I've been running games for a while now and I still haven't got used to the abundance awful backstories submitted by players. It's frequently edgy shit filled to the brim with a series of contrived tragedies meant to justify (I guess) the character's behaviour. Too many people want to be the dark and brooding loner, few people actually want to be interesting or get into the spirit of these campaigns.
They're all so dull, too. Given that the entire appeal of these outrageously long-winded and contrived backstories is to stand out from the other players doesn't the irony ever strike these people that these things are all the fucking same? And for what? The characters just wind up sulking or brooding by themselves, rarely contributing to the overall group, only ever interacting when there's some way to bring the spotlight back onto them.
Heathcliff was barely interesting in Wuthering Heights and he was created by an actual writer. Not sure where these guys get the ego.
Set a limit of two clean paragraphs for character background.
Maybe run a game with pregen characters of your own design with some lighter backgrounds to show them how much more fun it is, if you're feeling optimistic.
How old are these people, though?
Asher Rodriguez
>How old are these people, though? It varies. Some of them are young enough that I let it slide. Those guys don't bother me as much. But once you hit, like, 20 you should be over this shit.
Apparently not.
>Maybe run a game with pregen characters of your own design with some lighter backgrounds to show them how much more fun it is, if you're feeling optimistic. I do like to let the players be creative, though. While that does bring out the less imaginative ones I have had a whale of a time with a few characters. But as for setting a two paragraph limit, yeah, that sounds like a good idea actually. The best characters tend to stay within that anyway. At least in my experience.
Lincoln Watson
Honestly, two paragraphs is pushing it. That's just for spillover. I don't quite go whole-hog on the "background is irrelevant, it's what's happening now that's important!" but one paragraph is usually sufficient for laying out your character's history.
Caleb Gutierrez
>"background is irrelevant, it's what's happening now that's important!" I'm on board with that to an extent. I do think there needs to be some justification for their adventuring. It doesn't have to be clever or original, but anything will do.
The best character that I ever ran was a rogue whose backstory was about three sentences long and amounted to "He's merry and jolly and got into cat-burgling for the fun of it" and he was way more developed and interesting than anyone else I've played with.
Grayson Brooks
I go with the stuff you wind up listing on a bad first date. Where you grew up, your funniest anecdote, "any family?", and you're home by 9:30.
Nicholas Edwards
The problem is that it's hard to convince players your guidelines are in place to spur creativity. They'll just claim you're stifling them.
Lincoln Gomez
"That's right. I'm the mean old GM out to ruin your fun. Now get writin', chop-chop."
Wyatt Cox
I can't tell if you're in support of me or against me.
I mean, yeah, people will see it as that for sure. I'm not a writer but I know enough to know that if you don't set disciplines the story is going to be an unfocused mess.
Ian Hill
I'm on your side. I'm saying if you say something along the lines of , you'll make them feel the fool.
Or just say outright "what you've handed me is garbage. This makes it harder for you to make more garbage." I've found that a much more satisfying way to go through life than sugarcoating.
