Narrated D&D Story: The Twisted Origin Of Our Group’s Sorcerer 

How important is backstory to you in a campaign?

I had a barbarian who’s whole motivation was his tribe in the mountains was suffering because of an enemy orc tribe and he was looking for allies by starting a revolution against a corrupt city anyways right before the big battle a fortune teller told him she saw fire and brimstone and him standing in it he thought it was him ransacking the enemy nation but then when he got to his tribe he saw his village was burned and gone because the orcs got the help of the villain for the second half of the campaign and now he is questing for revenge.

Last time I was this early my D&D group managed to actually get together.

Holy crap, he's the Dunwhich Horror?!

Oh man, that was so cool. As the DM for the campaign where this story took place, I just want to thank you for this video. It's so cool being a part of a community that allows us to share such cool and fun moments and be received so well. Thanks again to All Things DND, and thank you all for watching!!!

Damn, to be reunited with a parent then dies, heart tearing out and crushing event.

Never underestimate one of the oldest and strongest of powers. The power of a mother's love.

This is so Court of Owls

I love these amazing stories of d&d moments, I am gucci with the "player/dm is a that guy" kinda ones as well, but god these just are the reason I play d&d.

My character recently found out that she is the granddaughter of the BBEG (who is essentially Zeus/Poseidon and ridiculously evil) and that he murdered her sorcerer grandmother and possibly her parents. She’s a barbarian, but next time we level up I’ve cleared it with the dm to dramatically manifest a lightning spell of some sort at a cool moment and then take a dip into sorcerer. I’m so excited for it.

A couple weeks ago, my character heard the name of her old sailing captain from a cultist. That he was eager to see her again. Problem is? She literally sat by him until his last breath left him. She watched him die of old age. I have yet to find out more. But man, am I excited. The only hint the DM has given me is that he is using one of the new UA Gothic races.

Hell of a great back story and session- that's how you make great gaming memories and create legends.

Sounds like a very good plot twist. And you can explain away the one turn awesome move by he charged it/ he prepared the whole move to be done in one turn that's why it took them so long to get back

So a half human/half god was stolen as a baby and raised as a pirate? Did Ulysses happen to fall in love with a half orc woman named Gamora? Lol Really cool story! I LOVED when my DM expanded and resolved parts of my backstory! It really IS a wonderful way to make the player feel special and a great way to bond a group....

Our DM once asked us the biggest fears and goals of our characters and our back stories. Several sessions later we understood why. We were trying to save a village from a cursed disease, fighting the bbeg. During the fight, when we almost killed the BBEG, we entered a mist and passed out. The session after we heard we won the fight. My character had a wish to become an elite member of specialist mage force and start a new family, and this came through. However something didn't feel right. My character's backstory and biggest fears came from a moment in the past, where his family died in an attack of one of the most evil entities in the dms world. His biggest fear is losing his family again although his wish is the warmth of a new family. Our group had bonded over a long period and another player had adopted a npc which we were assigned to kill as his daughter. We all cared for her deeply. I was playing a blade bound magus which had a sentient sword, which could find the evil entities in the world and purge them. This sword was inherently good but was set on killing all of these beings and he could influence me to do so if I didn't comply. The child our group adopted had the gift to become one of these evil beings but she used it for good deeds. After the fight we found out a few years had passed by, and I finally had a family. There were several pictures of me with my new family. However something didn't feel right. I soon found out my new family died again, shaken by this revelation and with suspicion our characters went to bed. And this is where things got real. The dm started tense music and sent all of us messages. As he described what we saw. We didn't know each others fears. But the house at which we stayed was lit on fire, with spiders crawling all over. The thing which scared me the most was a message though. The message was simple. My sword had said, well done, sounding satisfied as it was stained with blood. After which I heard my friend calling for his daughter. This is where I almost crapped my pants and realised what just happened. My character killed his daughter. And all evidence was pointing towards me. Luckily we found out this was all set in the nightmare plane and the only way out was to confront these fears. After which we returned to the real world and defeated the BBEG. But to this day I will remember that dreadfull feeling and realisation as my worst nightmare came through.

Hey thanks for being story tellers its really helped me get through some tough times just listening and helps me to not get in a funk thanks my dudes!

