Backstories don't make Good CHARACTERS | Character Motivation Explained
Whether your are playing a game, writing a novel, or acting, it is important to get to the root of what your character WANTS. We want to tell GOOD stories!
My training as an actor revolves around understanding characters, and how to interpret them. Which is very difficult to do if the script is poorly written.
There is an obsession I have noticed with modern reboots and adaptations of writers wanting to explore character backstories. "How did this character become who they are? Let's create a backstory for them and then make an entire series around it!". But good backstories are not why we fall in love with characters. People are more than a culmination of the things that have happened to them.
Help Support me on Patreon!
/ livinganachronism
Instagram: / livinganachronismofficial
Featuring Voice Actress Gabriel Ashton Brown: www.gabrielashtonbrown.com/
-----
-"Heartbeat", "Voice of an Angel", "Wildlands", "Grundar", "Greenlands", "Tavern Loop one" by Alexander Nakarada | www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Backstory tells you where the character came from, Motivation tells you where they want to go, and Action is how they get there.
Ok I agree you want to justice for peaceful of world and make the people smile... but where did she get motivated and motivation comes from the character wound which is embedded in the character 's backstory
I feel like people have a hard time grasping character motivation, and this video did a great job of making that concept clear, as well as explaining what it's not. Particularly the conversation with Illiana is a great and really understandable method of showing this.
I'm glad you think so! Editing it, I was concerned it would be too confusing!
Agreed. Players sometimes don't put that much thought into it. Especially if you're playing with power gamers who create "builds" instead of "characters." I don't mind builds, but for me doing that got old about 20 years ago. After my first couple of power builds I got bored. So I made a 70 year old veteran fighter whose main motivation was to die in battle. All his friends and family had died. He was lonely, and wanted to join them. It was fun for other players to see a 70 year old wield a sword and shield, but he had wits and wisdom and experience to make up for it. It's ultimately pretty tragic if you think about it.
@@LivingAnachronism I found it pretty easy to follow :)
@@patrickbateman3146 Cohen the Barbarian!
@@LivingAnachronism Not at all. The conceptual drilling down was very clear to me. A view/upvote ratio of ~3/1 is phenomenal (6:1 seems to be average for popular videos on other channels), so apparently a lot of people found it easy to follow.
“Brooding is my personality.” Dude, you can’t just upload clips from the new Batman movie like that! At least put a spoiler warning! 😂😉
Copyright strike, incoming! 🤪
Funny that you should bring that up, because I found The Batman to be a great exploration of the character quite relevant to the points of this video, taking this person who has defined himself solely by vengeance and has become utterly obsessed with his quest to the point of becoming this one-note brooding archetype, and that’s exactly the point, but then the movie forces him to ask himself what it is he really wants, what he is really fighting for, and while it leaves him open to explore and define himself more in the future, it does a fabulous job, in my opinion, of making him ask these very questions of himself and define himself as more than “vengeance”. He realized that that vague ideal is the same thing that created the Riddler, and by itself can become an unstoppable force of destruction worse than that which it was meant to combat, and he digs within himself to find what drives him, and he discovers that drive to overcome and endure which he decides he wants to inspire in the city itself.
@Just Another Voice Cool. I posted that joke before the movie came out, but I have heard it’s good. I’m honestly more of a Wonder Woman fan, but I’m sure I’ll see the new Batman film eventually.
That Parent Trap shit you pulled with the mysterious lone wolf character was IMPECCABLE. You should be proud of that.
Thank you! I wanted to get it as clean as possible, lots I've still to learn
Wait I didn't even THINK about that, I completely took it as normal and didn't think twice that this was literally him talking to his clone! 😂 Damn, he's good!
Kudos for knowing about Parent Trap.
If you think about it, a backstory about getting revenge for your slain parents can fit both a dark, brooding rogue or a cheerful and bright bard just the same. Whether they keep to the shadows and work solo, or mask their feelings with cheer and a smile to glean helpful information. Backstories are just that, a story; they're not a personality. Though, having a happy and saccharine bard do a complete 180 as they finally get their moment to complete their true goal, that would be quite the scene to see play out.
The moment she mentioned wanting people to smile... I pictured something that made me start to cry. Previously mentioned gruff character in party with her(she cajoled into the adventure), butting heads over time due to differing morals, but eventually forming a partnership of at least trust. She ends up helping him in his goals, but it doesn't help him feel better. Down the road just as he starts to spiral, there's a great battle(doesn't need to necessarily be big, just a significant threat to life) and he is mortally wounded. Unable to do anything she tells him a joke, a story, maybe how she has grown to consider him a dear friend and she will carry his memory with her. He smiles for the first time since she had met him, and probably in a long time.
These are exactly the types of moments that would be much more difficulty to come upon if "justice" or "revenge" were used instead. Your vision reminds me a lot of Anri of Astora and Horace from Dark Souls 3!
Those moments are wonderful.
I love that Jessica! I'd totally bawl if I were at the table for that lol
Almost teared up reading that, wonderful idea.
