Episode 61
5 Questions to Write a Better Backstory for Your D&D Character
“This is it?” Ulv asked in a hushed whisper.
“You wanted rebels. These are the only ones I know of. They’ve come here to talk to you, now say something.” Herlia responds tersely.
You sigh and step forward. You look around the basement of the tavern. Only a few candles hang around giving the room a gloomy cast. You meet the eyes of each of the 5 people sitting on barrels in this dank cellar.
“Thank you for meeting me. My companion here told me that you’ve had certain misgivings about the current regime?” Ulv pauses to let the listeners absorb his words.
“Ay, and we’ve come here to see that justice is done upon his cursed head. Are you gonna’ lead us to march against the king? Are we goin ta fight?” says one burly woman loudly. The others nod their heads and crack their knuckles.
“Your courage is to be admired, but we’re here just to observe and strategize. We don’t want to take any undue risks. Now, who is your leader?” Ulv asks.
“Oh, you mean Burto? He’s a tactical genius he is.”
“Great, where is this Burto?” Ulv asks.
“Oh, he’s in prison.”
What would you like to do?
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Every dungeons and dragons game starts with character creation and if you don’t help your characters flesh our a good backstory, your players will have a stale character they won’t much like. Today, let’s fix that.
Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m Justin Lewis and I’ll be your host and DM today as you and I learn how to craft better stories for yourself and your players as you DM sessions of Dungeons and Dragons.
Today we will be talking about writing backstories, but first some housekeeping items.
As I said before, we have our one-shot in September coming up on September 17th. All the slots for that are already filled but if you want to watch that show you can go to https://betterdungeonmaster.com/watch to watch the whole One-Shot at the time of the game. Otherwise sign up for October’s one-shot with guest host Bone Daddy from This Dungeon is Occupied.
Now, let’s talk about writing backstories.
As we’ve said before, having your players flesh out their character at the beginning can help set them up for an incredible time playing D&D with you as their Dungeon Master. One big part of fleshing out their character is writing their back story. If there’s one thing that any Dungeon Master is aware of it’s that their players rarely write their backstories and if they do, they don’t do it to the level we need. Well, no longer. You see, you, as their DM, will be able to ask them these questions and help them generate the back story they need. If you want, you can even write what they say down. Just make sure to form it in these terms.
One last thing that I’d like to add before we get started. Help your players write backstories that are equal to their level. A level 1 character has only ever done level 1 things and lower. That doesn’t mean that they can’t have an interesting backstory. Instead, what it does mean is that the impact of what they’ve done is generally very small and localized, affecting mostly themselves and their family. They’ve never saved the world. In most cases, they may never have slain anything. For many level 1 characters, causing death is something they learn to do after they start adventuring. If a character is the exception then that should be a huge part of their backstory. What they’ve done is small but the emotional impact is huge.
- Parents
One of the best ways to start your backstory is by asking “What were my character’s parents like before the character was born?” See, this question will inform your character's story and help flesh out some of the later questions I’ll have you ask. Many of our lives as people are determined by who our parents were before we were born. Where they decided to settle down if they did.
Were your parent's warriors? Were they scoundrels? Were they simple farmers?
Why did they have a child? How do they regard you? When they found out they were having a child, what changes did they make? Did they shift their life away from what they were previously doing? Are they still doing what they were doing? If not, why did they stop?
Let’s do an example:
My character's parents used to run a library in a very small town. They were seen as the knowledge center of the town because the population was so small. They also did some secret jobs for various adventurers that came into town such as acquiring special spell components or herbs. One a few occasions they put their lives at risk for these components but mostly it was mundane items. When they found out they became pregnant, they reasoned a small town could not pay them enough money to allow a family of three to subsist. They then decided to move their library and book store to a much bigger city. This caused a tremendous culture shock for the parents and eventually pushed them to seeking out powerful friends who could help offer protection, for a price.
You see how this simple question has led to a pretty awesome backstory and we don’t even know who my character is yet?
- Childhood
Now you need to delve into your character’s childhood. There has long been a debate in the world of psychology of whether it is your nature (innate genes from your parents) or your nurture (what affected you after you were born) that determines how you develop. They are now attributing your development on both. We’ve already discussed your nature (some of your parents’ heritage) so talking about your childhood is moving into your nurture aspect.
