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Author Topic: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories  (Read 11504 times)

Bluebomber4evr

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Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« on: December 12, 2006, 07:31:55 PM »
First, let me say I'm glad you guys are creative about this stuff, it's great...but there are some issues that need to be addressed in regards to this:

#1: Your character cannot have an "uber" background. What this means is that you cannot have a backstory where your character is the son of a god, a king of some powerful kingdom, related to a "famous" NPC like Elminster, etc.

#2: No gods or demon lords or similarly powerful divine beings showing up. This just isn't possible in Ravenloft after Vecna nearly destroyed the demiplane--the Dark Powers won't allow it to happen anymore. I have heard some things that concern me like Ezra "showing up in mortal form" (totally impossible) or PC's possessed by well-known demon lords like Graz'zt or Demogorgon (unlikely due to their interests in the outer planes and their knowledge of Ravenloft as a "one-way trip"). Sorry folks, but you should check with a DM first to see if this is even possible before working it into your PC's story.

#3: Your PC cannot be the hero from another D&D video game like Icewind Dale or the NWN official campaign. It's debatable whether this stuff is even canon to begin with, and what happens when two people decide they're the main hero from Baldur's Gate? To avoid this kind of conflict, come up with an original background for your PC.

#4: Your PC cannot just be spontaneously possessed by a demon, etc. Things like this would normally happen in the course of a campaign at a DM's discretion, not be in the past of a level 1 n00b PC. You may propose a story like this to the DM team, but be prepared for possible changes to fit the canon of our setting. If it is approved, it will occur as a plot that is run on the server and not be your PC's backstory from day 1.

As long as you follow the above guidelines, we welcome and encourage you to come up with your own stories here on PotM.  :mrgreen:
« Last Edit: December 12, 2006, 07:37:07 PM by EO »

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EO

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2006, 08:22:02 PM »
Quote
#3: Your PC cannot be the hero from another D&D video game like Icewind Dale or the NWN official campaign. It's debatable whether this stuff is even canon to begin with, and what happens when two people decide they're the main hero from Baldur's Gate? To avoid this kind of conflict, come up with an original background for your PC.

I've seen quite a few characters like that on the server, based on various video game protagonists (BG1/2, NwN, ToEE, IwD, Planescape, IwD2 and probably some others I forgot). What Blue says is right, it causes a lot of conflicts when two people with the same "idea" play at the same time or just for consistency, using material that is non-cannon can cause major problems.

Heretic

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2008, 12:53:16 PM »
[Bumping]

Also remember that if your character is the scholary type, to keep in mind when he starts as a level 2 in the world, he does so with low Lore skill. This means that he shouldn't know everything there is to know about the Vistani, or the Alter-Planes and the inner workings of the Weave and/or how the Mists operate, not to mention knowledge about the darkpowers.

Try not to have characters that was a librarian at "That Place Reknown to have the most Occult books in all of Faerun". So he knows every book on the shelves.

Rule of thumb should be of not recitating High Lore things when you are freshly starting and that you keep to what you've learned in game, in Ravenloft with the books you've got on your inventory.

EO

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2009, 09:50:05 PM »
[Bump]

Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2010, 08:50:28 PM »
Bump.

Seeing this stuff again, please don't do it. A level 2 character shouldn't have some epic background where they lived on every D&D world and knows every popular NPC from Lord Soth to Azalin. Your character's story should begin while playing, not before.

Bluebomber4evr: The Justice, not you, since 2002

Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2011, 08:48:29 PM »
Another bump.

More things to avoid: claiming your outlander character knows all about Ravenloft. First and foremost, "Ravenloft" is an OOC term for the name of the setting, relating to the 1st edition adventure module that spawned the setting. In IC terms, "Ravenloft" is just the name of Strahd's castle, not the world. Natives call it "the Land of Mists" and the very few outlanders who have heard of it AND know of the planes call it "the Demiplane of Dread." This leads to my second point: there are very, VERY few people outside of the demiplane that even know it exists, even in a place like Sigil. And those handful of people that do know it exists know very little about it.

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Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2012, 12:57:21 PM »
Bumping this yet again

While we encourage creativity here, you really should use some common sense and be reasonable with your background. I've seen the following backgrounds on players that are not acceptable:

 :arrow: a Barovian cleric claiming OOC to have incarnum powers

 :arrow: a full-blooded orc from Morrowind

 :arrow: a character from a weird alternate-history U.S. called the "United City-States" run by a "President-King"

All of the above violate the following rules:

Section 2: Character Creation

...

CHARACTER APPEARANCE AND HISTORY

- Some subraces will be allowed, but bear in mind that obvious non-human races will often draw undue attention, much of it negative. Also, many "traditional" subraces, such as drow, cannot be native to the setting, while Half-Vistani cannot be from outside Ravenloft.

- The following ECL subraces require an application to play: drow, duergar, tiefling, aasimar. The application for ECL subraces can be found here: http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=4659.0

...

DEITIES

- Clerics and Paladins must have a known deity that is line with your character's origin/original campaign setting. Additionally, players with improper domains will be asked to remake their characters. An example: A cleric of Sune, the Forgotten Realms god of love, beauty and passion, should not have domains of death and war. Players with native characters to Ravenloft may choose Ravenloft deities. A list is available in our "About the World" section of this site.

Section 3: Character Story

- The mists of Ravenloft can reach into any world. You may choose any established D&D® origin for your player, including the Forgotten Realms®, Greyhawk®, Eberron®, and Dragonlance® campaign settings to name a few. Be true to their original setting in terms of names, appearance, and religious beliefs (i.e. domains and practices matching their god). You may also choose to make a character native to Ravenloft. Search our "About the World" section for information that a native character might have.

...

- When designing your character and his/her story, do not make him/her have any powers or strengths that your actual character will not have at the point he/she is created. Don't design your character's story to give him/her natural superiority to other players' characters. Let IC stay true to what actually is IC.

- If you want to play a native character, please research your character's homeland in our "About the World" section, or the appropriate Ravenloft books, if they are available to you.

- If you're making a native character, please use an appropriate name from your character's homeland in the "About the World" section. A character native to Tepest, for example, is not going to have a Japanese-sounding name.

- Characters may come from the Gothic Earth setting presented in the Ravenloft spin-off Masque of the Red Death, with one stipulation: they cannot come from Masque's "present day" of the 1890s, but instead must come from the Gothic Earth's past. The latest period in Gothic Earth's history that a PC may come from is AD 1650.

Section 5: Interacting and Roleplaying

...

IN-GAME CHAT

...

- No "Cheesing": "Cheesing" is the act of playing your character as if they have an ability or feat which the NWN engine would not otherwise allow them to have. "Cheesing" could also mean playing your character as being a race, class or otherwise that isn't applied to your character through the game. An example could be playing out a character as a vampire even if the character is not setup to be that.


If you need help making acceptable backstories, please consult the following boards:

Roleplay Resources
Ravenloft Resources
Other Settings at a Glance

Bluebomber4evr: The Justice, not you, since 2002

Bluebomber4evr

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Re: Notice on character backstories and player-driven stories
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2014, 11:53:16 AM »
Yet another necessary bump. If you want your character to be a special snowflake, EARN it with the roleplay and events that happen AFTER you create your character. Don't cheat by giving your PC a ridiculously epic background ("OOC: you notice I'm the son of a king!!!"). It's lame and doesn't impress anybody.

Bluebomber4evr: The Justice, not you, since 2002