Ongoing character conflicts, not backstory
14In this episode of the podcast we're going to talk about bringing that backstory to the front of the game, putting it to good use, turning it into ongoing character conflict/motivation, kickstarting the action and inviting the GM and the other players to tell, enjoy, and interfere with our protagonist's story, leading to a successful or disastrous resolution of character conflict, while the main plot is also going on. If more players at the table have interesting conflicts and threads to explore, then we also get to enjoy their stories, so this creates a sort of... narrative diversity, if such a thing is welcome at the table, allowing the GM and players to follow (and maybe tie together) multiple story threads that might just focus directly on the growth of our protagonists. From my experience, this keeps players connected to their characters, it makes things personal and fun, and invites them to be more active, creative and responsible for the collective story, as opposed to sticking only to creative reactions to whatever the GM is throwing their way.
Enjoy!