Story: The leader has glowing yellow eyes. Animation: Eyes glow a deep red.

More like Ulysses Whateley

Heather Ripley 17 year old girl from Orange county, head cheerleader and top of the social pyramid. To her there were only three kinds of people; herself, tools, and the little people to be stepped on. Her mother Silvia was a gold digger whose only happiness came from drunken shopping and her father arnold was 60 years older then his daughter he wasn't even aware he had. One day while waiting for chemistry class to end for the day she decided to spend her time making fun of "fat marge" and her brother "incel gus" it was so fun to watch them cry. Finding the two by the wall drawing some weird anime symbols in their note book Heather grabs the book "hey look what the f** made". When marge tried to stop Heather the cheerleader simply backhanded the smaller girl away. Accidently knocking her head on the table drawing blood some splatter even landing on heathers hand. Drawing her blood splattered hand back and touching the notebook a light appeared absorbing the head cheerleader before fading revealing a fantasy environment with three people pointing weapons; a cow women with a red glowing trident, a black crow monster rustling through its bag, and a red eyed women grabbing heathers thought "We are the order of hellsing, who are you and how did you come here?"

A slightly more comedic take on integrating backstory. I told my DM my rogue has a list of exes that, with the exception of one, parted ways on not-so-good terms. See while my rogue has a weakness for a pretty face, he lacks the emotional maturity needed for a stable relationship and ended up breaking a few hearts before he met up with the party. All my DM asked was I give her a timeline, a basic description of every ex, and whatever my rogue knew/assumed about the situation. With my blessing to run wild with the details my rogue didn't know, our DM proceeded to give us some fun stories involving an ex showing up to mess with the party's goals, including a trip through the underdark, stopping a wedding, and rescuing the amicable ex from a dragon.

Ngl, that chanting hit me like "What?!?" Wearing earbuds so it was a direct hit!

Barbarian backstory: Killed a dragon with his family sword to avenge the death of his family - then he gets killed by lvl 1 goblins

Wow that his me choked up towards the end

Wouldn’t mind hearing more about this group!

What confuses me is the initiation of the fight. Were the mind flayer and the other cultist opposing each other, the leader or the party? Why did the other cultist tell Ulysses to run? Why did the party have to fight the Guath if it only opposed the mind flayer?

very cool story and excellent narration

That's an awesome story.

Not everybody needs a tragic backstory. One of my characters is a Fighter who still has both of her parents and all four of her younger siblings. Her motivation is that she just likes helping people for the sake of it. Or you could go with a relatable backstory, as not everybody can relate to their family being murdered by evil necromancers. Perhaps a character is a hopeless romantic, looking for someone they can grow old with? Perhaps they need a job for experience, but they need experience for a job, so they've hit the road? Perhaps they have impostor syndrome? Relatable backstories work just as well as tragic backstories, and you can mix the two up a bit.

When I dm a small group for the first time or dm a group of newbs they don't get to have a back story. Instead they wake up together in a small dungeon with headaches and basic weapons. They can hear voices from above or around them . Basic monsters can attack them. Basic traps can damage them. When they complete the dungeon they each find a treasure suited to them. It's nothing major but it is an upgrade to the trash I start them with. Then blazing torches flare up all around them. The tavern people above them had pulled up the floors and were watching the adventures fight in the dungeon pit. When they are brought up the guild master hands each a potion to bring back memories, backstories, etc. This was a test they chose before they would be allowed to join. The tavern makes money, the guild makes money, and the party can make money. Plus it helps new players learn to play. You can also send them back out to collect monsters for the pit dungeon for the next group. Or gamble their weapons for better weapons. And slowly weave their backstories in to your campaign as the potions kick in. It helps.

I love my current Wizards story, and to RP in character. Unfortunately, the group im with at the moment are not huge on RP..

That story was awsome man wish I could play with you

...I'll be honest, had the sorcerer been me I would have opened fire with both barrels as soon as I heard the words "Yog Sothoth", alignment be damned - I would have torched the insane mom and her messed up dad, and had my level been high enough I would have cast Earthquake - REPEATEDLY - even if that caused a TPK. Because if there's something that ticks me off to no end is a DM (or a publishing house - looking at you, Paizo) trying to push freakin' Call of Cthulhu inside my fantasy game. Heck, that's one of the reasons why I love Ponyfinder... not only because of the ponies (duh), but because, unlike many other settings, the arrival of one of the Great Old Ones didn't have the world's Gods bend over for him - they realized that hey, they're Gods, and he's just ONE Great Old One, so they surrounded him and BEAT THE STUFFING OUT OF HIM.

