strongly influenced who they became when they grew up? Do they have a special weapon or item that is important to them that they carry around constantly, what’s that story?

Consider what this story is telling about the character, how is it showing deeper flaws or lighting up interesting side bits about your character? Are you adding to the overall mythos of the story and the world you are playing in?

Once the story is in place how do you build it into the campaign as not to make it feel forced? The easiest way is to tell the GM you have a story you’d like to share with the group and let it come naturally into a planned down time. The GM at this point can prompt you by painting the scene around you allowing a sub-story to naturally flow into the feel of the game. The other would be to ask specific questions of the characters from one character to another. This can lead also lead to an organic story time amongst the characters while in between events that the GM has planned.

Keeping a couple of simple stories at your disposal about your character to share when the time will not only help you tell stories but will help you deepen the character.

How do you get started in writing a character story?

Aloysius

My DM told me it was story time and no one else could come up with anything. I proceeded to hog the spotlight and tell and epic tail of death and burning pirate ships, which everyone enjoyed famously. After I was done they still didn’t have anything, so I didn’t feel too bad.
Aloysius

My DM told me it was story time and no one else could come up with anything. I proceeded to hog the spotlight and tell and epic tail of death and burning pirate ships, which everyone enjoyed famously. After I was done they still didn’t have anything, so I didn’t feel too bad.
River

One of the things that appeals to me about roleplaying is the storytelling. I usually start writing character stories because of a question or a situation my character encountered in game. Other times, stories spring naturally from a character’s yet-unexplored backstory.

I knew from the beginning that Miranda (my current character) had tortured her husband and burned him at the stake while their children watched. Writing the scene was inevitable and extremely fun. When called on to participate in an impromptu story telling session with the rest of the group, I was able to take what I’d learned and make up a story about a much younger Miranda learning to burn dolls for practice.
River

One of the things that appeals to me about roleplaying is the storytelling. I usually start writing character stories because of a question or a situation my character encountered in game. Other times, stories spring naturally from a character’s yet-unexplored backstory.

I knew from the beginning that Miranda (my current character) had tortured her husband and burned him at the stake while their children watched. Writing the scene was inevitable and extremely fun. When called on to participate in an impromptu story telling session with the rest of the group, I was able to take what I’d learned and make up a story about a much younger Miranda learning to burn dolls for practice.
http://spyderzt.blogspot.com/ Spyder Z

As a Storyteller, I kind of let the characters create themselves. I’ll pick what they are, and as they begin interacting with the environment/players, they why and who of their background begin forming. Generally I’ll begin probing their reasons internally to help them react more naturally, and voilà, you have a character. :P
http://spyderzt.blogspot.com/ Spyder Z

As a Storyteller, I kind of let the characters create themselves. I’ll pick what they are, and as they begin interacting with the environment/players, they why and who of their background begin forming. Generally I’ll begin probing their reasons internally to help them react more naturally, and voilà, you have a character. :P
Hillary Crenshaw

You know, it's really hard to follow an act like that. I would like to say I learned my lesson to always go first in the story ring, but really I still just sit in the corner panicking until some half-congealed mass of unedited back-story oozes its way out of my mouth and embarrasses me with its disjointed timeline and lack of anecdotal ending. These days I try to keep some kind of tale simmering on the back burner. Ask me about accidentally poisoning an entire train of people.
http://www.apathygames.com Tyson J. Hayes

I'll ask you about that one, how did you poison an entire train of people?
Hillary Crenshaw

You know, it's really hard to follow an act like that. I would like to say I learned my lesson to always go first in the story ring, but really I still just sit in the corner panicking until some half-congealed mass of unedited back-story oozes its way out of my mouth and embarrasses me with its disjointed timeline and lack of anecdotal ending. These days I try to keep some kind of tale simmering on the back burner. Ask me about accidentally poisoning an entire train of people.
http://www.apathygames.com Tyson J. Hayes

I'll ask you about that one, how did you poison an entire train of people?