Trosis wrote:
I'm confused as to why this needs to be a thing. To justify your actions to the Imms?.
Not to justify your actions, no. But to show them the story you are trying to tell, to put your actions into the context of how you were born and raised. So that you have greater insight into why a character is the way they are, or really anything about them that you would want conveyed and recorded.
So... not justification, so much as context.
ninja_ardith wrote:
While this idea sounds cool and all, the things I've learned about writing and talking about other people about writing, these backgrounds are the gateway to poor writing.
I couldn't say that with any measure of confidence I believe that or have seen that. Multiple people from the last RPI I have played are actually published authors, one of them being Cat Rambo. Aside from that, I can't see how having the 'option' of inputting a paragraph or three of information to give context to the role you are playing for someone who might be curious on staff would make anyone -worse- at writing?