how much do players shape storyline in your group?
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
As a player I use the backstory of my character mostly to make reasonable reactions to given situations, if my GM pulls from the backstory (like NPCs I’ve described) then that makes me more happy but I’m content with just the former.
As a GM I tried to involve the backstory and also the actions of my players into the narrative/storyline; not just because I’m currently running Kingmaker 2e, which is a vast sandbox with the players run kingdom being a focal point of the entire campaign.
The biggest Issue I have to embed Backstories of Player Characters comes when they Characters are from far away lands, so that NPCs or what they described that belongs to their character culture and thus just don’t make much sense. for example a character was born and raised in a country that is 6 months away… by airship! How would ANYTHING from that backstory influence the storyline here?
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
As DM it’s exponentially more work to incorporate player backstories into campaigns. I try to do it because I think it’s more fun, even if the current adventure has no tie-ins the characters can sometimes receive updates from back home via messages or letters, telling them about their siblings taking an exam or finding work, or the leaves at home changing colours and Nanas leg is on the mend, or possible hooks for future adventures like most crops to the west unexpectedly failing or tensions building near the border. Or maybe a market in this unknown land will hold a PCs favorite type of sport/show, and going there they’ll find a clue or hook or boon or ally for the current adventure which they would’ve missed if that character didn’t insist on going (nothing story-critical of course, just an extra bit of help)… but this only works if you have players who it works for, and I’ve also had players who doesn’t really care for personalized story arcs - and have played in games where the story was intriguing enough that I could take or leave any personal tie-ins for my character.
So it depends in the DM, the players, and the story.
You can always talk to your DM about this. Ask if they are willing to work more of your backstory into the campaign and suggest ways to do so (dont make them do all the work). Check in with the rest of the group if they also want to weave into the story or are fine adventuring for the sake of adventuring, so you dont all of a sudden get “perks” because you were the only one to ask.
But remember that DMing is a LOT of extra work as it is, and if they dont have the time or energy or enjoyment to work characters into the story, it wont happen (or it will but they’ll burn out, and the campaign will fizzle out).
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
I am DMing a 5+ year game with my friends. We have been running a player driven campaign where I provide options and they pick where they go next. Overall most of their directions isn’t based on backstory but things we did together. I did two or three adventures that had a backstory tie but most were things we did in game.
You want to be part of adventure show interest in things in world and try to interact with them
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
I’ve been playing Cyberpunk RED for around a year. Backstory is a huge part of the character creation process and GMs are encouraged to use backstory as hooks whenever possible.
I don’t really like it.
Some players like playing along with the backstory. Other players disengage fairly quickly.
It’s just another source for hooks and set pieces. If players like it, I roll with it, if they don’t, I let those plot lines dribble out. But it doesn’t really change the GMing or creative process.
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
I always GM a custom story in my own world, and player backstories are a major source of that custom story. I enjoy trying to tie the different plots together. How much I base the plot on them depends on the player, rich backstory means a lot of content tailored for you. Lean story means the opposite.
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
Overall, I’d say 80% +
Within each session, closer to 100%, though obviously it’s very interactive at that scale to begin with.
The twenty percent overall that’s left over is mostly immutable stuff from world building that the only way it changes is if the characters actively do something to make it happen. As an example, if the players didn’t like the God’s Fist inland sea, they aren’t going to just talk it away. It’s there for a reason, and has to be addressed in play to be changed. But if they took their characters through the right places and did the right things, it could be changed in any number of ways (and I’ve always wanted players to dig into the depths of that sea, both literally and figuratively)
What isn’t immutable in that twenty percent is stuff I just won’t do in game. I have no interest in some of the uglier parts of the real world creeping into an escapist game. Not gonna happen, fuck off from my group.
But outside of that, part of my joy in running games is collaboration, so im down to at least try most things players and characters want to do
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
modernangel@sh.itjust.works They shape 100% of the storyline. The campaign is the story of their activities in the world.
They don’t shape the world, though, unless they do things to intervene in the current world lines of the people and institutions in it. At the start of the campaign, I scaffold the major political players in the world,and sketch out what their goals are, and how they’re trying to achieve them. I estimate how long it takes them to get to places of import for those goals, and track that in a calendar. I leave hooks for the players to pick up and engage with those things from time to time, but if they’re not interested, those entities just continue on unimpeded.
Meanwhile, everywhere they go, I dig into books of tables to come up with some NPCs with problems that need to be solved, side quests that can be activated, and locations that can be explored. They’re just names on a page until the players pick up the hook, but if they do, then the party does things to encounter and activate new political players who end up on the board. I then do the same thing after the fact, and add them to the calendar.
Their story is 100% theirs. The opportunities to shape the world’s story are there. There’s no “storyline” for me to bend around their gravity.
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
Me, personally, I have slowly started to shift towards “bones-only” storytelling for my campaign settings – I build a loose plot, some NPCs tied to it, locations and a few bigger encounters. Beyond that, I want my players to not feel railroaded to encourage them to think creatively in each session, as it helps me as a GM enjoy the session more when players aren’t always looking to me to tell them what they should do next. I also usually stockpile a bunch of pre-baked generic encounters, NPCs, shops and such so that I can keep up with their story and choices.
