The "Personal Story"

[TimeAdept]

This is totally serious by the way, and not like, griping or complaining.

Am I weird because I have literally never gven any PC of mine a "Personal Story"?

Is this just something people do? I just sort of make characters, half form their backstory, and trundle them into the world and do things. I don't have "Personal Stories". There's not like any crazy background things going on, or like... anything like that. Maybe I don't really know what the definition of "Personal Story" is that people seem to use. My PCs don't come to the island with some wild curse they're trying to break on themselves, or like, anything like that. They don't come fully formed and fully "levelled", but they're also not saddled with some mysterious off screen story that I try to drag people into. I don't think that's always what happens, mind, but I feel like I generally see "Personal Story" used in a negative light, implying it's people who are drama-queens 'making stuff up' about their characters in an attempt to have the spotlight or awhile, or a lot longer than awhile, or what have you.

Discuss? I guess? I don't know, I'm confused, because this is apparently a really big thing people do and I have no idea what it is beyond meming about it. I count this as different than having goals for a character, mind you, because those are generally things you need to have and accomplish on the server, and in my experience, "Personal Stories" always seem to involve the setting as little as possible, and instead hyper razor focus on some character background conflict that has occurred or is occuring regarding some specific fact about the characte,r rather than the setting.

[Kreydis]

You do you is the way of the server. Be some random amnesiac or someone who literally just bumbled their way to the island. It doesn't matter, it's all for flavor and the fun of the person playing.

[Guillotine]

Back Story

Many players spend a lot of time working out the history of their characters before they arrive on the island. Extensive histories are established with very specific details… and nobody will ever see any of it. The most important part of your character shouldn’t be his history, but rather, what his history did to him.

A character’s psychological profile is far more important than the specific history that gave him that profile. Why? Because everyone will be impacted by the former… few will learn anything about the latter. You can have the most detailed history on the server, but when you’re standing in the Merchant District saying “…”, it’s not going to mean anything to other players. Instead, imagine what that history did to your character. Did it change his speech patterns? Is he more or less trusting of others? Is he forgetful? Does he want revenge? Does he hate father figures?

The trick is to work backwards. Start with a unique voice that would be fun to play, and then work backwards to (loosely) decide what the source of that voice would be. The best characters are often those who have very defined personalities but no specifically detailed back story; this leaves things open for development. I’ve found that after playing the character for a while and I’ve discovered which quirks and habits work and which don’t, then I’ll know what to enhance, and I’ll have a better idea of what the source of those habits should be.

None of this should imply that you shouldn’t have any back story; the gruff loner with the mysterious past wouldn’t work terribly well if that mysterious past didn’t actually exist. But recognize the difference between a character played specifically to raise questions about his past and a bland character who you insist is deep merely because you researched seventeen different sources of lore just to create him.*

*I’m not criticizing lore fiends; I too do lots of research when I make a character. But the research is less about how obscure I can make my character’s history, and more to figure out interesting characteristics to pick up on that’ll make for the most unique experience for other players.

[Let Love In]

When I made an Outcast, I thought of a "Personal Story" that explained her fall from polite society. Other than that, I don't really do origin stories.

[Xerah]

DM Watchtower's approach is the same as mine.

I create a general personality, research the hell out of it, but it's always very general. He spent some time in X city. He learned at Y place. He has Z reason for coming to the island. As you go, you may add to those (and not them in your journal) as you flesh out your character.

For example, my first character was a gnome tinkerer from Lantan who studied with a number of various professors. She came to the island because she and a professor were travelling somewhere to field test a bunch inventions but he was captured. The professor didn't thing didn't come up that often but it also gave her something to work towards when things were quiet.

[xanrael]

I tend to be pretty barebone with a PC's backstory on Arelith (couple of sentences) and way more involved for actual tabletop if we're playing a sandbox game where players have input on the world's 'creation'.

I don't think there is an issue with having an involved backstory, as long as it doesn't have a higher priority than the goings on in Arelith. By the nature of a PW Arelith is both very sandbox-y and a strict railroad. An example of the latter is you can never go to a place that doesn't have a zone built for it or talk to any NPC that doesn't have an avatar. While it is pretty obvious it can lead to a disconnect on trying to place major importance on a backstory as your reactions are limited on content not in the module.

