There are some parts to making a Dungeons & Dragons character that go beyond filling in a character sheet and doing the math. For some, coming up with a backstory is the hardest part of the puzzle to put together. A character’s history is where a Dungeon Master finds the hooks to pull a character into the campaign beyond the promise of treasure. Fifth Edition helped this along by giving backgrounds some mechanical weight. This part of the character can explain why a fighter might know a thing or two about a temple or how a wizard has shady underworld connections. A good background outlines a good direction for a character’s story in between the clever traps, last-second escapes and hard-hitting combat at the table. We’ve collected some of the best tips below.

Keep It Sketchy

Good screenwriters will say it’s best to keep a character’s history flexible when first starting out a TV series. It’s good to have strong hooks and immediately compelling points, but it’s also important to leave open space for the player and the Dungeon Master to connect the story back to a character’s personal history. D&D is a game of exploration, and some of that includes character exploration. Players might decide that where a character is headed is far more interesting than what they originally had in mind and Dungeon Masters would be wise to talk about that direction with players outside of game.

Become Part of The World

Characters didn’t grow up in a vacuum. They had families, lived in towns, worked in cities and formed connections to the heroes and villains of the world before the story began. This is often reflected in the Bond that can be tapped for inspiration in Fifth Edition, but players and Dungeon Masters should work together to connect to these elements. Some Dungeon Masters might already have, for example, a thieves’ guild in mind when building a world that will connect to a rogue. Other Dungeon Masters might let the player create the guild and look for ways to feature in during the campaign. The player doesn’t need to upload a resume; even one such connection can be plenty to start.

Connect To Another PC

One of the most difficult parts a Dungeon Master has in an early campaign is justifying why a group of strangers decides to team up and plunder a dungeon together. The players can ease this burden by deciding how they connect their relationships exist. Groups that want high intrigue and drama might draw up a web connecting each character, while a simple option is defining relationship with another PC with one or two words like sibling, rival or lover. It’s one thing to meet a shadowy figure in a tavern to go on an adventure, it’s entirely something else because a character’s fool brother claims he’s a wizard and that character want to make sure the so-called wizard comes back home alive.

Consider A Signature Item

The idea of a signature item often centers around a sweet magic weapon or another powerful item, but other, more mundane things can mean more to a character. Every character uses some sort of tool, be it a fighter’s weapon or a cleric’s holy symbol. What’s the history of that tool? What was the first thing that sword ever killed? Who gave that holy symbol to the cleric? What was the first song the bard ever played on their instrument? The answers to these questions can tell a player a lot about their character in surprising ways.

Images: Wizards of the Coast

This article was originally posted on Geek & Sundry.