D&D: Five Quick and Dirty Backstories For Your Next Character
Need a new backstory for that new character? We’ve got you covered with five quick and dirty backstories that will suit any adventurer.
Backstories are one of the most important and least important parts of any character. You’ve got to have one (so you know where you came from), but load it up too much and it might never matter that you’re on the run from a mysterious organization of assassins and political intrigue, because your group decided to play space pirates on a Spelljammer instead.
This is often why coming up with a new backstory is one of the more time-consuming things to do! You’ve got to set the tone, set the stage. Or you could pick one of these quick and dirty backstories that can inform any character.
Owes Money to the Thieves’ Guild
One of the easiest and most active backstories you can play with. You owe money to someone unsavory, like the local thieves’ guild (there’s almost always a local thieves’ guild). If not, there’s bound to be a shadowy/sinister organization in your DM’s campaign world somewhere. And owing them money and/or favors is a great hook, and provides you basically all the backstory you need.
Once you start playing, you can figure out if you borrowed from them, stole from them, or what you did to get on their naughty list, so to speak. But that’s details you can discover and fill in during play, which is one of the best ways to figure out your character.
Was Part of a Cult
D&D worlds tend to be just absolutely full of cults. Demon cultists. Devil cultists. People who fall under the sway of giants, aberrations, you name it. Let your character come from one of those organizations! It’s an easy way to tie yourself directly to the world without having to rely on that coming up every session.
You may never encounter the cult you were a part of, but just having that perspective means you can lean in for some interesting roleplay, either brooding or comedic, depending on your take. Just say something like “reminds me of the blood pits” (tone is everything here, whether you remember it fondly like a Sunday picnic, or with mounting horror, like a Monday morning) and you’re golden.
Took Up the Family Sword/Axe/Staff/Whatever
Want to set yourself up with a mission that comes up frequently? Just jot down “inherited the family [insert starting equipment here].” It might be your grandmother’s sword, your father’s axe, the ashen wand from that one great uncle who comes ’round every holiday season with forboding gifts that turn out to be just like nutcrackers or something, you get the idea. But now this weapon has come to you.
And don’t go thinking this has to be a magic weapon of prophecy and import. It’s much better if it’s just a plain thing that is a part of your starting equipment–because now your story is about how the real magic was inside you all along.
Grew Up on a Farm
You grew up on a farm out in the country, or at the very least in a very very small town. In fact, not a town. A hamlet. You lived a daily, ordinary life and were always dreaming of something more—but would you ever find the meaning and purpose your heart, nay, your very soul longed for living in this one-horse town? No. You had to learn to let go and trust your instincts. And now you’re wherever your party is.
Saw Someone Cool Once
One day, you saw someone cool. Maybe they were a knight or a wizard or something. And now, you’re trying to be cool, just like they were. Simple as that. Gives you someone else out in the world, somewhere, maybe you see them. Maybe you don’t. But you can sure talk about how cool they were, and try and live up to what you think they might do.
