Background and Backstory describe a character’s live before entering the world of adventuring. Both can be found on the Character Creation Form. Combined, these represent your character’s past and will influence your adventuring gameplay going forward.
And remember: no-one is perfect, so neither characters should be!
Background #
A character’s background explains how he LIVED. This is chosen at Character Creation time. The background is selected from a redefined dropdown list. Players are encouraged to expand upon and ‘write in’ the background into the backstory.
Fundamentally, your character’s background describes your character’s life up to the point he started his adventuring lifestyle. Your character’s background can be seen as a ‘pre-adventuring’ profession.
A Fighter might not just a fighter, but a fighter who lived their life sailing the high seas and plundering merchant vessels. Or a Wizard might not just a wizard, but an ascetic sage who has now returned to civilization to stave off the grave catastrophe he keep seeing in his dreams.
Backstory #
It has to pass the final judgement of the GM (you may be asked to modify something to better suit the World of Arcadia) but basically you have freedom to imagine what kind of personal history you character has.
Why he decided to adventure? Why he choose to learn something he does? Why he is of a specific class? What does scares him? What turns him angry? Keep in mind your long term alignment you are wanting when doing so.
Character Profile #
At the start of the game, your GM will update your character’s online profile to include the backstory details (amongst other information) you included on your Character Creation Form. This character profile is made available to all other adventurers to view.
You are encouraged to keep your character’s online profile updated through the game.