Character backstory: You were then, like you are now.
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 3:40 pm
This is a principle that generally I try to put into practice when I'm writing NPCs, that I encourage other Narrators to use, and that I encourage in players.
In general, if you look at a character's past, it should probably be similar to how you play them right now. If there are differences, there should be big reasons for the change, and even then, there should be a thread of similarity.
This applies to PCs and NPCs alike.
If you're playing a character who's a backstabbing conman, looking into his past should probably turn up a long trail of bitter victims. Or, if he's good at covering his tracks, a long past of people who were suspicious of him but then dropped their accusations, or maybe a string of other people taking the fall for crimes around him. A character who walks in with the Status of "Reliable and Loyal" who immediately stages a coup and sells out all his friends will rapidly lose that Status, but also, just feels incongruous as a character.
Sometimes you can't predict everything about a character and how people will react to them when you start playing. You may be planning for your character to be suave and well-liked, but find out during play that he's more of a laughingstock. That can be upsetting if you're not ready for it! Resist the temptation to stockpile your characters with backstory full of universal successes if you're going to be taking risks. Resist the temptation to have your character always succeed in the past if you're not always going to succeed in the present.
You can also fake this after the fact. If your character seems to be behaving in ways you didn't expect when playing him, or garnering reactions you didn't expect, you can (within reason) retroactively add some times in the past when they've done that before too. Did you just kill someone brutally in the heat of combat when you thought you were playing a mellow pacifist? Maybe they've done that before, either as a Kindred or mortal. Did you just forgive someone you should have taken a grudge to, or vice versa? Add examples of similar things in the past. Write a lit about it, even!
The benefit of this is that it adds a huge creamy dollop of believability, that it makes it worthwhile to investigate and ask around about people, and that it makes characters feel more real. It's also more "fair" to other players. You may want everyone who investigates you to find out that you're perfect and flawless with a long string of successes, but does that make sense? If you can't keep it up in play, it might not make sense to have it happen in your past, or if it does, to have some reasons for it.
Playing a vengeful character? Add some wounded victims to your past, and some enemies who learned not to mess with you. Playing a trusting innocent? Give her a manipulative mentor, or folks who took pity on her. Playing a courageous hero? Add some grateful folks she rescued to your backstory.
It's not just about making flaws in your backstory - do it with the good and the bad! But try to make your past match your character and how you play them.
Some concrete examples of what I'm talking about, from my own PCs and NPCs:
- Curt Macabee. He's got a habit of boldly jumping into things, and occasionally really fixing things and doing the right thing, but just as often screwing up, and often needing to call to his powerful and dignified Sire for help. This happened over and over again in play. But even though it was frustrating when he was a PC sometimes, I was planning on that! His backstory is full of past times where he had some big scheme that backfired, or Malkavians playing pranks on him, and many times when his disappointed Sire had to bail him out, order him not to go through on an "ambitious" scheme, or just speak up for him. At the same time, his past also has plenty of times when he succeeded, and plenty of times when he learned a lesson well after a humiliating defeat.
- Bjarne Lax. This guy was a lot of fun to play. I wanted to play the dark side of an Artiste Toreador here: obsessive to art, oblivious to politics, thinking only of beauty, but capable of tremendous innovation. Nobody looked into his past until after he pulled his War-Ghoul-ballet-dancer stunt, but I had it all written out before: his tendency to innovate a new dance style every 20 years, his meticulous attention to detail and presentation, his habit of sometimes bringing in Kindred Disciplines, his lack of concern about politics, even his rivalry with a much more politically savvy prima ballerina. When people looked into it afterward, they found the seeds of it. (Though it wouldn't have been enough to see it coming and stop it, honestly.) He hadn't used Vicissitude before, because he only got that during the big Sabbat attack on Paris in 2010. That made him more unhinged and willing to make bizarre art -- but the seeds of that obsession were already present in his background long before.
When I see a NPC who has a sterling reputation suddenly burst into play making enemies, I see a flawed NPC concept. If there's a surprise change of character, there should be some dramatic reason for it -- and even then there should be things about the character from before that foreshadow the change. The same applies to PCs.
Think about this when you think about your backstory: You were then, like you are now.
