How to showcase NPC's rich backstory?

Question

In an upcoming game I have an NPC whom I've picked from a previous game. The NPC in question has already had an interesting background, and was evolved from the endgame state to suit the new campaign better. As of current, this NPC has a backstory, history of meaningful interaction with players of the previous game, changes and developments in the time between and its own reason to be in the new campaign. I do consider both campaigns happening in the same timeline, even though after a 2-3 year timeskip and in a different location.

The problem is, none of my current players participated in the previous campaign. How can I best capitalise on the wealth of background available to me in a way that will bring the most entertainment to the group? I am reluctant to kill my darlings and just treat the NPC as any other new one, so when you estimate the optimal Gross Entertainment Product™ include my own joy of working with this favourite NPC as well.

Answer 1

Make his backstory relevant to the plot

What is the role of this NPC in your new campaign? If the answer is something like "given what happened in the previous one, this NPC should logically be present" then it is not enough and you should either remove it from the spotlight or find better reasons as the players won't really care about this previous campaign they didn't even play. We are looking here for narrative reasons like "he will fill the role of the old hermit" or "it will be X's nemesis".

I am not telling you to force the NPC in this role independently of the evolution of the campaign, but just to have an idea of why the NPC will make the campaign better, or you will be way better just not including them.

Now you can think about how to present the backstory as facts that give an advantage to PCs from knowing them. Does it bring keys on how to progress, like the weakness to fire of a foe or the crack addiction of someone they have to bargain with, or the mention of a lost city where they can find some secondary McGuffins ? If it contains such information it is easy to make parts of the backstory told either by the NPC (as an ally, to help them achieve their goals) or by something else (someone wrote a biography about them, or an information dealer spied him because they looked suspicious). As they are looking for useful information the players will pay more attention.

So you search the library for the plans of Castle Doom? You don't find the plans, but there is in one book a chapter about an adventurer who apparently managed to escape its dungeons. He was Imprisoned because...

"Ya see this scar? 'cause of Enpeasea. What (burps), y'on't know the famous Enpeasea? 'Can't 'liev it, she's most terrible bandit 'round here. Robbed even the relic of Santa Robert, Disguy know teh full story and 'll tell ya I ain't lyin'."

No, I know we are working together but I can't let you have my ring, even just for a minute. It was a gift for a dear friend I lost during the Plague. I couldn't heal him but I can respect his vow that I will look after his ring.

Anyway you should probably not throw all the full backstory at once unless at some point the players ask for the full story. Proceed by small bits, it tastes better like that.

Answer 2

I find that making the NPC part of the new PCs's backgrounds works every time. Maybe not all the PCs, but a few. Especially if one of those PC has a negative view of the character and the rest have positive (or neutral) ones. It allows for many shades of grey to happen within the game, thus making it richer.

Otherwise, there are the usual dropping names and events into lore either in books or whatever you setting has to part take of knowledge. Wanted posters are great at leading PCs to make assumptions about said NPC. It does not have to be passive lore either as having other NPCs talk about said NPC and be over heard by the PCs is a good way to introduce hints. To be honest, this mimics how you learn about people in real life: books, TV, the Internet, your friends, etc …

Another thing that works well is to have a guest player turn up for one session. Ask one of your previous player to come round for one session and give them a brief to talk about said NPC. That way, you get another person's point of view which is always fun.

While I do not think you would make that mistake be careful that the NPC does not becoming the focus of the game instead of the PCs…

Answer 3

Make your backstory an actual quest line.

At least that's what I am doing on my current table.

Since my players are playing DND 3.5e for the first time, I added 2 NPCs as their team mates at the beginning of the campaign. Both of them have enrich backstories relevant to the Underdark, but the PCs don't even know what Underdark is just yet.

And here's what I did:

• Making the NPCs "just PCs but controlled by DM" in the team, actually play with them.
• Whenever the NPCs encounter something relevant to the Underdark, they show cautious and they don't like it/they are worried about something, but never explain what was the reason.
• Some NPCs from the Underdark have special reactions and dialogs if they see these two NPCs. These two NPCs may also react dramatically when that happens.

These makes PCs become more and more curious to the NPCs' backstory about the Underdark. But they also worry about it. When they are taking a quest travelling to the Underdark, they split the team so that these two NPCs can stay on the ground.

In the meantime, they find more clues in their Underdark quests about the NPCs' backstory, as well as finding some NPCs actually knowing them. This has now become a complex quest line that goes parallel with the main quest, and my PCs (because there're too many of them) enjoys splitting their teams and proceed both sides simultaneously.

The key is to let PCs explore the backstories by themselves. That's my suggestion.