PCs and Belonging

[DungeonDevil]

Is your PC (if you are a player) a lonewolf adventurer (whether out on his own to find his fortune or having been ejected, otracised, exiled or on the lam), or is he connected to a community, tribe, clan, gens or some other social construct? Does he have a lineage? A geneology? Or perhaps he is an orphan?

One thing I have noticed is that, IME, most PCs seem to lack those indications of affiliation and kinship, which may or may not say a lot about our society and the rise of extreme individualism and isolation.

In the ancient world, in many cultures, a person was "D, the son of C, the son of B, the son of A". In other words, connected to and belonging to a proud heritage, descended from other greats who were extolled in story and song. But, in D&D, a player is just himself, essentially sui generis: an isolated, vulnerable mote in a chaotic environment full of other individual particles, and randomly colliding with other particles before being inevitably dispatched by a more energetic particle.

Or maybe I am over-thinking things and need to get back to rolling the dice.

[Punkrabbitt]

I've done it both ways, with a certain amount of DM cooperation with both. I usually play a strong character concept, so I discuss things with the GM before I launch the character. Usually elves, being over a 100 years old at time of play and all that, tend to have a deeper, richer history and may have been a part of the backstory of the campaign. I find it's pretty important to know the campaign history at least through the character's parents' generation to ground things. I think I fall into the "over-thinking" category as well.

[ThrorII]

I do both, depending on the setting.

When I run D&D, usually I run it as a large sandbox, and the PCs are wandering adventurers, so it doesn't matter.

I ran a Wild West Cinema game two years ago, where the adventure area was one part of Cochise County, Arizona Territory, circa 1882. The PCs were embedded in the town (deputy sheriff, deputy county attorney, and a drover). They built friendships with NPCs, rivalries with NPCs, and courtships with NPCs.

[Parzival]

The catch with Classic/OD&D is that PCs tend to die quickly, especially at low levels. Parentage, family, clan and that sort of thing can quickly become wasted effort. Other more recent systems are more favorable to the “epic backstory” approach— which I have done, producing rather elaborate backstories and intentions and goals for a PC. Classic is better suited to a “quick hit” at first, with backstory being added after the PC has managed to get to a more survivable level (generally 3rd or 4th).
Prior to that point the PC’s past is just assumed to exist, but not formalized. You survive, you get a backstory. You don’t, and you don’t.

[howandwhy99]

The game is designed to support adventurer roles, not something like running a smithy. If the PCs are not going out to discover the world and score points, then they are preparing to retire.

Backgrounds are very useful, but not essential. Sort of like character names or personalities. They aren't really necessary to play or are scored for, but can be determined as elements come up in game.

Starting backgrounds can predetermine some of the PC's starting relationships in the game world, but shouldn't gain them any serious advantages or disadvantages. And the backgrounds must fulfill certain assumptions. Like apprenticeship training in their class, their random starting funds, mentors, starting spells, etc.

[Finarvyn]

May 3, 2024 21:29:29 GMT -6 Parzival said:

The catch with Classic/OD&D is that PCs tend to die quickly, especially at low levels. Parentage, family, clan and that sort of thing can quickly become wasted effort.

I look at it the other way -- back in the day when I ran longer OD&D campaigns, when someone died the player would often run a son or brother or cousin. They would in essence be building a family tree through play. I'm not sure I would count any of that as wasted effort, since it usually gave purpose and/or direction to the next characters.

"Gotta go into that dungeon to rescue the family sword, lost when my brother was killed by those filthy orcs."

[Parzival]

May 4, 2024 16:08:53 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

May 3, 2024 21:29:29 GMT -6 Parzival said:

The catch with Classic/OD&D is that PCs tend to die quickly, especially at low levels. Parentage, family, clan and that sort of thing can quickly become wasted effort.

I look at it the other way -- back in the day when I ran longer OD&D campaigns, when someone died the player would often run a son or brother or cousin. They would in essence be building a family tree through play. I'm not sure I would count any of that as wasted effort, since it usually gave purpose and/or direction to the next characters.

"Gotta go into that dungeon to rescue the family sword, lost when my brother was killed by those filthy orcs."

