One of the more frustrating aspects of starting a new campaign is getting the characters to connect, creating that sort of suspension of disbelief that allows the players to accept that their characters are somehow entwines with the characters of other players.

Evil Hat Games' The Dresden Files RPG addresses this issue with a character creation worksheet that follows a series of phases allowing the players to write their character history and make previous connections with other characters in an organic fashion.

I've kind of yoinked that idea from DFRPG and made a few modifications to make it compatible with FFG's Star Wars games. It's still conceptual, but I'm working on making it better - including rewriting the instructions, which I just typed out a few minutes ago, far too late at night. We'll see where it goes.

Hope you like it or find it useful!

http://simonretold.com/stuff/CharacterDevelopmentSheet.pdf

That's a great idea. A few of my players just have Obligation/Duty and their motivations blank, but no information, and I'm trying to get them to flesh out their story so I can add stuff to the campaign to give them something to work towards rather than "I want to be as respected as Boba Fett". Yawn.

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

Okay the changing pronoun bit of your worksheet annoys the OCD part of me. She then his, then her. Ack!

Other than that, why make the phase 4/5 guest stars be other players? couldn't they be "other people" that the GM could key on for stories/adventures?

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

Other than that, why make the phase 4/5 guest stars be other players? couldn't they be "other people" that the GM could key on for stories/adventures?

If that is what you or the group GM wants I imagine it could. Though the OP purpose for this sheet, as I understood from their post, was specifically to create ties amongst party members... ways they've met and reason that they might be out exploring the galaxy together now.

I imagine that could be useful I guess. I wrote at least one adventure where PCs met for the first time during the first session. They had to find out through shared experiences why they were there. I even did a side mission that was "Usual Suspects" style with each of the characters in that mission being put their due to something they did that affected a situation and it had to be dealt with.

Unfortunately seeing this from the GM perspective I see the failure to mesh together character stories not a problem on the character's side but on the GM's side. If the GM does not create stories that force a bond between the PCs then they are missing a fun part of role playing. When more than one Player feels bad when a character is in peril that means you created that kind of feeling. Needing to force it at character creation makes me feel the "bond" would be fake and not adhered to.

Which goes back to why the guest stars couldn't be open ended. What if the character being created is a hacker and only knows people by their handle? Then meeting people in real life maybe one of their hacker buddies is one of them, maybe not. That is not only a great story hook but almost a whole adventure hook that is taken away with the use of this type of character sheet. My point is if those sections were left open or even just 1 of them open, then both sides of the idea are handled.

This is my view as a GM. I fully understand that due to people already supporting the idea of this sheet the rest of the time will be spent tearing apart my view, as is the tradition of this forum.

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

I tried Roman numerals first, but it didn't fill much of the white space and left it feeling half-used. I suppose if I did "Phase I", "Phase II", and so on, that might work. I'll give it a shot later today.

Okay the changing pronoun bit of your worksheet annoys the OCD part of me. She then his, then her. Ack!

Other than that, why make the phase 4/5 guest stars be other players? couldn't they be "other people" that the GM could key on for stories/adventures?

The whole point of this is creating PC-to-PC connections. There's no reason you can't write NPCs into your story, too, but that's part of the nature of creating a character background. I imported this from DFRPG as a tool to connect one character to others.

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

I'll see if I can't work something up later on this week.

I imagine that could be useful I guess. I wrote at least one adventure where PCs met for the first time during the first session. They had to find out through shared experiences why they were there. I even did a side mission that was "Usual Suspects" style with each of the characters in that mission being put their due to something they did that affected a situation and it had to be dealt with.

Unfortunately seeing this from the GM perspective I see the failure to mesh together character stories not a problem on the character's side but on the GM's side. If the GM does not create stories that force a bond between the PCs then they are missing a fun part of role playing. When more than one Player feels bad when a character is in peril that means you created that kind of feeling. Needing to force it at character creation makes me feel the "bond" would be fake and not adhered to.

Which goes back to why the guest stars couldn't be open ended. What if the character being created is a hacker and only knows people by their handle? Then meeting people in real life maybe one of their hacker buddies is one of them, maybe not. That is not only a great story hook but almost a whole adventure hook that is taken away with the use of this type of character sheet. My point is if those sections were left open or even just 1 of them open, then both sides of the idea are handled.

This is my view as a GM. I fully understand that due to people already supporting the idea of this sheet the rest of the time will be spent tearing apart my view, as is the tradition of this forum.

I suppose that depends on your GM style, fatedtodie. I'm not of the belief that background and story are 100% in the hands of the GM, and with this being such a narrative game, it seems like giving the players control of their own backstories seems the wiser path. Missing the fun of roleplaying? I don't see it. There's no reason the players won't start to feel those same connections between their characters doing it this way. In fact, I'd argue the connection will be inherently stronger, since they spent the time to build their backstories together rather than as completely separate entities is a character-creation void.

There's nothing about using this worksheet that says "This is your character's whole backstory," so your concerns about it taking something away are completely unfounded. Think of this as an "and" not an "or". The GM still does his work, still builds the story, he just does it without the additional hassle of having to go through a couple sessions of "introduction" RP, which is what usually happens when characters are created in a void.

As for adding in NPCs rather than PCs, the first couple Phase sections actually ask about the character's history, including people he knew. Nothing says those people can't be NPCs. Nothing says NPCs can't be added into the stories in Phases III through V. Just that the main guest star should be another player, in order to make that connection.

It is a good sheet and having played the Dresden Files RPG. I can honestly tell you it helps, both the GM and Characters in development. Especially in a Session Zero setting. Players should have Phase 1&2 done and working on Phase 3 if not done at that time.

