some dnd backstory ideas that give your character a reason to leave home that isn’t “everyone in my family died.” (just to say: i have nothing against those backstories (i use them a lot), but its fun to mix it up!)
family/friends/personal
someone close to you is sick. you need to adventure to find a cure
someone stole something important from you and you need to find it
you’ve received a message from a long lost relative and are trying to find them
someone that you love has been kidnapped (maybe you have to earn money to pay a ransom or complete some deed…)
adventuring runs in the family! everyone is expected to complete one quest in their lives
your family/culture sends people out to complete certain tasks when they reach a certain age as a rite of passage
another player’s character saved you in the past so you feel indebted to them and travel with them, protecting/aiding them
there’s a magical drought in your hometown and you have to fix it
your hometown doesn’t have a lot of jobs so you have to travel and send money back home
some childhood friends and you made a “scavenger hunt” where you try and complete a checklist of certain tasks (ie. defeat a barbarian in hand to hand combat, steal x amount of gold, slay a dragon, etc) in an allotted amount of time
quests/jobs
a god/patron has sent you on a quest to do something for them
you’ve been hired by someone to complete a task (and you get sucked into the big adventure along the way)
you’re on a quest for knowledge. maybe it’s to learn the best ways of fighting, maybe it’s something more academic related
your priest received a vision from your god and they sent you on a quest
you’re writing a book about the world and different cultures and you need first hand experience
you’ve found every map you’ve come across is shitty, so you decide to become a cartographer and make your own
you’re a detective who helps solve crimes and need to travel to solve a particular case
you’re a collector of a certain object and travel across the land to find it
you’re apart of an adventuring academy and have to complete a quest to graduate
you’re an artisan and you travel with your wares, trying to sell them. alternatively, you’re trying to spread word of your business and gain new business partners
you worked at a tavern your whole life where an old bard would sing songs of their adventuring party and that inspired you to go and do some adventuring of your own
feel free to add some of your own!
you just learned how shitty the world is and damnit somebody’s gotta fix it
you did something embarrassing and need to get the hell out of dodge
you’re taking a gap year
your arch nemesis is dying and you need to call them a bitch one last time before you go
hrt is free in a certain monastery
you met your significant other on fantasy tinder but they live across the kingdom
you’ve heard humans have this thing called “djinn Der” and you want to know what that’s all about
resume building
you’re adventuring to save up enough money to hire a wizard to cast True Polymorph on you because you wanna be a dragon, damnit
your friend got super drunk and stumbled into a random teleportation circle and you were the only sober one at the party so you have to go find them
you want that super powerful dude’s sword and will do anything to get it
you wanna get swole by hitting lots of different things with very large hammers
you want to prove the arrogant bard who told that super incorrect story in your tavern wrong by bringing them the evidence yourself
you read someone’s biography and want to imitate their life ultra-fan style
you found a message in a bottle asking you on a date
you want to find somewhere where your allergies will be less annoying but no one knows where that is so you have to find it for yourself
you really really want to see a volcano
you heard about another culture’s food and are desperate to try it
you’re interning with/shadowing a professional adventurer before you set off on your own
spite
^^^ Really like the spite one so here’s some more detailed specifics pertaining to it:
Your magic/craft is really unconventional and no one thinks it’s useful so you head out on an adventure to prove them all wrong
You made a bet with your sibling/friend that you can find and kill a dragon/some other big monster
Honestly any bets of unlikely magnitudes are very fun
Your (possibly ex) god/patron told you a problem can only be solved one way and you don’t want to do it that way and you think there’s another way so hey, guess who’s being a rebellious child?
There’s a legendary recipe (potion or legitimately baking/cooking) that requires incredibly rare, hard-to-procure ingredients and no one thinks it’s possible to be made. Guess who’s doing it
Yeah sure everyone may think the world is bleh but that doesn’t mean you’re not gonna go and and spread kindness to counter it
Or maybe you think the world needs… less good. Maniacal laughter time
Spite is very fun
boredom
Backpacking around Fantasy Europe while taking a gap year, got a bit carried away.