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As DM it’s exponentially more work to incorporate player backstories into campaigns. I try to do it because I think it’s more fun, even if the current adventure has no tie-ins the characters can sometimes receive updates from back home via messages or letters, telling them about their siblings taking an exam or finding work, or the leaves at home changing colours and Nanas leg is on the mend, or possible hooks for future adventures like most crops to the west unexpectedly failing or tensions building near the border. Or maybe a market in this unknown land will hold a PCs favorite type of sport/show, and going there they’ll find a clue or hook or boon or ally for the current adventure which they would’ve missed if that character didn’t insist on going (nothing story-critical of course, just an extra bit of help)… but this only works if you have players who it works for, and I’ve also had players who doesn’t really care for personalized story arcs - and have played in games where the story was intriguing enough that I could take or leave any personal tie-ins for my character.
So it depends in the DM, the players, and the story.
You can always talk to your DM about this. Ask if they are willing to work more of your backstory into the campaign and suggest ways to do so (dont make them do all the work). Check in with the rest of the group if they also want to weave into the story or are fine adventuring for the sake of adventuring, so you dont all of a sudden get “perks” because you were the only one to ask.
But remember that DMing is a LOT of extra work as it is, and if they dont have the time or energy or enjoyment to work characters into the story, it wont happen (or it will but they’ll burn out, and the campaign will fizzle out).
As a counterpoint I would like to add that it also depends on your general style of play and the system your are playing.
I’m GMing a Burning Wheel group which is 100% player driven. We created the world and general story arc together and in Burning Wheel each Character has beliefs that are serving as story guidelines for me. I usually spend one hour on preparation to outline some challenges to their beliefs or a few kickers to stir the story up a bit. The rest happens at the table.
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Me, personally, I have slowly started to shift towards “bones-only” storytelling for my campaign settings – I build a loose plot, some NPCs tied to it, locations and a few bigger encounters. Beyond that, I want my players to not feel railroaded to encourage them to think creatively in each session, as it helps me as a GM enjoy the session more when players aren’t always looking to me to tell them what they should do next. I also usually stockpile a bunch of pre-baked generic encounters, NPCs, shops and such so that I can keep up with their story and choices.
That is also my preffered style of play.
For many, many years we used “adventures” which were either written by some author or prepared by a GM. This was often fun, but also frustrating. The plots were often not flexible enough to work out in all cases, as a GM it might be frustrating if players just skip big parts of the story and in the end it was never so much about the story, but more about fights, rules, stats and so on.
These days you have super cool systems like Blades in the Dark, which do away with planning and encourage you to just play to find out. I much prefer this spontaneous exploration of rough story arcs that are very flexible and often player driven.
Personally, I run a Burning Wheel game which was 100% created by the group and in each session is driven by what the players want to do. My preparation time is roughly 1 hour before each session and the rest happens at the table.
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
When I DM, I have only the loosest of stories in place, and they really just govern the NPCs and initial state of the world. Everything is player driven, like a video game. The most strict thing I may do, if the story is improved by it, is imposing a time limit. Like if there’s an army advancing towards a particular area, they will eventually get there even if the players are not doing anything with it. Every player already brings their own goals to the table, so that generally is what we figure out in session 0 so it can be incorporated into the overall plot and everyone will get their time to shine.
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As a counterpoint I would like to add that it also depends on your general style of play and the system your are playing.
I’m GMing a Burning Wheel group which is 100% player driven. We created the world and general story arc together and in Burning Wheel each Character has beliefs that are serving as story guidelines for me. I usually spend one hour on preparation to outline some challenges to their beliefs or a few kickers to stir the story up a bit. The rest happens at the table.
Sounds fun!
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As a counterpoint I would like to add that it also depends on your general style of play and the system your are playing.
I’m GMing a Burning Wheel group which is 100% player driven. We created the world and general story arc together and in Burning Wheel each Character has beliefs that are serving as story guidelines for me. I usually spend one hour on preparation to outline some challenges to their beliefs or a few kickers to stir the story up a bit. The rest happens at the table.
Sounds fun!
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My group just finished a 6-year, 16-level DD5E campaign consisting of Adventurers League content strung together. It was a lot of fun of course, or we wouldn’t have kept at it for 6 years, right?
Character backstory was 100% irrelevant throughout the campaign. I think few if any of my fellow players imagined their characters as having eventful backstories. We had only one adventure shaped by party dynamics, where we quested for a scroll to Resurrect our cleric after a bit of bad luck with death saves. Apparently the only friends our characters ever had were each other, and the small handful of recurring quest-giver patron NPCs in the AL modules.
As players in our late career years with other outside hobbies and interests, sure, we can’t all commit to every campaign session or sink unlimited time into story collab. But I feel like it could have been so much more immersive and special with just the slightest bit of story tailoring to the PCs, not just steering us to dungeon after dungeon to solve a few puzzles between set-piece battles. I feel like it must be possible to run a campaign where backstory and character evolution still matter within a necessarily flexible attendance policy.
By contrast, another friend ran 8 or 10 sessions of the “Tomb of Annihilation” book, with a lot of thought toward weaving characters into the setting using backstory and personality details solicited from each player. Such a different experience, and I was a little heartbroken when the campaign fizzled due to scheduling impasses.
How would you describe the importance of backstory and player-driven story direction in your group? What are your top tips/tricks to make D&D characters feel less like interchangeable plug-and-play potatoes rolling through a disjointed series of episodes?
Long time back… A player with a player with a paladin character changed deities for whatever reason…
Oooo. I had a lot of fun with that as the DM
