Please put some time into your history

urlord283 · March 2016

Please put some time into your history.

It can be sooooo interesting to read and shows you have put some thought into your Character

durynte · March 2016

Why do some of you reveal all secrets of your character on your character’s history page? Is it because character creation and the word history suggests to do so? Is it from use of character sheets? Is it supposed to be meta roleplaying knowledge only? Isn’t one of the most interesting parts of roleplaying finding out about who that character is, how it came to be who it is?

When I started with NWO, I wrote a few paragraphs for each character’s history page, keeping it closed to what could be seen on first sight or what others might have heard from somebody else. That still posed a challenge for thinking up a character’s background, as I did (and on purpose still do!) know close to nothing about Faerûn, other than what I found on wikis, forums, bits from Ed Greenwood, a peek at the 4th handbook, and what e.g. zebular explained here. I picked up a map from faerun.wikia.com, and that left me puzzled even more, it is sooo large! But finally I could put the Sword Coast into context as a tiny north western part of continent Faerûn on planet Toril, center of multiple planes. So this was, where new characters would stumble around.

On my very first NWO adventuring I sometimes would inspect characters that made me curious for their worded description. And, except for one, all had a full disclosure of the character’s history and mentality (alignment, traits) and habits. This left me like, meh .. now that I already know everything I feel robbed of all curiosity, it is disenchanting.

durynte · March 2016

Same here, I don't roleplay in NWO. Mainly because a lot of the setting seems to be just a little over the top, and then I'm not native english and a lot of roleplay fun is from playing with language. But I still get into some kind of roleplaying mind, when my characters adventure, and Blacklake District and Blackdagger Ruins or some of the foundries seem well suited for this. But I sometimes watch the PE zone chat and would help. The last time I helped for Vault of the Nine and some Salvatore quest (which lead themselves to exploration), I just tried a little roleplaying, and interestingly, got something like it in return. The usual fast progress stenography turned into whole sentences, and could be read as in character. Seems, it sometimes doesn't take much to push others into a bit of roleplaying, if it makes adventuring more enjoyable.

urlord283 · March 2016

This is my History:

"I am from the Island of Vra' I left there at 16 years to seek adventure, I entered Tsolyánu through the port city of Jahalla

After several years of combat I gained my freedom in the Hirilakte Arenas.

Soon after gaining full freedom, I joined the Legion of the Red Hand of Karkaren and fought in the never ending war with Yankor. In a battle in the far north I was wounded and separated from my Cohort and wandered into the wilderlands of the far north.

There I found the Alfar and was adopted by the Golden Sunburst Clan.

I was assigned a company in the eastern lands and fought the Black Ssu and Urmites.

The Princess, Gold Moon, (Tu Onek Kashka hi Talokatani') showed an intrest in me and I was banished.

I wandered into Ur-Land and there fought many battles until I became the Master of Ur-land.

During a battle with the hated Black Ssu' I was pulled into a nexis and found myself here

UrLord "

beckylunatic · March 2016

Sounds like Cole's Notes of something Edgar Rice Burroughs might have written.

urlord283 · March 2016

beckylunatic said:
Sounds like Cole's Notes of something Edgar Rice Burroughs might have written.

It is a hybrid of "empire of the petal throne " http://tekumel.com/ and my own stuff.... Years in the making

Thanks

Urlord

emeraldfox12 · March 2016

What ive done is use a D&D dwarf charecter I hve in a D&D game and imported him ad his history into neverwinter for a bit of a RP experiment. I want to see if therll be much diffenrnce history wise between the two formats for this charecter

ghoulz66 · March 2016

Takes hours to name a character. Take me a century to write up their personal history.

messahla · March 2016

I was gonna give a long and descriptive reason why i dont bother with a character story, but i think i would be drawn and quarterd for speaking blasphemy lol

durynte · March 2016

Baratin is dead, Elemental Evil got to him. Here is what he had to say to you:

