Meta-Backgrounds

[Weldun]

Now many of you are probably wondering what I mean by Meta-Background. Well, just as a character has a background story, they can also have a second background. Allow me to demonstrate by giving the Spectre's Meta-Background.

 

*****

 

The Spectre started as a mildly successful Pulp character in a series of novels and radio plays where he fought a "villain of the week". He was created to cash in on the success of similar characters that had achieved popularity in the era. In the very beginning his incredible healing powers and apparent lack of fear were his only abilities, but after the controversial Warbound, where the He almost has a sexual encounter with his own daughter, the character was quietly forgotten in the years of WWI. In WWII, a small, independant comic book company began trying to find a way of making their mark in War comics, an editor who had been a fan of the Spectre's stories when he was younger aranged to hire the now 67 year old creator/writer to begin work on the New Spectre. However, before the first issue could go to print, the creator died of a heart attack and the company was forced to purchase the rights to the character from his estate. But it seemed that the title had a curse, for just as the purchase was completed, the company's senior accountant fled the U.S. having embezzled most of the company's remaining money. Forced into bankruptcy, they themselves where taken over by a larger company that fortunately saw some potential in the initial stortboards.

 

The new company published The Spectre, the amzing fearless man for nearly three years before readership dropped off. Having tried to explain The Spectre's powers, the company had re-written his to have control over some of his body's metabolic processes, inlcuding brief bursts of superhuman strength and the ability to slow down the progress of poisons within his body. Fans grew disillusioned with a character that seemed to be changing simply by writer's fiat. During the 50s the company tried to breathe new life into the title and character, explaining his powers further by having the Specter set off a mutant detector. Combined with the re-occuring villains of DEMON and the Van Helsings, and some of their best writers, the Spectre enjoyed sporadic popularity for over 40 years, but his title never became more than a quarterly, due to the fan demands on writing quality. To keep him in the minds of the general fan base, the Spectre was repeatedly used in cameos and one-shot team-ups.

 

The character's big popularity boost came when he was used temporarily in the new line, The Skeleton Crew. The team's lineup still in flux at that time, he was brought in hamfistedly during the Eurostar incident, by Deus Ex Machina. He was simply in the area. Retconning the character to have been a Kingdom city resident in the late 19th century, the editor was fired and the Spectre was dumped rather unceremoniously in an alternate dimension. But a write-in campaign surprised the publisher and since then, The Spectre has been an important and integral part of the Skeleton Crew title.

 

*****

 

So, does anyone else have a meta-background for their character(s)?

[aylwin13]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Here is the meta-history of my primary PC SCEPTRE; a power-armored super-agent.

 

SCEPTRE, History

 

 

There have been five men who have taken up the mantle of SCEPTRE, Jeff Forrester being the most recent. The first incarnation appeared towards the end of the Second World War, in Washington, DC. A rash of sabotages and terrorist type attacks were occurring in the capital, causing the confidence and morale of the public to be at an all time low. People were beginning to feel that the Nazis were bringing the war to their own home. The government decided that a hero was needed, one that could not only stop the crimes that were occurring, but who would also raise the spirits of the American public. The Dept of Defense created one. Gerald Conner was a soldier in the US Army Special Forces, stationed in Maryland. He was asked to join a team of agents, and be the first SCEPTRE (Special Crime and Espionage Prevention Team, Response Element). He underwent extensive training, both to strengthen him physically and to give him the skills that he would need to do his job. He was trained as a fighter, an athlete, and as a detective. The first SCEPTRE's equipment consisted of a reinforced costume with a red-white-and-blue motif, a metal alloy fighting staff and a Colt .45 sidearm. He also had a utility belt that held a grappling hook and a number of combat and forensic items. He managed to uncover all of the plots that were to take place in Washington, during the war. He continued to operate after the war ended, into the Cold War era. He finally retired in 1958.

