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Post by Malex on Dec 6, 2013 7:33:20 GMT -8
I was listening to the backlog and heard Stu discuss five questions he asks players in order to get a brief form of backstory. When I heard it, a lightbulb went off in my head and quickly dimmed only to be re-lit weeks later when I'd lost track of the episode.
Anyone who's on the Facebook page has seen me ask this before, but I want to make sure that I got this right from what I remembered and what someone else posted:
1) Who does your character love?
2) What does your character hate?
3) Why are you here (adventuring, investigating, whatever)?
4) Is your character religious?
5) What would your character be doing if they were not here?
Does that sound about right? Thanks.
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Dec 6, 2013 19:06:12 GMT -8
Sounds right. The first three are definite yeses, and the others have a familiar ring.
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Post by Malex on Dec 8, 2013 10:05:11 GMT -8
Yay.
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Post by Arcona on Dec 8, 2013 11:44:19 GMT -8
I am very partial to the '10 minute background' concept that was posted in WOTC forums quite a few years back.
It goes like this:
Step 1
Write five things about your character’s concept and background, five things that you think are the most essential parts of your character. You don’t have to stop at five … this is just a minimum.
Example: Martin Tenbones:
1) Former pirate and retired adventurer, now owns a tavern in wherever.
2) Outgoing and charismatic - attempts to keep up on all the local gossip and juicy secrets that pass his way … he believes that knowledge is power.
3) He and his former party fought the forces of the pirate captain Craven, who was a major lieutenant for the current Dread Pirate Hellbeard. Used the wealth he acquired to build his tavern. Sometimes worries that the pirates may decide to find him and extract revenge.
4) Though he still friends with most of his former party, some parted the group on bad terms. His girlfriend Whats’er’name went back to sea to fight pirates once more. He’s heard that her ship was taken by Hellbeard and believes she was killed. He mourns her death.
5) Although he is retired, he can be convinced to adventure again if he hears that his lot love may still be alive, or if he is contacted by the White Foxes during a crisis (see Secrets, step 3).
Step 2
List two goals for the character that you, as a player, think would be cool to see accomplished in-game. During sessions in which you take positive action to achieve that goal, you may be awarded an action point.
Example:
1) I’d like to see Martin reunited with his lost love and perhaps able to mend fences with some of his former adventuring buddies over the course of this campaign.
2) It would be cool to have Martin face and possibly defeat the Dread Pirate Hellbeard once and for all.
Step 3
List two (or more!) secrets about your character. They may be secrets the character knows, or a secret that involves them but that they are not actually aware of.
Example:
1) Martin is a member of the White Fox Society, a secret society dedicated to keeping Hometown free of tyranny and evil, as well as keeping local governments honest. He provides information and rumors to them, but can be convinced to take a more active roll if …
2) Whats’er’name, Marin's lost love, is still alive. She was captured by the Dread Pirate Hellbeard and has been kept as his captive for all these years.
Step 4
Describe at least three people that are tied to the character though blood, romance, honor, etc. Two of them are friendly to you and one is hostile. Each can do something useful for you if you can get the situations to line up. If you like, you can include any enemies of yours here as well …
Example:
1) Martin's friend Audric Cwellen was one of his adventuring mates. Audric, a holy warrior in the service of the Goddess of Whatever, is the leader of the local cell of the White Fox society, and provides Martin with information and adventure hooks.
2) Another of Martin's old companions, Aubrey LeVaine, is not as helpful as Audric, because they quarreled over the love of Whats’er’name, and Aubrey is still bitter about losing her to Martin. Still, he can provide some magical support if Martin can convince him to let go of his hate.
3) Yebin Thistledown is a halfling Martin met in the Forest of Wherever and saved him from a pack of Howlers. Yebin makes all sorts of alchemical items and loves collecting odd souvenirs and items. He operates a bizarre patchwork shop in the city of NotHometown.
Step 5
Describe three specific memories your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.
Example:
1) Martin remembers growing up in a tavern as a young boy, helping his mother with the cooking. This started his own interest in the culinary arts.
