10 Ways to Help Create Epic Backstories for your Players - Game Master Tips

[@larsdahl5528]

1:51 #1 Why is a backstory needed. 3:17 #2 Reason for the career of choice. 5:40 #3 Family status and relations. 6:30 #4 Childhood events. 7:53 #5 Most recent actions. 8:57 #6 Favorite item. 10:18 #7 World view. 12:05 #8 Political leaning. 13:25 #9 Religious view. 16:10 #10 Goal for the future. I have to digress at how a GM should use backstories: As bringing back Pongo as an undead zombie dog, give the player a NEGATIVE experience with backstories, and thus will be even more reluctant to making backstories in the future. Instead give the players POSITIVE experience with backstories, as backstory creation then become valuable for the players in the future!

[@RPanda3S]

Lars Dahl what?

[@Wolfag112]

Frankenweenie?

[@weeajones]

What are you talking about, any player i know would love the chance to fight their resurrected dog for the RP potential alone.

[@irvin_moe]

Thanks!

[@terrancat]

I agree with Lars

[@julienavelange3960]

I'd like to share a quote from the discwolrd about your point on atheism in realms were gods do miracles on a daily basis: "Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman. "

[@letters_from_paradise]

I think that's using a different definition of "believe in". If I were to say I "believe in" my postman, I would probably colloquially be saying "I have a confidence in him that he can do what he is supposed to well". But the other definition used in reference to a god is "I believe in the existence of a god." You can believe in the existence of your postman and believe in his ability to do whatever it is he is doing well at the same time, get what I mean?

[@Sunflamer]

Basically what Olver Watts said. That is not what atheism means, not according to how religious leaders portray them or even how atheists themselves identify them as. Atheism is simply not believing in the existence of gods. Whether you revere them, worship them or see them as anything above you only comes after you aknowledge their existence, and if you move to the realm of agreeing they exist, you should no longer consider yourself an atheist. Rather a rebellious theist or something to that extent. For an example, and I don't mean to start any arguments but giving an example, I'm an atheist. If I knew without a shadow of the doubt the Christian god existed,, I would no longer be an atheist, That wouldn't make me worship or respect that god however, as I feel that he has too much to answer to and doesn't deserve worship.

[@Lionrhod212]

@@Sunflamer I don't mean to derail this from gaming, but I love the thoughtfulness of your post. I was raised in an athiest/agnostic household, and later (being allowed the freedom of my own choice - one of the perks of no sunday school) became Wiccan. LOL grandpa was a big time atheist and used to invite the local Johos in for debate. (Why they bothered is beyond me.) Where he would crush them with his logic. For my 2nd degree in Wicca I was asked to examine my "birth religion" (athiest communism) and found many ways that my grandfather and I agreed, as well as many places where the usual arguments vs a Christian god just didn't apply. LOL and I'm not suggesting "check out my religion" bu any means! Just felt touched by your post.

[@Sunflamer]

@@Lionrhod212 Always nice to get positive feedback, tends to be a real treat in the world of KZbin comment sections. Most of the time it feels people try their best to find something to get butthurt about :D That said tho, I can't deny I'm tempted to approach you in a street epistemological sense and dig deeper into your Wiccanism, tho this may not be the arena for it. It's just, much like any faith-based group, I've heard Wiccanism defined in a myriad of ways, some that I agree with, some that I have questions for. Certainly an interesting topic. I am however glad you've chosen to exercise your freedom of religion, whatever it means to you. I feel too many people simply go with flow and accept what they are taught during theit childhood, never really putting too much critical thought into it.

[@Lionrhod212]

As an IRL witch, this makes perfect sense. Except for the postman part. I'm not sure about him. He puts mail in my box that clearly doesn't belong to me, and also, even though he clearly knows where my house is, will not deign to drop off packages I need to sign for (me or my familiar are always home) but instead leaves little yellow slips that force me to rush down to the post office before my parcels are spirited away. So I've heard of this postman entity, but don't necessarily believe in it. Perhaps it's some sort of lesser daemon?

[@Vensris]

Whenever my players make characters, I just keep asking more and more questions until we're both happy with the backstory, I find it works great :) usually I don't have a set list of questions though I just feel each one out according to the PC. Usually since they already have a bit of a backstory built I work on expanding that with them

[@Parker8752]

This is one reason why I like doing character creation as part of session 0. The players will often inspire each other and be inspired in turn both in terms of mechanical ideas for the characters and background ideas. Also, I rather like games that provide a random life-path thing to give the players a little inspiration for their character. I mean, I wouldn't use it all the time, but having it as an option means that if I don't have any plans about what kind of character I want to play before I start playing, I can let the dice decide.

[@bar0nger]

How about an amnesia backstory. Where they woke up, at the bottom of a cliff with an obvious stab wound. They have a mysterious letter. They also have a mysterious trinket. So all they know is someone is trying to kill them.