 

With the threat of Communism on the country's mind at the time, a replacement for the man in the armor was needed. SCEPTRE returned to crimefighting in 1959, around the same time as Vanguard and the revived Justice Squadron appeared in New York. He was another Special Forces veteran named Richard Matthews. He wore the still red-white-and-blue SCEPTRE armor proudly for the next 15 years, finally retiring in 1974. This armor was similar to the first, minus the sidearm. He still wore the utility belt, but the staff now had a simple blaster inside.

 

The third man to be SCEPTRE was also from the Special Forces. His name was Marcus Andrews. He was the first to wear a battlesuit instead of just armor. The 'suit was primitive, but it did amplify Andrews' strength, speed, dexterity and senses. The staff was also improved, now having a number of different beams for different purposes. With the ever-increasing number of super-villains appearing on the scene, SCEPTRE was now based in New York City. Andrews first wore the 'suit in 1974, and served in the position for 13 years, retiring in 1987.

 

After the formation of PRIMUS, the sponsorship of the SCEPTRE armor and persona was transferred to that organization. Another agent was trained to replace Andrews when he retired. The new SCEPTRE was to be Ryan Winslow, and he was the first to wear the current, now purple, battlesuit. The 'suit incorporated new advanced technology, as did the battlestaff (see entry: SCEPTRE, Armor). Winslow fought crime and terrorism for another 14 years. He was only months away from retiring when, on September 11th 2001, he was assassinated by Citizen V, while attempting to rescue victims from Tower One of the World Trade Center.

 

Winslow was replaced by the current wearer of the SCEPTRE armor, Jefferey Forrester. He has been SCEPTRE for almost 2 years now. He has done an excellent job so far, but drives himself to live up to the legend of the hero known as SCEPTRE.

_________________

 

 

Even the 'suit has a meta-history:

 

SCEPTRE, Armor

 

SCEPTRE armor Mk.I

 

The first SCEPTRE's equipment consisted of a heavily reinforced costume, a metal alloy fighting staff and a Colt .45 sidearm. He also had a utility belt that held a grappling hook and a number of combat, or detective and forensic items. Among these items were a fingerprinting kit, magnifying glass, mini flashlight and a lockpick kit. This armor was painted in a patriotic, red-white-and-blue motif.

 

SCEPTRE armor Mk.II

 

The second SCEPTRE wore a reinforced costume similar to the first suit. The reinforcing technology was better than in the first suit, but it was not until 1964 with the invention of Kevlar by DuPont, that the suit was finally strong and lightweight. SCEPTRE II no longer had the Colt .45, but now carried the first version of the battlestaff. This first ‘staff had a simple energy blaster inside. The controls were buttons on the grip areas of the staff, a toggle for the power level and a pushbutton to fire it. There were 2 settings, high or low. The utility belt remained essentially unchanged; it just had more updated versions of the same equipment. The suit was still red-white-and-blue.

 

SCEPTRE armor Mk.III

 

The third SCEPTRE was the first to wear a battlesuit instead of just armor. The 'suit was primitive, but it did amplify the wearer's strength, speed, dexterity and senses. The staff was also improved, now having a number of different beams for different purposes. It no longer had the utility belt, and was still red-white-and-blue.

 

SCEPTRE armor Mk.IV

 

The fourth man to wear the SCEPTRE armor actually wore two different armors during his career. The first was a slightly more advanced version of the SCEPTRE III armor. However, in 1997 new technology was used to improve the battlesuit. It is composed of a fine chain mesh made from a titanium alloy that is many times stronger than steel. When an electromagnetic charge is run through the mesh, it turns rigid. The servos and musculature in the exo-skeleton amplify the movements and actions of the wearer, multiplying his strength and speed many times.

