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Post by The Newest Noob on Aug 9, 2017 14:16:13 GMT
So not gonna lie I am so new to DnD my handbook still has the receipt in it. I played three games a week for about a month and wanted to try a spill at DMing. So I created a home brewed world cause I thought it would be cool. It caters to a specific story (island was invaded by an evil army go save everyone) and I thought the players would create characters based on the world. However, to my surprise many of the characters came into the game with (no joke) 5 pages of backstory that completely contradict the story in every way. I also have some players that embrace the role play of the scenario while others completely fight against it. I just need some advice from more experienced DM's on how would you handle this situation?
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Post by DM Lord Neptune on Aug 9, 2017 16:00:01 GMT
I have always embraced elaborate backstories as long as they have a realistic feel (no slaying dragons at level 1). Having said that, some portions of a backstory may completely contradict the lore of your world, but the general feel of the backstory may not. I would talk with the players individually and tell them that, although the backstories are great, there are parts of them that don't fit within the lore of your world.
Since you know your world best, try to find points in the backstories where you can change them to better match what your players' characters would have experienced. If particular monsters or technology aren't available, swap them out for something that will without breaking the overall feel of the backstory, and work with the player when making those suggestions.
As an aspiring writer, I find myself creating very elaborate backstories for my characters, even writing the backstories out as a short story. My GMs generally have all gone with the "Yes, and..." approach, where they accept the backstory as canon in the world, but that may mostly be me having a good understanding on how my friends think and what I know to be acceptable in order to explain who my character is when we start and how the backstory may affect my character's life and personality. If they are at that sort of level of writing, they would have to go into it as a first draft where you are the editor. They need to understand that you technically have final say on the world.
If you are starting at level 1, I would say that there is no reason for the backstories to contain campaign level information, where the character cleared out hordes of enemies or things like that. For those, I would just veto it and instead insert something else that shows the character being brave and a great warrior or something, but nothing that would level him up to level 5 with all the things they've killed. If you are starting at a higher level, I would allow more of that sort of backstory, but may tweak it a bit to fit it into my world.
Bottom line, ask the player what, in general, they were envisioning with the character's backstory that would explain why a character is who they are. If they come up with something that is against your canon, first ask yourself why it has to be against canon. Could you fit it into the canon of the world at all, or does it just contradict something too much and needs to be changed? If it does contradict your canon, ask yourself whether or not it could be an outlier in your canon, something that maybe only happened to this character and doesn't happen every day, but nothing that would break your world or give a major advantage to the character.
The point of a backstory is to point out defining moments in a life to explain why a character is who they are. The DM needs to work with the players to make sure that it's not completely off the rails, but the main thing to consider is "Will this be fun for everyone, including myself?"
Hopefully that helps at all.
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