You really should write a book in the medieval setting. You have a good grasp on story/ character development. However I know that a book is a decent undertaking.
Tell me about it. Try being of the mind that can't focus on one story at a time. I have two I am writing and I am desperately holding off on starting a third.
I'm personally not against the idea of making characters based off yourself, with the caveat that they are designed to answer a question you have about yourself. For example, I'm someone who is about to hit his 30's, is dealing with an identity crisis, and knows he's in a dead-end situation that will never lead to prosperity, but it's *familiar*, so he has a hard time wanting to change his situation due to his anxiety, but is a near-obsessive gym rat in the hopes of trying to find some mental peace through the strengthening and conditioning of his body. This, imo, sounds a lot like how Half-Elves and Monks in D&D (at least 5e), are described, and is largely serving as the basis for a character I'm currently working on for a future game (whenever that might be). Other than those types of examples, I can definitely agree that too many people make their characters surface-level archetypes that never get flushed out. This is definitely some great insight I'll be considering for future D&D characters! Great video and I can't wait for part 2!
Yeah for sure! All characters generally have a bit of whoever wrote them or is playing them. I'm trying to avoid the symptom of generic dialogue, or narrator driven dialogue (some type of exposition or forced perspective) rather than character driven choices. This is a problem I've noticed with modern scripts. I'm just using D&D as an example because most people in this community will understand. Great point, my friend.
@@LivingAnachronism (Looks at all the characters I have for my novels that are brutally and horribly traumatized due to either their upbringing or something that happened to them as a child/young adult) I really hope this isn't the case for me.
I did exactly this for around four years. It is immensely insightful, although it also requires a willingness to be a bit ruthless. It is critical to learn to distinguish between what you as the player want and what the character adaptation of you wants, as they will often enough irreconcilably differ.
Backstories make characters interesting in terms of where they came from but who are they with those experiences? A cruel origin may create a villain or a hero wanting redemption.
It's amazing how often major TV and films miss the fact that a character needs a motivation, a reason, for doing what they do. Far too often characters only do thing because it's what's needed for the next plot point, or action scene, to happen.
Years ago, my sister said, "It's so interesting how two people can say, 'Oh because of thing X I am thing Y"'and the "Y's" that people are referring to are completely opposite to each other" (my paraphrase.) The necessity of pushing beyond what happened in the past and looking into the heart--that strange machine that creates the strangest of effects--is difficult but rewarding.
Oooooh I’m looking forward to the second part to this!! Can already tell that this will be majorly helpful. I’ve written a lot of characters for RP, both tabletop and LARP, that I either just _loved_ to play or had the hardest time trying to embody them. My himbo drow paladin who loves the ocean and worships an esoteric light deity? Came perfectly easy to me in RP moments, because his motivations and desires were so simple: “Have fun and let others have fun too!” Charismatic tiefling bard looking for her lost child? I was surprised when she turned out very difficult to play, because while I’d crafted a very engaging and complex story for her, I eventually realized that I didn’t have a concrete idea of what she _wanted_ to do. Her motivations beyond her long-term goal of “find my child again” were super lacking, which made interacting with other characters very hard. This video definitely helps hammer in the point about understanding that very first want for a character to write or play them well!
Glad I was able to help a bit!
I had a similar dilemma once. I had an eladrin elf child who was stuck in a strange and foreign land alone. Her only motivation was to try to find her mother figure, and I had no clue how to roleplay her or make in-character decisions aside from asking around about her missing mother figure. Then I have other characters who are rather easy to roleplay, like my changeling druid who likes nothing more than causing mischief and pranking people. She just wants to make people laugh and have fun, as well as occasionally serving people their just desserts. She also has a deep desire to belong somewhere and be accepted for who she is, but as a changeling, she has to hide a large part of herself. This makes her feel both guilty and deeply sad, so she compensates by being as frankly honest as possible about everything else.
Actually my best character ever was a 37 year old "doctor". But that kind of doctor who brews strange potions that he tests on his party members without them knowing. He betrayed his last party, stole all their gold and left them to die. And then he just wasted all the money anyways. But he at one point in his life really wanted to do good but he just lost faith in himself and the people around him along the way. He is ofc also a drunk who has no problem leaving someone behind. Anyways. He was/is a character with no goals or ambitions. Not anymore. And that was kind of the beauty to play as this character because he was free from the general convention of "doing good". He just joined the party for a good paycheck or to rob them. Anyways. Ofc he didn't tie up his loose ends which came back to haunt him. But through his adventure he finally found a purpose in life and remembered his former self. And then he died.
So did he got a redemption and at least attain a peaceful end ?
@@John_winston No he just died to some bad dice roll lol
@@TerminusTartaros XD such is life of a rough, realistic tho
Exactly this. That's why as a DM I always have a Session Zero for building the characters and of course I've gotten the "I've been playing for years, I know what I'm doing!" But, in the end my players always develop good bonds with the whole party. This was probably the best lesson passed to me from the DM that taught me, right next to how to flow a party through the story. Lol
True, the set up for the story is just another part of the character arc in whole. Don't matter how good the guitar solo is if the rest of the song is bland.