The battlestaff is an intricate weapon, even more highly advanced than the 'suit. It is a hollow titanium tube with ends weighted with spent uranium. Inside the tube is a complex energy-projecting device. It can function as a blaster or fire a concentrated beam similar to a laser. It can be used as a tractor/repulsor beam, to grab or push away heavy objects. The repulsor beam, when aimed at a horizontal surface allows SCEPTRE to levitate, either up or down, at a fairly good speed. Finally, the 'staff can emit a concentrated EMP that is capable of disabling most electronic devices within a radius of 15'. The 'staff is also what it appears to be, a metal quarterstaff, usable in melee combat. The weighted ends add to the damage done by the maneuvers performed by the wielder. The most recent SCEPTRE is highly trained at Staff fighting, and is sufficiently skilled with the weapon that he can deflect most ranged attacks in such a way as to actually send them back at the attacker. He can even do this to defend others in a 6' radius around him. The staff is activated by impulses sent from the 'suit's gloves into the 'staff through the circuits in the grips of the staff.

The most advanced aspect of the entire SCEPTRE armor is the means in which it is stored. There is no longer the need to carry the 'suit around in a case, or to go to a location to put it on. Through the use of technology reverse engineered from an alien spacecraft, the exo-skeleton is stored in a null-space. The wearer puts on the 'suit once. The null-space is accessed through the use of a microcircuit that is implanted subcutaneously in the wearer's skull. With a thought the armor is sent to the null-space, and the wearer now has on a set of normal clothes. The next he wants to retrieve the 'suit his thoughts activate the circuit and the 'suit is exchanged with his other clothes, or vice versa. The 'staff is stored by first retracting it from a 5' to a 3' length. The 'staff then adheres magnetically to the 'suit, across the back, like a sword. The 'suit is then sent to the null-space.

_______________________

 

The character and the 'suit have actually undergone another evolution since this was written. Perhaps I'll add it here later.

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

My Bad. I shouldn't have posted while I'm sick.

Just to be clear, a meta-background is the in-story background of the character, but the background of the character's publication. As you can see with the Specter's write-up, this is the background of the character as if there really was a comic with him in it.

 

To contrast. This is the Spectre's Background.

The Spectre

 

The Spectre is a mutant who was born George L. (Louis) Burgess, in Kentucky, 1844. He enlisted in the Confederate army during the 2nd American Revolution (D Company, 1st Kentucky Infantry), and during this, he discovered his amazing ability to suppress his fear response. He also began to note that he was needing less food, water and sleep than his fellow soldiers, an ability that is the present day means that his daily biological needs are now weekly. During the period immediately following the war, he began to face off against bandits and renegade soldiers as a masked man that the journalists dubbed the Spectre, the fearless man. His exploits included chasing notorious Gunfighter, Alex

"Tombstone'" Tubbs, later known as "The Tombstone Kid".

In a twist of irony, he married Sue Hamilton in 1873, the very girl who rejected Tubbs. after a few years, to escape her brother's increasing problems with alcohol, Burgess and his wife move to Kingdom City, Nebraska. However, all was not to be happily ever after. As the years went on, Sue began to notice how youthful George seemed to remain, and townsfolk would be scandalized in the streets by what appeared to be a woman with a much younger man. Their son and one of his two daughters had noticed as well, especially Felicity, the eldest daughter. George had no choice in his mind but to tell the truth. They were, of course, shocked and Sue went so far as to mumble things about being "a demon's bride." Fortunately, his children were better educated and less prone to superstition, but the next few years brought resentment into their eyes, as it became clear that the gift had not been passed onto them.

George decided that he had to move on, that closure was a natural and necessary part of life. With the help of his son, Able, he was able to forge documents for a new identity. In 1897, he faked his death by collapsing a local mine that he made a point of claiming still had something left in it. In general, the townsfolk accepted it, and for the most part, the ruse held. Although he never saw his family again, with the one notable exception, he moved to New York and worked as a boilermaker in the rail yards.