[@missyjames8887]

I hate atheism in a fantasy game with gods, but love the cynically agnostic "I don't trust the god's motives so I refuse to follow them" kind of approach.

[@Draeckon]

And it works so well in most of the established D&D settings, especially when some of them are explicitly evil and trying to kill or enslave everyone or wipe out all of creation. I'd say it would be easy for some people in the world to think that maybe it's better to simply not entreat with the gods and just try to lay low, spiritually speaking, and stay out of their way. Of course, agnostic characters kind of get the shaft in the afterlife, unless the GM changes it. "The faithless" as they're called or those otherwise unclaimed by any deity are sent to Hades, where they're transformed into tiny larvae and spend eternity there with no sun, moon, stars, or seasons. It's also called The Three Glooms, a place with no hope, joy, or passion. Even worse, extra-planar beings like to use these larvae for their magic. The DMG explicitly mentions night hags, liches, and rakshasas harvesting them to be used 'in vile rituals.' So... yeah... Agnostic characters don't have a good time in the afterlife... I can't tell if this is better or worse than what souls condemned to the Abyss, Pandemonium or the Nine Hells have to go through...

[@funnyblog100]

Actually it would be really funny if you had a god of atheism trying to gain followers. Just a complete contradiction.

[@letters_from_paradise]

But the question that should be asked is "How do the characters know that the gods that are claimed to exist actually do exist?" It doesn't matter if we as the overarching outsider know that a god exists if the characters themselves have no way of proving that a god exists to them in the context of their world

[@NecromancyForKids]

It's been implied many times that the gods in D&D may be manifestations of the other's belief in them, and not necessarily entities themselves. The Kuo-Toa take this to an extreme with their own god.

[@Cloud_Seeker]

Being a atheist in D&D is more then possible. All you have to do is to treat the gods as very powerful beings that just claim they are gods and demand to be worshiped by lower and weaker beings. You do not have to be evil at all. All you need to do is to think the "gods" self absorbed egoists that do not value weaker beings life highly enough.

[@allankirk2566]

One of my characters that i currently play in a dnd campaign IS an athiest, and likens the situation of a priest laying on hands ect, as just another form of magic.The setting is in a high magic setting world. Where "so called:" god avatars for the most part have powers akin to the more powerfulArch Mages of the world.

[@blueberreez]

First comment! :D This was exactly the video I needed today. I have a player who is wonderful--he's not a bully and always happy to let other people shine and enjoy their stories--but he grew up playing AD&D, in a group that didn't seem to bother with character development. (Funny, he is by far the most experienced player. The other 3 are completely new to D&D but they all have amazing backstories.) I've been feeling guilty because we're 4 sessions in and everyone has had opportunities to interact with something from their personal history except for him. I had an NPC ask him where he's from to try to get him to come up with something in-game, and he just said "Uh...to the East." Some players love improvising, and I thought it would help, but what I really need is to sit down with him separately. P.S. Just want to say that your videos are my happy place. I watch them sometimes when I'm bummed out to give me that feeling of normalcy, kind of like throwing on Star Trek after getting home from a rough day at work.

[@larsdahl5528]

It is a situation I have seen before, in many variations: People new to role play often perform well, so well that they still surprise me once in a while! Despite I now know the phenomenon quite well: People new to role playing have not gotten their logic thinking ruined! And the fact that crappy role playing ruins sane thinking is, sadly enough, something that occur often. So... Respect to you... That you get your players into a good background creation habit! I am a bit puzzled, though, as to why you choose D&D, due to (as you already may have figured out) that deprival effect it have. Yes, I know good role play can be done in any system. But... I have found D&D to be one of the worst: Destroyer of logic thinking. Some other RPG systems do have attention at backgrounds. Some so advanced as they recomend playing "prelude", where a prelude is a session for each of the players where the GM and that player generating the players character together, and during that process play through the backstory. I think prelude should have far more attention than it have, as it allow the player to make a backstory that fit in well with the GMs world. I myself do remember one brilliant way a campaign got started: We all played prelude, and during it we all ended up at the same luxury cruise ship, for very different reasons! And there the campaign started: The ship got hijacked and we was the random people the hijackers had failed to lock up in their rooms! So, yes, I agree: Your idea of sitting down with him separately is good: Play through a prelude with him!

[@Mr.Monster1984]

@@larsdahl5528 DnD is not what you say. It depends on the group. And I have played hack and slash vampire campaigns

[@grenwalis]

I like to run a short vignette for each new character that joins the group to replay a short scene that informs the character history and future motivation. I get a sentence or two from the player, then write it up and have the other players play supporting characters using cards with names, attitude, and motivation and then set the scene. The player has to make a small choice for their character, which invests them that much more, and the other players get some insight into the other characters.

[@reachcole514]

I made a monk recently, using Xanathars Guide To Everything he was of the Way Of The Drunken Master. He was seperated from his village at a super young age and grew up in a monastery heavily focused on tea. As a result his personal item was an auto boiling tea pot. He spreads joy through his alcohol he brews which he gives away constantly instead of drinking it as he only drinks tea.

