I ask this question because I would like to meet some GMs who drive their campaigns more on the backs of characters and back-stories than on specific setting.
I like Golarion just fine; it's just that my particular character doesn't necessarily fit into a lot of scenarios. Skull & Shackles is about the only one I've seen advertised recently that makes a ton of sense.
So, does anyone here write stories so that characters of a specific ilk come together, regardless of setting? Or is setting more necessary to the plot than the characters in it?
I haven't GMed in years, and certainly not online, but my observation is that GMs fall into 2 categories: Those that work from pre-set scenarios (like an adventure path); they usually do so because of lack of time or experience (or both) and are not comfortable with anything off-script, so will not tend to do anything with the back stories.
The other sort are those who have designed their own scenarios, often a home-brew, and they want the players to explore their loving creation, so to them back-story is Gold (so long as it doesn't detract too much from the story they are trying to tell).
There are a few who just provide the location and let the players do what they want with no pre-set plan. Personally, that's not for me, so I won't comment on how well they relate to your situation.
I like to include people's backstories into the overall campaign. Not necessarily will that person's backstory be tied to the main story. For example, if a character set out because he's hunting a man who murdered his family then I may have him as a ring-leader of the main problems that are going on or maybe this person was caught up in what's going on, forcing the PC to be stuck between wanting to kill this man for killing his family, but also wanting to keep him alive as he may have some useful information on what's going on.
Before life got crazy on my end, I was running a KM campaign and even though it's obviously a AP I was running, I managed to twist in a few things from different people's backgrounds.
For example, the leader was secretly a bandit who, with a group of other bandits, killed a knight. He took the armour and that night, one of his companions ratted on him and the rest of the gang so he had to run away. Finding that the Knight had a invite to the Sword Lord's meeting (the set up where everyone is given the declaration, giving them permission to start up their kingdom) and went to the meeting under the guise that he is either the Knight or, more likely, his son.
Unfortunatly we had to end it due to my own inactivity, however in the part they were currently in he received a mysterious letter, sealed and only for him. He was the ruler of the kingdom and married to a young changling woman who was sweet and loving. He kept the letter to himself, but there was some obvious drama here as the letter states "I know who you are. Come and meet me by Olegton" and was signed by one of the members of his gang.
This was meant to be a trap, intended to bring him out as the member was dead, however a demon (due to 4th level, a Alrune Demon instead of a Succubus) was pretending to be this woman, however she was part of the gang who had become more violent and malicious.
I also gave one character the chance to, whilst back in the city, hunt down and kill the man who was responsible for killing his family and kidnapping his sister. He managed to fairly easy, but unknown to him, I was planning on him coming back either in the form of a demon or, but this was banking on someone romancing her (but they didn't, grr) she would later disappear, the group would track her down and then find out that she had been possessed when he picked her up and she is that man, but he's taken his sister's body.
At the end of the day it depends on the DM. You can't put too much in adventure paths because you end up pushing XP and treasure limit for the levels over which may make the next part completely unbalanced. It's rare that DMs do this as it requires more time to take when building it up.
I was once playing in a great game with fantastic players and a fantastic GM. This GM had created a homebrew world and story arc including many of the character's back stories, some more than others. It all fell apart when the player who's character was the backbone of the overall story arc just stopped posting. The GM tried to get someone to fill his shoes but the truth is nobody can play that character the same as the original. The GM became disillusioned and stopped posting also.
The problem with incorporating back stories is that pbp can take a long time to play and there's no guarantee that the player will be around long enough to complete it.
When I'm GMing I prefer to have the story not rely on any specific character which means they are all replaceable. If I include a back story it will be for a short time only.
+1 to Gavmania, although I am currently in a Rappun Athuk game with GM Baldwin the Merciful who is one of the best GMs who I have ever played with, including how much time he spends on the boards.
I'm running my own homebrew that has one overarching narrative and plan set in motion, but other than that what my characters do defines what the campaign will be like. I don't say "Ok what do you want to do with the campaign now?" I just quietly observe their characters goals and actions and develop campaign arcs that align with those. For instance, in our half-minotaur pirate's background his ship was stolen, so currently since the party has downtime they're going to go get it back. And this will play into the overall campaign too.
Overall, I prefer a well done homebrew instead of an AP, but I still have a lot of fun in certain APs (WotW comes to mind).
I am running my first campaign. It started with the modulus in Falcons Hollow. I am mostly creating the rest myself with a few other modulus I will be using later for plot stuff and they will be heavily modified. We will be hitting level 20 and are using the mythic stuff going to at least tier 5. Many of the PCs back-stories are woven into the plot which I am loving and want to repeat in later campaigns. Out of six players four have developed back stories.
The Goblin Ranger's whole tribe was wiped out by kobolds so he is hunting them down, this is why he ended up in Falcons Hollow. I am creating Kobolds for him to deal with throughout the campaign.
The Sorcerer has family tied to the big bad. She was adopted by a Paladin of Iomedea. This group the Paladin is part of, the Knights of Ozma, is historically important and could be a major boon or thorn.
Ranger/Rouge/custom assassin prestige class (don'd judge he wanted to be an assassin and I modified the Red Mantis for his Holy Assassin, he is kind of like an Inquisitor. He wanted to play an assassin and i let him. I got a fun plot bit out of it.) He joined a level 6 so I had some wiggle room. His secret order was taken out by waves of undead. He and a few others he doesn't know about were saved by an older member. This person is still giving the few left missions. Should he choose he can look into how the base was discovered and attacked. I have plans for betrayal and hope in that line, which might get ignored.
Lastly is the one I am truly looking forward to and the most developed, some of the others are still being worked on. Old Dwaven fighter, who retired at level 6. His home is attacked while and old traveling buddy. They go invisible and run, well the Dwarf is pull unwillingly. Later they wonder the town finding no people, no bodies. Signs of struggle and then marching. They tracks left town and then vanish, well over a few hundred people just gone, including his wife and son. Well he swears vengeance to the Gods. Some stuff happens which i can not mention since some of them might look online. I intend for him to find this group that is capturing villages and find out what happened to his family. This group is also tired to the BBG.
The Druid with no current background we are working on. And the other guy is trading out for an unwilling Oracle. The Gods bother her instead of her bothering them. The Lucky Drunk God will be the main one and there will be lots of jolt, mage hand, and prestidigitation.
So I like to take the back story and find a place for it in the plot some how. 'If i have to create sub-plot for it I will. My DM for S&S has let every one have their crazy back story and we are more invested in that than the actual tale he is trying to tell as GM. Tying the group together through back story or tying the back story to the plot help the players to not only be invested in their PC but causes them to want to work together and that is critical. Currently this DM is having to tie seven different goals together. As a group we are still having fun and that is what matters but we know we are not working together since we are playing the PCs and this is causing in and out of game conflict.