As someone who has attempted to write a character or two in his time, this was a great primer for getting a character started. I came accross similar conclusions on my own, but to hear those conclusions put in this way really helps to focus those thoughts and come up with people and not characters.
That clone scene is great, in every way possible!
I made a dark and brooding loner character who refused to talk to anybody, and then put him on a magical leash held by another PC. His sole motivation was to get free of the leash but we told the GM to not let it happen till around the end of the campaign. He became a running joke and was a blast to play against the lawful good paladin he was trapped with.
Ah, the Wii method.
It strikes me that the verb "to act" has two relevant meanings; to portray a fictional character's *actions* in a production or in an RPG or LARP or whatever, and to take specific *actions* in real life. It comes down to those *actions* one is willing to take in order to achieve one's goals. Example; I had a D&D character, a thief (Ratwhisker). I knew what he wanted to do but had no backstory, no motivation. I now realize he could have been born poor, and decided to acquire valuable stuff by whatever means necessary *in order to avoid poverty*- that's his goal. Since he believed he was made poor unjustly, he justified theft to himself by deciding property laws are designed to make the rich richer at everyone else's expense, therefore those laws can be ignored. That's how he planned to achieve his goal. *Hence he should have looked at every situation with an eye to what's worth spending his time and effort trying to steal.* I now see so many missed opportunities in that particular game. For instance, the DM kept revealing various pretties Ratwhisker had stolen as magic items that were useful but were hard to sell. Ratwhisker should have stayed away from such things and concentrated on more easily liquidated treasure.
One thing that I found to be incredibly helpful when creating characters with different personalities that don't really resemble me at all is writing the backstories as if the character was writing a letter explaining who they are to the DM. Now this isn't going to work for everyone because it's bit of an advanced technique and does require more effort than just writing out facts,which can already be very hard for some people. That said something as simple as your choice of words and thinking "how would this character explain this" can do wonders when it comes to creating an actual personality. Probably the most important question you can ask any character is "what do you think about yourself?" and this method answers that question without anyone asking it just through the contents of the letter. It's basically the best way I know of to avoid thinking about a character as a list of facts to fill out. You can spend all day answering pages worth all sorts of supposedly deep questions without getting anywhere or you can spend couple of hours writing something like 500 carefully chosen words and get a character you're actually ready to roleplay out of it.
Oh! I do something similar! I like to detail a few key "memories" or "life altering events" in a manner similar to my character writing a journal entry or sending a letter to someone explaining the situation. I also try to keep session notes in-character, so I can remember how they feel about someone or something, and then briefly note the event in "player voice" for cross referencing with co-players later. I've also found it to be helpful to fill out quizzes/questionnaires in-character, for little details or just as thought-food while developing.
Background characters deserve the same amount of development as the lead. Otherwise they become like props for the lead to use.
They can also be useful as probs. Just different then with as much development as the lead. To put so much effort in the background can also take an unnecessary amount of time if a big part of it isn’t even used or can result in too much of a focus on the past instead of the now.
This is an atrocious take. Why the fuck would an author waste page count, or an editor waste minutes of screen time on characters that just aren't as relevant to the story as the lead?
I'm reminded of Kräkus the dung collector from that special episode of TTS where they sat down and played the Warhammer Fantasy RPG. His motivation was to "smell the dung and shovel the dung into the cart!". Short, concise, and to the point.
I do think you explained a concept fairly well about character Wants and the actions they take to get it-Flaws and Strengths-and to take that concept further, you can think of them as “innocent and selfish Flaw(s)” or what seemingly good thing you do is self-oriented conflict, vs what you'd carry out of that exact same action extends towards hurting others, and it's mirror opposite, “guilty and selfless Strengths”, or what bad thing you'd do to yourself(self-oriented conflict), vs what you'd do toward helping others. What is generally said as “your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.” Flaws and Strengths are not simply a belief; they are the iron will of them manifested into action, and they take the form of the root/core central Want of the character's story to set an ultimate plot goal for the Finale(or up to a certain point based on how much they achieve), and what they Need-digging down further than the Want-is what changes them. Taking a Want of “justice” and “wanting to see someone” can be the root cause of that idea(theoretically speaking); the Need to push them further to achieve them. So Wanting to see smiles becomes the justice you seek, and the Need becomes that unless the journey reflects a different outcome of where that justice leads depending on where it takes them.
This is the second video of yours I've watched in a row that's really helped my understand what I've been trying to do. I'm going to change the start, but I now know how to make that extra little spark for my main character's story to become real
Who are you? - What do you want? - Why are you here? - Where are you going? - Do you have anything worth living for?