 

Over the decades, he has discovered that he has the ability to manipulate his metabolism in various ways, starting at the turn of the 20th century, when he found that he could regenerate. His regenerative abilities would prove most useful after this, as the great war had started in Europe with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. But before America became caught up in the European problem, he met an enchanting young widow in a market near Queens. The two began to court one anther and very nearly consummated their love when George found out Patricia Stanton's maiden name. Burgess. The surprise at discovering that he was entering the bed of his own daughter stunned even the normally calm man, and he babbled out his identity to her. She realized the truth of it immediately, despite having only been 6 when he left, and fled screaming into the streets where she stumbled into a stranger. This chance encounter haunts George to this day, as the stranger was a vampire hunter by the name of Helena Schreuber nee Van Helsing, granddaughter of the famous Abraham Van Helsing. Understanding only some of Patricia's rambling about her long dead father and fornication, Schreuber could only guess and the poor woman's problem. Then George came out into the street after Patricia, causing her to shriek in terror. Now Helena understood. This poor girl's father had returned as one of the undead, and a powerful one at that, for he was out during the day. Faced with a skilled huntress, George was forced to flee. The Schruebers continue the Van Helsing tradition to this day and The Spectre has been of particular interest to them since 1978, when the 90 year of Helena and her grandson Nigel caught up with him in California and made the connection between the Vampire Burgess and The Spectre.

When the U.S. entered the war in response to U-boats sinking American ships 1 year later, he enlisted again. In the 1st and 2nd world wars, his adrenal boost ability let him lift over a ton and in both these wars he served in Europe, not only as a soldier, but also as The Spectre. This is the only period that The Spectre was seen out of formal attire, (although he returned to it between wars), and on several occasions during the WWII, his squad mates nearly discovered his mask and handkerchiefs. While history generally accepts that the Spectre was a U.S. soldier, the fact that he would appear in an undershirt made it difficult to identify which unit he was with, especially as George went out of his way to take advantage of times when he had been separated from his unit. He continued fighting in the Pacific, and even fought the Golden Samurai all across the pacific islands. After the war, he studied Okinawan Karate from his old foe, both men having discovered that both found the slaughter that signified the closing months of the war to be abhorrent. Indeed, the had become good friends, and George was able to help many people in Okinawa come to terms with the shock of having lost the war.

 

In 1968, one hundred years after his first appearance, he returned from Okinawa with a firm mastery of Karate. He battled the likes of Dr. Macabre and even received an invitation to join the Sentinels, but he turned them down in light of their political connections. His "failure" to appear in Vietnam had him labeled a "hippie", despite his distaste for the movement's views. During this period, he battled the likes of VIPER, the Guru and Jack Flash. Then came California, March 5th, 1975. Dr. Destroyer made his explosive debut into the world and nearly conquered the state. The Spectre lost his good friend Kid Chameleon that day and discovered that the world had begun to leave him by. Despite the protests of his only remaining friend and fellow immortal, Diamond, he retired from super heroics.

In 1992, after the near destruction of Detroit, he resurfaced there to help in the reconstruction. This time, he had developed a "Hyper-boost" ability that allowed him to run at speeds of over 70 kph. This Spectre had also invested some Kevlar lining for his suits. In 1996, he retired once more after Herman Schreuber came too close to getting an image of him without a beard. Now it is 2006, and George has returned to Kingdom City as The Spectre, in response the sudden increase in metahuman activity there. And this time, he plans to stay

 

Costume: Contemporary formal wear, black leather gloves, and a red hood with black diamonds over eyes. Compulsively leaves a white handkerchief, which has an S embroidered on a corner with silver thread.

 

Where as this originating post is the Spectre's Meta-background.

If anyone can explain this better, I would be most grateful.

[Vulcan]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

You mean a background of the fictional character's appearances, as opposed to the background of the charcter himself?

[aylwin13]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

My Bad. I shouldn't have posted while I'm sick.

Just to be clear, a meta-background is the in-story background of the character, but the background of the character's publication. As you can see with the Specter's write-up, this is the background of the character as if there really was a comic with him in it.

 

To contrast. This is the Spectre's Background.