[Eira]

My warlock's backstory was essentially: Woke up hungover on a ship, with a note telling her that she bound her soul to a demon lord in a drinking contest.

It wasn't until I actually met people and they asked about it, that I added details about her life before, based on why they were asking and how detailed it went. When I had other friends join the game, they came in as her family members. And from then on, we were able to add to our family canon through improv (we'd just make a note in our discord channel like "hey Danny, Reena beat you in an arm wrestling contest when they were 10 years old" so we could keep track of it).

And from then on, until she actually got to share her story and it continued to grow and shift. So it went from super bare bones to an actual history that supported actions in game, and continued to grow, the more other characters were able to learn about her.

IMO, when I give someone a detail of my character that I make up on the spot, it sticks with me a lot easier than having to consult a 20 page backstory, which was how I used to make characters waaay way long ago. And I particularly love when you get to work with other players in a family or old friends dynamic, and give them some leeway on shared stories or memories.

"Yes, and" is my favorite way to build a backstory.

Of course this is all very swayed to my own experiences, and it won't always fit for others. And I do post a lot in IC stories to supplement what I reveal during actual gameplay.

[Iceborn]

I'm a big sucker for backstories, but I weave them as I play.
Most of the details of the backstories are additions, turns that manifest to justify - to explain the behavior of my character as I'm playing them. My characters always have an opinion on SOMETHING, and if that opinion doesn't steam from the action of other players, it comes from something that was purposefully or accidentally nudged in my direction in a way that I found interesting enough.

What matters to me is the concept, rather than the -specifics- of what created that concept.
My concept for Veritas was "tormented mage with sinful past".
My concept for Kiravias was... none actually, he started entirely with 0 planning to just test the Wild Mage Mechanics.
And all the colorful stories that came from their background, most of which are rarely if ever spoken about, are just a construction that gives a certain flair to my characters.
And I'm delighted when I have the rare cases to tell those backstories, that explain certain quirks, the oddities, the scars, the traumas, the fascinations. If it's not something that happened in the game, it's in the backstory. And it's part of my character just as much.

[Revelations]

While the systems and mechanics of the server are there to enable your character’s story, they instead oft dictate it. It all comes down to the same points: classes, builds, gear, elections, slavery, boards, etc.
I find that the storytelling and writing that NWN as a client, the Arelith mechanics and the way things are handled foster is very repetitive, lacking and unimaginative. There's only so much enjoyment you can get out of "x said y on the boards" and "z won the 677th election", and "xy killed yz but it doesn't really mean anything other than that we'll make a diplomatic drama out of it" and "123 enslaved 456 and stole their lunchbox" and “boy let’s farm some addy for the nth time because I failed another 5% enchantment attempt” again, and again, and again.

What compels me personally to invest time here is the creativity of the writers you meet in between that put thought and time into their concepts. I don't necessarily want to sit through a few hours fo monologue to hear a pre-written story, but I really, really want to know WHY a character does, says, feels something. And what that means for their goals, and what they can bring to RP landscape of the server, with their different quirks, shortcomings, thoughts, philosophies and reasons. It's fun to find out about these things, bit by bit.

It's also very rewarding for a player to have the concept or story they thought of recognised in some manner, incorporated into the RP landscape of the server, which in turn is enriched by the character.

tldr Some people are here for the storytelling, which needs individual, external impulses to stay interesting.

That said, I think people writing a story for their character is one of the less harmful and bad things a player can do. Let people have their creative outlets, and just move on if you can't be bothered to listen.

[Queen Titania]

Sometimes details from your backstory (or developing story) can make a useful element and I might include it in a plot.

For example, if they were on the run from someone, I might on a whim create the person they were running from and have them starting asking about them.

Or if they were a gnome tinkerer, maybe their aunt comes visit to have tea after warring half the isle. Or the warlock's patron comes and asks to pay up.

Barebones is fine, you usually only need an interesting detail or two to add intrigue personally. What you do on the land itself tends to be more noteworthy.