I'm playing a wizard school of necromancy, multiclassing into barbarian path of the ancestral guardians. Which may sound strange, mostly, because it is. He's a half elf, born of a human mother who cheated on her husband with a sea elf captain. When he was born, her husband (not his biological father) found out and was extremely angry. They both grew to resent the child due to the strife caused by the constant reminder of the treachery. They named him Alf, which is a german derogatory term for elf. He was super smart and loved books, but his mother and "father" were boat menders. They wanted him to be more helpful with the family business, but he was often lost in a book. He found a wizard's book of spells in the wreckage of a ship, slowly learned some magic. One night while hewas trying to plan an escape from his village, he was off in a place he hid the spell book which was on a cliff side overlooking the village. As he was preparing he heard the screams of the villagers. The village was being raided by pirates. In the aftermath he searched the village for survivors, amongst the dead were his mother and "father." He felt this freed him easier of a lowly life of boat mending and the hatred from them. But, the next day, he found he was being haunted by both of them. They constantly bother him, both demeaning him for his shortcomings and berating him to get revenge for them. They tell him his magic is nothing and he needs to be stronger, so in the hopes to satiate them he learns to fight using pent up rage (hence barbarian). But he also seeks to learn to exercise them so he can be in peace (hence wizard school of necromancy). Haha, i was thinking about how a lot of characters have a tragic backstory, and I wanted a twist on it. So I made what sounds tragic to actually have been a thought of release from the actually tragedy, only to be a joke on the character whom now has to deal with his tormenters even after their deaths.

I JUST HEARD YOUR VOICE ON A MENS HAIR LOSS AD AND IT FREAKED ME TF OUT.

Sorcerer the embodiment of magic. Whom have a more limited spell selection than, wizard. That cannot memorize as many spells as a bard, cleric, druid, or wizard at high levels. The only caster class without any class specific spells. Whose capstone ability equals that of level 2 warlock, level 6 land druid and, level 6 wizard. You seeing a trend here?

Bit of dust in the air here.

Finally in early enough for my comment to be seen. Love the work my dude keep it up. You help me through the week

yes

Thank you for your amazing content! I appreciate your work in doing these! I hope I get to hire you for a voice acting commission for my campaign one day!

