Quote from: Terry Pratchett in Guards! Guards!There is something very unexpected about this sword. It isn't magical. It hasn't got a name. When you wield it you don't get a feeling of power, you just get blisters; you could believe it was a sword that had been used so much that it had ceased to be anything other than a quintessential sword, a long piece of metal with very sharp edges. And it hasn't got destiny written all over it. It's practically unique, in fact.  

Maybe it's just me, but I keep running into characters who are unrealistically unique. Not in the half-vampyre-werewolf-jedi-elf munchkin special sense, but with a background that tends to push the edge of beleiveabilty.
"Hey, have you heard about Bob? His parents were travelling acrobats who were slain by a necromancer, he was taken in by Elves until they were raided by Dark Elves who captured him, he spent five years as a slave miner until he was sold at market but rescued by a bandit gang on the way to his new masters castle, and after a year with the bandits he was caught by the Watch and the Judge made him join the army or go to jail!"

Many roleplayers seem to take character creation as a personal challenge to their creativity, striving to make something ever more unique and amazing that still fits into the Level 1 Starting Character mould without pushing needle on the GM's Munchkin-O-Meter into the red.
In recent memory, I can only think of a few characters I've seen who's background wouldn't be a major talking point in company - and one of them was a deliberate effort on my part to create a character who came from mundane origins.

He was practically unique.

I once played in an adventure that had a blind bard and a deaf ranger. All for the sake of being non-powergamey unique.

Funk dat.

Somewhere in my stuff I have a D&D 3e character named Dreeve Wainwright.  He's the son of a Cormyrian wagon-wheel maker (hence the surname).  His best friend joined the Purple Dragon Knights and helped Dreeve get in, too -- it was their boyhood ambition.

My wife and I played a brief one-on-one wherein I played Dreeve, and I have to say that his mundane origin was a lot of fun to play with -- there was NOTHING really special about him.  He was just this kid.  

So when this wainwright's son had extraordinary circumstances thrust upon him, and he suddenly found himself in command of a bunch of knights, he had to smarten up and GET special.  That, I felt, was the challenge -- and it was fun.

I've always encouraged my players to come up with very ordinary backgrounds (Ordinary for fiction, that is ). Become extraordinary during game play. Develop a history during the campaign.

Consider:

But if you make yourself more
than just a man...

...if you devote yourself to an ideal...

...and if they can't stop you...

...then you become
something else entirely.

Which is?

Legend, Mr. Wayne.

Regards,
David R

I'm notorious in our group for creating really short and mundane backstories for people in comparison to the rest of the players. We have one guy who practically writes novels of backstory.

I'm about to start playing in the World's Largest Dungeon.


As a kobold.











Yes!

Quote from: beejazzI'm about to start playing in the World's Largest Dungeon.

!

Beware of repetetive monsters....

Baroque novel-length character descriptions are the reason that I've asked my players for only a paragraph of background on their PCs in my last two games.  While lengthy write-ups might show that the player is jazzed with their character, they tend toward the ridiculous as described in the OP.

I'd rather have a general idea of what the PCs are like and have contacts, special knowledges, etc. come out in play.  "My ex-marine served in this system on anti-insurgency duty for the Republic.  Do I still have contacts here?"

My current character dual wields scimitars that pop out of his arms with a distinct sound. He's gruff and unpersonable, but even though he's a dark elf he's still good at heart.

Someone smarter than me once said something like "Character background is what you have at level 10."  I prefer starting with an almost blank slate of a PC and filling in details via actual play.  I just need a stupid hook to get me rolling.  "Xvart witch doctor who escaped the extermination of his tribe by wandering adventurers" or "Conan clone looking to stir some shit up" or "Half-orc assassin who hates both orcs and humans because he hates himself and his own wretched state as a pariah in both orcish and mannish society."

Let's take a look at that Batman example: Batman is so utterly iconic because his whole deal can be described very succinctly.

Kid saw his parents murdered by a criminal before his very eyes, and dedicated the rest of his life to perfecting his body and mind and creating a terrifying persona with which to fight them.

There, done.

Superman too, for that matter:

Last son of a dying civilization crash-lands on earth, and is raised by humble farm-folk; his powers make him the mightiest being on earth, his upbringing makes him a good man dedicated to using said powers to help others.

You don't actually get iconically cool characters from 12-page backstories. If you can't fucking sum up your character in one or two sentences, he's going to be utterly meaningless to everyone but you. And, I'll add, he'll almost certainly be fucking stupid. Because most of you aren't as clever as you think you are.

Not to mention that you will intensely piss off your GM, if said GM is like me.  There's nothing I hate more than a primma donna player who spends hours telling me his character background, because all I hear is : "blahblahblah i demand you make me center of attention blahblahblah".
Except maybe if you hand in a written background of more than one paragraph, because then what I read is: "scribblescribblescribble I'm trying to sneak in something I'm hoping you won't read to give me a massive advantage scribblescribblescribble".

Finally, I agree with Jrients.  You do NOT play RPGs to have sophisticated story-laden characters.  Your characters become sophisticated only through play, and its the best most organic way to do so.

You can always tell the difference between a PC who is filled with backstory that wasn't RPed vs. a PC who's filled with a backstory that WAS RPed.  The latter always feels much more real.

RPGPundit

Quote from: James McMurrayMy current character dual wields scimitars that pop out of his arms with a distinct sound. He's gruff and unpersonable, but even though he's a dark elf he's still good at heart.

Is that Wolverine Do'Urden or Drizz't X?  

It's Elmore's Drizzt. All grizzled and with huge sideburns...
(Seriously, if it doesn't wear a chain mail bikini, he probably can't draw it as written)

Favorite character concepts that I've played can usually be summed up in one or two sentences.

"Neutral, existentialist fighter/rogue. German."
"Motherfucker has a huge hammer. Problems look like nails."

My other favorite has, like, a four page backstory. So my average is kind of shot.

Quote from: RPGPunditIf you can't fucking sum up your character in one or two sentences, he's going to be utterly meaningless to everyone but you. And, I'll add, he'll almost certainly be fucking stupid. Because most of you aren't as clever as you think you are.

I may not have said it in the same way but I think this is more often true than it is not.

QuoteFinally, I agree with Jrients.  You do NOT play RPGs to have sophisticated story-laden characters.  Your characters become sophisticated only through play, and its the best most organic way to do so.

I think a lot of people miss this at times. I'm not sure if it's a matter of not seeing the trees in the forest, or what not-but I think some people really do set out to play and then try to skip some steps and end up frustrated.