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Character backstory for players and DMs

Character card / Player view

Haren Ostley

Tidewater cartographer

  • RaceHalf-elf
  • ClassRanger
  • BackgroundChart-house apprentice
Appearance
Lean, forearm tattoos of tide tables, ink-stained fingers. Keeps a leather notebook tied to a belt loop. Laughs before a bad decision, quiet after a good one.
Personality
Keeps debts in a ledger and promises in a second one. Reads every room through the people he has already disappointed.
Bonds
Owes Jess, the party rogue, a life pulled from the Kelp Point reefs. Will not leave a saved party member behind even when the math says to run.

Shared with the party

DM view / Story Hooks plus DM Only section

DM view

What the DM pulls on in prep for the next session.

Goals
Find out whether Dann's coastline exists, and if so whether Dann is alive on it.
Plot hooks
A guild summons from Rowell any time the party uses stolen charts. A letter from Par offering a fast route to any port for a favor. A recurring dream of the reefs that warns Haren a day early about storms at sea.
Open questions
Why Dann's final chart shows a coastline that is not on any guild map.
Important people
Mother (Wenmoor, alive). Rowell, a guild agent in Stonemere, hostile. Par, a childhood friend turned smuggler.
Fears
Drowning. Specifically the sound of longboat timbers breaking underwater.

DM only

Secrets
Dann is alive. He found the coastline and chose to stay. He does not want to be found by the guild.
DM notes
Haren suspects the guild; he does not yet suspect Rowell personally. The day he does is a session pivot.

Write a character backstory your DM can actually use.

Multiloop holds a character as a record with real sections: Identity, Appearance, Personality, Backstory, Story Hooks, People & Relationships. Write your backstory into those sections and every line becomes something the DM can reach for in play.

The two-pane card below shows one character the way Multiloop stores it. The left side is the identity card players would see on a share. The right side is the DM view, with the hooks, open questions, and DM-only lines that drive next session.

Copy the outlineSee the full campaign workflow

Two worked records

One player character. One recurring NPC.

Same sections in the editor. Different share-view rendering. On a share, PC Secrets appears inside the Story Hooks area; NPC Secrets appears as a dedicated DM Secrets section flagged DM Only.

Player character / Ranger, chart-house apprentice

Haren Ostley

Traded a steady job at the chart-house for a chance to find a coastline that was never on any map.

Identity

Name
Haren Ostley.
Class
Ranger, coastal scout track.
Background
Chart-house apprentice.
Race
Half-elf.

Appearance

Appearance
Lean, forearm tattoos of tide tables, ink-stained fingers. Leather notebook tied to a belt loop. Laughs before a bad decision, quiet after a good one.

Personality

Personality
Keeps debts in a ledger and promises in a second one.
Bonds
Owes Jess, the party rogue, a life pulled from the Kelp Point reefs. Will not leave a saved party member behind.
Fears
Drowning, specifically the sound of longboat timbers breaking underwater.

Backstory

Backstory
Apprenticed to Master Dann, who vanished in a winter storm. Inherited his partial chart of a coastline that should not exist. Left Wenmoor to find it.
Origin place
The tideline village of Wenmoor, on the iron coast, where the chart-house keeps maps of reefs the sea rewrites every winter.
Life phases
Childhood: tide charts before letters. Before the table: apprenticed under Dann. Arriving at the table: left to find the coastline.

Story Hooks

Goals
Find out whether Dann's coastline exists, and if so whether Dann is alive on it.
Plot hooks
A guild summons from Rowell any time the party uses stolen charts. A letter from Par offering a fast route to any port. A recurring dream of the reefs that warns Haren a day early about storms.
Open questions
Why Dann's final chart shows a coastline that is not on any guild map.
DM onlySecrets
Dann is alive. He found the coastline and chose to stay. He does not want to be found by the guild. (Stored in the DM Only section in the editor; renders inside Story Hooks on a share when you include Secrets.)

People & Relationships

Important people
Mother (Wenmoor, alive, writes each season). Rowell, guild agent in Stonemere, hostile. Par, childhood friend, smuggler, avoids Wenmoor.

On a PC share, Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include the Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections to hide it; the rest of the record stays on the share if you include those sections.

Recurring NPC / Grain-account warden, Hollowmere

Vestra Aulm

The quiet woman who runs the grain accounts in the walled city of Hollowmere. Never speaks first at a table.

Identity

Name
Vestra Aulm.
Role
Warden of the south counting-house.
Disposition
Reserved. Cordial to anyone with a ledger.

