A lot of the credit will have to go to a DM and friend of mine, Ashley! When I played a campaign with her, she implemented this idea and I loved it so much I took it and edited it for my own personal use in this campaign.

The essential idea for me is that… well, I think it’s a bit silly for player characters to start on a completely blank slate. Surely some of them have been on some adventures before, or at least given a family heirloom or something, right? And this is a way to give them that chance - but they must pay the price of writing some juicy backstory details for you! I find it especially helps players who don’t know what their backstory is or many details about it. More importantly it rewards them for doing so!

For DS&D, I wrote up a “character creator” document. This had setting information, deities, and other notes, including a section I entitled “Assembling your Character.” This section was broken into subsections to be answered or tasks to be completed:

Each subsection answered or task completed and sent back to me earned the player 1 point, for a total of 7 points (to note, all of my players earned 6 or 7 points out of 7! I love them all so much). Each point earned them a tiered, non-stacked reward, as follows:

*This magical weapon could either be selected from a list I provided or a custom-made magical item that catered to their character. Three people earned 7 points - Corbin (who asked for a specific magical item, which I approved), Shannon, and Travis (who asked for customized magic items).

More detail on each of subsections under the cut!

So let me go back a second and and talk about the questions in each subsection. Each section’s questions took up one-half to three-quarters of a page (mostly of blank space), and almost everyone gave me back each subsection as a full page of detail.

The Basics/Personality subsection included… well, the basics, so I made this section required! It asked race, class, pronouns/gender identity, sexuality, height, weight, skin colour, home world, hobbies, if they had any tattoos (and of what), and such. I also required they give some simple personality qualities: four positive traits (ex., generous with money, selfless, honest) and two negative traits (ex., stubborn, argumentative).

The Backstory subsection included questions like, “What were/are your character’s parents like? What did/do they do for a living?” “How many siblings does your character have? Do they get along?” “Describe in brief one life-changing event.” “How did your character earn the skillset of their class?”

The Interaction subsection focuses on how the character interacts with the world around them. “How does your character treat strangers? How do they treat friends?” “What does your character look for in friends? In significant others?” “How does your character handle stress? What are their fears?” “How does your character handle issues of morality?”

The Self-Reflection is about how the character views themselves. “What is your character’s opinion of themselves?” “Does your character have a motto or code of morality or philosophy?” “What does your character hope to gain in this campaign?” “What would your character say are their strengths? Their weaknesses?”

As far as the shorty story was concerned, most people sent me an in-character view of a significant event in their life. Shannon, for example, wrote me a lovely piece about the last ceremony Reydira attended before leaving her commune to join SEO - a goodbye ceremony from her fellow commune members. She described the nervousness and excitement that Reydira - a woman who had never left the commune before, a commune people rarely left in general - felt as she got up on stage to say goodbye. I didn’t add a word limit, and only asked them to write what they felt comfortable to write about.

For the playlist, some of my players made me a spotify playlist to subscribe them, while others wrote a list and sent it to me, while others sent me the occasional youtube video like, “Oh, this is SO my character!”

The collage one got a bit more questions from my players, mostly about what I meant or what I wanted. I used this as an example:

I did this one for my DM Ashley of my 3.5e binder, Amysthea (who became the basis for the goddess Setyri, a member of the pantheon of the Five Stars)!

As far as I was concerned, my players were free to make their own art or pillage it from the internet. Some of my players ended up putting together collages like this, while others hopped on pinterest and made entire pinterest boards for their character. 

Just so you know, my players had, like… 2 months to answer all this stuff! Most people turned it in within a week or two, though, haha.