My name is Conner... I think? Lily is the only family I knew, or at least I think she is family. I dont remember much but I do know she has always been here with me. We lived in baulders gate in a slum apartment above a tavern... Its all we could afford. She helps clean and serve where she can and I am new to the Flaming Fists earning my way, as I said... I dont remember much. I just knew she was important. Crime here has been relativly low but there was something in the shadows building. That day was a bad day. Lily was taken while I was out on a contract. I will find her, I just knew she was important. I found her necklace... the blue gem. Back then some thugs broke into the tavern after the doors were locked and they picked her up. They headed towards the south side. I tracked the thugs to a run down shack located in tumbledown. There seems to be 10 or so around the building with all the taverns ale barrels out on display. I saw the girl... roughed up and tied to a post like a dog. One of them taunting her with food as he jerks on the rope she was tied with. My fists kept her safe. All I remember is his bones breaking from the impact of my knuckles. 1.. 2... 4... 6 of them all now dead. She is screaming... I didn't know why... from the sight of what I was doing or from the thugs who came after us, I just knew she was important. -CLASH- The door of the prison gate slamed... I now reside in the prison in Baulders gate. I have no clue where or what happened to Lily... I do know that I turned myself in. My conscience led me here. The thugs are not a fan of me here. They make me a common target for what I did to their friends. None of them know about Lily... even the ones who I drug to the prison with me. "Lily who?" Is all I remember them saying... I have found a way to defend myself. Seems I am quite capeable with a broomhandle... Laid out a group of 8 that jumped me during work hours. 3 died... Was ruled self defence so no further punishment was added. I feel something tho... coming tonight. As I sit in my cell... I look to my Left. He is sitting beside me. "You are lost..." he says in a gravily tone. "I feel the strength in your heart... The need to bring Justice to those who do you and your family wrong." My breathing slows as i nod. "The chance is coming... your path is not fully clear." he finishes. "Take the opportunity and charge yourself with strength to defend those you need to..." Coming from the 1 with bandages hanging. "The courage comes from within... follow it and do what needs to be done..." exclaimed the one with a stumped arm. As his exclemation comes to a bellowing finish... the wall of the prison explodes. Light peirces through the hole leading to the outside. Heeding their words I take the opportunity and make my leave. Ducking through the now open wall I rush to the east. Passing house after house 1 of the 3 men... or man is pointing on the way. These strange flowers seem to be along my path. Coming to the edge of the town one of the men appear in front of me, I pass through him as if they were not there. The 2nd one appears in my path... again i pass through. Finally the Man who sat beside me appears with an arm extended towards my chest. THUD! He stops me in my tracks. Where there really 3 of them? "You are close to being lost... Feeling alone." Those words shock me to my core. "Seeming to be searching for something... the flowers will remind you. Your path will become clear soon enough. Trust in your courage, the True and Loyal Fury will always be at your strength. Reveal the truth, punish the guilty, right the wrong... Now go Aric, paladin, you and your vengance are needed elsewhere." With that final line, I blinked and no one was there with me. I stood alone in a field of Lilys. I was drawn east... encountering multiple faiths to the Triad, still finding my way... I land in Greenest. My name is Aric. My paladins backstory. He does not truely know his patron... currently playing the horde of the dragin queen. My DM has shown my paladin to see auras coming from any blue dragon he enguages and when cyanwrath stabbed him with his spear, his blood made cyanwrath worried. During one of the fights Aric finally smited something on a crit... instead of the usual white/gold light(as all other encountered "holy" magic has been) his was blue avatar/lightsaber esqie. So he is even more confused and searching for who he gains his righteous powers from.

One of my characters is a goliath with 18 strength, at level one we decided to go into an orc cave and we got trapped by hundreds of orcs. We were in a small building and the orcs were at the door. I picked up a boulder and threw it into the crowd of orcs and somehow killed 20. One of the members of our party built a trap with spiked in a hole. Around 100 orcs were unlucky and didnt see it eventually after several boulders being thrown and friends using spells and traps trapping orcs. We fended them off. After this we gained two levels and i was level three. Tell me if you actually read this

And for our next backstory resolution, the party thief is the 2nd coming of the Christ. Next will be about Buddy, our monk...who is really the son of Buddha and Tiamat.

I thought of a cool idea for a sorcerer pyromancer(the plane shift kaladesh subclass) changeling and basically what would happen is there would be two personalities a kind and more innocent one and a psychotic one and whenever A fight started or they were in a stressful situation there would be a chance of turning into the more evil persona. I was gonna make it a tiefling but in my head I had it envisioned that the two personalities were different genders and then I realized that would be perfect for changeling

Awesome as always. 1 question, did you do an AD for thinning hair?

One minute or less gang reply here!

I just saw an ad about shampoo and the narrator sounded just like you

how does dimension door let you escape banishment?

I have never learned Fire Ball. I know, but I just don't care about that spell. I only care about spells that can do 2 things. Either pulling pranks to entertain the people I love, or doing damage so I can protect the people I love. And I don't see how Fire Ball can do either of those things. You know what I can see what Fire Ball can be useful for? Accidently burning down a forest. And if I burn down a forest, I have 1 less place to hunt. And if I have 1 less place to hunt, I eat less.

The sorcerer in my party got her powers after taking C*cain from the party cleri… drug dealer. This happened before the campaign started.

22 secs ago?

Lovecraft references are always cool.

I have a Good one the first ever cat kite!

Backstory sessions???

LOVE your stories, but i can't do that voice.. pierces thru my head like a goblin dart.

WIFIS bad rn so i’m not taking any chances with a long winded comment as long the sorcerer isn’t secretly the devil they should be fine YIRBEL LIVES!

17secs

E

@AllThingsDnD...bro,are you seriously doing voice work for shampoo advertising now?

It sounds like the cult got woke and went... broke.

999th view!

Woah I'm early

Dang I looked at the comments right at the start and had the story spoiled 😅