When writing any character at all, their motivation is the first thing you should decide after their function or role in the story. You obviously need to know why you have them there in the first place. Is it a shopkeeper who the protagonist needs to buy something from, a bartender they need information from, or a sailor they need to get to another city? Is it the actual protagonist who needs to save the world? Especially for writing dialogue with minor characters, you need their motivation for the moment. Not the grand goal they're dedicating their life to, but what they want right there and then. If it's a merchant, they might just want money. But they might also just want to get on with their life, and thus treat the protagonist as a hinderance. Or they might feel a bit lonely and want a conversation - any conversation - which can lead them to prattle on and on about any subject that strikes their fancy. They might want to hide something at the same time as your character wants information, which even if it's not the same information they want to hide could lead them to be tricky to get to talk. And that's conflict which adds a bit of tension to the story. For more significant characters, like the main ones, you have both the momentary motivation and the overarching motivation. The former might be influenced by the latter, but it could also be influenced by the current circumstances, like being hungry, tired, or out on a temporary job. So motivation isn't always fixed, especially if there's character growth. But it is important to determine how the character would act in any given moment. The interesting part come when the momentary motivation conflicts with the overarching motivation. Maybe you get into the means being justified by the goal, or maybe you get a stronger character after dealing with it. The protagonist, or your game character, needs motivation to go out on the adventures that await. Most likely you want an active protagonist who makes proactive choices, and isn't just a punching bag for the plot who gets pulled along with whatever the narrator dictates. But without motivation, your character won't make proactive choices. Or at least have no reason to. The "Call to Action" is an external motivator that kicks the protagonist into motion and gives them a motivation to continue the journey. You don't always get that if you're making a TTRPG character. If you don't, you need that motivation.
In the game I'm developing, the rulebook actively encourages backstories to be open, so that parts can be filled in by the Storyteller or the players during play, and also puts emphasis on personality traits and motivations over historic data points. There are even mechanical advantages to be gained in game by playing to those traits, especially flaws.
i made a character called Connal Mac Bran for D&D twice, same character, 2 different campaigns, slightly different classes but both have the same goal and motivation Defeat there mentor to become a Demigod, there goal is to become strong and wise enough to defeat what the inspiration of the character was unable to do, Cu Chulainn Irelands Child of Light was unable to defeat there mentor Scathach, a warrior so mighty she guards the living world to this day that even gods fall before her fighting prowers and why? because Conall wants her to rest, he wants her to finally move on after her long watch
normally when people explain such complex things they use complex words and fail to dumb it down or they dumb it down so much it makes little sense but you did it perfectly
"he has to be pulled through the story by some external force" I am a roleplayer in online games and you just described why some people are So Difficult to rp with. Their backstory is amazing and thought out (they probably wrote it all in their bio), but they don't know who the character /is/ as a person. So you have to jump through hoops to get them to interact like a regular person would. Great video!
Bravo! I was on board the whole time, and I've spoken about this with friends frequently. But that "discussion" with the Paladin was a fantastic learning tool that helped me grasp this concept on a deeper level. This is great advice for roleplay and writing.
every couple weeks or so, I pull this video up again. honestly one of the best video essays I've ever listened to
I find I often do the complete opposite. I focus so much on working out why my character is doing something that the history is largely blank. I think it's a balancing act, because a persons history is what creates the personality and motivations.
Great video as always and this is a great aspect. I have a Larp character based on the gallowglass. His wants are to gain money and power so he can reclaim his lands from the fae but he is restricted by his code of honor. He will not break a contract nor will he flee in fear.
Oh I'm gonna have to watch this one a few times, I definitely have trouble with this one. Most of the time I say my characters travel because they _don't_ want bad things to happen to them, but that's not the end of it, probably.
It's very hard to play a negative, (I don't want something) rather than a positive (I do want something). If your characters are trying to keep themselves safe, perhaps what they want is for others to protect them? Try simplifying that, what could you do, to make others want to protect you and like you? That's just an example, hope it helps.
On road many bad things can happen to lonly character. Questions that comes to my mind is how this character will protect themselves from weather, animals, bandits ? It is carry a weapon or wielding a magic abilities ? If it have travel companion even animal one like ponny ? If this characters use inns on road ? And most important job or way of living of this character that keep that character motivation to travel ? If that character is some craftsman, healer, bard, thief, fighter ( slay monsters or mercenary for hire) ?.
Holy crap, that splitscreen segment was impressive! Specifically how well acted and timed it was. I didn't see any obvious speed ramping slow-down/speed-up, and yet the flow of the conversation felt perfect - no awkward half-second pauses between lines - which really enhanced the comedy. And the narrative switch from playing the friendly character at the bar to being yourself again - signaled by looking directly into camera - was so smooth. And of course the timing of the Ranger standing up just in time for you to sit down. I’ve seen a MILLION KZheadrs have split screen conversations with themselves, but this is the only one I can recall that had so much effort put into it and worked so well.
I love your videos so much! This is fantastic!
I love these types of videos. I'm currently working on a character and every time I watch a video like this I try to tweak her backstory and personality, to the point where I feel like I have a pretty good character now. Just a shame that I'm an awefull writer and don't have anyone to play dnd with
There may be something this community can do to change that. Lots of projects happening behind the scenes!
Commenting for the algorithm, love your videos and can’t wait to see where you go.
Just went over my characters' backstory with my dm last night! I won't get into it all here, but her main motivation is that she wants to ease suffering and as a Tiefling she also wants to prove that she's not a curse like her grandfather said she was.
