Character Development: Quick and Dirty Backgrounds

Ever needed to sketch out a replacement player character or a major NPC when time is short?  Want to add a little depth to that cult leader or the deputy mayor?  Sometimes you just don’t have the time to dedicate to preparing a full, in-depth background — or you want to leave some room for a character’s background to grow and change as the game requires.  Maybe you’re starting a new campaign, and you want something that will break the ice without tying the characters down with too many specifics before they all know each other.

By asking a handful of questions, you can generate a usable character, with a skeletal background, within 15 minutes.

Concept

Orphan: the 'trite and true' RPG character background.

Start by making a list of 5 concept elements for the character.  Along with actual background, this can include personality traits, appearance, or anything else that helps you envision the character.  For example, the superhero known as Excel:

1. Excel has an army background.  He got his powers when he was chosen for a “special training” program that included a new wonder drug among his “vitamins.”
2. Excel’s power is adaptive evolution:  his mind and body change to make him slightly superior in most respects to anyone nearby.  In other words, anything you can do, he can do better.  His default level is top-end human ability.
3. Excel’s code name is derived from the experiment number:  He was XL-28.  His real name is Eric Hamill.  He is a native of Bay City.
4. As a soldier, Hamill fought in Afghanistan.  He received commendations for valor and was wounded in action.  He was approached to take part in the XL program while recuperating.
5. While technically he still falls under Army command, he is “on loan” to the Bay City Police Department.  He has received police training and serves on a S.W.O.R.D. team (a S.W.A.T.-style team dedicated to response to superhuman incidents).

Goals

Choose at least two goals for the character.  One of these can be something you’d like to see the character accomplish during the game, but at least one should be an in-character goal.

1. Hamill’s old neighborhood in Bay City has fallen on hard times.  He wants to clean it up and restore what’s now a slum to something closer to the neighborhood he remembers.
2. Hamill hasn’t told anyone yet, but lately he’s begun to feel weak following fights against supervillains.  He worries that the process that allows his body to adapt is placing unusual stresses on it, and that he’s essentially “wearing out.”  He wants to find out the cause of the weakness and correct it, but he’d like to keep it as much of a secret as possible.

Contacts

Briefly describe three people who are important to the character.  At least one of these should be friendly, and at least one should be antagonistic toward the character.

1. Dr. Jeff Madison is the scientist who developed the drug that game Excel his powers.  He’s an energetic, cheerful, elderly gentleman with a keen interest in Eric’s well-being.  Eric trusts him enough to have confided in him about the strange sense of weakness, but Dr. Madison is unaware of the extent to which it’s becoming a problem for Eric.
2. Linda Falkner is Eric’s fiancee.  She’s unaware of his secret identity as a superhero and believes he is serving as a consultant to the Bay City PD.  Linda is the PR head at a local department store.
3. Clobber is a not-particularly-bright supervillain, the first one Eric ever encountered.  He’s proud of his prodigious strength and fighting skills… undefeated, until Excel beat him blow-for-blow.  Ever since, the brutish villain has nursed a grudge against Excel, and he longs to avenge his defeat and prove once and for all who’s really the strongest.  He eagerly joins forces as hired muscle for other villains who think they might have to confront the hero, and more than once, Eric has had to allow such a villain to escape in order to deal with Clobber’s resulting rampage before it can endanger innocents.

Twists

Think of three secrets or surprises involving the character.  These could be in-character secrets that he’s keeping, things he’s unaware of that are being kept from him, or anything that would add a twist to the game if it were to come out.

1. As noted earlier, Eric is keeping his bouts of weakness a secret from most.
2. The Army’s XL program is touted as a success, but Excel is the only true hero to emerge from the process.  Many of the other soldiers showed modest or no gains in physical attributes.  Several died in the process, a fact the Army is concealing even from the program participants.  If Eric were to discover this, it might shake his faith.
3. Eric feels he’s doing a lot of good for Bay City and is needed there, so he doesn’t complain… but he wishes he were back among his fellow soldiers.  He feels that his powers could make a big difference in the war, so he’s somewhat conflicted.  Given a quiet enough period in the city, he’ll probably muster up the nerve to ask to be reassigned to combat.

These lists can easily fit on an index card or the back of a character sheet, and they provide enough information to play the character in-depth without needing a fully fleshed-out background.  Important traits, NPCs, and potential plot hooks are all covered.  After a couple of sessions, you’ll find that the character’s background grows organically, as you fill in detail and add events on the fly.  How did Eric Hamill come to be wounded in combat?  Something in the play session might suggest that.  For instance, if Excel is creeping around in a warehouse the players suspect is part of a drug-smuggling operation, he might remark upon not liking the situation because “This is just like going house-to-house in Afghanistan…”

Sometimes a full background in advance is the way to go, but a streamlined system like this one comes in handy for those circumstances when you don’t have time to create a full background, or don’t desire to for another reason.

Related posts:

1. Character Development: Hot Potato
2. Character Development: Flashbacks
3. The Making of a Villain
4. What Religion Means