How about you? Do you add events in your past that match how you play your character now? Do you include events to justify shifts of character? Do you even think this kind of consistency is necessary?
In general, if you look at a character's past, it should probably be similar to how you play them right now. If there are differences, there should be big reasons for the change, and even then, there should be a thread of similarity.
This applies to PCs and NPCs alike.
If you're playing a character who's a backstabbing conman, looking into his past should probably turn up a long trail of bitter victims. Or, if he's good at covering his tracks, a long past of people who were suspicious of him but then dropped their accusations, or maybe a string of other people taking the fall for crimes around him. A character who walks in with the Status of "Reliable and Loyal" who immediately stages a coup and sells out all his friends will rapidly lose that Status, but also, just feels incongruous as a character.
Sometimes you can't predict everything about a character and how people will react to them when you start playing. You may be planning for your character to be suave and well-liked, but find out during play that he's more of a laughingstock. That can be upsetting if you're not ready for it! Resist the temptation to stockpile your characters with backstory full of universal successes if you're going to be taking risks. Resist the temptation to have your character always succeed in the past if you're not always going to succeed in the present.
You can also fake this after the fact. If your character seems to be behaving in ways you didn't expect when playing him, or garnering reactions you didn't expect, you can (within reason) retroactively add some times in the past when they've done that before too. Did you just kill someone brutally in the heat of combat when you thought you were playing a mellow pacifist? Maybe they've done that before, either as a Kindred or mortal. Did you just forgive someone you should have taken a grudge to, or vice versa? Add examples of similar things in the past. Write a lit about it, even!
The benefit of this is that it adds a huge creamy dollop of believability, that it makes it worthwhile to investigate and ask around about people, and that it makes characters feel more real. It's also more "fair" to other players. You may want everyone who investigates you to find out that you're perfect and flawless with a long string of successes, but does that make sense? If you can't keep it up in play, it might not make sense to have it happen in your past, or if it does, to have some reasons for it.
Playing a vengeful character? Add some wounded victims to your past, and some enemies who learned not to mess with you. Playing a trusting innocent? Give her a manipulative mentor, or folks who took pity on her. Playing a courageous hero? Add some grateful folks she rescued to your backstory.
It's not just about making flaws in your backstory - do it with the good and the bad! But try to make your past match your character and how you play them.
Some concrete examples of what I'm talking about, from my own PCs and NPCs:
- Curt Macabee. He's got a habit of boldly jumping into things, and occasionally really fixing things and doing the right thing, but just as often screwing up, and often needing to call to his powerful and dignified Sire for help. This happened over and over again in play. But even though it was frustrating when he was a PC sometimes, I was planning on that! His backstory is full of past times where he had some big scheme that backfired, or Malkavians playing pranks on him, and many times when his disappointed Sire had to bail him out, order him not to go through on an "ambitious" scheme, or just speak up for him. At the same time, his past also has plenty of times when he succeeded, and plenty of times when he learned a lesson well after a humiliating defeat.
- Bjarne Lax. This guy was a lot of fun to play. I wanted to play the dark side of an Artiste Toreador here: obsessive to art, oblivious to politics, thinking only of beauty, but capable of tremendous innovation. Nobody looked into his past until after he pulled his War-Ghoul-ballet-dancer stunt, but I had it all written out before: his tendency to innovate a new dance style every 20 years, his meticulous attention to detail and presentation, his habit of sometimes bringing in Kindred Disciplines, his lack of concern about politics, even his rivalry with a much more politically savvy prima ballerina. When people looked into it afterward, they found the seeds of it. (Though it wouldn't have been enough to see it coming and stop it, honestly.) He hadn't used Vicissitude before, because he only got that during the big Sabbat attack on Paris in 2010. That made him more unhinged and willing to make bizarre art -- but the seeds of that obsession were already present in his background long before.
When I see a NPC who has a sterling reputation suddenly burst into play making enemies, I see a flawed NPC concept. If there's a surprise change of character, there should be some dramatic reason for it -- and even then there should be things about the character from before that foreshadow the change. The same applies to PCs.
Think about this when you think about your backstory: You were then, like you are now.
How about you? Do you add events in your past that match how you play your character now? Do you include events to justify shifts of character? Do you even think this kind of consistency is necessary?