[@kingMeNow2012]

I had a player who had no backstory when we started, I worked with him to build one then to implement it I had his character get hit by a rock to jog his memory

[@Bluecho4]

On another note, this sort of thing is why I like DnD 5e's use of Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws. It's a built-in system for allowing players to get to know their character better.

[@Lionrhod212]

Actually the Traits, Ideals, Bonds, Flaws is one of the FEW things I don't like about 5e. I would much rather have my players come up with a great backstory than use rolls and shortcuts to get there.

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

​@@Lionrhod212rolling isn't mandatory you can select an option or even create a different one than what comes automatically. If DMs can go online for advice, why can't players get some built in inspiration?

[@mathewgaspay5877]

3:34 When you mentioned Delilah I was thinking 🎵Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City. I'm a thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty yes you do.🎵

[@shinra6913]

i looked at what i wanted to accomplish in the game which was rare loot and turned that into a backstory. my char's was raised by his grandfather who was an accomplished Blacksmith and throughout his childhood was told countless stories of great heroes and even there fabled weapons. (like Excalibur as an example) so now that he was old enough to leave home his grandfather forges him his first sword and he journeys seeking out these weapons of legend and who knows maybe that sword that started his journey will one day be told of in stories to children long after he is gone. i tweak it slightly to fit whatever world i'm in.

[@Lionrhod212]

Good story, but I'd write a new story for each new character so that every character doesn't become a clone of every other one. That's got to get dull after awhile.

[@capitanodisseo429]

This video is extraordinarily helpful, I'll try implement these tips to my (barely started) campaign!

[@fredbloggs7131]

I know I'm coming late to this but a possible route with atheist characters is maybe a priests/paladins healing magic doesn't work as well on them. If you deny the gods then they can't heal you.

[@tommytanaka1797]

When I'm feeling a lack of inspiration, I like to use a couple of sources for random background generation. For moderately detailed, I'll use the Lifepath from one of the R. Talsorian games like Cyberpunk or Mekton. For absolute insanity, I'll use one of the old Central Casting books from Taskforce Games. I generally don't use what I actually rolled, unless it makes sense that my character was born in a wrecked starship crashing through the atmosphere of a world in civil war while... Usually, just glancing through the many, many tables is enough to give me the seed of an idea.

[@larsdahl5528]

Yes, here I will say the GM have an important duty: To make a detailed world description, and have it ready before the players start, as it is an important inspiration source for making a background that fit into the world!

[@iampineapple886]

thxs for this great video. I remembered last time, two of my characters didnt have a background. But im starting a new campaign as the gm (again) with new knowledge.

[@Bluecho4]

Number 10 is probably the most important. You don't necessarily need to know anything else, but where the character is going is crucial. Especially since understanding long term goals can help the player, from there, branch out into answering other questions about who their character is. So before play begins, the player should be able to answer the question, "What does your character want to do, and why will adventuring help them do it?"

[@mr.makepeace3465]

This video is fantastic and perhaps your most helpful one!

[@Gondorf5]

On the subject of the trinkets table, there is a wonderful reddit user that put up a list of all 100 trinkets and 3 possible "mysteries" that each item could be used for. For example, the chess piece could turn into an appropriate weapon if held by an individual who matches the type of unit. (sword for a king, magic staff for bishop, lance for a knight, etc).

[@brandonmarshall6191]

That headshake at 11:56 had me rofling for some reason XD

[@larsdahl5528]

Something I found amusing was around 2:45 where he say: "especially if they've never GMed", I had auto CC/subtitles on and it wrote: "especially if they've never dreamed". Substituting "GMed" with "dreamed" there give that entire section an interesting different angle!

[@Magicknut]

I personally always liked the Idea of a session -1, where the background is pretty much played out by each player individually with the GM, so both the GM and Player know the Character, while the other Players won't know more than what they're Characters are told

[@Darkwintre]

Characters in a game I had run; 1) Fallen Aasimar Paladin he went with his parents murdered and he killed their murderers and felt shame at his actions. I altered it since his character would certainly have died to he and his parents were ambushed and he killed one of the attackers before help arrived. Brought up by his rescuer who developed the Free Knights organisation as the means of preventing this happening again. When the game starts his mentor is killed and he's been given his mentor's sword and is dealing with the grief. 2) Half Elf Twins one a performer and the other his manager who also manages a backup band of bards to support her brother's act. Their village was wiped out by a horde of orcs searching for something with the evidence pointing to the flashy cape her brother wears. They took shelter at the shrine where the Paladin is grieving after the sister stole a very gaudy dagger left behind at the plaza where the battle took place that killed the mentor. 3) Acolyte of the Dawnfather, the mentor's mother brought her son and his wife to their cathedral to be raised having sold off her business to pay for the casting after which another priest step forward and cremated the remains right in front of them! She called upon her own minor clerical abilities forcing the murderer and other priests to reveal themselves as members of the Strife Emperor Cult forcing them to flee as the city ends up in upheaval as a coup attempts to seize power. Its almost a pity that game has ended...