That's great! Honestly, "wanting to make people smile" is such a universal and playable action, that it might work very well for yours as well. It might answer the question of "how are you going to ease people's suffering" or "how are you going to prove you aren't a curse". If you haven't found the answers to those already.
@@LivingAnachronism It's really hard not to write a huge wall of text right now lol! To keep it concise, she eases suffering by healing people, and she proves she isn't a curse by helping people. I know healing IS helping, but there are subtle differences in them and how they could be used against her.
@@hayleykaye1751 I see difference between easing suffering by healing people and helping people that can be as simple as bringing someone bucket of water from a well to house.
One thing I feel like people don't do very often when making characters is incorporating contradictions into their mindset/worldview. This is by no means a value judgment on other ways to make characters, but one thing to keep in mind is that REAL people often hold contradictory views depending on circumstance. The edgy, lone wolf character for example might crave personal connection but have a hard time actually engaging when given the chance; the question then becomes how do they express that? Perhaps they sit and brood and, when engaged, brush the person off, and right when the other person goes to leave they awkwardly apologize in a gruff manner and ask them what they want. Contradictions can also set up fun or dramatic character moments; the classic example is the selfish character who states 'I'm watching out for my own skin; if you fall, I will leave you' but then the character they grew close to is now in mortal danger: what's to be done now? These are my personal thoughts on this obviously so take them how you will, but on top of what L.A. I think it can really set you up to enjoy a character even more if you can think of these contradictions ahead of time and the reasons for them
This is what I call "playing against type". Quite useful. You could absolutely have a dark and brooding character, that secretly just wants to be accepted. The key there is to have an action, so that they are forced to do things which will effect the world and other characters. Part two will hopefully explain this much more clearly.
Another awesome video! Great editing! I'm looking forward to the next part! Thanks for the great content!
Great video! I will definitely show this to my future D&D players who might be having difficulty ironing out their character
This was a great video. I recently discovered in a Symbaroum campaign that I´m in that my character, who´s a really skilled warrior and genereally a good guy, has no real goals in his adventuring which has in character lead to him being confused about what he actually wants to accomplish. He wants to do the right thing, but right now he has no idea what that is or how to get there, which is in part because I failed to come up with a proper goal for him that he could potentially achieve. Watching this has certainly helped me to think about what he could do to drive him a bit and I´m gonna talk to my GM once I come up with an idea or two and see where it goes from there. In any case, you just earned yourself a new subscriber!
Great video, making good characters is one of the most fundamental parts of any story, and is also one of the hardest.
Some of the best narrative advice I've ever received, which I believe can be applied to characters and their motivations, was to ask yourself why. Why does it matter? Why is this happening? Why does this character feel this way? Why does this character want this or want to do this? Break it down. Everything happens for a reason, and you have to be specific. Big picture ideals are great and all, but they don't matter if your character doesn't know why they uphold them or how they want to uphold them (like making people smile, for example). It does relate to the backstory to an extent, because as humans, our motivations and values are typically formed by our past experiences. To keep with the video's example, something from Iliana's past sparked her ideal of justice, and some experience caused her to connect justice to making people smile. Maybe in her backstory, she grew up in poverty and didn't have much to smile about, so now she wants to make sure she can give to others what she didn't have. Or maybe there was someone really important to her in her past who was always cracking jokes and making people smile, and she wants to keep the love going. There could be many reasons. I think a backstory can be helpful for coming up with and nailing down those motivations, but I do agree that a backstory does not make or define a character. I have many characters with sad, possibly edgy backstories who are very upbeat and happy, moving past what happened to them. That edgy cloaked figure in the tavern, while wanting revenge for his family, could still have positive motivations that give him reason to join an adventuring party. Maybe his late wife loved music, and he wants to share his own music with as many people as he comes across to carry on her memory. There's always something you can do with a character's motivations, even if it isn't readily apparent. If their motivation hinges on another person, though, that's not a lasting motivation. If anything, it's a goal, which is not the same thing. Motivations birth goals, or goals birth motivations, but they are not one and the same.
Quality content my man
Fantastic subject and video! Your editing is getting so good, nice work my guy
Interesting way to look at a character's reason for being at the table, and I love that this comes from your acting background (which is pretty much what playing a character in a TTRPG is after all). It might even make it easier to explain to a new player, or someone making a new character. I'd previously done a quick guideline for my players, mostly to steer them away from the "Edgy McEdgelord" stereotype, and will definitely work this into the guide. Thank you.
Thank you and I can't wait for the next one. This was the single best video I've seen on character creation. It got to how you make the blocks of data function together!
I've been in a rut with a character of mine for a while now, not quite sure how to boil down some higher level ideas on motivation and turn them into actions. I think this video's really helped! I've penned down more precisely what the character wants and fears, and I'm excited to bring it to the table at the next session!
Incredible video, thank you!
Okay, this is really good! 100% agree. I've had this kind of conversation with a lot of players in the past (I've been GMing for about 10 years), and this is basically everything I've ever said but way more streamlined and simple to understand. Definitely going to point people to this video in the future!