You need to ask questions like:
- What was their childhood demeanor?
- Did they have siblings?
- Who were their best friends?
- How did they treat authority figures and why?
- What did they think about their parents?
- What did they think about their environment?
- When (if at all) was their innocence taken from them?
- When did they learn about death?
- Did they have a favorite pet?
These questions will actually set the stage for the rest of your backstory. The backstory is really just a compendium of all the coolest stories of your character’s life. In reality, we all have interesting back stories in real life. We just need to dig deeper and think about those interesting stories that might not be really long but would instead be useful for instructing the player on how to actually play the character they create.
Let’s continue with my previous character. For simplicity, let’s call this character John.
John’s parents always provided for him and his younger brother, though there were times when John’s parents would hide things from their children. John would be inside and his parents would tell him to take his brother out to play outside and not come back until sundown. John remembers a specific time when he came home because his little brother got a scrape and he walked into his house and saw a group of people with Strange white masks. John’s parents immediately got very angry and yelled at him to leave. From that time on, John did everything he could to discover what his parents were up to. He was convinced that it was because his parents were struggling financially, so he also started looking for ways to make some extra money. Because of that, he took jobs very early on and seemed to lose a lot of his innocence and childhood. Meanwhile, John’s little brother became somewhat neglected because John focused more on discovering secrets and making money. As they grew, the two brothers developed a challenging relationship. John loved his little brother but his little brother seemed to fall in with the wrong crowd. Not knowing what else to do, John started inventing in hopes of creating an invention that he could sell that would allow him to spend more time at home with his brother and parents. All the while it seemed his family life fell apart somewhat.
- Why’d They Leave Home
Let’s think back to Joseph Campbell's hero’s journey. In every mythic hero’s journey tale, the hero is forced to leave their place of comfort. They are invited, or forced out into a world beyond their comprehension and shown things they do not understand. They also start to explore and adventure more and see the world for what it is. This is when their innocence truly leaves them because they have to leave their old self behind and really forge themselves anew.
Here you’ll be answering questions like:
- How’d they gain their abilities (We’ll actually answer that next)
- Did they have a mentor, and if so who?
- What forced them out into the wide world?
- Why haven’t they returned home yet?
- What discomforts were the most difficult for them to come to terms with?
- What are they afraid of now?
- Who or what did they leave behind and how if at all do they keep that relationship strong?
- What are they running from or running to?
- How do they feel about their home?
- What questions do they have that need answering?
You see with all these questions, you’re really starting to fill out your character and help yourself understand their decisions and how in the world they’ve landed where they are currently (session 0 or session 1). To be honest, a good DM will help you write these and also give an opportunity to actually play through them a little.
The biggest point of this section of questions is to start to explain why the adventurer’s life started changing from “normal” to a life of adventuring.
Let’s go back to my example with John.
During his adolescent years, John spent lots of time creating inventions. Then he started noticing that some of his inventions began disappearing. One day, he came home from a short walk to find his parents and the people in the strange white masks taking his inventions. He tried to stop them and amidst the struggle, one of his inventions exploded. The blast nearly killed John but set the rest of the house ablaze. John searched the wreckage for his parents and found his mother, dead among the rubble. He also found three of the strange people with the white masks dead as well. Feeling intense grief and shame for the death of his mother, John decided he could not face his brother or father. He decided to flee.
John disappeared into the city and did what he could to survive. He begged for food and even petitioned local machinists for some work. He finally found a Gnome Ironworker from the Kula Uwea Confederacy who took John in because he saw the prowess of the young inventor. John learned various skills there and even got a glimpse of his mentor’s process for smithing Deep Iron. But unfortunately, his past caught up to him. One night, the workshop where John stayed was assaulted by people in mysterious white masks. John’s Gnome mentor was killed, but not before giving John time to escape. Now John runs from the mysterious society with the white masks. Though John has spent years trying to understand who they are, he has found little evidence.
Unbeknownst to John, his brother has joined the White Masked society and now seeks revenge upon John for the death of their mother.
Intermission:
“I never thought I’d miss Rue,” Ulv whispers to Hipam.
“Yeah, I supposed she was good for something…” Hipam whispers back in a very unconvincing tone.
“It’s lucky Judir has such a high tolerance for alcohol,” Ulv mutters.
