I had a conversation recently about Character Backstory. This particular GM was rewarding his players per page of backstory submitted to him. I used to do the same thing, but when he mentioned he was doing this I felt bile in my throat. I don’t know when this happened but sometime recently I started loathing fully written backstories. I’m sure I’ve been this way for a while now but suddenly something triggers a very negative reaction from me. I’ve stopped asking for backstories from my players a long time ago, but recently I did something that I grew very fond of very quickly. Instead of asking for a backstory, I had the players fill out a Survey about their characters. There is an entire process to this that I’ll explain after the break.

The Character Survey is a unique set of questions that help flesh out the general concept and feel of a character. The first step is asking the players for notes about their characters before you draft up the questions. Have them give you a few, brief, concepts and ideas they have for their characters. Get an idea of what the character is about, what’s important for the player to include, and the general idea\concept\feel\whatever of the character. Once you feel you have a firm grasp on what kind of character the player is trying to play then you draft up a list of questions for them.

I suggest starting with a few standard questions that everyone gets asked. Depending on how many questions you’re asking in total it could be two, four, or eight standard questions that everyone gets. What is your name? What do you look like? How do you feel about your Country? All those are good standards. Remember to encourage your players to elaborate. These aren’t fill in the blank questions, their essay. Asking your name also implies I want to know about your name. Do you have nick names? Are you named after anyone? Do you like your name? These sub-questions might need to be spelled out for some groups.

With the standard questions out-of-the-way the real fun starts for you, the GM. You get to imply things in these questions. For example, if you ask: “Why have you been visiting Doctor Marshall, a renowned psychiatrist, for six months now?” you have implied that the character has some sort of mental issue they need to see a psychiatrist regularly for.  Of course, it couple imply a romantic relationship or maybe a new friend. Clever players can twist simple questions into something more interesting. That is the fun part for the players. Of course your implications can be more obvious like asking: “How do you hide your scar?” This directly implies the character has a scar, no getting around it. And answer of “I don’t have a scar.” just isn’t acceptable, if that was the case then why was the question asked in the first place? Make sure to strike a fine balance between writing the character for the player and giving them room to create.

I also think it’s a good idea to write a unique connecting question for everyone. Is there a particular place that all the characters hang out in? Do they all live in the same neighborhood? Maybe they all see the same psychiatrist? Using the example of Doctor Marshall from above you could ask another player: “You recently appeared on a television program debating what topic with renowned psychiatrist, Doctor Marshall?” Now there are two characters that are familiar with this Doctor Marshall character and a bridge can be further build between the two. This lets the GM get some control over how the party is formed while still leaving the details up to the players. If your players all meet in a tavern then you might ask one, “How is it that you know the bartender of said tavern?” another character might be asked, “Why did your father sell his tavern to the bartender of said tavern?” and a third is asked, “Why do you visit said tavern every Tuesday night?” All three characters are now connected via the tavern, but in very different ways.

I enjoy making my players squirm and I always saved the best question for last. I made the last question in all my surveys to be something that looked, at least initially, very negative. Of course, I wanted to give the players a bit of wiggle room too so it wasn’t just like, “Why do you rape puppies?” Some of the better questions I asked were: “When your girlfriend told you she was pregnant you did something drastic to get rid of that burden, what did you do?” – “How did you justify eating human flesh to the police?” – “How did your sister die and why didn’t you help her?” – “You raped that girl but only you and her know it. Why haven’t either of you told anyone?” – “Why haven’t you told anyone that you have terminal cancer?”

If you look closely, I implied an abortion, created a rapist and a cannibal, made someone watch their sister die, and gave someone cancer. Some of my players squirmed around the questions, others tackled them head on, and some came up with some very clever rational. Our cannibal wasn’t aware, he ate at a restaurant that a local gang was using to dispose of bodies. The guy with a pregnant girlfriend faked his own death and now watches from the shadows, regretting leaving his family. Our cancer patient wrote it off as pride and our rapist hasn’t gotten back to me on that question yet. We gave him a few suggestions but we’ll see what direction he takes it. The easy way out is to say you were both young and it, technically, qualified as statutory rape.

This technique doesn’t preclude writing a backstory, but I’ve found it tells me enough as a GM to write a game for everyone. It also lets me make suggestions and obstacles for the characters right off the bat. While not everyone will like or be comfortable with this approach I find it to be very useful. It answers important questions about the character but doesn’t close any doors. It lets the players come up with more details at the table about their character’s past and doesn’t force everything to be pre-determined. Of course, my issues with backstory is a different article.