So, I’ve always asked for at least a token back story from my players. I asked for three sentences: “Where you were, where you are, and where you’re going?” but recently I had an idea and I wanted to hear what the RPG community had to think. While watching an old show (you’ll most likely figure out which one in a moment) on Netflix I had an idea. What if, instead of asking for a dry three point statement I instead asked the players to come up with the introduction there character would get if they starred in a TV show?
“This is the story of a time long ago – a time of myth and legend. When the ancient gods were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering, only one man dared to challenge their power – Hercules.”
The first line of that classic intro sets up almost everything you would need to know about the world the character (in this case the mighty hero Hercules) resides in. The gods are cruel, the people of the land are suffering, and the character won’t stand for it.
“Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen – a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart.”
The second line gives a little bit of info about the character, not too much, but just enough to get s sense of who the character is: physically strong, but lead by his sense of what is right.
“He journeyed the Earth – battling the minions of his wicked stepmother, Hera, the all-powerful queen of the gods.”
Here we learn a little of the character’s back story. Again,it’s not much, but it also doesn’t overload you with the character’s story. The character’s greatest deeds lie ahead, otherwise why wouldn’t the game take place in the back story?
“But wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be Hercules.”
We learn the character’s mission, the drive to do good and right injustice that propels the character into the role of hero.
I think that having to come up with something like this would be a good exercise to get the players thinking about their characters and how they really relate to the setting. It’s something that the player could have fun coming up with and sharing with the rest of the group in the overly dramatic “announcer guy” voice.