In my very first D&D game (Holmes, B1) I ran a fighter. We entered the dungeon and immediately encountered a giant rat. It killed my fighter. So I immediately rolled up a new fighter, the first fighter’s brother, who entered and ran to catch up to the party. We advanced down the long central hallway and encountered another monster, who promptly killed the second fighter. A third fighter came running in— another brother— to fill the missing slot. Another encounter, and he died too. I decided that any more brothers would be silly, so I rolled up a cousin… and he died in the next encounter. At this point I gave up and created an elf. He survived. I never gave him any family at all.

[DungeonDevil]

May 4, 2024 17:39:35 GMT -6 Parzival said:

May 4, 2024 16:08:53 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

I look at it the other way -- back in the day when I ran longer OD&D campaigns, when someone died the player would often run a son or brother or cousin. They would in essence be building a family tree through play. I'm not sure I would count any of that as wasted effort, since it usually gave purpose and/or direction to the next characters.

"Gotta go into that dungeon to rescue the family sword, lost when my brother was killed by those filthy orcs."

In my very first D&D game (Holmes, B1) I ran a fighter. We entered the dungeon and immediately encountered a giant rat. It killed my fighter. So I immediately rolled up a new fighter, the first fighter’s brother, who entered and ran to catch up to the party. We advanced down the long central hallway and encountered another monster, who promptly killed the second fighter. A third fighter came running in— another brother— to fill the missing slot. Another encounter, and he died too. I decided that any more brothers would be silly, so I rolled up a cousin… and he died in the next encounter. At this point I gave up and created an elf. He survived. I never gave him any family at all.

Talk about a Killer DM!
"You killed my brother! And my other brother! And a third brother! And a fourth brother! And some cousin who I met once at a family reunion, but I didn't really know him that well.

PREPARE TO DIE!!!

AAAAARRRGGGHH!"


I think that, in ancient cultures, knowing one's lineage, and proclaiming that proudly to a foe would boost one's own fighting spirit, while, at times, diminishing the morale of the enemy, esp. if a PC had famed ancestors who kicked butt on the battlefield in olden times.

[Parzival]

May 4, 2024 20:06:22 GMT -6 DungeonDevil said:

May 4, 2024 17:39:35 GMT -6 Parzival said:

In my very first D&D game (Holmes, B1) I ran a fighter. We entered the dungeon and immediately encountered a giant rat. It killed my fighter. So I immediately rolled up a new fighter, the first fighter’s brother, who entered and ran to catch up to the party. We advanced down the long central hallway and encountered another monster, who promptly killed the second fighter. A third fighter came running in— another brother— to fill the missing slot. Another encounter, and he died too. I decided that any more brothers would be silly, so I rolled up a cousin… and he died in the next encounter. At this point I gave up and created an elf. He survived. I never gave him any family at all.

Talk about a Killer DM!
"You killed my brother! And my other brother! And a third brother! And a fourth brother! And some cousin who I met once at a family reunion, but I didn't really know him that well.

PREPARE TO DIE!!!

AAAAARRRGGGHH!"


I think that, in ancient cultures, knowing one's lineage, and proclaiming that proudly to a foe would boost one's own fighting spirit, while, at times, diminishing the morale of the enemy, esp. if a PC had famed ancestors who kicked butt on the battlefield in olden times.

The killer DM was me! 

[Porphyre]

May 4, 2024 20:06:22 GMT -6 DungeonDevil said:

May 4, 2024 17:39:35 GMT -6 Parzival said:

I think that, in ancient cultures, knowing one's lineage, and proclaiming that proudly to a foe would boost one's own fighting spirit, while, at times, diminishing the morale of the enemy, esp. if a PC had famed ancestors who kicked butt on the battlefield in olden times.

Once, I briefly played an online game with a DM who required "a full background" for the player characters. 
I made a dwarf whose backgroud consisted in something like : 

"And so Blomster sired Blomört; and Blomört sired Blunda, who sired Boasjö. And Boasjö sired Boholme, who killed a Troll. And Boholme sired Bolinden the Brave, who sired Bolinden the Young. And Bolinden the Young sired Bomull ... etc" 

(And yes, it was the IKEA catalog)