 

 

Where as this originating post is the Spectre's Meta-background.

If anyone can explain this better, I would be most grateful.

 

I gotcha. Then by your definition SCEPTRE has no meta-history. Our characters aren't published, fictitious characters. They are "real" people in the world(s) that we've created.

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

a meta-background is the in-story background of the character' date=' but the background of the character's publication.[/quote']I REALLY shouldn't have posted this whilst sick.

 

A meta-background is not the in-story background of the character, but the background of the character's publication.

 

To go further, extremely few character are published REAL WORLD. But if you pay attention to the Spectre's example, the meta-background is still fictitious, but still played a part in the characters generation.

 

I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one who does that. It's part of how I keep in mind that what I'm creating is a comic book character.

[aylwin13]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

I haven't really seen that take on a character write-up before. It's quite interesting. The groups I've gamed with created their characters as if they (and the world they exist in) were real, not a publication. Occasionally, a character might be in a publication in the game world, but the character him/herself is still a "real" person in that world.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Hype...

 

I had a chance to play vs GM in a supers campaign and wanted to take the opportunity to do the following things:

 

A) Demonstrate a superspeedster in action, an archetype which none of my players wanted to take on for a PC and generally disparaged as being uncompetitive.

 

Illustrate the extent to which my players were not adept at making the most of their actions and planning ahead between their actions rather than wait until their turn to go to dawdle and waste everyone else's time. My players claimed that there was a lot to keep track of and they waited until the last second to make (usually poor) decisions so that they would take into account the current situation at that point in time.

 

C) The player group lacked anyone with initiative taking and leadership ability, so I intended to take charge and inject some direction to the group.

 

 

Previously a player searching for ideas had used the random generator in the Champions Genre book for concepts and had rolled up a speedster character that was promising and supplemented it with speedster powers from USPD. The character was fleshed out mechanically and was lined up as a viable PC, but the player conferred with the other players and ultimately they came to the conclusion that though the write up looked good, "speedsters suck -- one good hit on them and down they go" (see A above), despite me pointing out that the build in question was in fact brutally combat effective.

 

So, the character file got tucked away on my harddrive and the player made a new character.

 

Many months later when my opportunity to play came up, I decided to use that speedster build for my character to prove my point. I brought the character up to the then current power level of the game, wrote up an aggressive experienced unsanctioned character background, and got the temp GM to sign off on it all.

 

Hype was born, and easily proved to be extremely combat effective, and also extremely effective out of combat. I concentrated on making the most of every one of his 8 actions per turn, and never paused or hesitated the game to decide what to do next having always thought thru all available alternatives in between segments and already having selected the most efficient / useful course of action prior to my initiative.

 

Hype also exerted himself to push the group to form up formally, pick a name (the play group and been playing for over a year real time and STILL COULDN'T DECIDE ON A NAME FOR THE GROUP!!!!), and otherwise bullied, pushed, coaxed, or encouraged the group to take initiative in being actively superheroic instead of just sitting around waiting for something to happen (the group was disastrously reactionary otherwise).

 

I only played him for a handful of sessions before returning to GM duties, but the effect on the campaign was noticeable, and the character was very memorable.

[Lucius]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

 

So, does anyone else have a meta-background for their character(s)?

 

In a word, no.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Crossing a palindromedary and a metapalindromedary

[QueenOfItAll]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

I do not mean to insult, but for goodness sake------why? Why do such a thing?

 

There is enough difficulty in we, of the real world, role-playing a character who is, in a fictious world, real. How would one play a character who is, in a fictious world, him-/herself fictious? Secondary creation (to use Tolkien's term) is difficult; what you are suggesting is what I would call tertiary creation.

 

It's part of how I keep in mind that what I'm creating is a comic book character.

What I create is a secondary creation. That is, a person who is real, within the bounds of the fictious world s/he lives in.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Honestly, the only time I've seen this done was for the published, multi-system supers setting book from Z-Man Games, Omlevex. The conceptual conceit is that the setting and characters are based on actual published characters from an actual comics company operating in the 1960's (not true), and the book contains lots of details about the behind-the-scenes "publication history" of those comics.