Appearance

Appearance
Middle-aged, plain robes, ledger cuffs blacked with ink, a small iron key worn on a cord. Waits to be addressed.

Personality

Personality
Competent on paper, paralyzed in rooms of more than eight people.
Bonds
The counting-house itself. Will not falsify a ledger.
Fears
Public speaking. Any table with more than eight chairs.

Background

Background
Rose from copyist to warden. Noticed a pattern in four winters of grain receipts nobody else noticed.
Origin place
Hollowmere, the walled grain city on the inland lake. Her office sits above the quay in the south counting-house.

People & Relationships

Important people
Uncle, retired on a river farm, alive. Master Corin of the counting-house, now on the city council, cordial. Mey the courier, trusted.

DM Secrets

DM Only
DM onlySecrets
The council member draining the winter grain reserve is Corin, Vestra's former master. She does not yet want to believe it.
DM onlyDM notes
Vestra will cross the line on forging a ledger if the party gives her a survivable story afterward. That is the pivot.
DM onlyPlot hooks
A winter grain receipt that does not match warehouse stock the party just passed through. A quiet request to help recover a stolen ledger. Mey arriving with sealed accounts nobody should have seen.

On an NPC share, DM Secrets renders as its own section, flagged DM Only. Leave Secrets out of shared sections to keep the section hidden. Include it deliberately when you want a specific reader to see it.

The rule

What makes a backstory playable.

Every field on the record above exists so a DM can pull on it next session without inventing new lore.

  • Every person you name gets a last-known status.
  • Every place is specific enough to sit on a map.
  • Every fear names a trigger.
  • Every plot hook is one line the DM can reach for.
  • Every line can be rewritten after one session; none of this is locked.

The record / six sections

What each section holds.

The sections below are the ones Multiloop actually stores on a character record. Section titles are the public labels shown inside the editor. NPC differences are called out per section.

Section

Identity

Who they are on the sheet. One or two lines each: the name the party uses, the class and background, a calling.

In the product / Appears on both PC and NPC records. A DM sees this section first on any share; keep it honest.

  1. Name

    Name as the party will use it. A different true name in parentheses if relevant.

    Example / Haren Ostley.

  2. Class

    Class, plus subclass if it matters at the table.

    Example / Ranger, coastal scout track.

  3. Background

    Origin work or training. One line on what they did before the party.

    Example / Chart-house apprentice to a cartographer who vanished in a winter storm.

Section

Appearance

What people see first. Two or three concrete sentences. No stat lines, no portrait from scratch.

In the product / Its own section on both PC and NPC records. Toggle it off a player-facing share when the character should appear as a silhouette.

  1. Appearance

    Two or three sentences a DM can read aloud on first meeting.

    Example / Lean, forearm tattoos of tide tables, ink-stained fingers. Leather notebook tied to a belt loop.

Section

Personality

How they think, feel, and behave. The fields here are what a DM reaches for when they want to run the character cold.

In the product / Same section name on PC and NPC records. Keeps Personality, Ideals, Bonds, Fears, Weaknesses, Mannerisms, Speech patterns, Motivations, Quotes, and Common phrases.

  1. Personality

    One or two lines on how they carry themselves under pressure.

    Example / Keeps debts in a ledger and promises in a second one.

  2. Bonds

    The relationships or principles that bend their behavior when pressed.

    Example / Will not leave a saved party member behind, even when the math says to run.

  3. Fears

    A specific trigger the DM can reach for. Name the sense, not the anxiety.

    Example / Drowning, specifically the sound of longboat timbers breaking underwater.

  4. Mannerisms and speech

    One visible habit and one voice cue: the repeated phrase, pause, tell, or posture a DM can use immediately.

    Example / Counts exits before sitting; says "mark it in ink" whenever someone makes a promise.

  5. Motivations, weaknesses, and quotes

    The want that pulls them forward, the flaw that complicates it, and one quote that tells the DM how they sound.

    Example / Wants proof the chart-house lied; cannot leave a debt unpaid; "A map is a promise someone else made first."

Section

Backstory

Where they came from, trimmed. Home place, who raised them, the life phases that shaped them, the origin location.

In the product / On PC records the section is Backstory. On NPC records the closest equivalent is Background (kept concise by design).

  1. Backstory

    The main prose. A short summary paragraph at the top; the rest below it.

    Example / Apprenticed to a cartographer who vanished in a winter storm. Left Wenmoor to find the coastline on his partial chart.

  2. Life phases

    Childhood, before the table, arriving at the table. One change in each phase. Template convention kept inside the Backstory section.