“I think he actually cast protection from poison before starting this drinking game,” Herlia whispers.
The group sits at a table in one of the seediest taverns in the city. Across the room sits Judir, bellowing loudly and drinking with another man. That man is one of the captains of the city’s prison. He is one of the captains with a key to the city’s prison. Judir’s job is to get the man blind drunk and then to have one of the group steal his key. None of the group were particularly suited to thieving, not like Rue was. You’ll just have to make do.
“Either way, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious. We don’t need to…” Ulv whispers and then cut off as he notices the captain of the city Prison throw a right hook right into Judir’s jaw. Immediately that table erupts into a brawl.
“Guess we’ll have to do this the not sneaky way,” Cojari sighs as he gets up from the table and joins the fight.
- Gaining Abilities
One of the more important singular questions in writing a backstory is “How did they start to gain their abilities or discover their abilities?”
Each adventurer in Dungeons and Dragons is on the path to becoming something special. Even level 1 heroes have started something amazing. The question to answer is how did they begin? Let’s look into this for each class.
Barbarians: You need to explain where and how your character started learning to fight. You also need to explain the source from which they draw their rage.
Bard: You need to explain how they started to learn how to use music to access magic.
Cleric: You need to explain how your character is connected with divinity.
Artificer: You need to explain how your character started to learn to tinker.
Sorcerer: You need to explain how your character discovered their latent magical abilities.
Wizard: You need to explain how your character first interacted with magic and what drove them to learn it.
Warlock: You need to explain how your character first connected with their patron.
Rogue: You need to explain how your character fell into the underworld of crime.
Ranger: You need to explain how your character learned the arts of survival and how you learned certain aspects of magic.
Monk: You need to describe how your character started practicing the art of ki and self-discipline.
Paladin: You need to explain how your character both learned the art of weaponry and how they connected with divinity.
Druid: You need to explain how your character first connected with the magic of nature and why that impacted your character.
Obviously these aren’t all the questions you need to answer about your character’s abilities but they will get you started.
Let’s go back to our example with John.
John met his gnome inventor mentor while walking the streets trying to sell knick knacks here and there The gnome saw that John had created various trinkets and thought to teach the boy something new. John became intensely interested in the gnome’s teachings and the gnome found a willing pupil. He brought John into his home and made him his apprentice. A year went by, during which John learned the beginning’s of artificing. He witnessed various miracles wrought by his gnome master’s mechanical skills. Over the year, the two became great friends and the gnome finally gave John his own tinker’s tools as a gift. Unfortunately, the apprenticeship came to an end when the mysterious group with the white masks attacked the gnome’s home and killed his mentor. John escaped with his life, the tools given to him from his mentor, and his mentor’s journal of schematics.
- Current Quest
You can’t finish your backstory writing session without figuring out what your character cares about right now. As you start playing with your character, you have to pull all of their emotional baggage and past into the present by having it have residual effects on what they do right now. So answer the following questions:
- What is your character’s goal right now?
- What are they trying to accomplish?
- Why do they care about that thing?
- What are the main obstacles stopping them from doing that?
- What resources do they need to accomplish that goal?
- What will they do once they achieve their accomplishment?
This is crucial information. So stepping back into the Justin role where I’m talking to you the DM instead of being the DM talking to the player. You need your players to fill out this particular question. This informs on some of the character’s main motivation right now and it can help you align their desires with some of the other members of the party to hopefully gel the group together. That is, of course, assuming that you are starting with the characters not knowing each other. Let’s go back to our example with John the Artificer.
John has now left the town where he grew up. He spent a year or so on the road just trying to survive. He realized that his mentor’s journal was an arcane creation and each page was sealed by an arcane cipher. On each page, he had to solve a certain riddle in order to access that schematic. John also realized that the strange society was still following him. He’s been moving from town to town trying to evade him but they always seem to find him. He assumes that his brother still wants revenge on him for the death of their parents. Unknown to John, the society actually wants the journal for a very specific schematic they’d actually hired the gnome to create. The gnome created the schematic but then realized that the specific invention was too dangerous. John’s brother volunteered for the mission, not for revenge, but to convince John to join the mysterious society.
John’s goals now are to unlock the journal and learn about the white-masked society and avoid his brother and the society.
