Character History

VENTURE PLAYERS: I would appreciate any feelings you have on this matter too.

I know that most players have developed a concise history for their characters, however sometimes a plot comes up that might require a here-to-fore absent aspect of a character...

Perhaps an unlisted stint aboard a freighter for 3 weeks, or old relationship with someone...

I an wondering what most narrators do in these circumstances, do you discuss with the player concerned and make additions, or simply drop the surprise onto them.

Also how do most players feel? Would you prefer the advance warning, or simply enjoy these additions as an opportunity to round off a character?

Please, all opinions and discussion should prove interesting and useful...




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Dan.

"Hi, I'm Commander Troy McClure, you might remember me from other academy training holo-simulations as, Abandon Ship, the quickest way out, and I sense danger, 101 things you dont need a Betazoid to know..."

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

not very helpful answer:

It depends on the person involved. Each of my players is different, and responds differently to each situation. So, because I know my players I can pick out which ones can do what.

Hopefully helpful examples:

I, for one, love having the GM add in people that I've met in the past. I usually have pretty detailed timelines about when things happened in my character's life, but I leave the details a little fuzzy for just such a GM emergency. "You dated Dr Kaufman back when you were both at ASDB."

Another of my players always plays loner characters, detailing NPCs pretty well, but he leaves the timing of events fuzzy. This would be a good person to add a couple week stint on a freighter to his background.

One of my former players wrote everything down in excrutiating detail, dates, times, people, places, everything. She did this to "Know where the trouble in her background will come from." Fortunately, I was well involved in it's creation, so I got to put in what I liked, but it's nearly impossible to shoehorn anything else in the background.

My wife makes characters with detailed backgrounds, but can and will ret-conn anything necessary in the background, if it doesn't negate anything she feels she needs.

And I'm not alone when I say that I've had players that don't want to make any more than bare bones background. Some of these are lazy, but others like having the freedom to have this sort of stuff added into the character without having to justify a history re-write.

Hope this helps.

Alex

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Heard at an actual performance review: "Your raise will be effective when you are."

Quote:

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Originally posted by AslanC:
This is why I loved the Background Rating in Prime Directive. A built in mechanin desinged that one player may have a connection to someone or something in this adventure. It really can add to the game if not over used. http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif

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+

Well here you go. Please explain further, I for pone have never even Seen prime Directive... So heres an opportunity to explain foir people like me...


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Dan.

"Hi, I'm Commander Troy McClure, you might remember me from other academy training holo-simulations as, Abandon Ship, the quickest way out, and I sense danger, 101 things you dont need a Betazoid to know..."

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

Dan,

I can see this happening if a character ends up "unemployed" for whatever reason, or is between tours.

What happens to them between tours? Could make for some interesting side adventures. Player & character should work together to iron out some ideas on paper at least.

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Impossibilities are merely things which we have not yet learned. — Charles W. Chesnutt

The players in my campaign are prety good about leaving openings for backstories. I usually discuss something about the idea I want to use with them, but rarely give them the whole story.

Often, I do a flashback sequence to show them what happened as well.

I too have to gow ith Alex, it depends on the individual.

This is why I loved the Background Rating in Prime Directive. A built in mechanin desinged that one player may have a connection to someone or something in this adventure. It really can add to the game if not over used. http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif

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Aslan Collas
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RPG_Trek; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rpg-trek
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Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

Or you could mess with established facts - just because a character thought something went down a particular way, doesn't mean he/she didn't get the wrong end of the stick.

As an extreme example, my Shadowrun character had written in his background that his parents were killed by anti-metahuman terrorists. Imagine his surprise when his father shows up sixteen years later, scarred from the petrol bomb and leading a vicious vigilante group.

This can be a touchy subject in almost any game and the answer rests in large part on the player/narrator relationship. I've gamed with people who I could "trust" my characters with and those I'd want prior consultation with before I tld them no.

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

* Puts GM Hat on *

As a GM, I like to work with a player when developing their character's hitory. I like to have my players give me copies of their character histories so that I can see what they've done, and work out any loopholes that I can exploit. I offer suggestions if they get stuck for an idea or reason (after first working out how I can use it to my advantage...!). If I can see a point in the character history I think I can use, I ask the player to develop it a little more to give me some more info to draw upon - or else I just use it as it.

* Removes GM Hat, puts Player Hat on *

As a player, I try to tie up all loose ends in my character history so that precisely the above does not happen to me. However, if a GM has nasty plot twists in mind for my character, I would rather be consulted first - throwing spanners in my character development can ruin a character for me (of course, precise detail is not required - a simple "can I try x with your character?" is often good enough to tell me "I want to do something off-beat to your character, do you mind?" without blowing the fun of finding out what it is).

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"...and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes, and Who is this God Person Anyway?"
- The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (dec.)