[@lawrencekenworthy8918]

Get well soon, oh Great Gm

[@Mackinz92]

While an epic backstory is always cool, it becomes rather redundant if there are six or seven epic backgrounds in a party that a GM wants to explore. This is partially why my current PC has a mostly simple background that will have less of an impact on the overall story than the others in the party.

[@D_A_D_]

I think you can do interesting backstories that provide a lot of flesh to your character without making them "epic".

[@Kalbot84]

If someone is dead set on not giving me a back story I give them a simple luck check, if it's bad: "your entire family is dead, murdered, hmm, 89, yeah quite recently actually". Or, conversely on a good roll: "you're from really good stock, hmm, oh-eight, yeah probably related to a king somewhere" this tends to serve as a good enough hook to illicit some more details from them and can sometimes be enough to actually get them to write something properly.

[@AltairDhauglu]

Hey! Thanks for all the videos you make, I enjoy them very much :). Why did you move to Japan?

[@dragonstryk7280]

As a GM- Stop making orphans! Seriously, I have whole parties who have managed to somehow ALL lack parents, either by them being dead, or otherwise locked out of the picture. Just... Stop. It gets really boring for the GM, and you. Because there's only so many lines of story for an orphan, and when 4-6 people at a time are taking that line, those plot threads get exhausted quickly.

[@Lionrhod212]

Well...It's not just about what the DM wants, it's a matter of players who for some reason want to play orphans. Personally, I'd rather leave at least a couple NPCs alive for the DM to utilize, whether by being kidnapped, or because I go home to Mum and enjoy a lovely stew supper and a relaxing night in my own bed. Orphans are okay,, and certainly create a potential need to go off and explore/avenge depending how the family died. But I agree there are a lot of orpahns in D&D. On the "safe side" for players who don't want the GM messing with their backstory, it's hard to use a dead parent aganst a PC. But there'w also the case of "what if the orphan only THINKS they're an orphan? Perhaps the father has been separated from the mother, but is alive and well, and keeping tabs on the kid? Or the PC assumes the family was killed, but they are actually alive/held prisoner. Or...something else?

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

Or ask them to all be of similar age and have them meet in an orphanage.

[@shinrafugitives3880]

One backstory I've been struggling with thinking up is for a spellscale binder from 3.5. Spellscales are a race of natural sorcerers as their bloodline is saturated with dragonblood, but I decided to make mine a practitioner of pact magic who makes pacts with vestiges to gain supernatural abilities. Im trying to figure out why a spellscale would go against his race's traditions of sorcery. Any pointers?

[@gamesexplorer2402]

these are all good ideas and the like. for me what i do is simple. first session is character creation and giving the information about the world they are in, political, religious and any historical events. now i also do down time. between quieter parts of the quest. in the first down time between first and second session i give the opportunity for players to develop their character histories and back stories by saying what they make as their back stories up to the beginning of the campaign will also have a slight influence on their character stats. for example a young lad had to survive through pick pocketing and dealing with avoiding the local police so has bonus stats to that sort of area. natural development stats. or a person who joined the army once at an age and would gain a slight bonus for combat, survival and the like. beyond your starting point. but also possible negatives too. all depending on how much back story they do. then through the campaign if they do something they have no real skills in and succeed in doing it by sheer luck and do it a few times they may gain an natural one point or two in that through just being self taught. also can be for mid campaign down time periods. between adventures or after a few weeks on the road and they all get back to the city for some relaxation and time jumps. i request a what are you doing for the next two weeks or months in your down time. then the following sessions we carry on with the next part of the campaign after all players are assembled again to deal with the next issue in game. i find the more investment they put the more caring they have for the characters.

[@SailwCaio]

I have a pretty simple rule that I present my players with, the 3 "why"s, when they do something, they gotta be able to go trough all 3. Ex: My rogue stole that guy's pouch, why? - becuase he needs money, why? - because he's gathering money to pay ransom for someone, why? - because that someone is his mother and he loves her. I think that's a pretty simple concept that's pretty easy to follow, I had guys who at first gave me 2 lines of background and ended up making 10 when I gave them the 3 "why"s rule, it helps get their immagination going.

[@funnyblog100]

If I want to make a really good backstory I leave it open ended. If a character does not know their past it makes it more interesting. I could make a shadow sorcerer with amnesia calling himself nobody. No one not even him knows who he is or where he came from. They could be trying to find that out. I mean if anyone asks him about his past he could constantly change his story and later admit to the party he does not know and he was hoping to find that out. This gives multiple layers to the character. As trying to find their backstory and looking for clues about their past only leads to more questions.

