Big20 Character Backstory Template

Character backstories aren't just for the players. The game master should also be a big part of their design. Beyond the general "this is the campaign world" information, the GM should also be involved in helping build connections, relationships, and past adventures as well. What makes the characters in the game is as important as the world building and bad guy crafting.

Most character backgrounds are simple. In a one-off game, the backstory can be quick and simple without much information. In a campaign, however, there should be more. This template is aimed towards long-term PCs.

A few hundred words or so in two or three paragraphs can often be plenty to craft a beginning story to make a fun PC. But the backstory doesn't have to be written as a story. That's not always the player's strong suit. Sometimes, the first couple of sentences are enough and the rest can be bullet points. Sometimes, in fact, that's actually better. The backstory can be fleshed out as part of the main story being told during play. Working as a guideline in the same way that an adventure or campaign can be started as a framework built on only bullet points and random notes.

Even a fully-fleshed and written backstory will benefit from bullet points of quick reference information. The story can be nice to read, but in actual game play, the verbiage gets in the way of quick reference in times of forgetfulness.

After reviewing a lot of backstory generation templates and ideas, we've hit upon what we think is the quickest way to build a character (even NPCs, in some cases) with a rich background for gameplay. But without all of the distractions. This template can be used to both create a fully-fleshed and written backstory or the bullet points needed to reference information quickly. Or both.