As always, this episode...
Transcript
this is it of asked in a hushed whisper you wanted rebels these are the
lewis]:only ones i could you wanted the rebels these are the only ones i know
lewis]:of they've come here to talk to you and say something hurly responded tersely you
lewis]:sigh and step forward you look around the basement of the tavern only a few
lewis]:candles hang around the
lewis]:oh only a few candles give the room a gloomy cast you meet the eyes
lewis]:of each of the five people sitting on barrels in this dank cellar thank you
lewis]:for meeting me my companion here told me that you've had certain misgivings about the
lewis]:current regime of pauses to let the listeners absorb his words and we've come here
lewis]:to see that justice is done upon his cursed head are you going to lead
lewis]:us to march against the king are we going to fight says one burly woman
lewis]:loudly the others nod their heads and crack their knuckles your courage is to be
lewis]:in mine but we're here just to observe and strategize we don't want to take
lewis]:any undue risks as of yet now who is your leader o asks you mean
lewis]:burt he's a tactical genius he is great where is this but of masks oh
lewis]:he's in prison so what would you like to do every dungeons and dragons game
lewis]:starts with character creation and if you don't help your characters flash out a good
lewis]:back story your players will have a stale character they won't like much so today
lewis]:let's fix that welcome back to how to be a better d m i'm justin
lewis]:lewis and i'll be your host and d m today as you and i learned
lewis]:how to craft better stories oh yeah
lewis]:for yourself and your players as u d m sessions of dungeons and dragons today
lewis]:we will be talking about writing back stories but first housekeeping items as i said
lewis]:before we have our one shot in september coming up on september seventeenth all the
lewis]:slots for that are actually already filled up but if you want to watch the
lewis]:show you can go to better dungeon master dot com slash watch on september seventeenth
lewis]:at two o'clock mountain time to watch the whole one shot at the time of
lewis]:the game otherwise you can sign up for the october one shot with guest host
lewis]:bone daddy from this dungeon is occupied and as if right now as i record
lewis]:this episode we have exactly one slot left so you better sign soon and then
lewis]:after that we're going a open up slots for november's one shot i also want
lewis]:to give a special shout out to josh herman storfer h thank you so much
lewis]:josh for filling out the survey and giving us feedback on the show telling us
lewis]:how to be better hosts and give better content and what i'm talking about is
lewis]:actually josh went to better dungeon master dot com slash feedback and filled out a
lewis]:survey telling us how to make the show better so if you want to do
lewis]:that same thing go to better dungeon master dot um slash feedback fill out a
lewis]:quick survey all the answers are optional and just help us help you become the
lewis]:best dungeon master possible now let's talk about writing back stories as we've said before
lewis]:having your players flesh out their character at the beginning can help set them up
lewis]:for an incredible time playing dead
lewis]:playing dan d with you as their dungeon master one big part of flashing out
lewis]:their character is writing their back story and if there's one thing that any dungeon
lewis]:master is aware of its that their players rarely write their back stories and if
lewis]:they do they don't do it to the level that we want well no longer
lewis]:you see you as their d m will be to ask them these questions and
lewis]:help them generate the back story they need if you want you can even write
lewis]:down what they say and take that step from them you know just make sure
lewis]:to form it in these terms one last thing that i like to add before
lewis]:we get started
lewis]:yeah help your players write back stories that are equal to their level a level
lewis]:one character has only ever done level one things and lower that doesn't mean that
lewis]:they can't have an interesting back story instead what it does mean is that the
lewis]:impact of what they've done is generally very small and localized affecting mostly themselves and
lewis]:their family they've never saved the world and in most cases they may never have
lewis]:slain anything even for many yeah oh yeah for many level one characters causing death
lewis]:is something they learn to do after they start adventuring if a character is the
lewis]:exception then that should actually be a big part of their backs what they've done
lewis]:is generally small but the emotional impact is often huge so number one first thing
lewis]:to do is start out with parents one of the best ways to start your
lewis]:back story is by asking what were my characters parents like before the character was
lewis]:born see this question will inform your characters of story and help flash out some
lewis]:of the later questions i'm going to have you ask many of our lives as
lewis]:people are determined by who our parents were before were born where they decided to
lewis]:settle down oh where they decided to settle down if they did were your parents
lewis]:warriors were they scoundrels were they simple farmers why did they decide to have a