[@KalianaH13]

I like to ask (even new players) “are you a local or from far away?” Locals naturally get more of the culture, have more local knowledge, might know local NPC’s. I like to let “far away” characters decide what their culture is like (unless they’re going for a black sheep thing)

[@kennethslayor8177]

One of my favorite games for data is an old wargaming based RP called Fantasy Wargaming. There is a table which provides merits and flaws. A character would role a percent to see if they were anything from a stat bump, a skill bump, to being afraid of mice, from an oppressed culture, etc. It was centered on playing between 500 and 1500 in Europe. Great concepts, unwieldy system, but great information and concept.

[@jeffeppenbach]

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. You can get it through DriveThruRPG.com.

[@larsdahl5528]

There are quite some RPG systems that include some "random backstory generator". The result is better than no background at all, but still have a problem in that it not the players own creation. (As stated 1:08 )

[@Klespyrian]

Did you just reference Men In Tights with Pongo's death?

[@tylerowens]

I think it'd be pretty easy to play an atheist in D&D. There is magic everywhere, who's to say that priest doesn't just have the same source of magic as any wizard. Sure someone might be able to make an argument about the difference between divine and arcane spellcasting, but (especially if your character is not versed in magic themselves) it would be easy enough to dismiss this difference as just a lot of mumbo jumbo. And depending on how high magic your world is, even a god manifesting themselves wouldn't necessarily be enough since you could argue that 20th level magic users could do a lot of the same spectacular feats a god could. That's before you add in dragons and other really high power creatures. Beings from a celestial plane like a really powerful celestial could exist even if there are no gods. I'm sure I could come up with more if I sat and thought about it, but those are just some easy examples of how disbelieving in the gods wouldn't necessarily be that hard at all.

[@Cross_Malaki]

We had a paladin in one game who came from a time when arcane magic was completely unheard of, and who didn't really realize that his spells even were magic, and just referred to all arcane magic as "wizard shit" regardless of who was casting it. And as for atheists in fantasy settings, I've made quite a few, and it's not really that they don't believe in gods or don't believe they influence the world, at least not for me. For most of my atheist characters it's usually either apathy towards the gods borne out of deities simply not having much of an influence in their lives and attributing the healing powers of clerics to be something innate to the person and not divinely granted, or it's out right Anti-theism instead of Atheism, borne out of a mixture of desires and modes of thought, such as the paradox of gods creating mortal but needing the worship of mortals to have any power, or perhaps just the believe that humans are superior to the gods because of their ability to triumph in spite of certain deities standing in their way. In all most of my "godless" fantasy characters just generally think that either the gods aren't worth the time and effort to bother or be bothered with, or think that mankind can do far greater things than the gods and can live without them quite happily.

[@Student-mo3zh]

There's one thing I have been wondering about and where I'd love to get a few different opinions on and that is how much imaginative detail work should be done by the player and how much should be done by the gm. Let me elaborate. I have a character who is a sorcerer and who "picked up" their innate magic because she happened to be born in an area infused with the magic of fey creatures and specifically had a fey creature watch over her birth. Now, the monster manual doesn't really give much in terms of more powerful fey so should either I while writing down the backstory or the gm while going into it in-game want to elaborate on the creature(s) my sorcerer came into contact with, either of us would have to make something up. Now do you think this is more the job of me as a player seeing as it's my character and my backstory and I know best just what I'd need in that situation, or do you think that's more the job of the gm seeing as it's their world and they inhabit it with creatures. Obviously in the end both would have to communicate and see if it's something both can work with but who do you think would start the whole thing? The character-builder or the world-builder?

[@meris8486]

Love the new haircut

[@shallendor]

I usually write a basic 2-4 line basic history for a character, then i add details as i play.

[@aennaenn7468]

Idk about the atheist thing. I played a gunslinger who believed that the "gods" were just incredibly powerful long lived beings, much like elves, or an arch mage who discovered immortality. He didn't worship them, but acknowledged their power, good or bad, and respected them or not depending on their actions and their followers actions. Made for some interesting roleplay when the "gods" started taking an interest in the party.

[@cert2b]

The way that I've handled the whole atheist viewpoint with a character that I might play isn't that there are no gods, but why would these all knowing, all powerful, all etc gods care about an insignificant little speck like my character. Basically a version of agnostic as apposed to atheist. - With this one, the GM can have a diety contact them directly saying they are one of the Chosen Ones. Now that character has a crisis of faith as it were while still providing some direction for that game's campaign. The other version is that yes there are greater, fanastasic beings that live in the upper and/or outer planes that live incredible long life spans and have access to magical energies in these outer planes that we couldn't fathom. Even elves with their long life span still only live in the blink of an eye to a creature that is nye on immortal. That doesn't make them gods per se, but it makes them more powerful. Nothing more. - Same basic premise. An actual god contacts this character as the Chosen One, Savior, etc. And does the character have a crisis of faith? Or do they believe that this upper planar creature is just messing with them "Oh look what I can make this little human/elf/dwarf/etc do? This will be funny.'

