Long vs. Short Backstories

>Some anons like writing a page or two of backstory
>Others write a lot more
>Some consider three paragraphs a hard limit and wordy background

What determines a good length for a character's backstory in your opinion?

I for one think a page or two of summing up major formative events and detailing a few important relationships is the sweet spot. I understand some people enjoy starting a game with a blank slate and basically improvising their backstory and character's personality, developing it as the game goes on, but I like having them established but malleable. At the same time I don't care to hear about every single thing that happened to a character in their entire lives, and depending on the age of the character it may be suitable to write less, but for most adult characters (especially if they're a long-lived race) I'm not being unreasonable.

I tend to aim for the middle ground, although I do particularly love playing characters who either don't remember their backstory or where their memories might be compromised.

It requires a lot of trust in a GM, but handing them a blank slate to do what they like and link you into the plot in any number of ways is an experience I really enjoy, the game becoming a journey of self discovery for the character.

I like saying a lot with few words. I cut out all unnecessary details and shite. It's not needed. It can be improvised when needed.

>[character] was born in a farming village and had a happy but harsh youth
>when he became a young adult, his magical power was discovered by an alchemist and [character] went to the alchemist's lab to study magic
>despite being a prodigy, he never felt like one, since almost all other students were of nobility and bourgeoisie studying since their early childhood
>he had difficulties studying because he had a penchant for trouble and had little regard for subtlety
>[character] leaves the lab as an accomplished wizard with the advice to seek a career in spell and blade

Five sentences. This gives the GM seven points to use:
>birth village/region
>family
>mentor alchemist
>alchemist's lab
>[character]'s inferiority complex
>socio-political status
>the trouble [character] got into as a student

Have a character concept, but don't infodump the whole damn thing.

Part of any story is the method in which it is revealed.

I usually won't write a backstory for the group unless the GM asks for it, and even then I keep it rather short since I prefer to have my character uncover bits about himself over time or in relevant situations, instead of in a Tinder bio style

It's not about the length as much as avoiding unnecessary length. Wordy descriptions with little subtstance are bad, short and concise backstories are good, long and detailed backstories with no unnecessary padding are also good. Personally I prefer writing short backstories that give me room to define my character over the course of the first few session. As a GM I'm also fine with players not writing backstory and coming up with their character's past during play.

Honestly, as long as it is well writen and can be used to tie you in the game's world, I don't mind either. Although the short version with the key points is always appreciated over the large pages, due to me being able to have a better reference point.

That said, players that write long backstories tend to be the drizzling shits in term of in-game value. I once had a guy that boasted how his character's expanded backstory is near 5 pages long no I didn't read it, I asked for the short version and once we got the game going, he just... did nothing. At all.

For three sessions.

I don't even write my backgrounds out in prose anymore, only in point form, and they tend to be pretty barebones. This way I can make shit up as I go along, fill in the blanks with details appropriate to the setting, and work with the GM to better fit the character to the setting.

>What determines a good length for a character's backstory in your opinion?


What kind of game you're playing. If this is a kick the door down fight fight fight RPG, you don't need much of a backstory at all, and possibly 0.

If this is a psychodrama RPG centered around the characters, you'll want something very detailed and how individual motivations developed.

The bakcstory should be bare essentials in tabletop gaming. There is literally no point, reason or even place to give more.

If you are playing text-based games, go ahead, write even 20 pages, because, duh, text-based game.

First question you should ask yourself when writing a backstory:

>how does this make my character interesting?

Does this backstory fact give your character a goal, an interesting trait, a way to connect to another character? Does this trait make people love or hate(in a good way) your character? Does this fact from character life give him an unexpected character trait, or makes them more endearing, relatable, funny, sad?

Because ultimately, the main thing that matters in the campaign is how character is played. And backstory is a great set of guidelines for that.

I usually go with a vague backstory and develop it once I get to grips with the story, feel, and the fictional universe. If the GM explicitly says that he wants to use backstories as plot points at some point, I'll put more detail in so he can work with it.

It also depends on how lethal the campaign is. If it's highly lethal, then I'm not going to invest time in making a detailed backstory to someone who's probably going to die like a bitch.

if they can't star in their own novel, the character isn't worth playing. just because you might never use elements of their backstory, its better to have them and understand where they're coming from rather than just be a murder-hobo.

Enough to get the general jist of the character

You are exactly what i like to see at my table. Hit the highlights, and give me stuff to work with.

I once GMd a superhero game and got the entire range between nothing (My character is named Lawman . He's immortal) to 30 page Mary Sue bullshit.

When I begged the two players that have me nothing to give me SOMETHING, they both turned on their own 30 page manifestos detailing the many exploits of these (or what was supposed to be) average level heroes.

Now I just give my players a worksheet with 6 open- ended questions. They answer these questions, and can use the front page for writing, and the back page for any drawings they want to include. If they can't adequately summarize their character in one page, they have to scrap it. Also, it has to be legible (and I secretly grade their spelling and grammar. )

Does it make a particular difference to anyone when you have an established fantasy/futuristic setting to work within? I'm thinking ones that are a bit more alien than "modern values but with swords and more horses."

Three paragraph hard limit, ideally only one. Nobody wante to read your novel's prologue, and if you can't fit what needs to be said in three paragraphs you've made something far too elaborate in the first place

Why would that change your backstory length?

I imagine that if you place a story in a well-established setting, you can cut corners by just namedropping things.

>and then my character went to tatooine for 5 years

Instead of
>and then my character went to a shitty desert planet on the edge of the known universe to live off selling junk and scrap

To help emphasize the different lens through which the character views and thus interacts with the world.

I also tend to be overwhelmingly talkative and wordy, in case it wasn't obvious, which is probably a result of my reasoning.

I like to do it in cascading windows.

So that way I keep it short and sweet, but also long and hard, if they open it up.

Depends on the character/gm. Is your GM someone who enriches the game by including people/events/concepts important to the character? Than go ahead and write up the life and times of Conan the Librarian. Elsewise its not so important.

I've found it depends on the players in your group, if you go big and play in a group that's just looking for a table top mmo, you're gonna feel like the character is wasted.

My experiences of playing with someone who would write 2500+ words backstory for level one characters has driven me to believe that less is more. However, I wouldn't set an exact length on backstory. It should convey all the necessary details while leaving ample space for the character to develop.

This user has it down to a fucking T.

>Some anons like writing a page or two of backstory
>Others write a lot more
>Some consider three paragraphs a hard limit and wordy background

What the fuck? Nigga, if your "backstory" is more than a sentence long, you're out. 10 words, simple words only is the hard limit.

Jesus. Some people have no appreciation of other peoples' time.

I HATE long backstories, and as someone who can only play online (there is no LGS for a hundred miles) I sometimes lose out on getting into a game because someone else wrote a huge backstory for a level 1 character, when in reality had a character gone through all that they'd be level 5 at least.

Everything in the back story should exemplify the character. If you tell everyone everything about your character right at the start, there isn't going to be any surprises are development.

Less is more. Be concise, be descriptive, and you don't need more than a short paragraph. Don't waste peoples time.

Personally, I like long backstories, but I'm also very much the kind of person who does everything at the last possible moment. Two things that, as you would expect, don't go together very well.

As a compromise I usually just write a short background story, like a cliffsnotes version of what I have in mind, and then expand it later on. As an added benefit, this gives people a short, easy to read idea of what my character is like, while also allowing me to have a longer version on hand in case anyone wants to read it.