This is actually very helpful! Knowing what a character would like to achieve in an interaction with another person will definitely help roleplay, and could even help me flesh out a few of my written characters. Also you were a coward for not dressing up and acting Illiana like you did for your mysterious brooding dude xD
Small tip: instead of saying "watch this again", maybe end with conclusion, a summary, where you list the main points of the video in a few compact sentences. I have liked how Hello Future Me does this for example :)
Thank you so much for this. I've been feeling like something's been missing from my characters for a while now and i think this might be it! Also the idea of holding your character in a dialogue until they give you their answer is fascinating. I would like to ask for a few more examples. It's difficult to work out how to do this from just one.
You made so much sense!!! This I what I've been missing from my protagonist. My head has been spinning for months. Thank you!!!!
really cool stuff, thank you :) I find it easier to play a character who has a simple backstory, so I try to keep it to 2 paragraphs max, my last character backstory could be summed up quite well by one sentence, that way it always seems easier to know the way my character would act, but your point on motivation (6:29) is really clever
So helpful thank you!
This was really helpful, thank you.
Good stuff! For the past 3 years as a semi-pro GM I don't care whether you have a 12 page backstory or not. What I want is for you to fill out my 5 paragraph backstory! And of course, the topic of your video is in it. So my questions for the backstory are as follows: 1: General description. What does the Character look like? What state are their clothes in? Do they carry any distinct items or weapons? How do they present themselves? Do they have a signature move, nervous tick or particular manner of speaking? 2: The character's relationships What kind of family were they part of? Was there an important mentor figure in their life? What kind of upbringing did they have? Who was/is the most important person in their life? 3: Strengths and weaknesses What are a few positive traits and at least one flaw in their personality?Do they know about their virtues? Do they know about their flaws? 4: Their defining moment What was the pivotal moment that made them choose this lifestyle? Did they chose to become an adventurer or was it thrust upon them? What decisions did they make to follow this path? 5: Goals What do they want? Are they driven by a certain motivation? What are they hoping to achieve by adventuring? How did their goals lead them to the start of the adventure?
This video was very helpful. Some of the characters I've been making seemed very bland and this is really going to help add that extra flavor.
1:44 nice job on the composite. great vdeo!
The context you've put this in is incredible. I've been writing stories and world building for over 15 years and this was the video that flicked the light switch on how to properly give a character wants and goals that are organic and believable. Thank you so much for this. 😁
Glad to hear it!
Awesome! Greatly enjoyed your conversation with yourself. 👍🛡️⚔️
That was a cool transition. I read a book that I thought was fantastic because the characters, seemed human. There was a paladin that used archery and poison because he was terrified of fighting. There was Priest who lost faith in their god but could still use magic and then there was the main character, a thief, that was not very good.
Great great video! Thank you so much for it. This helped me, but also I helped me understand the reaction of some people I played with. I used to always wonder what to put first : my character's motivations and goals, or what the party is doing. Playing Chaotic Good led to some tensions irl (nothing bad, some arguments around the table) and I found it hard sometimes when I had a clear idea of the goals of my character to make it fit within the narrative of the quests we were doing. The "why" would my character do this action, beneficial for the quest and the party, rather than that, beneficial; to the own goals and motivations of my character.
That part demonstrating the basic brooding character was very well-edited, great job! This was a great video, I am continually impressed with your content and am excitedly watching your channel grow; I’m sure you’ll soon be up there with Shad and the other greats!
One can only hope! That section was very phone to edit ande figure out how to get it as seamless as possible.
My most recent character is a brought-back-to-life-by-his-patron warlock necromancer who is trying to find out who killed him when he stumbled upon a black network conspiracy by accident. He is currently one of the scariest characters in the party because of that endless drive to find and get vengeance, and each member of the party has their own reasons to take down the people behind the conspiracy. Mine is just the easiest to solve by killing the ones who ordered his death, but has along the way agreed to work with the party to take down the conspiracy as a whole.
When I design my characters, I tend to make the character first, then feel them out through general roleplay to see where they lead me. I have a basic idea of course, but I let the character tell me what their background is in more detail.
a channel named "Ginny Di" had some VERY helpful videos where she in character asked your chracter questions a lot of questions and it really helped me to flush out who my character was, i even found out things about him that i didnt even know! integral things that make him a person, id love to see a video from you asking similar questions like the ones you just asked. cuz im dumb and cant think of a question like the one you just asked that fits my character. lol great vids i love em! :D
I am going to recommend this video to everyone i play dnd with. It bridges a gap in understanding that so many people are looking for but cannot grasp or understand.
2:38 -- I think this is where my DM is a genius, because the premise of the story is that none of us know our backstories and have to discover them as we go along. Therefore, whatever our characters did at the beginning was completely unaffected by our backstories (because we didn't know them); and by the time we had backstories to mess with us, we'd already fleshed out our characters' personalities too far to go full-on "dark brooding ranger" archetype.
I feel like more people need to have this conversation for how to develop themselves in their own real life… Too many people are identifying themselves by their assumed ideals and ideas, but that just makes them prone to being manipulated.
