[All4BigGuns]

History gives context and depth to what happens in the game. It should never be homework, but having a character history makes the game more fun for everyone involved.

If it's to the point where you are tempted to try and force them to do it, then just take that as a sign that it does not make the game more fun for them.

[Crunch]

Fortunately I never have to force anything. Most of my players love having a GM who will listen to their back stories and work it into the game.

[All4BigGuns]

Fortunately I never have to force anything. Most of my players love having a GM who will listen to their back stories and work it into the game.

That's all well and good for you right now, but remember it if you do get someone coming in that doesn't enjoy that kind of stuff.

[Shade]

Most of my players love having a GM who will listen to their back stories and work it into the game.

I don't even go so far as 20 question(although most of my players flesh stuff out pretty well) but I have a strong distaste for something like, say
A career criminal mastermind(aka, shadowrunner) with no explanation whatsoever as to why he is what he is or why he's doing it. Why he would have, say, a half million 'yen in his body yet still be after money. Just a real basic question: Why is this character in this profession? That usually gives background adverse and newbies enough to work with.

[All4BigGuns]

Most of my players love having a GM who will listen to their back stories and work it into the game.

I don't even go so far as 20 question(although most of my players flesh stuff out pretty well) but I have a strong distaste for something like, say
A career criminal mastermind(aka, shadowrunner) with no explanation whatsoever as to why he is what he is or why he's doing it. Why he would have, say, a half million 'yen in his body yet still be after money. Just a real basic question: Why is this character in this profession? That usually gives background adverse and newbies enough to work with.

As long as you don't go trying to force them if they say "I don't really care why he's doing this, it doesn't matter to me." That is a perfectly acceptable response.

[RHat]

Background is not important at all.

This is the opposite of true in any game I run (and the vast majority of games I've played).  The more you give me in the background, the more I have to work with as a GM, which helps me tailor the game to the characters I have there.  It helps a LOT, too, if I know what the characters want.  The return, though, is that this grants the players more control over the sort of story that they'll be playing, and the character development be able to have - and most players I've gamed with like that a great deal.

[Shade]

As long as you don't go trying to force them if they say "I don't really care why he's doing this, it doesn't matter to me." That is a perfectly acceptable response.

Wouldn't be at my table. Don't think my other players would appreciate it either. this is a ROLE playing game, ya know. I know some groups are all about ROLL playing but we're not those guys. Those guys are somewhere else. Just the bare minimum to get inside the head of a career criminal, what makes them tick, etc.

[GiraffeShaman]

Why have names for player characters? Seriously, what is the point? Why not call them Shadowrunner 1, 2, and 3? I consider that about equal to not having a really basic background story. All I'm talking about is a couple of simple lines. "I'm from the Barrens and I used to steal cars while in a minor gang." "I'm former UCAS army and fought in the Desert Wars." I literally made those two backgrounds up in 5 seconds a piece, and typed them in 10 seconds or less.

I rarely run into a player not willing to do this, and it was players that have done this before just being lazy in that particular game. At which point I questioned them. I've never once ran into a person belligerent enough to not answer a few simple questions. And if I did, I doubt I'd continue playing with them. It just seems like someone refusing such a simple ten second request is just a belligerent person and probaly going to be a pain in  the ass to deal with on a regular basis.

Deeper backgrounds are excellent, but it's cake and I don't require it. It just lets me build more tailored and customized games for players. I pretty much set the upper limit at 5 pages, and I believe I'm more tolerant than most GMs, since I am a heavy reader. It's the Internet age and many just won't even read a page of background.

I've had some great characters start from very vague concepts as well. But some have started as more detailed backgrounds. Both methods can work. But I think it makes it difficult to go anywhere with a role when you start a game with absolutely have zero to go on. Your character wasn't hatched in the bar where the Johnson is.

Laslty,  my games are pretty violent. Enforcing a very barebones background is a completely separate thing from if a game is Pink Mohawk or whatever. To me, it's like a name and physical description. If I don't know vagely what you look like, your name, and where you're from, you're just a set of numbers. Would it be unfair of me to ask someone if their character is thin, fat, or muscular?

[All4BigGuns]

As long as you don't go trying to force them if they say "I don't really care why he's doing this, it doesn't matter to me." That is a perfectly acceptable response.

Wouldn't be at my table. Don't think my other players would appreciate it either. this is a ROLE playing game, ya know. I know some groups are all about ROLL playing but we're not those guys. Those guys are somewhere else. Just the bare minimum to get inside the head of a career criminal, what makes them tick, etc.

