Non-over-dramatic backstories

[BingTheWing]

We folks here at the Guild take pleasure in writing out dramatic, epic backstories for our characters. Now, it's not always in the sense that your character is the Chosen One (though in many cases it is), but it is often in a tragic nature. We find many characters on the Guild with dead parents, dead siblings, dead mentors, dead friends, psychological problems, family problems, problems with society (i.e outcasted, often in a dramatic manner), or very heavy life problems in general. Now, this is exceptionally healthy for main characters of a story, because it of course offers more opportunities for growth.

However, in my case, I'm making a character for a Minecraft* roleplay server, which only offers one universe to make our own stories. There are a multitude of characters in the world, and making your character 'special' or forcing them into a main character role is usually frowned upon, as it detracts from the growth of other characters. Focusing the story on your own character's problems will often box out the hundreds of other characters in the world. So, what I'm looking for is to make a unique character with his own story and his own problems to overcome, but I'm also not looking for a 'special snowflake' backstory that will overshadow other characters.

Can anyone help me strike a balance?

This can also apply to anyone making a character for a one-universe roleplaying medium with multiple other characters.

_{*And before anyone takes a jab at this, I'll have you know that the communities on whitelisted roleplay servers are generally more mature than the average playerbase.}

[Foster]

Minimal effort bio.

Make the character resiliant and persistant enough, play them skillfully, and they will soon become a memetic badass of the server from all dat character interaction.
-They'll also become, like, "that one constant character" that joins everyone else's characters together.

Provided you're willing to cultivate a character for 5 years of adventuring.

[Chrononaut]

I've had plenty of characters who influenced events without a lot of effort. The trick is MOST PLAYERS want to play a badass. This similar to real life in that people want to be "heroes" or "remembered". If you only work towards your benefit, you will find less enemies and more friends. Only befriend those who will aid you and you will reap the benefits. Never work for the weakest side. That way only leads to failure.

Make a character who is focused on self interest, even if they aren't aware that they are. Maybe play a mercenary who only works for the people who pay him most. Maybe, they want to do the "right thing" but aren't quite sure what that is. Maybe they're a hypocrite. Being a warrior means they bring blood, but wanting to do the right thing means more killing. Maybe they can't accept they're a killer.

The trick to being interesting is finding your own style. People who act outside of boundaries are most remembered. Play someone "mundane" but with a unique perspective and motives, maybe.

[Patches]

For backstories, one thing I suggest is avoiding cliches or finding ways to work them in a way that isn't cliche. Things like:
1. He was part of a clan/squad/tribe and his/her whole group was killed except them.
2. An abusive childhood
3. They're the last of their kind
That isn't to say that these aren't good sources of backstories, I have a character or two that has the second one to an extent. The trick is finding a way to make them interesting.

[Cyndyr]

I think having a handful of characters with tragic background stories in a Roleplay is not only realistic, but also more interesting as well. There's an extent to this, of course, but characters with unfavorable backgrounds and psychological issues can be likable, interesting, and not complete Mary Sues if played skillfully enough. I admit that most of my characters have unhappy backgrounds, psychological conditions, and dead relatives/friends as I base them off of myself and I come from an abusive family, have a few diagnosed conditions, and have seen a handful of my friends die from drug overdose in recent years.

[NuttsnBolts]

Write to the theme of the roleplay, not the theme that you want to insert.

Start off by thinking about their adventure and what you wish to achieve. Maybe they're a complete nobody that hot pull in because they were at the wrong place at the right time, or perhaps they got mixed up in identity with someone else, or maybe they—instead of having someone die—owe some money or have a stolen set of goods.

On a lot of my characters now I rarely use the death aspect unless it works in with the character properly. As an example my last character is a superhuman who discovered her abilities by accident after they lead to the death of another human. She's gonna be haunted by those memories and will hate her abilities, but that's because I want to write a character who has to come to terms with how dangerous she is when everyone else is able to fly, teleport or even read minds—abilities that are safe in comparison.