    Example / Childhood: learned tide charts before letters. Before the table: inherited a partial chart of a coast that should not exist.

    Kept inside the Backstory section, not a separate editor field.

  3. Origin place

    One named place, concrete enough to put on a map.

    Example / The tideline village of Wenmoor, on the iron coast, where the chart-house keeps maps of reefs the sea rewrites every winter.

Section

Story Hooks

The handle the DM reaches for. Goals, Plot hooks, Open questions, Secrets, and Story arcs.

In the product / Named Story Hooks on PC records. The campaign editor also exposes a DM Only section on every character record (PC and NPC) for Secrets, DM notes, and visibility. On a share, PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include Secrets; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections when players should not see them.

  1. Goals

    One specific outcome the character would act on if the right door opened next session.

    Example / Find out whether Dann's coastline exists, and if so whether Dann is alive on it.

  2. Plot hooks

    Two or three one-line hooks the DM can reach for anytime. Debts, letters, dreams, favors owed.

    Example / A guild summons from Rowell any time the party uses stolen charts. A letter from Par offering a fast route.

  3. Open questions

    One thing the character does not know the answer to. The DM may answer later.

    Example / Why Dann's final chart shows a coastline that is not on any guild map.

  4. Secrets

    DM only

    The DM-only line. In the campaign editor, Secrets lives in the character record's DM Only section on both PC and NPC. On a share view, PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include Secrets; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections to keep it hidden.

    Example / Dann is alive. He found the coastline and chose to stay. He does not want to be found by the guild.

Section

People & Relationships

The characters the DM is allowed to bring back. Named NPCs the player has already introduced, with a status the DM can pull on later.

In the product / Its own section on both PC and NPC records. Full relationship records (types, perspectives, visibility) live on the campaign; named people on a character record are the player-side entry point.

  1. Important people

    Two to four people still in their life. Name, relationship, last-known location, last-known status.

    Example / Mother (Wenmoor, alive, writes each season). Rowell, guild agent in Stonemere, hostile. Par, childhood friend, smuggler, avoids Wenmoor.

Sharing a character

How sharing a character works

A character share is its own record. You pick which sections appear on the share, optionally password-protect the link, and optionally set when it expires. Sections flagged DM Only on an NPC stay hidden unless you deliberately include them.

Shared sections

You pick which sections appear on the share. Uncheck a section to leave it out; Multiloop hides the whole section rather than masking individual fields inside it.

  • Identity
  • Appearance
  • Personality
  • Backstory
  • Story Hooks (PC)
  • Background (NPC)
  • People & Relationships
  • Writings & ReferenceLetters, journals, rumors, and table-ready reference notes.
  • DM Secrets (NPC only)DM Only

All character records can carry DM-only material. In the campaign editor, that material lives in the DM Only section on every character record (PC and NPC) and carries Secrets, DM notes, and a visibility setting. On a share view, PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include Secrets; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections when players should not see them.

Optional password

Off by default. Turn it on when a share should only reach the DM or a specific trusted player.

Expiration

Off by default. Set a date when a link should stop working after a specific session.

How to hand it to the DM

Send early. Share the right sections. Mark DM-only lines.

A backstory that arrives late and unflagged rarely gets used. Three moves keep the record in the DM's reach at the table and keep the private lines in the right place.

  1. 01

    Before session one, if possible

    Send it early

    Paste the backstory into the native character editor before the first session. A DM reads it once and reaches for it for months; late backstory rarely gets used.

  2. 02

    Pick what the party sees

    Share the right sections

    When you share the character, pick the Shared sections that belong on the player view. Leave Secrets out of shared sections when players should not see them. PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area on a share; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section.

  3. 03

    Your Secrets and DM notes

    Mark what the DM needs

    Write the DM-only line into the character record's DM Only section. The campaign editor exposes a DM Only section on every character record (PC and NPC) for Secrets, DM notes, and visibility settings. A DM reading prep pulls these first.

Margin rule / cut

Leave these out of the backstory.

Every sentence you write is a sentence the DM has to remember. Keep the sheet useful by keeping these off it.

  • Long prose monologues. A paragraph about a village is worth one concrete detail.
  • Family trees beyond one generation. The DM will not reach for your grandmother's politics.
  • The economic system of your homeland. That is worldbuilding. This is a handoff.
  • Plot you expect the DM to solve. Questions are hooks; solutions are homework.
  • Rules and mechanics. No stat lines, no class features, no combat history.
  • Secrets that undo the premise of the campaign. If you have one, ask the DM first.

Margin rule / write

How this fits Multiloop

Every row on the worked characters above is a real field on a real section of a character record in Multiloop.