Like I said, the really important stuff is what transpires in game. Whatever came before just doesn't really matter.

I used to occasionally put together background stories and whatnot (actually had an English professor try to get me to publish a story in a magazine once), but I just can't do it any more. Part of it is because there used to be a GM in the group that would just look at a background and say "Oh, that's nice", and that was the end of it. The rest is that I just don't see it as important enough to bother with anymore--at least compared to what happens after play starts--and that I don't really want part of the game tailored to my character anymore; I pretty much try to actively dodge the "spotlight".

[Shade]

Like I said, the really important stuff is what transpires in game. Whatever came before just doesn't really matter.

Having some basic premise of a character is necessary unless that character is nothing but 'shadowrunner 1' as it was so well put. I really have no interest in running a game with 'shadowrunner 1', 'shadowrunner 2', etc. Character motivations and whatnot are the meat of the game, not blowing stuff up. If I wanna blow stuff up, I'll fire up my computer and play video games. I'm not asking for depth. In fact, I've had people decide to totally rearrange their backstory after a session or two of getting a feel for the character. But not being to explain even why the character is there to start with is either laziness or lack of interest. Either of those traits will drag down the game for myself and the other players as well. That person shouldn't have even bothered showing up.

[All4BigGuns]

But not being to explain even why the character is there to start with is either laziness or lack of interest.

Or they're there to hang out, sling some dice and go with the flow of whatever is centering on the other characters. Not everyone gives a rat's tush about anything else. If it "drags down the game" for you for someone to be like that, you might want to lighten up and not take it so seriously.

[GiraffeShaman]

Or they're there to hang out, sling some dice and go with the flow of whatever is centering on the other characters. Not everyone gives a rat's tush about anything else. If it "drags down the game" for you for someone to be like that, you might want to lighten up and not take it so seriously.

If I ask a player his character's hair color and he refuses to answer me, am I being a dick by pressing the point? To me it's pretty much the same thing as me asking them if their character is from the Barrens. Refusing to answer either of these questions seems belligerent to me, bordering on hostile. because it literally takes 3 seconds and a second of thought time. I'm not even demanding 2 sentences of background at this point.  It's a diplomatic way of dealing with people that don't to waste time on backgrounds and it hasn't failed me yet.

[All4BigGuns]

Or they're there to hang out, sling some dice and go with the flow of whatever is centering on the other characters. Not everyone gives a rat's tush about anything else. If it "drags down the game" for you for someone to be like that, you might want to lighten up and not take it so seriously.

If I ask a player his character's hair color and he refuses to answer me, am I being a dick by pressing the point? To me it's pretty much the same thing as me asking them if their character is from the Barrens. Refusing to answer either of these questions seems belligerent to me, bordering on hostile. because it literally takes 3 seconds and a second of thought time. I'm not even demanding 2 sentences of background at this point.  It's a diplomatic way of dealing with people that don't to waste time on backgrounds and it hasn't failed me yet.

Description, I can see asking about, but anything else I just think that if they don't give anything that they don't want anything "tailored" to them. It's a game, and getting all bothered by someone not giving background is just taking things way too seriously.

[GiraffeShaman]

Description, I can see asking about, but anything else I just think that if they don't give anything that they don't want anything "tailored" to them. It's a game, and getting all bothered by someone not giving background is just taking things way too seriously.

What I'm "getting bothered" by isn't that they aren't giving me background. What I'm bothered about with this fictional scenario (Fictional because it hasn't happened to me yet) is the player refusing to answer simple questions. I'm doing half the work for them by asking these questions, and I even give suggestions.

Background is just another dimension that helps make a character a living, breathing entity. I'm not asking these questions because I get off on it. It's part of my job as I see it to help bring out vague character concepts into something more.

It just seems belligerent of a player to refuse to grant the GM 30 seconds of their precious time. Not having the ability to create a background isn't an excuse, since I'm  providing examples and it's damn easy. I understand some people don't like this stuff, which is why I make it very easy and quick. It's for the benefit of the entire game, including me, the GM. Remember, GMs like to be entertained too, it's a 2 way game.

[Black]

Why have names for player characters? Seriously, what is the point? Why not call them Shadowrunner 1, 2, and 3?

Actually, one of my players recently did create a character called 'Mook'.  He was a rebound character though, after the last one died...  and he did begin developing personality, until he was killed (but the player kinda let it happen, which was sad  )