I can definitively say...
it depends http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif Seriously, if we're talking about a contact or someone the character is supposed to have met, then I'll throw it in without warning, or, at least, pull the player aside and tell him what he needs to know. But I also believe that a player's character belongs to him. If I want to make a major addition to a player's history or add a major event he previously didn't know about, I like to clear it with the player first, preferably in private. If a player was an orphan, I'm less likely to have the father reappear after however many years. On the other hand, I have no qualms about telling a player that he had a brief romantic liasion with Capt. Whoever back in the Academy (who is now on the viewscreen before him).

In a TNG game my character is Lt. Cmder. Santiago. I developed some of his history as I went along.

A young girl aboard ship had an interest in science, to the point of wanting to go on away missions and spending time in the science lab. When a character asked where her parents were I made a snap decision and Santiago became her father.

Another snap decision occured when talking with the ships counselor. Santiago's wife was another science officer who died on an away mission.

Another interesting point is his first name has never been mentioned.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden:
Well here you go. Please explain further, I for pone have never even Seen prime Directive... So heres an opportunity to explain foir people like me...

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Each Character had a number in the Background Rating...say 3 or 4. In each adventure there would be NPCs with Background information. PLayers would roll and compare their result VS...for example.

Planetary Security Chief Alison Hanson

partial success (not the term, but works for here) You knew her at the Academy (or another tour) and are neutral to each other.

Moderate Success : You knew her at the Academy (or another tour) and you were friends

Compltete Success: You knew her at the Academy (or another tour) and you are best friends who have lost touch with each other.

Failure: You never met her

Critical Failure (Botch) : You were rivals (or maybe lovers) and you aren't too fond of each other.

Now these are really lame examples as I am at work and making them up off the top of my head. But others could give you new skills, etc...actually an enjoyable system http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/smile.gif



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Captain Zymmer
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Visit Star Trek:Strange New Worlds at;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas
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As many have said before me, it does all depend on a number of factors. I personally like detail both as a player and GM.

I make it a habit to work out character history with each of my players or with my GM if I am playing. However, something else I would note when creating character histories is the need for a campaign history.

If my campaign diverges from canon, I list the major points and have them handy during creation. If certain unique events have occurred that affect known legends, I have a list of these as well.

When developing character histories, either as a GM or player, I have it listed where and under what circumstances that character may have met a major NPC in my campaign.

I do agree that a character is the player's and while certain events in the course of an adventure may adversely affect the character and to some degree that is the risk a player takes when joining a game I will run a major change or life-altering event in the character's past by the player first.

I have seen it happen where something major was abruptly thrown in and it so altered the player's concept of his character that the character was soon retired as the player could not regain a feel for his character. I have had that happen to me and after two years of trying to find the feel for the character again, I had to just shelve him as I had lost all contact with the image and direction I had for that character.

Minor things like you knew X back during Y is easy enough to throw in and I usually hand the player a note when the character is first introduced...I like to refer to these notes as Memory Recalls.

Not only knowing your players is essential to any change in the offing, knowing their characters and what hopes and dreams they have to see them grow is necessary for the best enjoyment of a fulfilling campaign in my opinion.

And that is easy enough to learn by listening to your players talk, see what interests the characters express during play and talking directly to their players. Above all, make certain that you have a clear concept of how the player sees the character.

One campaign I was in that was short lived for me as a player had my character returning to space exploration after a prolonged series of tours away from it and she was looking forward to serving aboard the starship and experiencing new things while performing her duties as department head. Unfortunately, she had a disagreement with her XO shortly after beginning the tour and because she believed the XO was irresponsible, she began to take on more and more leadership roles to protect the other personnel. Not because she had a desire to lead but because she felt it her duty to protect those around her...she did not like it, did not want it, but she did it...all the while it was clear all she wanted was to run her department and get back into exploring deep space..discovering and tinkering with new technologies.

Sometime later, the GM abandoned the game..wanting to start a new one and he wanted to keep my character...I had thought he understood her concept but he offered to "age" her a couple years and make her XO of a starbase...not at all the concept I had for that character or for her future in Starfleet.

So the long and the short of it is, as much as you think you know your players and their characters, it never hurts to talk to them and make that discussion an ongoing process.

Regards,
CKV.

One of the things about my primary Trek Game, The Venture is that its a PBEM, so chatting with players is a little more difficult, although several of us are on ICQ, and I am always open to suggestion.

As an example of the lines I had been thinking...

The original counselor had a history that had him serving along the Romulan Neutral Zone, with a nice happy, service history, and several instances of personnal heroism...

As a GM I saw potential for plot in there, with one occassion to be replaced with some Romulan Brainwashing for a later plot...

This would (In my mind) have expanded the character, and focused the action on him, albeit with a set of guidelines for the direction of the 'controlled actions'...

And the post-event roleplaying could have been great with a 'Who counsels the councelor' theme...

All of which came about through a suspiciously perfect history and the planned direction of one of my campaigns aspects...

