Why your Characters Suck - A guide to Character Creation and Backstory for TTRPGs

Introduction

Making a character for a tabletop RPG can be a daunting task, and often our characters who we thought were great to begin with, end up being difficult to play because they’re restricted by their own backstory, have no room for growth or don’t work well with others.

In this video, I’ll go over some easy steps for character creation to ensure that you have a character with a strong backstory, which ties directly into the game, and a character that you start playing with immediately with the rest of your party!

Why Character Creation is Hard

Making a character is not easy. Normally, birthing an entirely new person takes about nine months in the maternal oven and then a few years of resting before their personality shines on through. In truth you only really have a few weeks, or even days, to get a character together for a new one shot or campaign!

Not to worry though, because making a character isn’t about having a long and detailed backstory. It boils down to just a few key features that help enhance the experience for everyone in the party.

And that’s the important thing to remember here; roleplaying is a collaborative storytelling experience. It’s far more important that your character facilitates a good roleplaying experience for yourself and everyone else at the table.

If you want to find out more about this, feel free to check out my other videos.

So with that in mind, let’s go through how to make your character:

Making a character Backstory

Your backstory is important to establish your character in the world.. For most campaigns, a backstory more than a couple hundred words long is unnecessary. 

All you need to do is make sure that the following questions are answered:

• How does your character’s backstory tie them directly into the story of the campaign?
• What is your character's primary motivation or goal?
• Does your character have a unique skill or feat which can assist the party?
• Does your character  work well with others?

If the character you’re making for this new one shot or campaign already has a bit of history and a hook (and it should!) then writing this should be easy. Take one obvious part of the campaign history and one unclear detail and use them to create your character.

Charming in Jack and the Beanstalk - An Example of Backstory

As an example for the methods here I’ll be using my one shot of Jack and The Beanstalk to make a character.

In this campaign my character is a Warlock called Charming. The giant beanstalk which has burst up from underground aligns with a quest from his patron who tells him he needs to scale to the top of a green tower to save his love - to Charming, a beanstalk fits the bill. - here we have an obscure detail of the backstory - the beanstalk, and we’ve made it important to Jack by making it directly tie in with his motivation!

Next I write down that Charming was also raised by ogres and is able to speak Giant. Here I’ve taken a more obvious feature of the adventure, giants, and given Charming a unique skill that will help him and the party, whilst also revealing another unique aspect of my character’s backstory.

To finish off the backstory I need a fear, flaw or fault, to really round out Charming. Whilst it’s tempting to make him scared of heights, I think actually I’m going to make Charming quite gullible, and make that a key way he interacts with the world, and maybe even the reason he has a patron in the first place - also it’s a lovely way to explain why wisdom is going to be the dump stat for this character!

Having a character flaw allows your character to develop as the campaign progresses and makes them more fun to play and not only will they level up in terms of their stats, but eventually the adventure itself can mould and change who your character was when that game first started (huh?), and that’s the most important thing that you as a player can do in collaborative storytelling, develop your character, as it will directly shape and change the entire story!

Why this is Enough for a Backstory

Of course you can detail more about each point. Why was charming raised by ogres? Why are they gullible? How did Charming lose their love and find a patron to help them in their quest? All these questions might be important, but they’re only important if they come up in play or they help you play your character.

Most Important Thing to Understand before the Character Hits the Table.

To finish off your character there’s one key thing that should be important no matter who they are, their alignment, goals, skills or flaws. Ask yourself, will my character work well with others?

If the answer isn’t a clear and resounding YES, then change your character! If a character is a lonewolf, or prefers to keep only to themselves, if the character is evil enough that they kill everything in sight despite their goals, or they’re such a kleptomaniac they can’t help but steal from anyone around them, they might not be conducive to a healthy and successful role playing environment. These characters might have great backstories, but if they aren’t able to work with others, maybe they’re a better character for a novel than a roleplaying game.

Conclusion

Backstories are great fun to write and it’s easy to get lost in the details of your character. Backstories can help you in playing your character by establishing the important parts of the character in your mind - how they tie into the story, their motivation for joining the group and the quest, their unique skill and ability, their flaw or fault, and how well they will work with a group.

By following this method you’ll have a character which is enjoyable for you to play, and for others to play with - and at the end of the day that’s what Tabletop Roleplaying Games are about, having fun!