History. Every character has one whether it’s developed at the time the character is created or later. Backstory is a double edged sword, however. It can either enrich your character or make them cringe worthy. This thread is designed to help with fleshing out and cutting back the backstory._____________________________
- Where does your character come from?
- If there is some settings information available on that place, how does that influence your character’s traits or behaviors?
- What are your character’s feelings about that place?
- How does it affect your character’s views of other places?
- Is your character from a main city/area or a suburb/outlying area?
- Do they have a small down, big city, or other mentality?
- Do they have a preference about where they live?
- What is it?
- Why do they have that preference?
- Do they have living family members?
- Who are they?
- Are they close to any of those family members?
- How do those family members affect who the character is now?
- How do they impact your character's life now?
- How would you characterize the family dynamic—loving, chaotic, dysfunctional, aloof, other?
- Has the character suffered as a complete outcast for the bulk of their life?
- Are all of the character’s original friends dead?
- Are all/most of their family members dead?
- Does rape or mass murder factor significantly into their backstory?
- Were they abused by everyone they knew over long periods of time?
- Did you randomly pick a bunch of “bad things” to put in their backstory to make them “interesting” or “unique”?
| | | | | (If you answered yes to several or most of the six points above, please take time to think deeply on these topics. While your intent may be to round out your character, it could easily have opposite effect or worse. Tragedy in a backstory is like salt. A little can go a long way, too much ruins it.
Is it impossible to write or play a highly tragic character well? No, but most people do not have the skill to pull it off. It’s more likely to cause you difficulty in RP than to help round out your character. Consider cutting some of the tragedy out of the story so that the character will be more relatable, less likely to be too normal-- in everyday RP scenarios--for their history, and less likely to look like an attention hoarder. I’ll eventually make a tragic backstory workshop to help with that specifically.) |
- What kind of people has your character traditionally spent time with?
- What kind of people do they seek out?
- Are there any significant/sentimental items in their past?
- Do they still have them?
- How is that item currently affecting their lives or who they are?
- Does that carry through as an affinity or an aversion for things that remind them of the item?
- Are there any other significant people in their background? Lover? Friend? Rival? Mentor?
- Why is this person significant to your character?
- Does your character learn life lessons from this person or because of this person?
- How do those lessons affect their present life and who they are?
- Are there significant events in their background?
- How have these affected their personality, outlook, how they approach life and other people, future choices in life?
- Are they connected to or affected by the general settings of the game in their past? Born during a labyrinth invasion? Sibling joins shadow squadron? Spiritual sojourn to the Cups of Laanx? Etc.
| | | | | (While it's not impossible to write characters that are connected to major characters of Planeshift lore, it is a slippery slope. A general guideline is to avoid it, but if you do insist on it, don’t make it the focal point of your character. Relying on the notoriety or familiarity of a lore character to carry your character is affectively plagiarizing the settings writer’s work to spare yourself work.
Focusing too much on the lore character instead of your own will come like that whether you intend it or not. it will likely make RPing the character harder too. If you go this route, make sure the lore character is a no more than a footnote to your own character’s story. Fully flesh out your own character, no cheats. This applies to lore events as well.) |
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Below is a template you can copy to make it easier to answer the questions.Where does your character come from? If there is some settings information available on that place, how does that influence your character’s traits or behaviors? What are your character’s feelings about that place? How does it affect your character’s views of other places?Is your character from a main city/area or a suburb/outlying area? Do they have a small down, big city, or other mentality?Do they have a preference about where they live? What is it? Why do they have that preference?Do they have living family members? Who are they? Are they close to any of those family members? How do those family members affect who the character is now? How do they impact their life now? How would you characterize the family dynamic—loving, chaotic, dysfunctional, aloof, other?Are there some tragic elements in my character’s background that I can revise or soften to make the character more relatable? What kind of people has your character traditionally spent time with? What kind of people do they seek out?Are there any significant/sentimental items in their past? Do they still have them? How is that item currently affecting their lives or who they are? Does that carry through as an affinity or an aversion for things that remind them of the item?Are there any other significant people in their background? Lover? Friend? Rival? Mentor? Why is this person significant to your character? Does your character learn life lessons from this person or because of this person? How do those lessons affect their present life and who they are?Are there significant events in their background? How have these affected their personality, outlook, how they approach life and other people, future choices in life?Are they connected to or affected by the general settings of the game in their past? Born during a labyrinth invasion? Sibling joins shadow squadron? Spiritual sojourn to the Cups of Laanx? Etc.
