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Create an RPG Character Backstory Your Game Master Will Actually Read

Expanding 5E D&D Background Characteristics — Guild Artisan
Observe, Report and Smite with Oath of the Watchers from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

Salutations, nerds! I’m writing about backstory when it comes to tabletop roleplaying game characters. Generally you see a lot of backstory elements going one of two ways, or at least this is what memes would have you believe — 10 pages of detailed history your Game Master probably isn’t going to read. (If you have one who does never let them go.) On the flip side there’s players who show up to the table with absolutely no idea who their character was before the game begins.

This is your RPG character’s life — so live it!

Finding a happy medium for an RPG character backstory can be difficult. You certainly don’t need 10 pages though it can be nice to have an idea where your character has been before you got to this point. You often hear people talking about how starting characters sometimes come into the game with so much adventure under their belt that it’s a bit unbelievable, right?

I’m going to share five points for you to consider when it comes to your own RPG character backstory. These important life events have nothing to do with saving the day but would still have a big impact on your character and why they do things the way they do. The idea is not to get incredibly granular or grandiose but instead to give yourself an overview brief enough so your GM reads what you provide.

No. 1 — Parents

Even if your character is an orphan this is something to consider. Who were your parents and what was your relationship with them like? Try to think of a specific anecdotal moment to sum this up. If your father was cold and distant perhaps it was your mother’s funeral where he stood stone faced offering you no comfort as you wept. Maybe your parents are dead and your defining memory of them was finding their bodies impaled on the spears of yuan-ti. Or maybe you had a very happy childhood with a mother who taught you how to fish so you would always be able to feed yourself.

The people who care for us when we are very young shape the way we see ourselves and the world. What has this perspective done for your character?

No. 2 — First love

Think about the first time you fell for someone, if you did. If you didn’t this still says something about you and changes your perspective. But who was this person? What drew you to them? Did it end amicably? Are they still alive? How long were you together? How did you come out of the experience different than when you went in?

5E D&D adventurers motivation This Is Your Life Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything provides a terrific resource with This Is Your Life to define the circumstances that shaped your character. The images at the top show a young street urchin who pilfers a pouch and discovers they snagged a spellbook. Much later the character becomes a wizard. Between those two defining events the character serves on a ship’s crew and uses their magic to help. Later she survives the sinking of the ship and loss of all their possessions — except that spellbook! [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

No. 3 — First fight

It’s generally assumed even a starting RPG character has been in at least one fight before. It could be interesting to play someone who hasn’t. My spouse played a half-elf lawyer in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons once who just happened to have gotten levels in cleric he never asked for and this was a wonderful portrayal all the way through. But more than likely you have been in at least one fight.

So who was it with? Did you win? Get a cool scar out of it? Was it life or death or just playground scrapping? What did you learn from this experience?

No. 4 — Skills

Go down your list of skill proficiencies and give yourself a short answer for each one. Where did you learn to do this? Why do you know it? Who taught you? Sometimes this is going to be easy. “I am just naturally good at reading people” is a viable option for the 5E D&D Insight skill, for example. But some things are going to require a little more thought, like any tool proficiency.

These are concrete things your character can do and chances are they didn’t just learn them through osmosis. Give some thought as to how they got here.

No. 5 — Triumph

I mentioned how a RPG character backstory isn’t about saving the day and I’m still not. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: But if this were the case it would make an excellent segue to the Folk Hero background for 5E D&D.]

Think about what you would consider to be your biggest accomplishment. This will be easier for some characters than others but think about what matters to you. A thief might have stolen a particularly valuable diamond and a fighter might think fondly on a glorious tavern brawl they came out on top of in spite of the odds.

This triumph tells you both what your character values as well as something major they have been through.

There you have it — five points for fleshing out your RPG character backstory in a way that won’t bog down your game. Go ahead and zoom in on a couple of life lessons your character has learned, get an idea of the shape of the person and then go forth and roleplay the heck out of them. And of course, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — Xanathar’s Guide to Everything provides a terrific resource with This Is Your Life to define the circumstances that shaped your character. The image at the top show a young street urchin who pilfers a pouch and discovers they snagged a spellbook. Much later the character becomes a wizard. Between those two defining events the character serves on a ship’s crew and uses their magic to help in the later image. Later she survives the sinking of the ship and loss of all their possessions — except that spellbook! [Images courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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Robin Miller

Speculative fiction writer and part-time Dungeon Master Robin Miller lives in southern Ohio where they keep mostly nocturnal hours and enjoys life’s quiet moments. They have a deep love for occult things, antiques, herbalism, big floppy hats and the wonders of the small world (such as insects and arachnids), and they are happy to be owned by the beloved ghost of a black cat. Their fiction, such as The Chronicles of Drasule and the Nimbus Mysteries, can be found on Amazon.