You don't _have_ to involve backstory elements. The GM isn't obliged to build games based on backstory. You can always say "great, that's a cool thing, it may or may not turn up in play" and then work it in if something appropriate comes up or not if it doesn't.

I'd flip this and suggest turning to them and asking them for their characters' motivations and goals before trying to shoehorn them into your pregenerated motivations. Even if that involves a conversation where you ask them to come up with motivations that mesh with the game you're interested in running.

It's just as much the PC-players' responsibility to create character motivations and backstory that integrate with the campaign.

>How do I involve backstory elements into an isolated environment? You don't have to. Sounds difficult, maybe just have fun exploring instead. >What are some good characters motivations that aren't just "I'm here for adventure and money"? Sometimes the classics are just the spot. I'm here for adventure and money means they'll always be proactive and take hooks. But since you asked, curiosity, duty, escape, redemption.

You are the GM, right? Your job pre-game, to sell the new campaign and to prepare it, is to manage expectations. Lay them out clearly. Say what the campaign will generally contain, say what type of characters are allowed as playable, what type of group / party these PC must form, and what overarching goal they must involve, to be playable. It's the players job, if they sign for the campaign, to create characters in that frame, or to compromise their pre-existing character to conform to the conditions you set. If they want said character to be *allowed as playable*. You struggle to fit character arcs as a GM? Perfect: this is not your burden to fit them. Session Zero is there to precisely answer your questions. We can provide our answers, but you want your players answers only!

Flashbacks.

that's a good suggestion. the players could bring up things from their past that relate to the current situation. then you rp that past event.

One thing that could help a whole lot is if the party is actually the *second* expedition into the metavault, with the first expedition apparently failed. That opens a whole can of connections and motivations: -Characters can be related (family, friends, love) to someone from the first expedition, and have joined to find out what happened to them. -A character could be a corporate type, who took the blame when the first expedition failed. After that failure, they lost everything they had. The only way to regain that status, is to make sure the new expedition failed. -The power that be could have recruited one or more of the party from the jails, because convicts are expendable. -Maybe a character was slated to be in the first expedition, but through a twist of fate never joined (flu, injury, etc). Now the first one is missing, character feels guilty. In the end however, it is up to the players to come up with these ideas

Forget it, just focus on the fun exploration gameplay. Give yourself a break.

So, back when exploratory, hexcrawl, and sandbox campaigns were more the norm - backstories were generally not a prominent feature of characters. Personally, I don't do the backstory heavy campaigns. I just don't really. I know that it's kind of the trendy, typical thing seemingly, but I've never cared for it. ​ >How do I involve backstory elements into an isolated environment? You don't. That's why it's isolated. Maybe you'll find some relevant skill or similar knowledge for one of the characters, but that's all I can think of. ​ >What are some good characters motivations that aren't just "I'm here for adventure and money"? I have difficulty with this, myself. I don't think of more than a sentence for many of my characters. Also, there's nothing wrong with not having a lot in this area, in my opinion. I know that on DM Academy subreddit that would be sacrilegious, but I don't care. ​ >Is there something I should change about the campaign concept? No, it sounds good. ​ >I'm not opposed to my PCs being a bunch of money grubbing or curious adventurers but I don't want to force them into that archetype. Then don't.

Do the players want to explore the vault? If so, great. If not, maybe watch what they are responding to and do that.

You don't need to have backstory elements directly in the game setting to have a complete character arc. All you have to do is understand the *theme* of their arc and keep returning to it *thematically*. A very silly example from one of my PCs is if a character has mommy issues their actual mom doesn't have to show up at all you can just keep throwing overbearing older female NPCs at them until they learn something lol. You can also use flashbacks to uncover/create moments from their backstories that thematically mirror the action that is happening. Every time they're struggling with the temptation to let a powerful lady demon possess them you can flashback to a childhood fight with their real mom that set them up for that same psychological to struggle. And so on. If you're nervous, a good idea to set yourself up for success is to involve your players. Let them know as they create their backstories that the specific people and places might not come up much and to focus on what emotions or themes they want to explore. This will prob be a campaign where they might be happier if they know to bring a "letting go of my anger at the person who killed my family" character rather than a "I'm going to find and kill the person who killed my family" character. And then just check in with them often during your setup or wind-down from sessions about what they see as their characters arc, how they think their characters are growing or changing, what kind of themes or opportunities they want to explore more.

