Your Backstory is a Tool

May 27

Backstories are a funny sticking point in TTRPG groups. Many people aren’t comfortable writing fiction at all. Others may be fine writing, but don’t feel the agency to “force” things into the game world. And other hand you a 10 page backstory with illustrations and a family tree.

Regardless of where you fall along the spectrum, it is important to keep in mind what a backstory is at the table. It is a short document that explains what your character has done in the past, expressly to let everyone who reads it understand what you would want to do in the future. It is a tool to be used by your other players and the GM to make sure that your character stays involved in the story.

If you write a backstory without that in mind, you’re not really writing a backstory for the game. You’re writing an Alternate Universe fanfic of your character. A character that you haven’t even played yet. Lets use my Wizard blastimus as an example.

LEvel 0: Writing it for yourself

Blastimus is a powerful wizard. As a boy he studies under Archmage Kaboomicus. His signature spell is fireball. He got accepted by Kaboomicus as an apprentice because he one shot the biggest fireball ever made. His old family pet is a fire breathing turtle Flamey, who can’t be harmed by fireball spells. His biggest rival is Freezitotle, who shoot ice beams. His favorite food is flamin’ hot cheetos, and he adventures to be able to blast away to tip of Mt. Stonecrag, to prove he’s got the best fireballs.

The first time that a person tries to write a backstory, they pull from their experiences, the media they’ve consumed. That means pulling from stories crafted to be self contained and read by an audience. Not interacted with and used by others. But if this is your first go at a backstory, it might even fall a little short on that.

What a level 0 backstory looks like is a Wikipedia entry full of proper nouns. Each sentence introduces a new concept and then drops it forever. The next sentence brings in a new concept. There’s too much detail, and not enough theme. If you hand this paragraph over to someone else, they don’t know what’s actually important. If the GM wants to introduce a piece of your history, do they introduce kaboomicus, Freezitotle, Flamey, or Mt. Stonecrag? If they mention it by name, will you even remember who each of those are?

Level 1: Writing it to be read

Blastimus stood over Freezitotle, lying beneath him at the summit of Mt Stonecrag. “You fought well, frost mage, but not even the winter can resist the Sun’s heat. And I’ve captured that within my very spells!”

Freezitotle flashed with power, creating an ice luge down the side of the mountain. In an instant he was sliding away, his prize in hand. “Too bad your fireballs can’t help you catch me, loser!” he shouted as he picked up speed and shrank into the distance.

Blastimus chuckled. Freezitotle never understood the range and potential of fireballs. He aimed down the ice slide and hurled a massive fireball down the mountainside. Freezitotle was thrown off the slide, and the blast launched the bag of loot back up to Blastimus. “Bullseye.”

A backstory written like this is much more entertaining to read. It feels more like a story, it may include example dialogue. But the story is done. The fight may have happened, and the rival may have been introduced, but there isn’t much left to do. Blastimus won, which means there aren’t any unfinished tasks, there aren’t any unfulfilled desires, or anything the GM can use to entice me.

It is cool, and if you write a backstory like this, you might actually get some good feedback from others. They will likely enjoy reading it, but it won’t really affect the game much. In fact, it might cause some dissonance. If you wrote this backstory for a level 1 character in a new campaign, they may not even know the spell fireball for another 4 levels. Then what? So much for your long range and precision bullseye.

Level 1 stories often feel like a story of what you hope your character will one way be, rather than a story of what they once were.

Level 2: Writing it to railroad yourself

Freezitotle flashed with power, creating an ice luge down the side of the mountain. In an instant he was sliding away, his stolen animal in hand. “Too bad your fireballs can’t help you catch me, loser!” he shouted as he picked up speed and shrank into the distance.

Blastimus cursed. “May all your spells fizzle, your icy fiend!” as Freezitotle faded into the distance, Blastimus made an oath. “I won’t rest until I’ve rescuted you, Flamey. No one Steal Blastimus’ familiar and gets away with it!”

Just by changing the outcome of the fight, I’ve improved the usability of my backstory. If my backstory involves a failure or a point of pain, it is a perfect opportunity to declare a quest or crusade that my character is on. If mny GM wants to give Blastimus some custom content, or wants to really tempt the party, all they would need to do is mention that we someone heard of a turtle named flamey. Then Blastimus is instantly onboard with any adventure.

This kind fo backstory is generally great. You dont need any more than this. But where it can fall flat sometimes is that it can end. If your GM lets you find Flamey early into the campaign, do you even still adventure? Or does Blastimus retire now? If your GM never lets you find flamey, do you feel resentful, because they ignored your backstory? Sometimes, when a backstory has too much of a single purpose, it can fight with the story that the GM wants to tell.

Level 3: Writing it to be a tool for the GM

Blastimus chuckled. He tooke a big breath and shouted down the mountainside. “You never change, Freezitotle. Next time we see each other, the medallion will be mine again!” Waving to his old friend, he ended with. “See you again in a year!”

Now we’re really cookin’ with backstory! These few paragraphs tell us so much about the characters. If the GM wants to introduce him, Freezitotle is tricky, and wins by deception and running away. Blastimus is both overconfident, and good-natured when he loses.

If the GM needs a filler session between adventure arcs, we also know: Freezitotle and Blastimus are rivals, they have some yearly competition to win a “medallion.” What medallion? Why are they competing over it? Is it purely for show, or is it magical? What are the rules of the competition? The fact that we actually dont know any of those detaisl makes this better for the GM to use. The GM can decide what the medallion does, if anything. And also when Freezitotle may show up again for another rematch.

Maybe a whole adventure arc could be that Freezitotle shows up because the medallion is lost, and he needs help finding it again. These paragraphs are laden with a few easily recognizable opportunities for the GM to really interact with your backstory.

Your GM is the main consumer of your backstory

Keep in mind why you write backstories, and what makes them different than a novel or fanfiction. They are better when theyre vague and usable. Focus on one or two NPCs or palces. Talk about your relationship with those places or people, rather than a single event that occurred. And leave an obvious next step when they may come back into your life.

Eric Mickols