lewis]:child how did they regard you when they found out they were having a child
lewis]:what changes did they make did they shift their life away from what they were
lewis]:previously doing are they still doing what they were doing if not why did they
lewis]:stop let's do an example my characters parents used to run a library in a
lewis]:ver small town they were seen as the knowledge center of this town because the
lewis]:population was so small they also did some secret jobs for various adventures that came
lewis]:into town such as acquiring special spell components or herbs on a few occasions they
lewis]:put their lives at risk for these components but mostly it was just mondaine items
lewis]:that took time finding them in the forests and the like and when they found
lewis]:out that they had become pregnant they reasoned a small town could not pay them
lewis]:enough to allow a family of three to sist they then decided to move their
lewis]:library and book store to a much bigger city this caused a tremendous culture shock
lewis]:for the parents and eventually push them yeah yeah yeah yeah push them into poverty
lewis]:and then prompted them to seek out powerful friends and allies who could help offer
lewis]:protection although for a price you see how this simple question has led to a
lewis]:pretty interesting back story already and we don't even know who my character is yet
lewis]:number two is the childhood now you need to delve into your characters childhood there
lewis]:has long been a debate in the world of psychology of whether it's your nature
lewis]:in gens from your parents or your nurture what affected you after you were born
lewis]:that determines how you develop and now they're actually attributing your develop on both we've
lewis]:already discussed your nature some of your parents heritage so talking about your childhood is
lewis]:moving into the net your aspect and you need to ask questions like what was
lewis]:their childhood demeanor did they have siblings who were their best friends how did they
lewis]:treat authority figures and why what did they think about their parents what did they
lewis]:think about their environment when if at all was their innocence taken from them when
lewis]:did they learn about death did they have a favorite pet and these questions will
lewis]:actually just set the stage for them stop your back story and if you think
lewis]:about the back story is actually just a compendium of the coolest and most interesting
lewis]:stories of your character's life and in reality we all have interesting back stories we
lewis]:just need to kind of dig deep think about those interesting stories that might not
lewis]:be really long oh might not be really long but would instead be useful for
lewis]:instructing player the player on how to actually play the character they create so let's
lewis]:actually continue with my pre example in my previous character for simplicity let's call this
lewis]:character john john's parents always provided for him and his younger brother though there were
lewis]:times when john's parents would hide things from their children john would be inside and
lewis]:his parents would tell him to take his brother out to play and not come
lewis]:back until sundown and actually john remembers a specific time when he came home because
lewis]:his little brother had got a scrape on walked into the house and saw a
lewis]:group of people with strange white masks john's parents immediately got very angry and yelled
lewis]:at him to leave and from that time on john did everything he could to
lewis]:discover what his parents were up to he was convinced that it was because his
lewis]:parents were struggling financially that they were seeking the strange help so he also started
lewis]:looking for ways to some extra money and because of that he actually took jobs
lewis]:very early on and seemed to lose a lot of his innocence and childhood in
lewis]:the pursuit of providing for his family meanwhile john's little brother became somewhat neglected because
lewis]:john focused more on discovering secrets and making money and john's parents spent more and
lewis]:more time with this strange masked society and as they grew the two there's developed
lewis]:a challenging relationship john loved his little brother but his little brother seemed to fall
lewis]:in with the wrong crowd and not knowing what else to do john started tinkering
lewis]:inventing in hopes of eating something that he could sell that would allow him to
lewis]:spend more time at home with his brother and parents while making some more money
lewis]:and all the while he tried this it seemed that his family life fell apart
lewis]:number three why did they leave home let's think back to joseph campbell's hero's journey
lewis]:in every mythic hero's journey tale the hero is for to leave their place of
lewis]:comfort or they decide to yeah they are invited or forced out into a world
lewis]:beyond their comprehension and shown things they do not understand they also start to explore
lewis]:and adventure more and they start to see the world for what it truly is
lewis]:this is when their innocence truly leaves them because they have to leave their old
lewis]:self behind and really forge themselves anew here you're going to be answering questions like
lewis]:how did they gain their abilities and actually we're going to talk about that a
lewis]:little more in the next step but did they have a mentor and if so