 

If you're not familiar with Omlevex, you can read all about it here: http://www.spectrum-games.com/omlevex/

[penemue]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

My entire campaign is built on the conceit that it was a collection of (fictional) comic book companies that got together to create a universe. It's actually kind of what happened when I combined 3 separate Champions campaigns back in the 80s, then added more in the 90s.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67371

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Actually, Killer Shrike hit the nail on the head. Even opened my eyes. (I'm feeling a little better now.) A meta background is basically the thinking that went into the character's creation, beyond the character's backstory, which most of us do. He answered for everybody.

[Kal'El Wayne]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Sir Johnstone was first mentioned in a series of pulp stories written by an American anglophile in the 1920s. The tales were all about the adventures of a vaguely described American millionaire, Sam Daniels. He inherited it all from his father and was generally bad at everything, but he nonetheless tried to be an adventurer. When his attempts at Doc Savage style heroics failed, he would be invariably captured, and have to be rescued by his ever loyal English butler, Johnstone. Johnstone's name was actually the authors first name and surname jammed together. Johnstone was an incredibly skilled man but only ever showed it to the reader and possibly a bad guy or two, otherwise preferring to let Daniels take the credit.

 

The series was a success in America, and had a small following in Britain too. Not long after the second world war broke out, Mr Stone began writing tales of how Johnstone joined the RAF and fought many air battles, also being shot down and escaping the German POW camps, etc. These proved to be less popular than the prior tales, though one story in particular, in which Johnstone is knighted by the Queen (and we learn that his first name is Arthur) sells more copies than any previous Johnstone tale.

 

Shortly after the war ended, Mr Stone wrote a 'final' tale in which Sir Johnstone celebrates the end of the war by retiring from the army and going back to Sam Daniels, who has married and has kids now, and getting his old job back. Though he doesn't suspect that Mr Daniels will be taking him on any more adventures, thankfully.

 

Mr Stone passed away, outlived by his wife and five children, dying in his sleep of natural causes. He is payed tribute to by a large and diverse fandom.

 

Mr Stone's eldest son Jake allows a sequel to made to the Johnstone tales, in movie form. It depicts the kidnapping of Sam Daniels youngest daughter, Ellen Daniels, and Sir Johnstone's attempt to rescue her while foiling a plot to use her as a sacrifice in a demon summoning ritual to end the world. Sir Johnstone is played by a forty year old actor despite the fact that he should be around sixty at least.

 

Later sequels also use this same actor, Luke Georgia. They make no reference to the fact that he is far too young to have fought in world war two. A prequel is made that claims that when Sir Johnstone has yet to be employed by Sam Daniels, he was an explorer who was given eternal youth by a mystical artifact, deep in the African jungle.

 

Enticed by the scent of money, a large corporation attempt to buy the rights to Sir Johnstone, but despite a larger offer, a far smaller company are given the rights instead. 'Ink' an independent comics company, famed for doing faithful interpretations of open license characters like Sherlock Holmes.

 

They include him in their multigenre universe and have him regularly cameo rather than having his own title. This gave the impression that the character knew everybody, which the writers played with at times, having him put into scenes that he had nothing to do with, just in the background. It was eventually decided that he couldn't do superhero work himself because he had an obligation to the Daniels family as butler, but that he kept in touch with many people to make sure that the right people know and do the right things at the right time. He is rumoured (by fans) to be the incarnation of the Ink universe.

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Oh, very nice. This gets repped.

[Mendou]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

The actual origin of Pyrie:

 

I was in the process of preparing a superheroic setting for a campaign, and trying to recruit players, though at the time I didn't have a specific system in mind for said campaign. While describing the world to one potential player, I threw out a description of "Happy Shiny Flaming Death" as a possible character type. That description intrigued the potential player, though she decided not to play in the campaign.