2) Martin remembers the panic he felt when he discovered that the ship he signed on to was a pirate ship after a brutal attack on a merchantman. He vividly recalls the smell of blood and burning timbers.
3) Martin often recalls the goodbye kiss he gave Whats’er’name when she left him. No kiss he's had since ever compares to that memory.
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SirGuido
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Post by SirGuido on Dec 8, 2013 16:45:29 GMT -8
And I prefer the "Game of 20 Questions" in the L5R book.
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Post by jughead5187 on Dec 18, 2013 22:04:45 GMT -8
i didnt take stu's exact questions. i combined them with with other hosts' advice and got the following list:
1. Family- Who are they? Where are they from? What did they do? Even if orphaned. 2. Who is your best friend/ favorite relative? 3. If you were not an adventurer, what would you do? 4. What is one person you fear/ do not like? Enemy, rival, or acquaintance 5. What is your religion? How religious is your character?
the 5th question could also include things like "what is your character's outlook?" or in a warhammer setting, how do you show allegiance to the emperor/ how do you fight heresy?
thoughts?
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mysterycycle
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Post by mysterycycle on Jan 10, 2014 14:22:14 GMT -8
There was a Dragon article once upon a time that broke NPC descriptions down into seven sentences that really fleshed out the barebones stats (the article was, in fact, called "The Seven Sentence NPC"). I imagine that would be a nice capsule for any GM to have.
For those players feeling generous to their GMs, there is something I saw called 3x3x3. The player writes down three allies, three neutrals/contacts, and three rivals to their PC. For each one, the player writes a name, brief description, place of origin, how they know the PC, and when/where they last saw each other. This gives the GM a great source of plot hooks as well as giving the PC a place in the world, so to speak.
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Post by jughead5187 on Jan 10, 2014 18:21:37 GMT -8
Malexim not a bot... im a real boy! i just posted the list i had written down that ive been sending to every gm/fellow player i play with lol. i tell them that if they fill it out, it informs their characters backstory, but leaves enough open for the gm to use things/ steal plothooks.
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maxinstuff
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Post by maxinstuff on Jan 10, 2014 18:32:25 GMT -8
Malexim not a bot... im a real boy! i just posted the list i had written down that ive been sending to every gm/fellow player i play with lol. i tell them that if they fill it out, it informs their characters backstory, but leaves enough open for the gm to use things/ steal plothooks. I'd say there was a spam post below yours that was deleted. Probably selling slippers.
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Post by Malex on Jan 11, 2014 9:58:19 GMT -8
Maxinstuff is correct, there was an add post. No longer there, so Stu must have booted it. I'll remove the flagger post.
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Post by henryhankovitch on Jan 12, 2014 17:14:53 GMT -8
I thought Stu's Five Questions started with "AC or DR?" and "GURPS or Hero?"
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Post by jughead5187 on Jan 14, 2014 2:47:07 GMT -8
"define 'crunch'"
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blydddreug
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Post by blydddreug on Dec 29, 2014 15:34:02 GMT -8
I've been working through the backlog as well while I drive to and fro so it makes it difficult to take a note if I find something I particularly like - can't quite remember what episode this was. Anyone know exactly which one it is?
I recall Tappy had a slightly different take, but one of his questions was "What makes your character different from every other character that is of the archetype you want to play?"
Anyone recall what his other points were?
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Post by jazzisblues on Dec 29, 2014 16:49:11 GMT -8
With npc's for games I have started using the Fate model of five aspects about the character.
1) High Concept 2) Trouble 3) Your first adventure 4) How someone else's adventure impacted you (1) 5) How someone else's adventure impacted you (2)
In the case of npc's 4&5 come from something to do with the pc's, but doing this with pc's (for any game) gives IMHO a very good view of who the character is.
Just my 2 krupplenicks worth, your mileage may of course vary.
JIB
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sbloyd
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Post by sbloyd on Dec 30, 2014 6:50:29 GMT -8
jazzisblues - I've recently fallen in love with the Fate format as well as being a continuing avid fan of "Here's the game I'm going to run, you guys roll up characters who would be involved."
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