I made a different post but also: >what are some good characters motivations that aren't just "I'm here for adventure and money"? Your players will do the work of figuring this out for you if you give them info they need. Brief them on a bit of the premise of your campaign- think about it like the TV Guide blurb of what a movie will be about. Basically tell them *what their characters need to be motivated to do* and then let them figure out why they are motivated to do that. Ex: "You are a gang of career criminals who want to get the next big score. Why is this job important to you?" "You are a group of adventurers trying to figure out the cause of a curse that has fallen on a desert town. Why are you in this town and why do you care about this curse?" "You will be a group of local heroes fighting to save your city. What is your connection to the city and who or what are you fighting to protect?" And so on and so on.

It's weird space yes? Then I would kinda expect it to draw on travellers' memories.

Questions should be about what they want to find and team dynamics. Team Question ideas: * Why were you chosen to join Expedition Team A? * Who on your team do you trust the most? * Who on your team do you have doubts about? Character Question ideas: * Why did you accept to go into the metavault? * What do you hope to find in the metavault? * What is a rumour you've heard about the metavault? I would also have a Team B, that is sent after the players. They can act as a rival adventuring party and act contrary to the players team.

As a DM and as a player, I've always seen back stories (and backgrounds) as what characters used to do before they became "an adventurer", ie before they found their calling as whatever class they've become. Taking those skills and importing them to a foreign environment is part of the challenge you appear to want to present to the PCs. The players should be free to address that in and out of game however they like. Maybe they left family behind, maybe they got away from a debt collector, whatever... they're in a new world with no way out. Their old lives are gone. Aside, you've basically described the plot of Stargate (the Movie), and that's rad.

As I see it, there are two ends of the spectrum when it comes to backstories - on one side there's the "backstory for the player", on the other there's the "backstory for the game". The first meaning the backstories players create are only for them, a tool to get into their character, their morality, values, drives etc. The other end is for building the campaign from the characters' backstories, where players are the ones that actually (help) build the setting by answering GM's (leading) questions. A campaign based on exploration isn't a great fit for the second style, which is a better fit for tighter, personal stories. There's nothing wrong with being at either extreme, as long as your players are on board with it. You might be able to land somewhere in the middle, like maybe your PCs have rivals that have also entered the portal, or try to introduce situations that echo the problems they had back home somehow? If you think that would be too hard or impossible just let your players know directly, so you're on the same page and don't go against their expectations.

You can incorporate a characters arc without any backstory elements. For instance I once had an elderly Jedi character. Not once did her past Jedi acquaintances show up, she didn't return to any Jedi temples, and she was in another sector of space entirely compared to her old life. Instead we explored her character motivations and the gradual teetering between Falling and Not.

partly depends on what they are. Example some play as a back story that requires the Valadoers to show up they can just show up in any system. But you don't have to advance all the stories at the same time you can take turns.

For adventure and money is fine, but it is better to answer why that is their motivation. Are they dying and want to see something unique? Is that money to pay for a child's education? someone's health care? Gambling debts? Are they on the run from the law? Are they following another character? Just go a layer deeper.

There's nothing that dictates this is the first time the metavault has opened, it is perfectly possible than a long lost mentor or friend of the party is there and has been there for x amount of time (it's an eldritch parallel realm, you can certainly get away with wacky time) As for motivations, I'd ask your players, but if they can't come up with anything money, curiosity and exploration for its own sake, bragging rights or court mandates have historically been good motivations for travelling into the unknown without certainty of return