This is extremely insightful and it makes sense to me intuitively. I'm probably thinking more like a GM than a player.
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:28 PM, David Dunham<david_at_...> wrote:
> > One way to pare things down is to delete backstory from your
> > character writeup. I know some people find it helpful, but for the
> > writeup, use the "show, don't tell" principle. Is "Lyonnaise Mother"
> > something that could be used in game? Potentially (Ko has relatives
> > there), so include it. Is "Mother was captured in Greek Isles?" I
> > can't easily see how -- you'd have to tell people about it rather
> > than acting on it. So don't include that.
>
> A few years back, someone on RPGnet started a thread about
> backstory's role in chargen. His argument was that backstory can
> easily become a hindrance to play because it encourages the player to
> create a character with a completed story arc. Things such as lots
> of detail or important events that have already occurred, he argued,
> have the paradoxical effect of making a character harder to play
> because all the cool stuff has already happened.
>
> Now, IMO, there's a grain of truth in that. A backstory can be
> useful if it helps people get a feel about what the character is
> like, and it sets up something to be resolved in play (an issue,
> conflict, goal, whatever). Either backstory is directly facilitating
> play, or it's causing problems for play. I look back at some of the
> 10+ page histories I wrote up for my characters back in college, and
> what I see is the first goal (getting a feel) being achieved at the
> expense of the second one (facilitating play). The result were
> characters that were always cooler when they were inert, before play
> started. One thing that helps avoid this is not writing it in
> isolation. The more it is written with the GM & players in mind,
> possibly with their input, the better off it will be.
>
> What I like about the 100-word method is it enforces parsimony, which
> encourages one not to write a backstory that is sprawling or
> complete. You can put elements of a backstory in if you want ("I
> seek revenge on the six-fingered man who killed my father 10 years
> ago"), but you don't have the room to construct a narrative. It
> really forces one to zero in on what their character is really
> about. The 100-word description is basically "PC concentrate," kinda
> like orange juice concentrate (only I think it probably involves soda
> instead of water being added).
>
> With some practice, I find it is fun writing 100-word descriptions.
> And the editing process is, strangely, part of the fun. It is
> decidedly NOT a backstory, though for many gamers, I suspect it can
> serve the same function.
>