 

Later, while sketching character ideas, I came up with a sketch based on the earlier (rather catchy) character tag I'd mentioned. This sketch owed as much to the Superman Animated Series villain Livewire as to the original idea (or the Human Torch, who will always be the archetypal fire character), but was a start for the whole character-creation process.

 

By this time I was running the superheroic setting, in which my players were playing villains of rather-unexpected power level (at least partially because I still hadn't decided on a system). I wanted to throw in a new heroic character, and turned to the basic concept mentioned above. I decided to tie the character to organized crime, and have her get her powers through her first interaction with her cousin from Atlantic City. Along the way her personality started to develop, and the "happy shiny" part got left by the wayside. So I ended up with a spoiled, hotheaded teenage girl with the power to throw balls of fire around, but who couldn't completely control her powers, and who was very durable--as she needed to be, since the first villain she encountered was a speedster who used bombs (and was not shy about body counts).

[QueenOfItAll]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Actually' date=' Killer Shrike hit the nail on the head. Even opened my eyes. (I'm feeling a little better now.) A meta background is basically the thinking that went into the character's creation, beyond the character's backstory, which most of us do. He answered for everybody.[/quote']

 

Now I am utterly confused.

 

I see not the slightest resemblence between Killer Shrike's post, which explains why he, the player, had his Secondary Creation take the form it did, and your post, where you...well...

 

Frankly, I can think of no way to describe what you did.

 

In any event, I see nothing similar. Perhaps if you explained why you think them similar, I could (as they say) "get a handle" on what you mean to accomplish. It would be appreciated.

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Now I am utterly confused.

 

I see not the slightest resemblence between Killer Shrike's post, which explains why he, the player, had his Secondary Creation take the form it did, and your post, where you...well...

 

Frankly, I can think of no way to describe what you did.

 

In any event, I see nothing similar. Perhaps if you explained why you think them similar, I could (as they say) "get a handle" on what you mean to accomplish. It would be appreciated.

Fair enough. A meta-background is any other detailed thinking that went into the creation of the character. Not just, "Hey, I'll make a sound-based energy projector with X rough background." It's not for everyone, and sometimes the meta-background fills itself in as you go, but I enjoy them.

 

Like I said, I shouldn't have posted this while down with the Flu.

[QueenOfItAll]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Fair enough. A meta-background is any other detailed thinking that went into the creation of the character. Not just, "Hey, I'll make a sound-based energy projector with X rough background." It's not for everyone, and sometimes the meta-background fills itself in as you go, but I enjoy them.

 

Like I said, I shouldn't have posted this while down with the Flu.

 

So, the fact I designed The Blaze to fill in gaps in the group I was joining, being careful that the character would have a personality that would "fit in," would be a meta-background?

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

So' date=' the fact I designed The Blaze to fill in gaps in the group I was joining, being careful that the character would have a personality that would "fit in," would be a meta-background?[/quote']It's the begining of one, yes. I guess I'm just curious as to how much meta-game thinking people put into their characters.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

It's the begining of one' date=' yes. I guess I'm just curious as to how much meta-game thinking people put into their characters.[/quote']

 

I personally put a lot of thought. I generally have at least three reasons for everything I do, and making a RPG character is no different.

[QueenOfItAll]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

It's the begining of one' date=' yes.[/quote']

In that case, the only way I can see to not have a "meta-background" is to work out the points to accomplish a particular result as an exercise. I.e., to "twiddle the points" for practice.

 

Anything worthy of being called a character has what you call a "meta-background".

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

It's the begining of one' date=' yes.[/quote']In that case, the only way I can see to not have a "meta-background" is to work out the points to accomplish a particular result as an exercise. I.e., to "twiddle the points" for practice.

 

Anything worthy of being called a character has what you call a "meta-background".