  1. 01Name, Class, Background, and Race live in the Identity section on both PC and NPC records. Appearance is its own section; Personality (including Ideals, Bonds, Fears, Weaknesses, Mannerisms, Speech patterns, Motivations, Quotes, and Common phrases) is the next section.
  2. 02Backstory is a section with its own fields on PC records; on NPC records the equivalent is Background. Life phases, Origin place, and the main Backstory text all live in that one section.
  3. 03Story Hooks on a PC record holds Goals, Plot hooks, Open questions, Secrets, and Story arcs. Every character record (PC and NPC) also has a DM Only section in the campaign editor that carries Secrets, DM notes, and a visibility setting. On a share view, PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include Secrets; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections when players should not see them.
  4. 04People & Relationships on the character record holds named Important people. Campaign-level relationship records (with relationship types, perspectives, and whole-record visibility) live on the campaign and are surfaced on the Canvas graph.
  5. 05Smart Import can parse a pasted backstory document and pre-fill many of these fields for review. The player or DM approves what saves; nothing is written without review. Later, session notes and shared player notes can feed Analysis suggestions for character updates, relationships, writings, and story hooks where the source supports them.
  6. 06Sharing a character uses three DM-facing controls: Shared sections (which sections appear on the share), Optional password, and Expiration. Leave Secrets out of shared sections to keep PC Secrets out of the Story Hooks area on the share, or to keep NPC DM Secrets off the share view. Multiloop does not mask individual fields inside a shared section.

Write the backstory into the sections above and the same fields travel with the character into whatever campaign you bring them into.

Copy the outline into your notes app.

Markdown / plain text

This works in a plain document, a markdown file, a notebook page, or a shared campaign workspace. One block per character. Select and copy.

# [Character name]

Identity
   Name:
   Class:               (plus subclass if it matters at the table)
   Background:
   Race:                (optional)

Appearance
   Appearance:          (two or three sentences the DM can read aloud)

Personality
   Personality:
   Bonds:
   Fears:               (name the trigger, not the anxiety)

Backstory
   Backstory:           (the main prose; summary paragraph at the top)
   Origin place:
   Life phases:
      - Childhood:
      - Before the table:
      - Arriving at the table:

Story Hooks
   Goals:
   Plot hooks:
      -
      -
   Open questions:

People & Relationships
   Important people:
      - (name / relationship / last-known location / last-known status)
      -

DM Only  (every character record carries this in the editor; PC and NPC)
   Secrets:             (DM only; on a share, PC Secrets renders inside the
                         Story Hooks area when you include Secrets;
                         NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section)
   DM notes:
   Visibility:          (public, party, or DM only)

FAQ

Before you hand it to the DM.

How long should a backstory actually be?
Short enough that a DM reads it once and remembers it. The sections above (Identity, Appearance, Personality, Backstory, Story Hooks, People & Relationships) should fit on one page. If yours spills onto three, the DM will not reach for it when they need a hook at the table.
What if I do not have all the fields yet?
Write what you have. The fields you skip today are the ones the DM and the campaign will fill in for you. Leave the Open questions visible so everyone knows where the open doors are.
Where does the DM-only line actually go?
Every character record (PC and NPC) has a DM Only section in the campaign editor that carries Secrets, DM notes, and a visibility setting. On a share view, PC Secrets renders inside the Story Hooks area when you include Secrets; NPC Secrets renders as a dedicated DM Secrets section. Leave Secrets out of shared sections when players should not see them.
How does sharing the character work?
Share controls are Shared sections (you pick which sections appear), Optional password, and Expiration. Multiloop hides a section entirely when you leave it unchecked; it does not mask individual fields inside a shared section.
Does Smart Import save changes automatically?
No. Smart Import can pre-fill character fields from a pasted backstory, but the player or DM reviews the filled record and chooses what to save. Later changes can come from native edits or approved Analysis suggestions when session notes support a character update.
Does this work outside D&D?
Yes. The section set is system-agnostic. It fits Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, and most campaign-based tabletop RPGs.
Do I need a tool, or will a document work?
A document works. Copy the outline into any notes app, markdown file, or page in a shared document. A campaign manager helps once the backstory starts linking to NPCs, factions, and locations in a running campaign and you want those links to stay current.

Get Early Access

Write the backstory into real sections.

In Multiloop, the same Identity, Appearance, Personality, Backstory, Story Hooks, and People & Relationships sections live on every character record. Smart Import can pre-fill them from a pasted backstory, and session notes can later feed reviewable character updates.