Backstories

Lurking on this site lately, I notice almost none of the PC posts have backstories. Why not? Are you guys just not bothering to post them, or do you guys not like it? I always liked it and especially as Game Master to help me cater encounters...

The ones I’m running the players are playing themselves, or their own kids, so no need.

Stu has been getting backstory at the table for his.

Nice! You've been talking about that campaign for a while. Glad you're finally running it. Are you finding it easier or harder than you thought? Is it kick ass fun?

It is the campaign I’ve been running since the beginning of the year.
We did the first two sessions live, then Covid hit and have been playing virtually ever since.
I’m using 5e and it’s been really easy to run using the tools.
We have had 22 sessions and the adventures have been all over the place. Check out the Doom Logs in the General Discussion section.

my PC's all have at least a few paragraphs of back story but I usually don't post it. Sonya Morecut, for example has a fairly detailed back story.

Sonya's back story...

Impulsive and slightly brash as many military officers were her role models.  Knows she will never rule as she is too far down the birth order and she is a woman so she must make a name for herself.  Father is Lord Donsolot, whose symbol is a sun rising from behind a mountain.  Mother is Alyscia Serenity, an elf with arcane powers.  Trained in her father's army and rose to Captain.  Married to Sterling Morecut, a young noble from a nearby estate but he was tragically killed the day after the wedding by two half orc assasins, a gigantic brute wearing a wolf's hide and wielding a double sword and a half orc/ half red headed female rogue w two long daggers.

Sonya is fit and muscular with long reddish brown hair and light hazel eyes.  She has a perfect and bright smile that few ever see.  Her nails are trimmed short for battle.  Facial features resemble her father, more than her mother, and she closely resembles her oldest brother Danforth Donsolot, although quite a bit shorter.  She has two other older brothers, an older sister, and one younger brother. The other older brothers are also soldiers and leaders, one an avenger in the name of Kord. Her sister, Summer, loves wandering their mountain homeland and is viewed as a bit odd by the rest of the family as she would rather grow her spiritual connection with nature than practice the arts of war. Danforth says that Summer take far too much after their mother's elven nature. Sonya's youngest brother, was able to secure a position at a distant port city, learning the skills of a sail master onboard a merchantman flying the flag of the same merchant house that controls the primary mountain pass near Lord Donsolot's Keep. Sonya is direct when giving orders, but talks at length when negotiating.  She walks with confidence and has the icy glare of a drill master.  She wears an open face helm so her allies can see her and be inspired by her practiced leadership.

Note - Lord Donsolot is a character from the 1970's.  My first PC, Sir Manderin the Lancer (fighter who specialized with heavy lance) had a small keep and a couple hundred men.  He was joined by Lord Donsolot, his neighbor, in battling a very large group of organized bandits.  While Donsolot's forces pinned the bandit footmen down, Donsolot feigned retreat and the bandit lord committed his light horsemen in an attempt to drive his foes from the field.  It was at this time that Manderin charged the bandits from the rear with his heavy horsemen while Donsolot's medium horsemen bolstered the allied footmen.  Although the bandit lord was killed, several lesser bandit leaders and some scattered remains of various bandit units escaped.  Still, the battle was a great victory for the allied forces, allowing increased farming and commerce for more than a decade.

It is against this backdrop that Sonya begins her adventuring life.  There is an unsteady peace at home, but her aging father's forces are fairly well prepared with a small group of professional soldiers and a very large body of trained reservists.  With her homeland quiet for now, the love of her life dead at the hands of hired killers, and little chance of being more than a minor noble, Sonya sets off to seek her fortune, hone her skills, and perhaps find both the orcs that killed her man as well as any clue as to who hired them.