Backstory versus personality
Backstory is just as important for an RPG character as any stat, equipment or spell. It can be tragic or mysterious, detailed or simple if you or your character is relatively new to the world of the game setting. But whatever has happened to your character in the past, just as important is how they reacted to it.
I’m not talking about the adage that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond. I don’t entirely agree with that, and this isn’t a self-help blog. This is about building fun and interesting characters for the RPG table.
Different people, different characters will react differently to the same life events, and it’s worth thinking about how your creation responded. Let’s say that you want your character to be the last member of their murdered clan or family. How does that manifest? Are they furious, driven by a righteous need for vengeance against their killers? Are they fearful, trying to hide their name or distinguishing characteristics lest their family’s murderers come to finish the job? Or is your character now a stalwart protector, determined to prevent other families from suffering such a loss? Perhaps some mixture of the three, or another take entirely!
When making your character, it’s worth considering the intersection of backstory events and personality. Each of them will influence the other, and impact things to come. An angry, vengeance-driven character will likely face more problems head-on, with sword or spell in hand. A protector might always be looking for the solution that saves the greatest number of lives, regardless of personal glory or riches. Being consistent in such decisions can make for a stronger character, and help you to play them at the table. After all, now you know what motivates them!
When developing your player character, take note if you can’t answer the question of how do they feel about that, or how do they react? While emotions are complex and change over time, it may indicate that you need to go back and do some more work on their personality before moving forward on building their backstory. You can fill in past events later, once the game campaign has begun, but it’s a lot harder to take back stabbing a city guard out of anger when you decide two sessions later that you want this character to be a noble life-saver.
(Difficult, but not impossible… Remember, all of this is just a game of pretend, and it’s okay to change your mind! Just talk to your table and Storyteller about what you would like to alter.)
When creating a character and their backstory, consider taking a moment to ask yourself what all the possible reactions to a given event might be. That way, you know not only what your character chose, but all the things they didn’t. It can help you understand where your character draws their lines, or the options and reactions that they tend to overlook or avoid. We’re as defined by the actions we refuse to take as by the ones we do.
Backstory and personality are intertwined, and every piece you add to either one helps to make your character that much more realistic and complex. Don’t put in too much for you to juggle or remember, but have fun building someone who has their own distinctive personality and then playing them at the table!
