Star of the Back Story
“I haven’t had much opportunity to be a player, but over the years I have studied thousands of back stories. There is a clear distinction between newer players and long term veterans of table top. Veterans come locked in with a support system, or a simple high quality life statement.”
The Life Statement
The back story is so important. It is the character’s history. A strong Life Statement should open the back story and answer only a few questions. It should include name, species, birthplace, occupation, and motivation. A few notes on these specific items are welcome. The basic statement of who they are and one solid motivation is all we need to get off to a strong start.
“Kimo is a Mescrit dock hand from the lower docks of Port Einier.”
This statement says an incredible amount of information.
The Story Guide knows his setting best, but when you are running in the Vorcrux Campaign setting, or any other setting for that matter. The Mescrit Species has a general set of lore, a dock hand has a certain set of responsibilities and a ton of possibilities because of day to day access to locations already established in the setting.
Being part of the lower docks of Port Einier makes Kimo a figure who may have contact with any of the thousands of supporting characters from the same area, especially those who live and work around the lower docks of Port Einier.
Now, add a strong sentence for motivation:
“Kimo is a Mescrit dock hand from the lower docks of Port Einier. He is currently on the run from Halliday Corporation for dropping and breaking a very expensive crate which came off a ship.”
Now we have a motivation. Kimo can hit the ground running from here. The Story Guide doesn’t have much work to do to start this player off in the moment. The rest of the back story we will work on in chunks.
The Perfect Back Story
The perfect back story is a super simple statement answering just a few questions:
Name
Species
Birthplace
Occupation
Location
Motivation
More is welcome, this is the bare minimum.
Unlock Everything!
Deeper Yet, The Lordock
The Character’s Lordock will cover everything related to roleplaying. In a well made character lordock we will have an entire support system the character can use to navigate the world from a home base.
Notes from Alabaster
At my campaigns I don’t start where all the party members meet. Remember, at my tables I keep my party split most of the time, only having them come together for big moments, usually by desynchronized timescale. Their individual stories make the shared moments strong. Keeping the party together all the time is like constantly fighting a hydra. It gets more exhausting the longer it goes on.