Agreed
Looking forward to the second part.
Was having an issue with figuring out my characters motivation and after watching this video especially the example conversation part now I have some idea's brewing 😁👍
Oh, thank you for this video. It just told me, that I'm not crazy and my bad feelign about some problems in our roleplay group is mutual. I'm in an Pathfinder P&P group for over 10 years now. We started out as absolute chaotic rookies, who didn't give much thought on a backstory. We just imagnined, why our character wanted to be an adventurer and started to create our characters und their backstories while playing. We were having so much fun, because all of us wanted our characters to have a good time. A few years later my brother and sister in law joined our group and after a while she came out with a ton of scetches for her character and a backgroundstory, which was over 200 pages long. Our gamemaster was thrilled she put so much afford in her character and started to make the hole adventure about her character, because she gave him the most material, instead of others who "only" wrote 10 pages of backgroundstory. Furthermore was her character really broken. In the past it stumbled from one epic trauma into another and she only focused on that aspect of her character. That let her to lamenting in character for hours about how bad her situation is and we have to solve her problems, but she doesn't no how and before her problem isn't solved, she can't go on with the campaign. We tried to go on with the quest eitherway, but she made every time we played about her and her characters tragic backstory. After some time, we reroled with a new master from our group, who was also fed up with her lamenting and completely changed the setting. We made new characters and he send us of to a different part of the continent to an adventure, that had nothing to do with our previous quest. Unfortunately she and our old master convinced the group, that it would be totally awesome, if we played the children of our old characters. Everyone of us thought about how our characters and then their children had developed and lived their happily ever after, until she came around, again with a tragic traumatizing backstory and a broken character. Our new master didn't have it and just ignored her complaints, that we had to get to the continent her characters family now lived on, (because she already drew the hole mansion and over 30 staffmembers) and that the organisation her character worked for was onto some really bad secret mission, that surely intertwined with our new adventure. Which was definitly not the case. Than he left the group, our old master took over again and after a short adventure in another dimension, which was about a variant of my old character and his twin brother from another timeline, we endet up in the home town of her character and since then it's all about her character and his tragic backstory again. She even went that far as to write parts of the backstory of another member of the group, whos character grew up with hers, so that his backstory did fit better into hers. Don't have to tell that this took important character decisions out of the players hand. We were trying to tell the others in our group, that some of us are not comfortable with all of this and we'd like to get the play less serious and dark, but they just waved it of as: "Well she just put more affort in her character then you and just plays him out, like she constructed him in her backstory. You have to deal with that."
man that warrior art looks amazing
Absolutely loved the video, it's what i have been looking for! I always had it on the tip of my tongue that the goal of a character is not their drive. Whenever I ask people to help me out, My Dungeon Master, other Players ''Hey, do you have any good ideas for a characters drive?'' I always got told something like ''Maybe they want to make a mansion'' or something along those lines, and it just didnt help. Looking for an action is exactly the answer i needed to hear!
Impressive explanation, i might gonna use this info to better enchant my story plot in wattpad, thanks for the info ✨
I am developing a game and making a narrative for the first time The "i want to make people smile" part really made me wonder what is the reason characters talk with each other and what is their motivation behind just talking This is great and should have more views
Thank you. An excellent presentation of any character. Very thought - provoking and insightful.
This is very helpful video! I've thought of character motivation before but never found a focus. I'm probably gonna end up rewatching this several times while making new characters now 😂 Might I suggest researching the Magic the Gathing color philosophy? It delves into a bit more about motivations and traits of entities that I found really interesting. It asks what is each "color" of personality, and how do they interact with one another.
Late to the party, but nonetheless very grateful for this one! Super good presentation of the problem of "generic" motivations and the way to get to the bottom of them / find the "core" of it! (+It appears the "5 whys of lean" work in rpg too :D )
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a D&D player I was DMing for. He has a history of being a bit contrary and willful as a player. During this oneshot I was running he kept avoiding plot hooks and said something like, "Come on, you're the DM! Give me a reason to be involved in this part of the story!" To which I said, "You control your character; it's *your* responsibility to get involved." It was a bit of a revelation for him, and he immediately became a more engaged and active participant in the story.
I spend much of my time over the span of... four of five years? roleplaying on pretty much a daily basis, often for most of my day, and was doing it as a _deliberate_ self-insert as an observational self-study. The difference between what the player wants and what the character wants (including when that character _is_ an adaptation of you) is subtle, yet profoundly disparate, and people often miss that. You can extrapolate that out to the problem with goal-oriented characters as whole (and goal-oriented personalities in real life); goals are not a personality, and are themselves extensions of underlying basic motivations that the person will have independent of that specific goal. While that can work for a story, it only works until said goal is either completed, irrevocably failed, or completed, so unless taking your vengeance is the conclusion of the campaign, it presents problems. Most roleplay lends towards a different type of narrative structure than most fiction due to the improvisational, and especially the collaborative nature of it. People often extensively like my other characters for how real and thorough they tend to come across-including those I write/play off-the-cuff-because I treat them as people separate from myself and my own goals, likes, and interests. As such, I somewhat reflexively go to thinking of them in basic affinities, dreams, aspirations, relations, background, and the like, since, being _not_ me, I cannot take that for granted. As I _treat_ them as separate people, others tend to as well, and it generally goes over very well. This was an excellent video, and one of the best takes on character creation I have heard or seen (as someone who reads/listens to/watches quite a few and am designing a ttrpg myself). I am eager to see the next one.
