Welcome to another installment of The Gamemaster. Last week we talked about getting back into the swing of things after an absence in play. This time, we’ll talk about setting up a backstory for your new game.
The more I read from others who run games, it seems like going into your first game having created your own world and scenario is a big no-no. I can see why: it’s easy to get carried away and the more rigidly you plan your world, the less likely you are to be flexible when the players encounter something you hadn’t planned on. The more you work on it, the more it becomes your baby, and the more your players alter its features, the less it resembles the thing you fell in love with.
I get it.
It makes perfect sense.
But I’m a writer. I couldn’t just play in another sandbox. I wanted to create my own world for a number of reasons. First is that I came up with all the ideas for these roleplaying scenarios as stories I wanted to tell in a serial format anyway. One of my weaknesses as a writer is thinking on that massive epic scale that is required for fantasy storytelling. The genre has been seducing me to dabble in it for a while, but I hadn’t cracked the code until I started thinking about the story in smaller chunks, like you’d experience in an RPG. So, the Pathfinder rules were a perfect start, but I needed something I could make my own, but not so detailed that I would either bore the players telling them about all this rich history. I needed to come up with just enough for the world to feel lived in, but not enough that things felt too strict.
I set out to create a single kingdom in turmoil. I mapped the Kingdom of St. Argon and described the political situation that is causing all the strife they’re reacting to. It instantly gave me something to hang the story on and add an instant layer of intrigue. But they need to be able to change it and I need to let it morph into something more detailed as they explore, and they are every bit a part of that exploration.
The other thing that was very important for me was tying the players together before we started playing so we could jump right into the game. I was never a fan of the school of fantasy roleplaying where six guys show up in a bar and decide to go questing together. I always wanted to know what drew the characters together. And since I’m selfishly going to be writing these stories, I asked all the players if they minded if I wrote backstories for the characters.
I gave them some minor restrictions in classes and races they could choose, but not so restrictive that they felt they were being railroaded into a decision. In fact, when they asked about classes that had been “restricted” I came back to them, explained the world, told them they were more than welcome to make that choice, but that the game might be a little harder for them at the early stages. Some of them nibbled at the challenge, others went with the original restrictions.
Once I had the races and classes of every character playing, I set out to write a few hundred words about each character and how they got to be at the starting point of our game. As a writer, it’s something I’d need to know before I wrote anything in the world anyway, but it also gives me a fallback position if I run out of ideas for adventures (which doesn’t even seem likely at the moment.) Hidden inside each characters background are multiple story hooks that could be followed up on at a moments notice. Missing siblings. Duties from a past obligation. Running from reputations. Dead loved ones needing avenging. Character motivations that shape them. What their job was before being called to adventure, etc.
Before the first session began, I sent the character backgrounds to each player to make sure they would be able to capably roleplay the character, and it fit with their vision for the character and how they wanted to play. (See! Be flexible!) Sure, some tweaks needed to be made here and there, but, for the most part, this got them all really excited to play. They wanted to inhabit this world every bit as much as I wanted to create it.
I had an advantage in that most of the players I’ve been playing with don’t usually focus so much on the story aspect. Pathfinder (and most RPGs they play) had become more of a tabletop strategy combat game. I get the feeling that with many of the seasoned players in my campaign, they’d almost forgotten what the feeling of being invested in a story was like.
And I can’t emphasize how good it feels knowing that I have story hooks laying in wait in the backstories that I can fall back on if I ever need to. It adds a layer of confidence to my playing, and it allows me to buy time if they head off into an unexpected direction that I still need even 10 minutes of prep for.
Here’s one more bit of advice with the character backgrounds: give them a secret that the others don’t necessarily know. Give them things to keep to themselves. Let them dole out the information to the other characters as they see fit. If one of them wants everyone to know about all the wrongs they’ve done, or the detailed history of their family, or whatever, that information is theirs to do with it what they will. I believe it makes them feel in control of the character and universe and invests them better.
This is absolutely something that will need to be negotiated with your players. As I said last week, your biggest job is setting the scene. Coming up with an engaging backstory, for the world and your characters, is the single best tool you can give yourself. If your players are interested in the world and their characters before the first game even starts, imagine how much they’ll love it three sessions in.
My players told other players about the game, and they somehow convinced me to run a second game in the same world with a different set of players and characters. So I started all over again. Since I had a map and a world, I could create a game with a totally different flavor, but still working on the overarching story of the kingdom and its strife.
As I get the first part of the serial story written as prose, I’ll release it with all of the backstory used to start running the first sessions, with all the monsters, maps, and stat-blocks I came up with. Hopefully I won’t be the only one to fall in love with the plight of St. Argon and the growing rebellion against the usurper.
Be sure to check out other articles in The Gamemaster series.
