We’ve all been there, sitting at our desks, staring at the screen with a muffled yell in the back of our heads. Maybe we just found a really cool new game we want to try. Maybe we found a piece of jewelry or a costume piece with no reason to wear it. Perhaps it was another story idea with no one to fill out the world yet. Whatever it may be, sometimes writer’s block sets in and you’re at a loss for ideas.

Whether you’re drafting an outline for a novel, letting your DM’s know about your next D&D character, or devising a LARP character, creating a unique and useful backstory can be challenging. So to help with that process, I’ve put together a list of questions that should not only help you create their life story but also help to inform their decisions as you move forward.

Basics

• Name – What are the conventions of the world like? Do they tell people their real name? What do the people closest to them use? Does your character know how to spell it? Would they use their name or some sort of title when introducing themself?
• Age – This one is more important with fantasy settings if there are different species involved. For LARP, try to keep these realistic to what you look like or can express with costuming, but ultimately this will be most important to place you in relation to other character ties. (Do they have an older sibling? A child? etc)
• Birthplace/Home – What’s the place they were raised like? Where do they currently reside? Is their culture important to them? How do those cultures clash/match up?
• Religion/Spiritual Beliefs – What does it mean to them? How do they feel about other beliefs? How do they honor or express these beliefs in their day to day lives?
• Family – Do they have any? What are they like? How do they feel about them?
• Physical Features – What is their most notable feature? How or from whom did they get that feature?

Personality

• Flaws – What’s something they will without fail screw up? What’s hard for them to understand? What’s a personality trait that might get on other people’s nerves? What might have caused some of these flaws or weaknesses? Do you have any unique quirks?
• Strengths – What would someone who doesn’t know them well think their strengths are? Those closest to them? Them personally? What might have led them to building these strengths?
• Hobbies – What do they do in their free time? Can they play an instrument? Make things? Do they like cooking? How do they feel about wild life?
• Interests – Who or what introduced them to this interest? Do they share it with other people? Is it something a lot of people are also interested in?
• Dreams – Is there something you long to do? Why aren’t you going toward something? What got you to start?
• Fears – How much do their fears impact them? When did they develop this fear? How likely are they to try to face this fear without being pushed to do so? What circumstances will get them to go on despite this fear? What do you fear will happen? How likely are you to admit this fear?
• Likes/Dislikes – What are your favorite things? Least favorite things? How polite are you if you get/don’t get what you want? Do you have any childhood keepsakes?
• Emotions – What is most likely to make you mad? Sad? Embarrassed?
• Costuming – Do they wear a unifrom? Why/Why not? Do they follow convention for their group or area?
• Knowledge – How much do they know of the area? Their home? The customs and other people nearby? How much do they know about religion, science, nature, etc? What are they most knowledgable about? What would be the thing if someone really needed help with something, people would send them to you for? What would be the thing you could lie through your teeth the most about? What do you absolutely have no idea how to comprehend?
• Actions – Are you greedy? How do you treat others? Where do you go/what do you do when you’re upset? Do you have a daily routine? Why do you react the way you do if it changes? Do you keep or carry a lot of things?

Why

• Why did they leave the group or place they’re coming from?
• Why did they join the group they are a part of now? Why did they stay?
• Why do you tell people the things you do about yourself? Is it different from how you really feel?
• Why do you keep something a secret? What would it take for you to tell someone about it? How hard will you fight to keep it a secret?
• Why do you view other people the way you do?
• Why do you want to be the profession you are in?
• Why do you follow/break rules?
• Why will or won’t you kill?
• Why are your criteria for right and wrong the way that they are?
• Why do you dress the way that you do? Would you change it if you could?
• Why do you view yourself the way that you do? What could get you to reflect on it? How would you change yourself?

Relationships

• How would others describe you?
• Do you have any close friends? enemies? family?
• What would have to happen for you to change one of these relationships? (Ending/work with them/etc)
• Have you defeated your enemies before? How did you feel about it? How might this impact how you interact with people in the future? How might this come back to haunt you?
• If someone new came across your path what would you do? How likely are you to trust them? Would you help them? What would cause you to turn someone away?
• Would people be likely to help you if they didn’t know you already? How do you feel about that?
• Have you lost anyone?
• How hard would you fight to save someone?
• Do you have any role models?
• Do you support government, religion, or status quo? Why or why not? What are you going to do about it?
• How would you respond to someone attacking you? Stealing your stuff? Destroying something you worked hard on?
• Do you rely on others for help? Would you be considered a burden?

Specialization

• What’s your level of education? Where did you learn? How specific is your training?
• Do you have a mentor still? How do you feel about them? How do they feel about you?
• Were you good in school? Was it boring? Would you go back?
• Did you get to chose the path you took? Do you want to try something else?
• If you had to do something else for a living right now, what would it be?
• If you had to chose the worst career path for you personaly what would it be? Why?
• How do other people feel about what you do? Do you care?

Moments

• If your party was in trouble and it looked like everyone might die, would you stay and fight or run to tell the tale/get help?
• What would you want people to remember you for if you died?
• How would you want people to react to your death? Do you want a funeral?
• How likely would you be to fight at a funeral? Have you?
• What’s a funny story from when you were a kid?
• How would you confess your love for someone? What would you hope someone would do the same for you with?
• When do you most want to be alone? When do you want people around?

These are all just a start to the possible questions you can ask yourself when creating a character. I’ll be updating this list every so often with new categories and ideas so feel free to come back the next time you’re drafting a backstory. And don’t forget, your story is worthy of some merit.