[@jonc.6046]

I read the "Hayfever is a killer" and thought you were giving a halfling's backstory for an example.

[@michaelkieffer9930]

Can you share the link to the 8 questions for the ultimate backstory?

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

I wrote it all in my journal. You need one, man! :D

[@CCartman69]

14:32 I like to think of atheists in DnD god worlds like the people who believe in flat earth theory, or would rather use homeopathy instead of going to the doctor for their cancer. Who or what influenced them to think in such a way? Is there a charismatic leader or movement going around, trying to diminish belief in the divine for some reason? Has there been a tragedy in their past that made them doubt the gods-"I prayed like I was supposed to, lived a good life, but Thor still let my sister die."

[@Darkwintre]

I'm currently tinkering with a paladin. Trickle Risks 6th child of 8 born into a very poor family after having an otherwise happy and unremarkable childhood enlisted in the army eventually becoming mercenary to maintain her much wealthier lifestyle. Her current career came more from a powerful maternal urge her various and brief relationships would never seen into anything meaningless so instead she periodically helps others out usually claiming for monetary reasons in truth she's trying to regain that sense of happiness she had as a child but her fear of returning to poverty holds her back from admitting the truth. How does that hold up?

[@Cloud_Seeker]

So. Why exactly did this character became a champion for a God and why did she take a oath? Paladins is a clerical class. They are religious in one form or the other even if they 5e does try to change that. They are holy warriors that fight for the cause of a God.

[@Darkwintre]

@@Cloud_Seeker Enlisting in the army leading to a career as a mercenary led almost entirely by fate into becoming a champion of her faith. To her their view of her became somewhat distracting as they have their own view of what a champion of their faith should behave but to her patron deity that's entirely different for those appearing to behave "properly" unlike her don't share her compassion and selfless nature despite her assumed guise of monetary greed when she sees someone who needs help she often comes to their aid without a second thought.

[@Slum0vsky]

This is a very helpful video, but I wanted to address the fantasy atheism issue you mentioned: actually people in D&D words can be atheist and it's actually a thing in Planescape setting where a faction called Athars holds that Powers, as they call gods there, are very powerful, but not actually superior beings not more worthy of worship than a top-level character.

[@Celia_Louise]

11:12 does this mean you have a charactor who DISLIKES SLICED BREAD?

[@iOnRX9]

i woke up in a cart headed to {insert city} … and here i am. i wanna go on an adventure!

[@UniversalListenerMix]

Is he feeling okay? Something seems off.

[@peterr6062]

A clue may be shown in the bottom left hand corner of the screen at 1:30

[@Grimsikk]

It seems just about every KZbinr is sick as hell this season. Pewdiepie, Markiplier, that whole crew of gamers, etc. etc. I mean damn I'm sick too and a lot of my family and friends are as well. It's a rough winter this year. Everyone stay warm and healthy!

[@poilboiler]

Colds in Japan will knock a person out completely for a full day they have to spend sleeping with a fever. However some "medicine" and the next day they are fine. The rain is dangerous though as even being exposed for five seconds will make you sick.

[@PlatinumP14]

I think he has a different mic as well the audio seems way different then normal, seems like his mic is way Hotter and picking up more of the room

[@paulallen8304]

speaking as a medical professional if you have a fever you have the flu not a cold

[@jannikdewald1698]

should I create an NPCs background the same way I would for a PC?

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

I would caution that NPC's should only get backgrounds when reasonably effective in the story/arch of the game. If it's not relevant, it's unnecessary effort. When NPC's do call for backstory(ies) you can construct them more or less the same as PC's (asking the same or similar questions) BUT since you're looking to create something relevant and pertinent to the game, you've probably already got some of the "answers" either filled in, or ready for filling in... SO not much need to ask that/those questions. Conclusion? (TL/DR) NPC backstories should be constructed in a similar way but with most regard and attention toward what they bring to the game-story. No need to overcomplicate the idea or overwork as a GM. That's all complicated and work intensive enough. :o)

[@gokbay3057]

I have a friend who doesn't believe in electrons and math. He apparently only believes in things he sees.

[@felixrivera895]

Keelith from Critical Roll is atheist on the level of "I know nature turns on it's own and forces change onto us all, so I don't have faith in gods who only touch our lives when we want them to"

[@NinjoXEnlightened]

Does anybody know if that Star Trek Adventures System ever came out?

[@quamobrem]

Playing it now, it's cool

[@larsdahl5528]

www.modiphius.net/collections/star-trek-adventures

[@shallendor]

Yes it did, and it is used for Shield of Tomorrow of the Geek & Sundry Twitch channel. I believe that starting this week they will give out a PDF of it during the break.

[@pheralanpathfinder4897]

What INT score is required for a arcana/religion skill that's low enough to believe gods don't exist in the Forgotten Realms?