"Hello dere.
Me name is Baratin Brumflinger.
We Brumflingers are an old Delzoun clan. From da Brumflingers da most now live in Adbar in da Ice Mountains. Da finest weapons we make in Adbar and sell to our friends.
But me an me daughter, Milli, we are on our way to Icepire Peak. Very good Mithrill dere is a lot da up in da mountains. We came all da way trough Glimmerwood, to Mithral Hall where da Battlehammers live, to Mirabar, Luskan, Neverwinter. Very busy da people in Neverwinter are, very busy. Milli likes it.
Me Milli, very stout is she. But we need to practice on da axe and shield. Me heard, a lot of goblins in Icepire Peak now are, a lot of practice for da swinging da axe!
I've been in a lot of battles, eager to swing me sword. Ah, but me is not as eager anymore. Me now have to watch over Milli.
But, if ye' got something interesting at hands, we join ya'!"

avengeld · May 2016

I write just enough to perk curiosity from time to time, maybe not as detailed as some of the ones I read myself, but I still believe mine catches a few eyes.

rhoriangelus · May 2016

In general, my RP characters don't have anything in their history other than a physical description of traits you might be able to spot looking at/watching them a short time. How they tend to dress, and personality quirks that might be obvious watching them interact with others. Anything you can't see, such as where they are from, or what their life was like, you have to ask them about (though several of them would just lie about it anyway).

dragoness10 · May 2016

There are four main types of History ( or Biography) I see consistently :

1) Keep a history vague so nobody can metagame from it in "instantly knowing" everything about your character taking the OOC history as IC. This means they have to roleplay with you in order to know details about your character such as it hate raisins, the favorite color is tan, or they can speak Gnomish even though they are a half-orc.

2) Make the history of the character bullet points on what you think everyone should be able to immediately know about it from a mere glance or conversation, and SPECIFICS that bug you if somebody gets it wrong. Example : If you are playing a dragonborne race, but want to be seen as a red dragon in humanoid form include that in the history.

3) Tell a long intricate flowing story with hundreds of adjectives in a precise manner so that reading your history is like reading a mini-novel of flowery-worded instruction on how to interact with your character to convey your fantasy of it into others minds.

4) Blank. Either they don't roleplay, or want to remain a complete mystery until you roleplay with them.

Pick your option.

urlord283 · May 2016

mine is like 3 bur not flowery-worded

but anything is better than blank (number 4)

Thanks to all who replied

durynte · May 2016

dragoness10 said:
There are four main types of History ( or Biography) I see consistently :

1) Keep a history vague so nobody can metagame from it in "instantly knowing" everything about your character taking the OOC history as IC. This means they have to roleplay with you in order to know details about your character such as it hate raisins, the favorite color is tan, or they can speak Gnomish even though they are a half-orc.

"Raisins? Tan? Gnomish?" The dwarfs blinks. "Good for ye. Now, here's an ale for ya. And then, let's go bonk some evil heads!"

dragoness10 said:
2) Make the history of the character bullet points on what you think everyone should be able to immediately know about it from a mere glance or conversation, and SPECIFICS that bug you if somebody gets it wrong. Example : If you are playing a dragonborne race, but want to be seen as a red dragon in humanoid form include that in the history.

The halfelven maid smiles. "I used to be a dragon, too. And so were my brothers and sisters. Now for some serious matters. How about you pay for the vitriol you just bought?"

dragoness10 said:
3) Tell a long intricate flowing story with hundreds of adjectives in a precise manner so that reading your history is like reading a mini-novel of flowery-worded instruction on how to interact with your character to convey your fantasy of it into others minds.

There is a school of (creative) writing that frowns on adjectives and adverbs. State, what you want to state, clearly and precisely. No need for flowery. Except, some well written phantasy tends to benefit from old fashioned writing style.

In the Moonstone Mask I frequently get to read a Dahlia Sin'felle facsimile: awful childhood, then suddenly big internal powers arising, now guided by XY to become, well ... probably incredible powerful.