For GM's this is a too for your campaign. GM's should have a copy of this after it is finalized at Session Zero. Simon Fix does a good job of laying out how it works.

I think you missed 100% of what I said, even the part about mixing pronouns. You aren't Green Day, stick to one pronoun please.

I never once said that ANY of the character's backstory is in the GM's hands. What I was meaning is if you create guest stars that are not Players, those could become characters that are in the game the GM can use for story hooks. A character story that makes you closer to your other Players is good.

A character story the GM can mine for plot hooks in order to make your character story important... is ideal. If I look at your character story and can't pull out something I as GM can use to make you feel engaged in the game play then the whole character story is nothing more than fluff. It is pretty and "fun" for you to do, but useless to game play.

So I will try to come up with some examples. I apologize for the stupid names, I wrote this in like 5 minutes.

Joe Bob Stormhound is a Smuggler, he has been as long as he was known. His dad was a Smuggler, his dad's dad was a smuggler, all the way back to the old republic.

Joe Bob met Sally FrownTrain when they both tried to smuggle through the same Imperial blockade years ago. Additionally they met Jacko Stubbytoes when their last Agent that hooked them up with jobs was demanding more personnel on our end to protect his stuff.

That is an example of characters using a story that incorperates the other PCs assuming all 3 Players are terrible at naming characters.

From a GM perspective it is barely worthwhile except the small part about the family legacy of smuggling. The rest does zero.

Where a story like this;

Joe Bob Stormhound is a smuggler, he worked with all sorts of folks as his dad taught him, never stuck with a crew too long, not wanting to wear our his welcome, but also not wanting to feel too comfortable. After generations of his family being smugglers, back to the old republic, the Stormhounds knew how to get away with things, and how to survive.

Having met and worked with Sally FrownTrain and Jacko Stubbytoes in the past he knew he could trust them, for now, but he also had a few people he knew he could count on just in case the current crew didn't work out.

Joe Bob's main fence was Jimmy the Lip, he was great with most contraband and didn't ask questions.
His backup fence was Tommy Longneck, his problem is sometimes he would ask questions and that could delay things or potentially get him caught. You had to use him only in emergencies.

From the two stories you get the same information except in the second story the GM has 2 characters that Joe Bob can run into that YOU as the Player chose. Now the GM gets to bring those characters to life and add something the Player created so the Player feels engaged.

I took this a different route and used the concept of Bonds from Dungeon World, which seems like a nice pairing with this sheet.

There's no reason the Player can't write those into the existing spaces, all while still using Phases III, IV, and V to connect his PC to other characters, fatedtodie.

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

Done! I think it looks so much better, too.

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

I don't have a whole group of them, but I did include one character's worksheet as an example, broken up for each step of the worksheet.

http://simonretold.com/stuff/CharacterDevelopmentSheet.pdf

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

Done! I think it looks so much better, too.

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

I don't have a whole group of them, but I did include one character's worksheet as an example, broken up for each step of the worksheet.

http://simonretold.com/stuff/CharacterDevelopmentSheet.pdf

Hmm...still seems to be the original with the spelled out numbers.

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

Done! I think it looks so much better, too.

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

I don't have a whole group of them, but I did include one character's worksheet as an example, broken up for each step of the worksheet.

http://simonretold.com/stuff/CharacterDevelopmentSheet.pdf

Hmm...still seems to be the original with the spelled out numbers.

I just checked it and it was updated with a new one.

Cool. What about using Roman numerals instead of spelling out the numbers for each step.

Done! I think it looks so much better, too.

This looks like a pretty interesting concept. I do like the integration of other characters into the story. I'd love to see this in action, like a set of them filled out for a group just to see what it might look like and what kind of party ties it creates.

I don't have a whole group of them, but I did include one character's worksheet as an example, broken up for each step of the worksheet.

http://simonretold.com/stuff/CharacterDevelopmentSheet.pdf

Hmm...still seems to be the original with the spelled out numbers.

Your computer is probably caching the old one. If you empty your cache and try again, it should work.

That works. It looks great. Since all of my Star Wars players also played FATE I think they will take to it like a duck to water.

It sounds like FatedToDie is interested what value the sheet has for the GM, and Simon Fix intended the for the players to have the most value in the worksheet.

It sounds like FatedToDie is interested what value the sheet has for the GM, and Simon Fix intended the for the players to have the most value in the worksheet.

And with a small change it could be useful for both. =)

I took this a different route and used the concept of Bonds from Dungeon World, which seems like a nice pairing with this sheet.

Definitely. I consider those one-sentence-bonds to be the least any party should do -- so much return for such small investment.

At the other end, there's Smallville.

IME, the method that works best is going to depend on the group and the game. But however it's done, it all serves the same purpose -- getting agreement and buy-in on the PC dynamic up front so that the start of a campaign doesn't feel like an awkward blind date that quickly becomes every man for himself.

At the other end, there's Smallville.

I actually maintain a very similar diagram of each pc and their interactions with npcs, organizations, etc.

At the other end, there's Smallville.

I actually maintain a very similar diagram of each pc and their interactions with npcs, organizations, etc.

Show-off. Does your bedroom floor also lack dirty socks?

Show-off. Does your bedroom floor also lack dirty socks?

Yes it does! But I got lucky on this one.

It sounds like FatedToDie is interested what value the sheet has for the GM, and Simon Fix intended the for the players to have the most value in the worksheet.

Quite the contrary. I'm interested in how this sheet can help everyone at the table, but the GM initially moreso.

It sounds like FatedToDie is interested what value the sheet has for the GM, and Simon Fix intended the for the players to have the most value in the worksheet.

And with a small change it could be useful for both. =)

And as I've stated before, there's no reason the sheet, as it stands, can't already do what you want it to do.