[@GuardianTactician]

I'd say if you want a player to become invested in the character and their past, the easy way is to help them build it. However, if you want to teach them a lesson, say: "Okay then, I will make the backstory for you." It is very important that you give them your most winning smile while you say this. Think of a few quick story points; who their parents were, how they became their class, and who wants to see them dead. Then toss in a few details that are less than flattering. Say the sheriff of the town recently had them arrested for their drunken behavior.

[@CCartman69]

That seems a little mean spirited. It's not about disciplining your players-it's about helping them so both of you can have fun during the game.

[@decideo]

i subbed when you said not to. :( reverse psychology why!

[@TheDarkSammich]

i just had a thought. instead of atheism in dnd because it's not an accurate stance, why not allow someone to not choose a particular god to believe in, kind of like a general understanding that they do exist, but they choose not to worship? a possible player/character motivation could be that they want to work on their own two feet, and make their fate their own as much as they can, so they choose to not pay credence to any of them in particular?

[@letters_from_paradise]

"it's not an accurate stance" To us as the GM, sure. It would be inaccurate for us to not believe in the existence of our world's gods because, well, we were the ones that created them. But how does a character, who does not have our privileged omniscience, know that gods exist, and how can they be sure that what they are witnessing isn't just a significantly advanced technology/spell?

[@dougsundseth6904]

One of the biggest problems of backstory, from the point of view of a player, is that too many GMs see it as a source of levers to use against the player. Your favorite item is stolen (or contains a demon or the king thinks it was stolen from him), your family is kidnapped or betrays you, your village is invaded by orcs, threatened by a volcano, and then destroyed by a meteor. The result of this sort of GMing is an entire party of characters who are orphans, who have been wandering for their entire remembered lives, and who have no particular attachment to things. If you're going to require backstories (and I think they're overrated in most games), use them to give the players advantages sometimes: Your favorite item proves that you are a noble and the heir to an estate, your family takes care of you when you're injured and helps to set you up in business (or raises you from the dead), and your home town puts up a statue of you, their most famous son and buys you drinks whenever you're in town. A bit of that sort of thing goes a fair distance to counteracting the bad taste of the occasional (_occasional_!) use of the adventure hooks you make up against you.

[@larsdahl5528]

Agreed! Annoys me too that this video argue too much for (ab)using backstories against the players. Which, as you have seen too, happens far too often. Leading to those backstories devoid of anything the GM can use against the player.

[@SkyeHawthorn]

Lars Dahl but that comes across that the player is becoming overprotective of the character. It makes the story feel like nothing bad can happen to the npcs related to the character. Life is filled with a mix of good and bad so the same should be true of the pcs. I will accept that DMs sometimes overuse making things being used in a negative point. However I think that is due to the fact that in writing, peace is boring. Conflict is what drives stories. I saw through this video is that he promotes both style though he encourages the one he enjoys for his story. If you want a dungeon crawler or something with less story, that is fine.

[@larsdahl5528]

I think Doug Sundseth did describe the problem quite well: The reason for the empty backstories. Of course "Life is filled with a mix of good and bad" as you say. But! It is not what happens for the PC, there it is "Life is filled with bad and more bad". Typical sign of the classic DM (Disaster Master). Another effect it sometime have (which have not been mentioned yet) is the paranoia background. I have seen a group where all the PCs started out being paranoid! Yes, I understand the logic behind it: Everyone and everything is out to get you, so the your character better fit with that.

[@LDaemontus]

As a beginning GM, I prefer characters to have backstories so I, the GM, get to know THEM, the characters, more. I want to know what kind of background the character has, whether its good or bad, I want to know what homeland or environment they come from because I want to tailor the overall world/plane/realm they adventure in to connect & relate back to them, either for good or for bad. For my first campaign, I asked players to give me just a simple paragraph/half a page at most to explain their character's life, to then give me information on their homeland/culture, but then I also asked what kinds of rumors could be spread about them? what goals do these characters have? What're their motives out of adventuring? I want player input so as a GM, I can adjust the world to fit the characters into it as if their families, their homelands are important part of the world as they are and to give each player the chance to have their moment, their arc, in where they grow, change & shine in the spotlight. It also gives me an idea on what environments I can place quests, how I can make players feel personally connected and invested to the world, NPCs I can add and just the little things that make the world come alive. I do think advice videos tend to focus on the GM using backstories to find out how to throw curve balls at players and as our GM for a campaign I'm in once told us, it's not about him versing us, in fact, they're rooting/supporting us on and they WANT to see us succeed through these challenges and I think that's something GMs forget. At the end of the day, we're simply the stagehands & narrators: we ensure a good story is told and that the players have the props & settings in which to play in.

[@JeffersonMills]

I forget what 8 was for....

[@tiamatveldrin954]

one could also believe in the existence of gods, but simply not worship them (for all that fuzz can just eat up so much time)

[@MrSlutzkin]

An Atheist character could work only in the sense that they believe the gods exist, but do not wish to devote worship to them.