[Sartain]

I usually like to keep it vague, but create a timeline of sorts for plot hooks and background material. Characters and events need not necessarily be defined too much pre-game as that leaves it open to improvisation. For example my Elf Warlock had [bad experience with humans] which made him a supremacist, which in turn got him recruited by [trusted background character] for the Eldreth Veluuthra. Then [something] soured his views on their methods and in his search for power to eradicate the humans he encountered [group of like-minded elves] who introduced him to his patron.
With this approach I have a lot of room to improvise and add characters to my story, which keeps things dynamic and can provide hooks for both player and DM.
Although I have yet to find any sort of system for providing DMs with said background story, are you just mean to send it to the Active DMs channel and hope someone decides to pick up on it?

[TimeAdept]

I think people might be misunderstanding what I say when I talk about "The Personal Story". I mean plot arcs that are often play run or player devised, and rely a lot on "RP work", such as spells or rituals that aren't mechanically represented in the game. Sometimes these are supported by DMs, sometimes they are not. This could be things like a player saying they are possessed and need exorcising. It could be Warlocks doing rituals to corrupt people and transform them into evil. It could be a PC with a split personality that goes back and forth and doesn't remember the other, but can be affected with "RP stuff".

"The Personal Story" I'm talking about is less background and more things where players take it upon themselves to become 'their own DM', doing 'plots' and 'stories' that often involve (and I say this with endearment) calvinball-esque rules and regulations, more along the lines of freeform forum roleplay, than any sort of actual mechanics or DnD related lore.

I suppose I wasn't very clear when I made the original post. Character backgrounds are all well and good, that's all there, sure, fine, whatever.

For example, if they were on the run from someone, I might on a whim create the person they were running from and have them starting asking about them.

Or if they were a gnome tinkerer, maybe their aunt comes visit to have tea after warring half the isle. Or the warlock's patron comes and asks to pay up.

This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about - but it's the PC 'running the show' themselves, which can often lead to the need for 'imagination land' things, because a PC obviously can't make a demon patron show up. I know sometimes DMs get in on this (or do so at request? I'm not entirely sure of the protocol there), but not all the time.

[Mr_Rieper]

It often comes across as contrived, especially if there are moments where your character is captured or in trouble for "personal plot" reasons and the people around them are forced to save them, without having any other incentive other than "it's the right thing to do".

I've seen it done well. If you've got a roadmap for your character, I have no issue with that. But treat it as a suggested path, and don't force it if it doesn't make sense. Arelith has plenty of interesting drama without needing to manufacture your own for plot reasons. Sometimes it's more rewarding to let other players guide your character with theirs, with you choosing how your character responds to all of it.

[CosmicOrderV]

I wanna ditto what Rieper said. Usually the 'personal stories' you're describing, come across as disgenuine. I personally don't bother, because what's really needed is for people to be able to interact, and react, to your actions. When the player dawdles into imagination land, and plays DM lite, it takes the control and creativity away from others, which is where the contrived or disgenuine nature stems from. Arelith is a persistent world, and it attempts to mimic life by having many of its aspects outside of the player's direct control. It's called immersion. Other than some very well planned and executed exceptions, these things usually just detract from immersion.

[xanrael]

I guess I'm trying to picture how it could be done in such a way to tick people off while still within the spirit and rules of the server.

1. Jane decides that they want to be captured and ransomed for "reasons" and convinces some other players of evil slavers/bandits to come capture them and send a ransom to Jane's friends. WYSIWYG remains true throughout and the resolution is completely up to the interaction of the involved parties.

2. Jane decides to send out their own ransom letter and sneaks into an area with hostile NPCs saying they were captured by them. That seems iffy as technically someone could see them deliver the letter and it break immersion. At least for the people fighting to reach Jane (assuming they give a damn) its still in the plausible range. Ideally Jane would contact a DM before this to okay it and perhaps get a bit of help on the ransom note or more. At the least though Jane gets an okay from the DM team for doing a bit of questionable stuff. Barring a TPK only one likely outcome here.

