To be honest, I've never counted words unless the narrative seemed long or short. If someone had a well-written narrative, I'd give them the extra word or two.
> > "I'd like to describe the tragic deaths of his family,
> > but if I do, I won't have room for any skills"
The 100-word narrative isn't the place for this. That's backstory. The explanation of the 100-word method specifically points out that the narrative isn't the character's backstory. Just mention that your family was killed tragically and move on. If you want to describe it further, write it up separately.
To be honest, I groan whenever a player starts in one of my games and hands me several pages of background. This means that I have to not only read it, but remember it and incorporate it into the game. This doesn't even touch on four sessions down the road when the player says "hmm... this isn't quite working out." I prefer that players come up with a very basic background (a paragraph), and build on it as play progresses. This makes retention a lot easier, ensures that the background fits with the direction that play's going, and eliminates alot of extra junk.
Mike Ryan
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