[@geoffreycannon2197]

MrSlutzkin in the same line of thought--he could believe the gods are simply immensely powerful mortals.

[@MrSlutzkin]

Ok? But you can believe they are immensely powerful mortals AND worship them. They key part is not worshiping, regardless of the logic that led you to come to that conclusion.

[@slutboy666]

Playing a atheist in a fantasy setting is the funniest thing ever. If you consider magic to be as common as electricity and clerics to be delusional wizards.

[@ianmoone1412]

yea. i think it was one of the warhammer games that have a group that think that. and i stole it whole sale. they do not believe in the gods. they believe that the gods exist and that they have all kinds of powers and are super strong and evolved but they dont see them as the be all and end all. they see it as give anyone enough time (in terms of the universe) and they to and be that powerful.

[@Johnny-vi7oq]

I thought so too, and then I had an Atheist character, and I asked the question "What about Clerics healing power?" And she answered, "Oh, you mean those wizards that tricked the entire world into worshipping their powers?" I felt that was a fair enough answer

[@l0ker507]

Someone might believe that those "gods" are powerful, but not divine. That is how one can be an atheist in D&D.

[@AnoAssassin]

Hayfever eh? Bummer

[@tmojizhou3179]

So you don't believe that a gm should make a backstory for the characters "for the sake of the story" like your all human and prisoners?

[@larsdahl5528]

If the players make their own characters, then that include backstory. Otherwise we are over in the category: "Pregenerated character." instead.

[@asagoldsmith3328]

Oh God not pongo

[@NZsGuides]

Considering the atheist we have deities but they are not gods like in modern religion and have limits. I would place that title on Great Old One and i dont know how many people know about him.

[@himboghost629]

Hayfiver is a killer Rip

[@dmitryd5865]

I had am atheist character once (dnd Faerun). Not only he were atheist himself he also gave atheism lectures, convincing others that gods aren't real, they are conspiracy of high ranking wizards. And miracles - they are just another form of magic. If a wizard can polymorph why can't he heal, even though polymorph is more sophisticated flesh manipulation? I'm not buying this bulshit

[@dmitryd5865]

Btw. That were in campaign where gods on regular bases talked to other players

[@xelloskaczor5051]

Best argument for being atheist in dnd -> Arcane magic can do pretty much the same things as divine one. In fact there have been many arguments that divine magic IS arcane magic just dressed in pretty religious colors. Is it true? Is it not? To low-mid level character who has no buisness knowing the answer to such huge problem it's a matter of belief. Atheist can easily claim that gods are just powerful beings no different from dragons, and divine magic is just arcane trick. In fact considering that god can be taken down by lvl 18-25 character kind of supports the idea of atheism. If human wizard can do pretty much same stuff (even if with more effort or on lower scale) than "a god" then it's not very divine is it.

[@letters_from_paradise]

Realistically, a mortal character wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a god's influence and a sufficiently advanced technology/spell. Sure, a priest can rub your stumb a bit and a new, fully functioning leg grows, but the character has no way of determining whether a god was actually behind it or if the priest just believes one was. As soon as a character admits that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a sufficiently advanced magical spell and a deity's power, they can easily be an atheist in a magical, deity-believing world

[@Cloud_Seeker]

You can also treat Gods as just a very powerful being demanding you to treat it as a God. Just because someone claims to be a God does not mean they are one.

[@reachcole514]

Heres my reasoning for having an atheist character. He believes that magic is simply the way that the world works and that those who claim to be gods are simply mortals that have found out how to greatly control the natural magics of the world. As a result he doesn't worship the "gods" and instead pursues a greater understanding of magic to become as powerful as them.

[@PestoPosta]

... I don't believe in electricity, you don't need belief for something that you know exists. Everyone in a world where gods make their presents known are atheists. The question is, why do they not worship one.

[@omerle4393]

Must disagree on the atheist thing. My player can easily say that their character don't think that there is a difference between a "cleric" creating water to a mage creating fire, between a "divine" spell that give life and a necrotic spell that suck life. Also remember that there were times here on earth that not believing in god was like not believing in electricity today :) Because of it I try not to have gods manifest to the players in my games (with my current champaign being an exception since it is Kami based)

[@adamw.5956]

Don't ask for backstories in games that don't mechanically incorporate backstory. In my experience, it's wasted effort and usually goes nowhere.

[@roamingcelt]

It could also be, "I don't believe in the gods." As in "I don't believe the gods do anything to help us. So why should I pick between the multitude of god's?" or "There is no one god that I feel close to so I choose not to believe." You make it like, as a God-fearing man, everyone MUST HAVE RELIGION! Just as everyon has a preference for coffee and tea (or nither) the character should have a right to believe or not. Not saying I don't want to know why, but I do think that it should a choice and not something forced upon the character.

[@josephsmith8087]

About the religion one, I have one player that has only played 1 character who believed in deities, but he/she always plays a transgender atheist that is as edgy as possible....