Background Challenge

Just saw this on Twitter:

D&D challenge: Give your characters a pleasant backstory. Give them a good relationship with their parents. Make their childhood idyllic. Make their need for adventure about them just trying to live their life. 

The funny thing is, some of my characters are like this.  Okay, most of them do have some sort of tragedy in their backgrounds, but who really goes twenty years to without some bad moments?  My characters are still far from the edgelords some people design.  Am I wrong?  Let me revisit some of my characters:

Dervish - Human Weapon Master, NeverWinter Nights
Raised by a single father and six brothers, she was a tomboy.  When her father tried to get her to be more ladylike, she left home.  Okay, the tweet has me there.  Guilty.

Sillia Aylomein - Human Bard, NeverWinter Nights.
Was expelled from music college, ran away from home so she wouldn't have to tell her parents.  Fine.  Guilty.

Brynwyn Elswyth - Elf Arcane Archer, NeverWinter Nights.
Left home because she blamed herself for not saving her brother from being killed by orcs.  Guilty.

Nara Cavell - Human Cleric, Tantris Campaign.
I never really wrote out a backstory for her or mentioned her parents, but it was implied that she was an orphan that was raised by the church.  So Guilty, I guess.

Voranna Elun - Eladrin Ranger, Living Forgotten Realms.
I never wrote out a background.  She had spent years living in the forest, because that's what makes her happy.  I have no reason to believe her home life was unhappy, I'm going to plead Not Guilty on this one.

Aria Thatcher - Half-Elf Bard, Scarred Lands campaign.
Okay, she never really grew close to her stepfather, because she was the product of an affair, but overall she had a happy home life.  She left home because she didn't want to end up being a farmer.  I think this is pretty close to the Background Challenge itself.  Not Guilty.

Talindra Seryth - Razorclaw Shifter Avenger, Artifact Hunters campaign.
Her birth tribe abandoned her because they saw her unusual fur color as a bad omen.  Guilty.

Kryla Bloodfang - Dragonborn Sorceror, ToEE campaign.
Left home because her parents feared magic.  Guilty.

Calla Noble - Human Knight, ToEE campaign.
The daughter of a prostitute and a con artist... you know what?  I'm just going to stop right there and plead Guilty.

Vex Corman - Half-Elf Monk, Unlikely Heroes campaign.
Raised by a monastery, with no memory of her real parents.  Guilty.

Dalia Lockwood - Human Ardent, Unlikely Heroes campaign.
Had a wonderful childhood, thanks to her latent psychic powers making everyone like her.  Not Guilty.

Flora Oakwillow - Hamadryad Seeker, Unlikely Heroes campaign.
Presumably had a wonderful childhood as one of the Fey protectors of Darkmoon Vale.  Not Guilty.

Malta Klonk - Human Engineer, Traveller campaign.
She was clumsy, causing her parents to steer her away from physical activities, but it seems like they were supportive and she didn't have any tragedies until she was an adult.  Not Guilty.

Terri Bolton - Human Mechanic, Rifts 2112 campaign.
She was closer to her father than her mother, then her dad died while she was in high school.  Guilty.

Danica Branford - Human Inventor, Gurps campaign.
No childhood mentioned in her background, which means Not Guilty.

Raz - Human Sorcerer, Dragon's Demand campaign.
I rolled her background randomly, so this one's exempt from the challenge.

Bjertha Brawlbaker - Dwarf Fighter, Shattered Star campaign.
Also rolled randomly, exempt.

Val Ravensword - Half-Orc Paladin, OAWYM campaign.
Rolled randomly, exempt.

Welp, I'm a lot guiltier than I thought.

I dunno, though.  I think some sort of tragedy is a good way to get people out of the house, rather than complacently trying to follow in their parents' footsteps.  But the tweet has a point; it's weird that so many people have similar backgrounds.

On the other hand, "adventurer" isn't supposed to be a common profession.  It takes a very specific type of person to accept such a dangerous and unpredictable career, and that sort of decision may require a specific background.  For example, someone who feels they have nothing to lose, because they already lost their family or hometown.

The first movie I ever really remember seeing as a kid was Star Wars.  The Star Wars universe shaped a large part of my childhood.  Luke Skywalker's arc is probably a huge influence on my backstories.  He was raised by farmers, but always wanted something more.  He wanted to leave to become an adventurer (actually to "join the academy", but really he was looking for any excuse to get away), but his family wouldn't let him go.  Then there was the tragedy - his surrogate parents getting killed - and he barely even mourns them in his haste to get off planet.

My favorite DM seems to dislike it when people write out long backstories.  As far as I can tell, he prefers randomly generated backgrounds and/or level 1 characters being blank slates with no predefined personality.  I'll have to actually ask him about that sometime.  Maybe he's just seen so many similar backstories at this point that he prefers the variety of randomly generated ones.

Honestly, I think a backstory should be interesting.  It gives the player a chance to write, and writing is a wonderful hobby.  As long as the player doesn’t try to shoehorn in any crazy out-of-character abilities, or claim the character has already done big things (if they’ve already slayed dragons, how come they start with 0 xp?), I think a detailed backstory is great.  It gives the character life and dimension, so they’re more than just numbers on a page.  And a good backstory will contain some degree of tragedy.

I can see why it’s tedious, though.  When a new movie or TV show comes about, a lot of players get inspired to create similar characters.  Everyone who reads R.A. Salvatore goes through a Drizzt phase, and wants to build a Drow Ranger.  When the Lord of the Rings trilogy hit theaters, a ton of people rolled up Aragorn clones.  So it makes sense that even when they aren’t trying to emulate existing characters, they still use similar tropes to make their backstories.  It can be annoying for players/DMs who’ve already passed that phase to see a bunch of newbies bring the same tired archetypes to the table. 

But get over it.  Frankly, I think this is another case where players should be allowed to play what they want to play.  If you want them to get through that phase, you have to let them play it out.

And there’s always the risk that your backstory will be the most interesting thing that happens to your character.  It’s like when you watch a movie that has some sort of introductory flashback in the beginning, and you realize, “Wow, that would make a better movie than this one.  I wish they’d filmed that story instead.”  So that’s another good reason to concentrate on family issues.  If these characters haven’t gone on any epic adventures yet, then of course the most significant events are going to be more personal and related to their friends and family.

As for myself, I’m going to make an effort to make my next character with this challenge in mind.  Loving family, great upbringing, no tragedies, I just wanna slay dragons.  Seems a little boring, but I suppose the backstory isn’t supposed to be the most exciting part of your character’s life.  It’s whatever happens next that matters.