And in general I think, there is nothing more boring, than interaction with bare bones superheros or heroines. "How do you do?" SH: "I killed ... (and so forth). And tomorrow I'll be doing the same."

dragoness10 said:
4) Blank. Either they don't roleplay, or want to remain a complete mystery until you roleplay with them.

I personally enjoy to find something written in the history section, for it tells me, here might be somebody who, besides progrrrressing and dungeon running, may be willing to act his character. And it also tells me about the writing style and scope of roleplaying to expect.

sandukutupu · May 2016

I have detailed history on all five of my characters, you can read extended history here on the official wiki. I don't have the fifth character listed on the wiki, because I need to fix some scripts for the 2 additional slots. I don't put age and details such as that because some things should be left up to your imagination. I have started history on all my active companions as well.

If you register with the wiki you are welcome to study my templates and add pages of your own. Just be sure you put the information in your personal user space. If you have questions, feel free to visit my talk page as well. I am also on Facebook you can click on my siggy below.

urlord283 · May 2016

VERY cool

greywynd · May 2016

“There are times, Aemon, that I truly believe you wish for death.”

“I very much enjoy being alive,” he replied. “If you would ever accept my offer you would see just how much.” Sitting on the table where the healers and chirurgeons plied their trades, Aemon inspected the damage done to his battered helmet; a blacksmith had been required to remove it. “It was a calculated risk, Orisea. Gnolls, for all their intelligence, are still little better than animals. The strong lead. The weak follow. Kill the leader and they take a while to figure out who will be in charge.

“And it worked. It gave that wizard and our rogue time to find what we were sent to retrieve.”

“Charge, yes,” Orisea said. “You charge into battle like you are the black wind of death given form.”

Aemon raised his eyes in humor, blue eyes meeting the honey gold of the half-elf. “I like that.”

“My god has given me the power to heal you and save your eye, but you will bear a scar, I'm afraid.”

“I will pay my tithe in thanks,” he said lifting himself from the table.

“Where are you off to now?” she asked.

“To find a tavern, drink, and perhaps to find a woman for the evening more willing to celebrate another day alive.” He tossed his ruined helm to an errand runner. “To the blacksmith with that, boy. Tell him to repair it or, if not able, that I will need a replacement.”

gradii · August 2016

I write a basic history right in my bio section becuase I assume a mature roleplayer knows not to metagame and how to keep what they know and what theyre character knows seperate.

If someone does not, allowing them to attempt to metagame will serve as a learning experience so I know to avoid roleplaying with them in the future.

risto0 · September 2016

Personally, writing a character bio is less an act of RPing with others and more of an exercise in learning my own characters. It allows me more investment than a generic hero of Neverwinter running around for no discernible other than, "I'm a protagonist, deal with it." Likewise, it colors what powers and feats I prefer to use, the equipment I have on hand, and the general fashion my characters run around in on a regular basis. Nothing is explicitly stated in that regard, but after reading my bio I want someone to be able to nod and say, "Yeah, that makes sense."
Also, I have a tendency to write the bio's as prologues. Just feels like there more room to explain why my character would move to Neverwinter in the first place and what led up to that decision than there is in superimposing a whole other slab of story that doesn't mesh with the current crisis of the month in game.

josephskyrim · September 2016

I have a blank bio because the last three times I tried to put something in there, the next time I logged in they were gone. It started to give me conniptions.

iandarksword · October 2016

I've always included a list of my Foundry quests alongside my character history, at least my main. It hasn't done much to generate extra interest, but it's there. I've recently found that adding items to the history often involves deleting and rewriting a significant portion, especially if the desired edit is toward the beginning. For this reason, I'd recommend having a copy of your history in a word processing file of your choice that you can copy/paste from.

undeadcrabb · October 2016

History, huh? Well, I usually keep my characters backstory a mystery(unless you're a DM). How could you know about his history as soon as you met him? All I can say, that after the first glance it becomes obvious that he is human-raised and has some criminal past. He shows signs of frustration when someone calls him a drow or an elf and seems to be prejudiced against his kind.

Please put some time into your history

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