Recently, I was facilitating a Session Zero for our new campaign of Outgunned: World of Killers. We were making characters and the players were starting to work out their backgrounds. One of the characters has a Blood Debt (read: John Wick marker) and the player asked if they should come up with whom they owed the marker to. I paused… On the one hand, having them pick means I would have a new NPC for this fledgling campaign, but I would have to find a way to work them into a future session. On the other hand, I could have the player hold off on whom his character owes the marker to, let the campaign unfold, and pick someone at a later date, but someone woven into the fabric of the campaign. Ultimately, I told them we would come up with it later. The moment got me thinking about PC Backgrounds, so let’s talk about it. 

What Is The Purpose of a PC Background? 

The PC background has a few purposes, but its main purpose is to provide context for the character to help the player embody them at the table. We humans are a collection of our experiences, picking up habits, beliefs, and biases as we group up. When we create a character we typically pick the personality of the character we want to embody, and then use the background to create a context in which that person would come to exist. Our hero is dedicated to stopping the Dark Overlord above all else (money, fame, etc), so we give them a past where their family was killed by the Dark Overlord’s minions. 

In addition, a PC background connects the character to the campaign world, as they grew up somewhere in the world, it connects them to other PCs and NPCs, making them feel more realistic as everyone has a background. 

As with characters in other genres, we must develop that background as we create the character. We can create the background elements (events, people, etc) all at once (set), or we can define them through play (emergent). 

Set Background Elements

Set background elements are ones we define at the time of character creation. At this point, the character has not been played, and we don’t know much about the world and the campaign arcs the GM will prepare. We are building elements from some setting material and what is covered in Session Zero. 

Creating set elements does a few things: It helps to give context to the character’s personality, and character options (class, powers, feats). It can give the player a reason for why this character has entered the world of adventure.

The GM then needs to take these elements and work them into the campaign. Depending on what the GM has figured out already these elements may not get used, may be a side plot, or could drive the main plot of a story, arc, or campaign. I have done all of these in my tenure as a GM. 

Emergent Background Elements

Emergent background elements are created once play has commenced. During play, the player (and sometimes the GM) will take a moment to define something about the background of the character based on the current story. They may decide that the NPC that is about to board the ship is their ex-lover, and things ended messily. 

Emergent background elements are often created to enhance what is currently going on or about to go on in the story or arc. It takes something about to happen and creates a linkage to a part of the character’s past. 

These kinds of elements help to add depth and often drama to the current story. A new NPC engineer about to board the ship is ok, but if the new engineer is your former lover and things ended poorly, that is a much more interesting story. We will be able to both explore the story of their love affair, and also the drama/tension in the present. 

Mix, Match, Blend

 …the best character backgrounds include a bit of set elements and emergent ones. 

Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise but the best character backgrounds include a bit of set elements and emergent ones. During character creation, create some set elements for your background, so that you know your character well enough to embody them for the first few sessions. After a few sessions, your actions through play will have more of an influence on who your character is than your background. The trick here is to pick the fewest elements you need, leaving large gaps in your background.

During the campaign, you then create emergent background elements (because you left plenty of gaps), to further tie your character into the unfolding story. Use those elements to raise the stakes on scenes, make scenes more dramatic, and make things more interesting for you and everyone at the table. 

In addition, set and emergent are not binary – you can blend them. You can set a background element, but be purposely vague about the details, allowing them to emerge during play. Going back to my story, the Blood Debt is a set background element, but not defining to whom it is owed is emergent, and allows us to tie it to an NPC that we find interesting during play. 

Long Ago In a Far Away Village…

Character backgrounds are an important tool to understand a character. Can we overcome our past or are we forged by it? In TTRPGs, we get to create those pasts, and we can do it before play starts or once play gets underway. As in many things in life, a blend is often best, with some elements being set and others emerging. 

When you create characters, how much of your background do you set before play and how much do you allow to emerge once play has begun? What background elements have shaped a scene, story, or even a campaign?