Comments on: Use PC Backgrounds as a Roadmap for Campaign Design

By: elder_warlord

elder_warlord — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:12:19 +0000

I am planning on doing this for the third time with my next group...the last two times, only one player (both times different) gave me anything at all...needless to say, the others played a lot of these PC's story over the course of the campaigns. I've done it as a player for every game, always sure to include enemies and friends/family for the DM to include at will... It would be nice if there was a way to get players to get behind an idea like this, but...they are a fickle bunch, at times...aren't we?

By: Qi Chin

Qi Chin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:20:03 +0000

I'm actually very excited to use something like this in our upcoming D&D 4 campaign. I've already told them that they have a relatively large playing room concerning setting details, so I'm hoping that they'll chow down and go crazy. I've never actually done something like this before, so I'm hoping that the players will give me loads of awesome plot ideas I can't think of myself.

By: Martin Ralya

Martin Ralya — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:25:30 +0000

@Nojo – Nice! I’d love to hear how both tools work out for you.

By: Nojo

Nojo — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:59:06 +0000

I'm going to write mine up for my 4E psion and send to my DM. AND I'm going to use this + 3x3 for my Rogue Trader campaign that I'll start in a few months. Thanks. It's topics like this that keep me a devoted Gnome-Head.

By: Martin Ralya

Martin Ralya — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:59:46 +0000

@Scott Martin - I like 3x3x3, and I agree it's more about implicit stuff that action items. The combination would be fun. @outrider11 - I wish I was better at pulling off stuff like this! @sage - I'd never heard of Hot War before -- thanks! It sounds nifty. @orklord - If you get a chance, drop back by and let me know how it went!

By: orklord

orklord — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:39:20 +0000

Great post, Martin. I am going to ask my players to give me goals next week.

By: sage

sage — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:47:59 +0000

Hot War has this pretty much built into the system: at the beginning of play, everyone describes a photo of some event that they'd like to see happen. The interesting element there is that since you convey it as a photo, you can make that exact scene happen in an entirely different context.

By: outrider11

outrider11 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:33:12 +0000

Player backgrounds are part and parcel of my game. The players give me the basics of what they want in their background and I fill in the actual details and give it back to them. This works well for integrating stories and future plothooks. I usually start campaigns with no specific plans in mind, just a general idea but allow the players to pick their way.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:26:39 +0000

I like the idea-- I've gone partway toward it with writeups in the past, but never to extent above with the completely GM friendly "here's some cool stuff, ready to use". The 3x3x3 was a great way to shovel lots of ready to use NPCs at my GM-- combine that with your explicit action items above and you have a very collaborative world, with lots of tools easy in the GM's hand, but plenty for the GM still to do.