This is for a guide I’m makeing. So please tell me some of the character backstories you use, how you implment them in game, peoples reactions to this, and if you can an examples of a failed attempt at doing this. I do not need the motivation behind it only the results. I would also like to know if you have played this character for more then 3 weeks in total.
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I forget I made Encino Man a former male stripper and twice have I walked up to the Corporate Liason to sign up for PMC recruitment with one of them saying, “thank you, we’ll let you know.” And the other one asking me about it and how that experience would help me moving forward.
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An important part of backstories i feel everyone forgets is your records, rarely do i see people make records for their character’s, the most obvious one being the employment records that CL can check.
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Making a character backstory can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I think most people assume that making a backstory for their character or a dossier is some super LARPey thing to do, but it’s honestly the bare minimum for RP in my opinion. You don’t need to write it down or anything, but having a basis in your head for who your character is, why they’re the way they are, what their personality is, and what makes them unique (or generic) is a prerequisite for actually having a consistent character that isn’t a self-insert.
I like to base all of my characters on being grounded and in-theme (granted, this isn’t always the best idea depending on what kind of character you want to make). Something about being a semi-normal person in a mostly shitty situation and making the best out of it is relatable. All of my characters are some variation of “I didn’t really want to do this/be here, but…” just because it makes for interesting interpersonal conflict.
My main character, Orion Blackburn, is just some washed-up second lieutenant straight out of Officer Candidate School who is, by all means, awful at his job. He’s a clueless coward who just managed to slip through the bureaucracy that is the military and end up with an actual posting. I show this through RP by making questionable tactical decisions and having my character hesitate and freak out when things go south. He’s based on a mix of Gorman from Aliens and Captain America from Generation Kill. People definitely have mixed reactions to him, but thats exactly what I’m going for. He’s not neccesarily supposed to be ‘likeable’, at least not ICly.
As for failed character backstory/quirk ideas, basically anything thats just generic ‘heavy accent foreigner’ is kinda overdone. Avoid making your character backstory just being from ‘x’ place with heavy identity of ‘x’, its not interesting and probably the worst characters I’ve ever run.
I know a lot of people throw the term ‘movie-like’ around as a joke, but its honestly a great way to go with character development. Sometimes you just can’t be subtle with a character, because people won’t really get what you’re going for. Its all theatrics, be interesting and do something different. Character quirks are a great one, there’s a reason the synth whitelist is so hellbent on them. If you want your character to have an impact on people and be memorable they have to be unique and different.
Also, some further advice for your guide, never base your character on yourself. I purposefully give my characters a complete 180 from my beliefs and looks just so they don’t become a self insert. Self insert characters are genuinely the worst thing you can make in RP.
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You know what I forgot about synths RP too. Likely cause I so rarely see them do it. For future reference I will not be including them in the guide due to my lack of expirence with them. If you wish you can share you’r synth backstory.
Before you ask why the reason is I do not have a whitelist. The second reason is that when I ever see one they always run off to play super medic. Not saying that’s a bad thing jsut the reason behind my reasoning.
I have to agree with squadlead, you don’t have to do a whole lot to have a backstory for your character. Really, as long as you know in your mind where you’re from, why you joined up, and generally what led you to this point, that’s really all you need. Organic development can work wonders too, so having one character you use a lot can help.
For example, my most fleshed out character of Avery Altmann started out as a generic “haha evil capitalist” trope. But, through many many interactions and rounds and trying out different roles, his backstory is now fleshed out from his childhood raised by fairly wealthy parents and his attempts to strike out on his own with a cooking business and a marine he dated to his eventual failure both in his career and in his love life and the subsequent return to the corporate life.
Something to remember is not to force your character’s story on people. I’ve only maybe once had Avery directly reference his past, because, well, you wouldn’t go spouting your life story unless someone or something led to it being relevant. Not to say you can’t bring it up or make it part of your gameplay. For example, he often offers to cook if given the opportunity, because it reminds him of better times and tends to be judgy about poor quality cooking. I don’t necessarily need to explain to the other characters involved why he cares about such things, they can draw their own conclusions and they’re perfectly free to ask about it if they wish.
Up to you whether your character’s personality forms their backstory or if you start out with a backstory and derive a personality from that, I’ve gone with both before. I wouldn’t recommend giving a character a personality that will drive them to be actively a bother though. Not to say they can’t be an ass, but there should be a given reason. I often get bothered by people who have their characters hate WY or the MPs to the point of threatening to murder them unprompted and then can’t give an actual reason beyond “they’re dicks”. It’s not like it’s hard to say “We had to live on the streets because my parents couldn’t pay the rent WY was charging” or “My buddy got thrown out by an MP who framed him as having a drug problem”. Avery hates the CLF but it’s less because they’re enemies with WY and more because they exist opposed to his idea of an orderly civil society. And even then, he’d readily do business with them if it’d be a profitable play.
Some roles definitely allow you to play up your character’s backstory more or less. Not too hard to figure out that, roles that are more RP centric have more opportunity to flaunt your character’s background. Sometimes this can even extend to gameplay in some extent but it’s a fine line. Jason Oddball, my usual MP character, tends to operate on a more loose cannon attitude left over from his past in corporate security, so he tends to not care as much about minor crimes but also take a much more aggressive approach to dealing with more major ones. End of the day, I’m still doing the job of an MP, it just influences how I’m likely to interact with people depending on what they actually did (or at least are suspected of doing). Something like playing as a CT who only is interested in the black market and won’t do their actual job wouldn’t cut it.
Also, I make records for all my characters, or at least I have last I checked. To be fair, I can understand why most people wouldn’t bother, I’ve only seen people’s records get brought up maybe twice. Usually you just toss some fun lil tidbit in there, or maybe a clue as to your character’s backstory and/or something that could be used against them.
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Could you give an example of a well made record. If you can give me of an example of you’rs or others recations to seeing it.
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Here let me make one up for you:
Employment Records: Joe Smithy.
2156 - Graduated from an ICC trade School with a Bachelors degree in Engineering.
2159 - Attended officer Candidate school at Camp barrett, Quantico, VA.
2159 - Completed the advanced hostile environments course at camp hannken mars.
2160 - Commissioned (i’m not sure the correct terminology) as an officer in the USCM, MOS 0302, Infantry Officer.
As for reactions from when i’ve actually done it: CL became a lot more positive towards me as my character had served as a PMC for W-Y.
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Any none CL examples.
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No because they’re going to be the only people with employment records access.
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What about the other types of records.
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almost no one ever looks at the records, it’s purely for HRP that focuses specifically on said records, rather than anything that comes up in regular gameplay
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For SS13 characters, I always think off a concept first, like: cowboy, hardass officer, Tommy Wiseau, etc. Play them abit, improvise from there, and then solidify some traits to make them consistent. The backstory comes later because 99% of the time, it’s won’t ever be brought up beyond small talks.
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Make sure to make some short-and-sweet records to compliment your backstory. It’s always nice.
Currently, I’m arr-peeing a former-member of the Space Yakuza 
, built mostly from the ‘ground-up’ (that’s to say I started off with a name, and a dream, and built the rest from RP interactions I had) who was only recently given the option between a long time in the clink, or a long time with a rifle. RP’ing underdogs is always plenty fun.
Ultimately, go with what sounds the best to you; and as long as it makes the slightest bit of sense IC, you should be fine. Actually wanting to play a character plays a huge part in how well you RP them.
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