3. Jane decides to send their own ransom note and sits in an empty area but totally wants to RP that there are bandits near them despite it being deserted. WYSIWYG is completely thrown out the window. Really only one likely outcome here.

I'm assuming you're referring mostly to 3 and 2, but not 1 correct? Or would you also put example 1 in the "annoying" category assuming its a 1 off and not a weekly thing with Jane.

[RedGiant]

Going to diverge here abit, since I'm hearing what sounds like some well-meant over-corrections.

While you can have a bad backstory, backstories aren't bad. I don't think, as a rule, we should ever sound like we are discouraging them.

The first instance...the fact that you can have a bad backstory...is the source of many mematic [meme+thematic (tm)] clichés of PWs: perhaps none of them more egregious than, "I was powerful boy/girl sorcerer/wizard/witch whose power was so powerful that my emergent power burnt my house down and the villagers chased me off because...they were afraid of my power...and then I came to Arelith." This might not even be a terrible story, if we hadn't heard it 1k times before...or... ...maybe even used it once our selves in 2006.

The second instance...that backstories aren't bad...should be something we trumpet, yea even generally expect from characters logging onto an RP server. As soon as your 26 y/o boy/girl barbarian steps off the boat, I generally think it would be good to have the basics worked out.

Where are you from? Do you practice a religion? What is/was your Family dynamics? What are your skills? What is your motivation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-E4GHzxJys And, do you, too, hate Rick Snyder?

I get playing it loose, as some here have suggested, but fully realized characters should be more a norm than an exception on a PW. A good backstory fleshes out your character and can/should serve as an engine for further RP.

[Yma23]

Nothing is wrong with backstories, but the backstory should exist to inform the character, not as a thing on it's own to be interesting.

Example:
Jill: 'My name is Jill and my family were killed by orcs so now I hate all orcs and halforcs!'
- This is an example of a bad way to do a backstory.

*Jill enters a bar, she glares at the halforc drinking at the near by table, and absently spits in his direction.*
Other person: 'Why'd you do that Jill?'
Jill: 'I... don't like orc bloods...'
- Is an example of a good way to do a backstory. Show, don't tell. Your backstory should exist to inform what your character does, how they think ect, not a thing floating about on its own.

But to the main thrust of the apparent question...

Personal opinion: I think there's nothing wrong with setting a scenario in front of other players, and seeing what they make of it. But I'd say that one should be wary of wanting to control the narrative beyond that, and be open to other solutions/options pcs bring out.

To use an example: Let's say I uh, decide my character has been cursed by a witch with a terrible wasting ailment. That's fine. I bring this to other pcs, and then I see what they do with the story. See what (if any) solutions they come up with, and roll with them - or not. A basic problem ' Witch's curse.'

What's less good is having a basic problem, then demanding a very specific set of situations/answers to that problem and demanding PCs go along with that. E.g. A witch cursed my character with a wasting disease, and only the kiss of true love given by Amadeo Pnumea can cure it, and only then as part of a massive ritual involving a member of each race done at a full moon. Oh, and also some drow should probably attack mid way though and cause chaos but be driven back by the beautful speaches of Amadeo about how he loves my character and wants to marry them forever or something.

[Borin Drakkmurl]

I have had entire character backstories based on new class updates introduced when said character was above lvl 15, and that I just made up on the fly.

I've also had very vague ideas for a background that I then progressively developed as I interacted with other players. This is actually what happened more often, I think, and often for the best. You are dungeon delving with someone you just met, and they ask you all the classic questions. "So, where are you from? How long you have been around? What do you do? Why?" ...and you just improvise, based on the vague base you had before. That and reacting to other people's actions will often infer background stuff about your own. "Oh, that evil banite just kicked a puppy. My character, Johny Shiny pants hates it!....but whyyyy?"

And I have also had characters with deeply developed backstories from the get go. Most of these ended up being changed massively as I played, though, because even though the background was there, the character itself only revealed itself to me through actual play.

[The Rambling Midget]

Example:
Jill: 'My name is Jill and my family were killed by orcs so now I hate all orcs and halforcs!'
- This is an example of a bad way to do a backstory.