Then you are sadly lacking in imagination. I have seen many characters cross my scrutiny that have been made not as a build exercise, but to bring a concept and background to life, the definition of a character. What I have been asking about is the bit behind either of those approaches. With the Spectre, I wanted to play a character that:

 

1. Had a modernised Pulp feel
   
2. Could represent a title that had been passed through several publishers and thus had an origin and power/skill set that was a little odd.
   
3. Had a connection to previous eras
   
4. Used a adaptation of HU2's Alter Metabolism power.
   

With this I then went and wrote a loose background, starting with a few rough notes while I did a little research into certain historical events, both real world and CU. I then built the character and fleshed out the rest of the back ground.

 

In the same campaign as the Spectre, another player had a minimal meta-background in that he wanted to play an Golden-age Hero in an Iron-age game, and wanted to bring a technical skill set to a (then) heavily mystical group.

[QueenOfItAll]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Then you are sadly lacking in imagination.

 

Please apologize, publicly, for your public rudeness.

 

 

 

I have seen many characters cross my scrutiny that have been made not as a build exercise' date=' but to bring a concept and background to life, the definition of a [b']character[/b]. What I have been asking about is the bit behind either of those approaches.

{snip}

In the same campaign as the Spectre' date=' another player had a minimal meta-background in that he wanted to play an Golden-age Hero in an Iron-age game, and wanted to bring a technical skill set to a (then) heavily mystical group.[/quote']

I find it hard to reach any conclusion except "you didn't read what I wrote."

 

I said that, outside of "build exercises," I can think of no way to have a character that does not have what you have defined as a "meta-background". To which you replied, alongside an insult, that you wanted to know about the meta-backgrounds that players had for their characters, clearly implying you expect such things as a matter of course.

 

Perhaps if you were to give an example of a PC without a meta-background (a made-up example would suffice), I could why you are reacting to me so contentiously.

[Weldun]

Re: Meta-Backgrounds

 

Please apologize' date=' publicly, for your public rudeness.[/quote']True, I could have put that more politely, but you seem to be the only one replying to the thread who is having a problem with this. Nonetheless, it doesn't excuse the tone that I chose to take and for that I apologise.

I find it hard to reach any conclusion except "you didn't read what I wrote."

 

I said that, outside of "build exercises," I can think of no way to have a character that does not have what you have defined as a "meta-background". To which you replied, alongside an insult, that you wanted to know about the meta-backgrounds that players had for their characters, clearly implying you expect such things as a matter of course.

 

Perhaps if you were to give an example of a PC without a meta-background (a made-up example would suffice), I could why you are reacting to me so contentiously.

One example would be a brick made simply so a party had a brick. No reason given for the prodigious strength, nothing beyond High STR and Defences. No even an exercise to

"twiddle the points"

as you put it.

In that case' date=' the only way I can see to [i']not [/i]have a "meta-background" is to work out the points to accomplish a particular result as an exercise. I.e., to "twiddle the points" for practice.

Such a character as I described would not have been made for the exercise you described. It was made purely to fill a slot. Any characterisation comes through gameplay.

Anything worthy of being called a character has what you call a "meta-background".

Not true. I created this character completely from his background, which came to me while I was reading my copy of Classic Enemies. And this character was also created purely out of their background. Now, I can accept that you just don't get the concept of what I'm describing, but when people post comments,

Anything worthy of being called a character has what you call a "meta-background".

, which can come across just a little "snarky", I tend to get a little wound up.

 

That aside, the other problem you may be having is seeing a point to question at all, given the broad scope of "meta-backgrounds", and in that you would be right. As I posted earlier, I made the original post (and quite a few after it) whilst sick with the flu, but now that it's cleared out of my head, I'm having trouble seeing the point the OP. Rather that a "do people do this?", which as you pointed out, they obviously would do for most characters, I suppose I should be asking, "how much effort do people generally put into this?"

 

My own answer? The Spectre is an extreme example, but I do tend to put a lot of thought into the mechanical reasoning behind a character as well as the characterisation itself. As evidenced here and here