|
Since I havent been GMing much lately (my creative energy has been
directed more towards my other hobby, beadwork), I havent been
thinking a lot about world development. So, this month I would like to
discuss a subject thats useful for players, GMs, and writers as well . . .
the importance of character background stories.
Background stories are important for a few reasons. For one thing,
theyre FUN! While using a tried-and-true cliche (like an orphan, or the
bastard child of the local king), trying to come up with something unique
is fun and challenging. Also, if youre playing a game with a merits-and-
flaws type system, this is a good time to figure out just where these stem
from and how theyve affected the characters life thus far.
Another thing is, it keeps you from wasting valuable game time figuring
things out. Youll already have family status and a basic history written
down, and you can embellish it in-game, without having to think about it
too much. Its really bad when you dont write these things down
beforehand, because then you forget little things like your characters
little brothers name.
The third thing is, as a player, if you write up a little history and
biography and give it to the GM, he or she can work it into the game. If
you have a GOOD GM (and Im lucky enough to only play with good
ones), this means tailoring the story a bit to foster character goals and
such. If youre playing with a BAD GM, then, well, it probably means the
GM now knows just what buttons to push to annoy your character, and
will push them all the time. For example, if you make a character with a
phobia of undead, and you have an evil GM, every session youre going
to have at least one undead encounter. Facing your phobias every now
and then is a good thing, but some people might get carried away . . .
One thing you have to remember is . . . keep it brief! While it might be
tempting to write a whole several pages on your characters past, no
ones going to want to read it. I find that its sufficient to make a brief
note of family situation, what sent the character on their path to
adventuring, if its a higher-level game, a brief mention of some important
encounters in their past may be important . . . as well as other formative
moments. If your character hates orcs, say why. If your character is a
feminist man-hater, make mention of why. NPCs might not need as much
of a background, it really depends on how involved theyll be in the
story.
I have to say that in my experience, games in which the characters have
all had background stories are much richer than ones where we just roll
up the characters and jump into the action.
Now, since this column is terribly short and pathetic at the moment, I will
talk a bit about other things . . . One is the glory of flaws, aka curses. I
have played in three gaming systems with this rule built in (World of
Darkness, BESM, and Rolemaster), and weve all enjoyed them so much
that my husband recently integrated them into his D&D game, the rule
simply being that if you give your character some flaws (phobias,
neuroses, whatever), you get a free feat. Greedy little feat whores that we
are, we come up with flaws and ask "Is this enough???". Were now
trying to figure out how to build it into Earthdawn.
The great thing about curses is that it rounds the character out, makes
them more like a real person, and in turn gives you some points to apply
to some other benefit. When given the choice of having curses, just
about everyone Ive ever met jumps at it and comes up with some real
entertaining stuff. However, when its not an actual part of the game, it
rarely gets thought about and the characters might have some small
flaws if thats how the player normally plays . . . And if not, the characters
end up being rather two-dimensional.
If youre GMing, I recommend working up a quick merits-and-flaws
system for your next game, and watch what your players come up with. If
youre a player, build some interesting flaws into your character and be
sure to tell the GM about them so they can get worked into the game,
then watch your friends laugh at your characters crazy antics (maybe
make a big dumb barbarian whos afraid of mice . . . hehehe).
One more thing, before I send this off to my doubtlessly panicking editor
(it is, after all, 45 minutes until the deadline) . . . I have recently fallen
in love with the Earthdawn gaming system all over again, harder than the
first time around. One thing that led to this was finding a copy of "The
Adepts Way" at the local used bookstore. Rather than providing new
rules or what-have-you, this book is nothing but pure information about
the various disciplines, provided by essays written from the point of
view of a member of this discipline (for the uninitiated, disciplines are
like classes). Not only was it a very entertaining book, but it offers a good
deal of insight as to how the world works, how your character would see
things, and how much the folks at FASA loved this game. I was feeling
rather down about my swordmaster, he seemed so boring next to
everyone elses characters . . . After reading the swordmaster essay, I felt
ready to play, sure that my character was just as cool as everyone elses.
Sure enough, when game time finally came around, he was a BLAST.
Swordmasters, you see, arent just a guy with a sword . . . They could have
stepped right out of the best swashbucling movie, swinging in through
the window on a rope, ready to trade witty combat dialog with the villain
before sweeping the damsel (or, uh, hunk?) in distress away to safety!
I dont know if Living Room Games (the people who now own the rights
to Earthdawn) has plans to reprint this wonderful book,, but I recommend
sniffing around for a copy of it if you are as addicted to Earthdawn as I
am. If you arent addicted yet, I recommend finding the main rulebook
and getting addicted. As my friend and GM Dylan said (whilst grumbling
good-naturedly about likely having to run another game), "Everyone
loves Earthdawn."
|