*Jill enters a bar, she glares at the halforc drinking at the near by table, and absently spits in his direction.*
Other person: 'Why'd you do that Jill?'
Jill: 'I... don't like orc bloods...'
- Is an example of a good way to do a backstory. Show, don't tell. Your backstory should exist to inform what your character does, how they think ect, not a thing floating about on its own.

Adding to this, nobody cares about your backstory... until they do. One of the keys to good exposition is to have an audience that's actually listening. Draw people in with your actions, so that they'll become interested in the story behind them. Save your character's deepest innermost thoughts for the ones who care most, even if that's only one person. It's better to share your story with a single person who's truly invested than to spray it haphazardly at hundreds who won't remember it five minutes later.

[TimeAdept]

I guess I'm trying to picture how it could be done in such a way to tick people off while still within the spirit and rules of the server.

1. Jane decides that they want to be captured and ransomed for "reasons" and convinces some other players of evil slavers/bandits to come capture them and send a ransom to Jane's friends. WYSIWYG remains true throughout and the resolution is completely up to the interaction of the involved parties.

2. Jane decides to send out their own ransom letter and sneaks into an area with hostile NPCs saying they were captured by them. That seems iffy as technically someone could see them deliver the letter and it break immersion. At least for the people fighting to reach Jane (assuming they give a damn) its still in the plausible range. Ideally Jane would contact a DM before this to okay it and perhaps get a bit of help on the ransom note or more. At the least though Jane gets an okay from the DM team for doing a bit of questionable stuff. Barring a TPK only one likely outcome here.

3. Jane decides to send their own ransom note and sits in an empty area but totally wants to RP that there are bandits near them despite it being deserted. WYSIWYG is completely thrown out the window. Really only one likely outcome here.

I'm assuming you're referring mostly to 3 and 2, but not 1 correct? Or would you also put example 1 in the "annoying" category assuming its a 1 off and not a weekly thing with Jane.

Mostly a combination between two and three, yeah. "I'm diseased, Heal doesn't fix me, Greater Resto doens't cure me, alas, I am dying and passing away". Etc. This sort of thing, that people use as 'defining personal stories' for their characters, or such. Your option one here is totally fine, though to me personally it's a little odd to decide OOC that your character need sto be kidnapped and shop around OOC for an arranged kidnapping.

[Dagonlives]

I tend to create a very barebones beginning to a concept. The reality is what your character did before they arrived in the setting and module is not very important.

[Sartain]

Although I have yet to find any sort of system for providing DMs with said background story, are you just mean to send it to the Active DMs channel and hope someone decides to pick up on it?

Can anyone answer this?

[The Rambling Midget]

Although I have yet to find any sort of system for providing DMs with said background story, are you just mean to send it to the Active DMs channel and hope someone decides to pick up on it?

Can anyone answer this?

If you want to run an event with a DM, you can send a forum PM to the Active DMs group, and see if any of them are interested in helping.

[xanrael]

Mostly a combination between two and three, yeah. "I'm diseased, Heal doesn't fix me, Greater Resto doens't cure me, alas, I am dying and passing away". Etc. This sort of thing, that people use as 'defining personal stories' for their characters, or such. Your option one here is totally fine, though to me personally it's a little odd to decide OOC that your character need sto be kidnapped and shop around OOC for an arranged kidnapping.

Thanks and yeah, not a fan of that sort of stuff either, more for its railroading nature than anything else.

As far as the scenario goes was just trying to think of something that I could use 3 different versions on and kidnapping came to mind. Full on enslavement would have probably been a more common example for Arelith but has its own baggage along with generally a player and PC disconnect (player wants their PC to be a slave, PC would probably want to be freed).

[Sartain]

Although I have yet to find any sort of system for providing DMs with said background story, are you just mean to send it to the Active DMs channel and hope someone decides to pick up on it?

Can anyone answer this?

If you want to run an event with a DM, you can send a forum PM to the Active DMs group, and see if any of them are interested in helping.

That wasn't really my question though. What j was trying to ask is: Is there a place to put my background where DMs can see it and hopefully decide to engage in it?
The IC stories forum doesn't seem to quite fit it and I don't really see any other options