lewis]:who what forced them out into the world why haven't they returned home yet what
lewis]:discomforts were the most difficult for them to come to terms with and what are
lewis]:they afraid of now who or what did they leave behind and how if at
lewis]:all
lewis]:do they keep that relationship strong what are they running from or running to how
lewis]:do they feel about their home now that they're not there and what questions do
lewis]:they have that need answering you see with all these questions you're really starting to
lewis]:fill out your character and help yourself understand their decisions and how in the world
lewis]:they've landed where they are currently either section zero or session one and to be
lewis]:honest and god d m will help you write these and also give an opportunity
lewis]:to actually maybe play through some of these experiences the biggest point of this section
lewis]:of questions is to start to explain why the adventurer's life started hanging from normal
lewis]:to a life of adventuring now let's go back to my example with john during
lewis]:his adolescent years john spent lots of time creating inventions and then he started noticing
lewis]:that some of his inventions began disappearing one day he came home from a short
lewis]:walk to find his parents and the people in the strange white masks taking his
lewis]:inventions he tried to stop and amidst his struggle one of his inventions accidentally exploded
lewis]:the blast nearly killed john but set the rest of the house ablaze john searched
lewis]:the records for his parents and found his moth dead among the rubble he also
lewis]:found three of the strange people with the white masks dead as well feeling intense
lewis]:grief and shame for the death of his mother john decided he could face his
lewis]:brother or father so he decided deity john disappeared into the city and did what
lewis]:he could to survive he begged for food and even petitioned local machinists for some
lewis]:work he finally found a nome iron worker from the confederacy who took john in
lewis]:because he saw the prowess in the young inventor john learned various skills there and
lewis]:even got a glim of his mentor's process for smithing deep iron but unfortunately his
lewis]:past caught up to him one night the workshop where john stayed was assaulted by
lewis]:people in mysterious white masks john's no mentor was killed but not before giving john
lewis]:time to escape now john runs from the mysterious society with the white masks though
lewis]:john has spent years trying to understand who they are he has found little answer
lewis]:he has found few answers unbeknown to john his little brother has joined the white
lewis]:mask society and now seeks revenge upon john for the death of their mother
lewis]:i never thought i'd miss row of whispers to heap one yeah i suppose she
lewis]:was good for something peepmwhisters back in a very unconvincing tone yeah yeah i suppose
lewis]:she was good for something pam whispers back in a very unconvincing tone it's lucky
lewis]:huger has a very high tolerance for alcohol of matters i think he actually kissed
lewis]:protection from poison before starting his drinking game harley whispers the group sits at a
lewis]:table in one of the cities taverns in the city across the room sits huge
lewis]:here bellowing loudly and drinking with another man that man is one of the captains
lewis]:of the city's prison he is one of the captains with a key to the
lewis]:city his prison huger's job is to get the man blind drunk and then have
lewis]:one of the groups steal his key none of the group were particularly suited to
lewis]:thieving not like re was but you're just going to have to make do either
lewis]:way just keep an eye out for anything suspicious we don't need to of whispers
lewis]:and then cut off of whispers and then cuts off as he notices the captain
lewis]:of the city prison throw our right ho right into huger's jaw immediately that table
lewis]:erupt into a brawl guess we'll have to do this the not so sweak i
lewis]:guess we'll have to do this the not so sneaky way cogarisize as i gets
lewis]:up from the table and joins the fight number four gaining abilities one of the
lewis]:more important singular questions in writing a back story is how did they start to
lewis]:gain their abilities or discover their abilities each adventurer dungeons and dragons is on the
lewis]:path to becoming something special even level one heroes have started something amazing and the
lewis]:question to answer is how did they begin let's look in this for each class
lewis]:as a barbarian you need to explain where and how your character started learning how
lewis]:to fight you also need to explain the source from which they draw their rage
lewis]:as a bard you need to explain how they start to learn how to use
lewis]:music to access magic as a cleric you need to explain how your character is
lewis]:connected with divinity as an artificer you need to explain how your character started to
lewis]:learn how to tinker as a sorcerer you need to explain how your character discovered
lewis]:their latent magical abilities while as a wizard you need to explain how your character
lewis]:first interacted with magic and what drove them to learn it naturally as a warlock
lewis]:you need to explain how your character first connected with their patron as a rogue
lewis]:you need to explain how your character fell into the underworld of crime as a