But I felt that alot of this would have been ruined with prior warning, and the player showed no interest in discussion with me when I tried, in fact the player seemed to drop out shortly after being mailed with a
note;

"I have some plans for your PC, is this OK?"

Does anyone think that such a plot would have been out of line or over the top?

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DanG.

"Hi, I'm Commander Troy McClure, you might remember me from other academy training holo-simulations as, Abandon Ship, the quickest way out, and I sense danger, 101 things you dont need a Betazoid to know..."

http://www.theventure.freeserve.co.uk

Dan and I (hi, Dan!) have discussed the issue of altering or enhancing PC's histories over ICQ privately. (and so everyone here knows, I am basically for it, dependent on circumstances. There are some things in my characters' pasts that are designed to allow GMs some lee-way. If there is something I don't want altered, I consider it my duty to be as specific as possible.)

Until now, however, I never knew the specific circumstances that Dan held in question.

Quote:

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Dan asked:
Does anyone think that such a plot would have been out of line or over the top?

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No, *I* don't; The character didn't consciously choose the path, nor did he have any direct recollection of it. Events like these, just as in real life, are beyond our control, and therefore, for me, at least, fair game.

Of course, it helps to know your player in order to guage how he or she may react to it; if there were any question of tantrums being thrown, or games being walked away from, I would approach the player, just as you did, and ask if he/she is open to the idea of experiencing an event that may alter their original conception of the character.

Something of that nature, Dan, would certainly be a paradigm shift fot the character if not the player. In my opinion it makes for interesting story-telling; and you were in no way out-of-line.

-R

Hi Dan...

While a PBEM does make it more difficult, it is not impossible. ICQ and other programs like it are a wonderful tool that way.

But before ICQ, when I ran PBEMs, I used a little questionairre to get insight and a discussion going on a character. The nature of most PBEMs are slow moving so if you know you want to do X in the next adventure, you can discuss it during the current adventure.

Throwing in twists like that are great with the right players. I had one scenario in my Intrepid game where I approached the player privately and explained what I wanted to try with his character being brain-washed. He agreed and role-played out the entire thing. It was an awesome set of sessions, especially since he almost succeeded before another character caught on and stopped him.

Unfortunately, it does come back to knowing your players and their designs for their characters. When going to throw in a twist, a GM should ask will this permanently alter the character's conception or life path in some way..if so it should probably be discussed. If it is temporary, then you can probably get away without discussing it and have a good surprise for everyone.

I agree that sometimes events should be beyond a character's control and as players we accept that risk. The name of the game is fun and if the event will ruin that character for that player then it should be reconsidered...especially in the nature of a PBEM as the hardest thing, I have ever found is dealing with disappearing players right in the middle of their character's spotlight.

Regards,
CKV.

Dan,

Most of my players would have loved that plot. Especially if the instances of Heroism came before the Brainwashing.

It gives the character focus for the game. It allows for cool aftermath. It allows for later skill spending, "Hey, Councellor, where'd you learn to hack a Tal Shiar computer?"

And heck, you're not adding a whole bunch of unnecessary crap to the backstory of a character. One event that the character doesn't know about.

The only player I've ever had that would turn down hated to be in the limelight.

I'd have jumped at it, if offered. And I would have loved seeing it happen to me, "What do you mean, I'm the spy?"

So, no, I don't think you're being too harsh. It sounds like fun.

Alex

I've been playing my character for almost a year now, Lt.Cmdr.Khrys Antos. I started as a cadet and worked my way up being promoted and given rewards on many occassions. Each time the narrator told me the specifics of what I had to write down in my history, its well over a page now, single spaced.
Example:"My character had a wife, she was killed by Dominions during the war. Had a daughter which he raised alone. Most of his old academy friends(other PC's), are deceased. All the dates are written and so are the names.
During his third tour of duty, while on Q'onos, he fell in love with Beva(narrator's idea). Although, later during a coup Antos was framed for the murder of the Chancellor of the Empire when in reality it was Beva.
All hell broke loose and the Khitomer accords are again broken, Antos escapes from Q'onos(almost died). Captured by Beva so they can be together. Turns the tables on her and hands her over to Fed authorities."
All these plot lines were introduced on to my character without me having much say in it. The only piece of my history which is hands off is the daughter part. The narrator provided me with the opportunity to create such a character. Our group prefers to actually roleplay from as early as the academy part so histories are usually created as we go along.
A complex character history should not be created if their is a high PC character turnover rate.
It really depends on the narrator, some prefer concise information to work with, while others only want basic ideas with which they can mold plots.

I find it a lot easier to add in people and minor relationship because no one that I know lists everyone one their character ever met, dated, and possibly(inadvertently or otherwise) made mad throughout their entire
lives. Another fun thing if your characters are well known, you could have someone who believes they know the character attemp to convince the character that they do know them.

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"What do you mean We are in the Neutral Zone? This is BAD!!" -Captain Jordan Macallister, USS Daytona