The Requiem for Roleplaying :: Background

History.

Where the heck did you come from?

Were you born in a barn? In an ancient temple? Was your father an angel, or your mother a demon? Were your parents normal? Do you have any surviving family? If so, what do they think of your course in life?

I see a lot of people walking around with 'huge scars' in their long description, yet very few of those people put any effort in to thinking about how that scar came to be, they just wanted a scar because 'scars are kewl.'

Is your young warrior pissed off that he got kicked out of 'mage camp'? Did your assassin get burnt too badly by a love interest, and lost all faith in humanity and therefore turned to the dark side? Does your bard carry his/her father/mother's hand-crafted mandolin?

A good, solid history will increase your 'taste' of your character by 100 fold. You will be able to picture why they do the things they do, and how they would respond in any given situation. It may also help you figure out your character's motivation, if you had not yet done so.