Selecting a background for your character in 5e D&D is a way of making an assertion about your character’s history. But what if it was also a way of making an assertion about the campaign setting as a whole?
Dungeon Masters who are interested in shared worldbuilding with the other players could use the background system as a place to open-up some of the more important worldbuilding details to player input. When a player selects their character’s background, they get to answer questions about the world connected to that background. Those answers become facts in regards to the invented campaign setting; the Dungeon Master is then obligated to include the players' answers to those questions in the evolving campaign in play—those answers must be given weight and they must matter.
Note: this assumes that only one player can select a particular background for their character. Each background is essentially unique.
Examples:
| Background | Worldbuilding Questions |
| Acolyte | There is one god who is never spoken of: what is their name and why are they reviled by the faithful? |
| Charlatan | You know the name of the alchemist who has discovered the true panacea: who are they and why are they in danger? |
| Criminal | What is the name of the most powerful crime syndicate? Why are they justly feared? |
| Entertainer | Who is the most famed entertainer in the land? What secret lurks in their past? |
| Folk Hero | Who is raising an army of the dead? To what end are they assembling this unholy horde? |
| Guild Artisan | Which guild is the wealthiest and most powerful? What corrupt dealings are they involved in? |
| Hermit | An otherworldly threat has entered the Material Plane: what is it and what does it want? |
| Noble | Which family possesses a valid claim on the crown? What are they doing to place their scion on the throne? |
| Outlander | What legendary beast still prowls the wilderness? What is the beast’s vulnerability? |
| Sage | Where is the greatest library in the known world located? What unique tomes are safeguarded there? |
| Sailor | What mythical land beyond the seas actually exists? Who are its people, and why do they wish to remain hidden? |
| Soldier | What war rages beyond the boundaries of the kingdom? What caused the conflict to ignite? |
| Urchin | Where do the tunnels in the sewers lead to? What creatures live in seclusion beneath the streets? |