holy moly, you are a genius
Dude. I feel like I keep having to praise your content for various reasons. This was actually a lot more helpful than videos I’ve seen by professional writers like Sanderson on the same subject. You should seriously show this to Sanderson to see if he or Shad would like to work with you on some cross over content about how to write good stories. Your method of communication is actually quite clear and your examples are simple and visceral enough to understand immediately.
A potential exercise for a writer that can help build a character out more is to write a Disney Princess “I want” song. What do they want? How would your character sing about it? Even Aragorn sings an I want song.
I'd never personally claim to be more experienced than either of those too, but I thank you, none the less. I think perhaps my acting background gives me a slightly different perspective than a writing background. I'd love to work with them. Part two is going to include an "exercise" portion for both acting and writing, which will hopefully be even more helpful than this video. Still planning out how I want to do that. I appreciate the "I want song" reference!
@@LivingAnachronism You probably already realize this. I just wanted to clarify something just incase I was unclear. I don’t want you to subconsciously register what I wrote as empty praise that you have to deflect to stay humble. (No I know that’s not what you meant in your reply) You are welcome for the compliment, but I didn’t necessarily mean it as just that. I wouldn’t call it advice for as the elves say, “advice is a dangerous gift to give.” I’d like to see your channel grow. I’ve tried my hand at youtube before and coming up with ideas for content is a difficult thing to do sometimes. I’m just offering ideas in case you might ever get writer’s block. Feel free to use them or not as you please, and never pressured. I wasn’t comparing your experiences. I was comparing your delivery. Not only in words but also in dramatized examples. I was using them as comparison precisely because I figured you would look up to both of them. They are definitely more experienced. I didn’t say that to puff up your pride. I said that because I believe your style of communicating the ideas that you have to share, which is no doubt owed to your acting background, is already quite close to their level if not surpassing it in some areas. Sanderson has lately been trying his hand at bringing some of his lectures to life on the KZhead format. I would not say that it is bland, but I do think it would serve him well to have you work with him on some KZhead stuff.
"Go away, I'm being mysterious" would make a good tshirt
I think it depends on your purpose. Yet the depth of character is important. Most people have multiple motivations. I appreciate your knowledge as an actor!
I actually hate writing backstory. Always been my Achilles' Heel when it comes to making characters for RPGs, so I've always stuck to a mantra I got from an early episode of Extra Credits: "Backstory can't live without character, but characters can be vibrant without a ton of backstory."
Back story can simply be “I just quite like the idea of making a bit of money, and this is the best job that came along!” Questions like “why are you good with a sword/lock picks etc” can easily be answered with something like “you know, kids play with stuff like that, I guess it was that”
Very succinct way of putting it. I say this very thing in my videos on the "Witcher" tv show. For some reason modern fantasy shows seem obsessed with backstory, I want to at least help members of this community avoid that.
Interesting knowledge indeed.
Amazing video I’m a writer and I really love this video
I have no idea how many people will get this, but when you spoke of specifying justice, I thought of One Piece and the admirals different 'Justices', then when I heard "I just wanna make you smile" I thought of Luffy, the protag, and smiled. Great video.
Thanks you gave me Ideas😁 Past means you make from the bottom of your heart making the character same as you! Yeah Thanks you 😁😁😁😁
Amazing
I have the hardest time making character that feel troubled by mistake they made in the past that lead then to a down spiral of self loathing but i want them to speak like they are forcing a happier tune to not make others feel worried for them
I like to make a scene or scenes where characters are together but with no drama, notinternal conflict around and no motivation pressing on them. All of the things that school and writing lessons want you to only focus on. Also never think of your character's flaws that is just a terrible a trap. Critical Role have an entire scene where the character are just walking in a black cave and it fun to watch. Also, for a tabletop RPG, I tell the player the characters' stats are when the characters are under pressure. I am fine if they want to play a witty person while causal talking but is smooth as sandpaper when trying to talk a guard to leave his post.
The blood stained paladin lifts the vizor on her helm: "Smile? I thought you said Smite All?"
It seems you had noticed that your message here in the video was not going to be fully understood with just one watch. Fortunately I did, though it did take till the last portion of the video for you to explain. You make an excellent point, and I admit I am one of those that focuses too much on the backstory, thinking it was going to provide the character substance. I have a hard time giving characters their motivations that push them into action. It is a lot like the character driven by justice, but often that is too vague and sends the character aimlessly about.
When I was at school and we were learning all of these concepts, lots of people took multiple classes before it really clicked, and some never got it, so I didn't want to have the expectation that it would be "easy" for lack of a better word.