Creating a compelling D&D character backstory can be one of the most rewarding parts of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). However, as many game masters (GMs) know, sometimes character backstories don’t quite fit the world or the narrative you’re trying to build. This can lead to frustration, where even the most enthusiastic GM feels like their carefully crafted world isn’t gelling with their players’ epic (and sometimes over-the-top) character histories.
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The Worldbuilding Tool You Need
Worldbuilding is a passion for many GMs, whether for D&D, Pathfinder, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Shadowdark, or other RPGs. The act of imagining and creating a fictional world from scratch is truly exciting. But what happens when you have a fully fleshed-out world and need a creative catalyst to connect your player characters to it and the story?
What’s needed is a powerful brainstorming tool that offers hundreds of character options, such as archetypes, drives, plot hooks, character arcs, factions, allies, magic items, enemies, locations, and monsters. Even better, this tool should simplify choosing options from a massive list and work with any game system. This might sound like a dream, but it’s now a reality.
Ryan Doyle over at The Verdigris Table has created an exceptional resource: The Game Masters Compendium of Explosive Creation. This book is available now on DriveThruRPG.
How Does It Work?
This compendium truly harnesses the “oracular, arcane energies of inspiration” with a fistful of dice. It’s a vast collection of random tables designed specifically for character development. Each option is specific enough to provide a solid starting point but open-ended enough to allow you to build your own unique story.
You begin by selecting a background archetype like acolyte, bounty hunter, charlatan, explorer, or farmer. Then, you roll on a series of tables to flesh out your character’s history. For example, you might use a D20 for drives, dreams, and aspirations, a D4 for friendly factions, a D6 for assets and allies, and a D10 for items and objects. You’ll also roll for rivals, enemies, thematic monsters, and much more.
Each roll provides a starting point for another aspect of your D&D character backstory. Some details might be unknown to the character initially, to be discovered during gameplay, while others are valuable insights for the GM to know ahead of time. For instance, knowing that a band of marauders is due to return to claim the town’s harvest can help a GM weave the character’s story into the unfolding narrative.
Appendices and Other Thoughts
Beyond character development, the compendium features extensive appendices, including a D100 table of character creation questions like “What skill or ability is your character most proud of?” The appendices also offer D100 tables with options for delivering in-game information, book titles, dungeon features (like unseen cobwebs at face height or a moth with a three-foot wingspan), wilderness features, and even a list of fun non-player characters (NPCs) to plug directly into your game.
The Game Masters Compendium of Explosive Creation is not only incredibly usable but also beautifully illustrated and exceptionally well-written. Its brief yet inspiring introduction clearly explains how the book works, and its design and structure are highly intuitive. The ideas presented in the tables are fun and genuinely spark creativity, making it an invaluable resource for any GM looking to enhance their campaigns and craft engaging D&D character backstory elements.
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