lewis]:ranger you need to explain how your character learned the arts of survival and how
lewis]:you also learned certain aspects of magic as a monk you need to describe how
lewis]:your character started practicing the art of key and self discipline as a paladin you
lewis]:need to explain how your character both learned the art of weaponry and how they
lewis]:connected with divinity and lastly as a druid you need to explain how your character
lewis]:first connected with the magic of nature and why that impacted your character obviously these
lewis]:are all questions you need to answer about your characters abilities but they will get
lewis]:you started now let's go back to our example with john john met his nome
lewis]:inventor mentor while walking the streets trying to sell nicknacks the nomes saw that john
lewis]:had created various trinkets and thought teach the boy something new john became intensely interested
lewis]:in the nomes teachings and the nome found a willing pupil he brought john into
lewis]:his home and made him his apprentice a year went by in which john learned
lewis]:at the beginnings of artificing he witnessed various miracles wrought by the no masters mechanical
lewis]:skills and over the year the two became great friends and the nome finally gave
lewis]:john his own team or tools a gift fortunately the apprentice ship came to an
lewis]:end when the mysterious group with the white masks attacked the nomes home and killed
lewis]:his mentor john escaped with his life the tools given to him from his tour
lewis]:and his mentor's journal of schematics number five current quest you can't finish your back
lewis]:story without you can't finish your back story writing session without figuring out what your
lewis]:character cares about right now as you start playing with your character you have to
lewis]:pull all of their emotional baggage and passed into the press by having it have
lewis]:by having it have residual effects on what they do right now so answer the
lewis]:following questions what is your character's goal right now what are they trying to accomplish
lewis]:why do they care about that thing what are the main obstacles stopping them from
lewis]:doing that what resources do they need to accomplish that goal what will they do
lewis]:once they achieve their accomplishment this is crucial information so stepping back into the justin
lewis]:role when i'm talking to you the d m instead of being the d m
lewis]:talking to the player you as the d m need your players to fill out
lewis]:this part a question m everything has really been building up to this this informs
lewis]:on some of the characters main motivations right now and it can help you align
lewis]:their desires with some of the other members of the party to hopefully jell the
lewis]:grow together that is of course assuming that you're starting with the characters not knowing
lewis]:the character is not knowing each other let's go back to our example with john
lewis]:the artificer john has now left the town where he grew up he spent a
lewis]:year or so on the road just trying to survive and he realized that his
lewis]:mentor's journal was actually an arcane creation in each page was sealed by an can
lewis]:cypher on each page he had to solve a certain riddle in order to access
lewis]:that specific schematic john also realized that the strange society was still following him he's
lewis]:been moving from town to town trying to evade them but they always seem to
lewis]:find him and he assumes that his brother still wants revenge on him for the
lewis]:death of his parents for the death of his mother unknown to john the society
lewis]:actually wants the journal for a very specific schematic that actually hired the nome to
lewis]:create the nome had created the schematic but then realized that the specific invention was
lewis]:dangerous so he decided not build it for them at which point society attacked the
lewis]:nomes house john's brother volunteered for the mission not for revenge but to convince john
lewis]:to join the mysterious society and to give them the schematic john's goals now are
lewis]:to unlock the journal learn about the white mask society and avoid his brother and
lewis]:the society and obviously stay alive so hopefully that helped you learn how to help
lewis]:your players write better back stories naturally i'd probably miss something so if i did
lewis]:reach out to me on instagram at how to be a better d m and
lewis]:i'd love to hear your take on it but as always this this episode isn't
lewis]:perfect there are likely things i missed that you do in your character planning that
lewis]:helps your players and like i said reach out to me if you know anything
lewis]:but hopefully this gets you started so thank you so much for listening to today's
lewis]:show last week we have the most downloads we've ever gotten in a single day
lewis]:and you know what it's all because of you you like the show you've supported
lewis]:the show you've shared it with other dungeon masters and speaking for tanner my cohort
lewis]:and my we both want to thank you for all your support and we promise
lewis]:to continually be worthy of that support by trying to give you ever better resources
lewis]:so you can become the best dungeon master the world has ever seen we're going
lewis]:to be back next week with another awesome episode but until then let's go ahead
