How do you folks feel about retconning your character’s back story? Do you think it’s an okay move? or do you consider it as an act of betrayal to your own self and character?
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I’ve learned to embrace retconning. It’s not just about changing things to fit the “now” story, but including things that you hadn’t considered before. And, I mean, technically anything we put into a character’s backstory is retroactive continuity, right? Because it’s happening in the past, not currently.
I’m pretty much always adding more to my characters’ histories, because certain things come up that I hadn’t considered before, or I think of better ways to incorporate certain plot elements. I’ve also totally removed things that have happened to my characters for a variety of reasons - i.e. falling out with other players, realizing I was a young edgelord, etc.
I don’t think retconning should be a bad thing. Your character is yours to do with what you like. I will say I try to avoid retcons that would cause issues for my friends’ characters, but if I ever decide I want to do one that could, I talk it out with them OOC first to make sure they’re on board. That sort of thing hasn’t ever really backfired on me, but I’m very selective about who I RP with.
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Retconning is and always will be an option for a writer, and while you should use it sparingly; there are a few good moments to do so:
- Correction.
This is the case when you go back to fix a lore breaking/contradicting element of the story. This is the best reason, and no one in their right mind could criticize you for wanting to maintain internal logic in your writing.
As for retconning simple story elements and events, it is all subjective. We (hopefully) learn a lot when we play, and you may come up with ways to make a character more fun/appealing/interesting/consistent as you play that you did not realize/think of on day 1. This is good.
However, in an ongoing storyline; I.E. a RP that’s going on between you and some other; I’d generally avoid such subjective retcons because they can really mess with the ongoing storyline which is built on previous events.
I may change elements of Zirahael betwen RPs, but I always keep her consistent within the span of a given RP.
In other words, feel free to reinvent your character as many times as you want; but keep it consistent within ongoing storylines and RPs.
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I retconned the heck out of this character.
First, he was a human hunter from stormwind
Then came classic and I wanted him to have a younger counterpart there, so I changed him to a mage
Then worgen (my favorite race) got new models so I changed him to a worgen warrior, but at first he was a stormwindian bitten by a worgen.
That later changed for being a gilnean worgen, wich is what he is now.
All of that because I really like his name and Rohart is how I am known in multiple circles even outside wow. My instagram and twitter accounts use this name as the @ and I want to keep the brand going
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Most of what I would say on the subject has already been covered. I will say that there could be a line between retconning and revisionism to be observed; that is to say one should be mindful of changing too much, lest they end up with what might as well be a completely different character altogether.
I myself have retconned a character’s backstory a couple times. Both have been rather minor, though one wasn’t entirely my idea; the other being something I wanted to do to add a bit more depth.
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Our characters are never set in stone entirely. You may read about or brush up on lore one day and realize that some things in your character’s backstory are not on accordance with it, or new lore will come out that changes how you view your character slightly. You might just want to change something to make more sense, or scenarios with fellow players may not work out. Whatever the reason, retconning is absolutely okay as long as the changes are not so major that they break lore, are unbelievable, or are very hard to explain, for example, a race change. This is my opinion of course. Ultimately you run your character — your character should not run you. 
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No, not really. I don’t think it’s a betrayal of character. As I’ve learned more about the lore the more I’ve had to change small details or even major plot. Sometimes I’ll introduce new characters as side characters. A old childhood friend that became a Demon Hunter, a elixir that came from Pandaria, or Anduin filling out like the way he did and these changes wouldn’t take place if I didn’t learn more with the release of expansions.
Nothing I make in my back story is really set in stone because I can always go back change things, erase things, and if I was clever or creative enough to write a better back story I think I would have or be doing it right now. So far what I have for Perfectia Dawnlight is that best I can do, but I hope I can improve.
Hopefully I can move her out of Azeroth all together.
In some aspects I do as I am still having a tough time with fitting in certain timelines as an Elf ;considering they’re long lived. Especially with the recent introduction of Void Elves which is a challenge for me to come up with something unique as to how this guy came to be.
Basically I am constantly attempting to break off the “know-it-all/too pure/Master everything” elf stereotype that some players follow and I like to personally blame this on Tolkien’s elf perfectionism. I am very pragmatic and still establishing how to make Silveneish stand out from all that and I pride with adding him flaws, psychological distress etc,. that would make him imperfect akin to us real life human.
I suppose I can say it’s not easy to follow a story as an elf, let alone any other race.
This is why I envy WoW humans, constantly developing & less worry for retcons
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I don’t have a problem with it. But then, I’ve watched Dr. Who since it first showed up on PBS.
I’ll echo what everyone else is saying, because it’s an interesting topic.
In general, your character is your character, retcon as you see fit. Also, hell… half the time I retcon stuff because I’m a piss-poor notetaker and don’t write down my character’s backstories. So, I’ll forget a detail or two, then retcon to make them back up. That’s bitten me a few times when my friends have said, “Wait, wasn’t that different?” “… Probably.”
I think I saw it touched on once ore twice, but yes, generally avoid retconning to the magnitude that it will interfere with other’s RPs. If you feel the need to do that, then just coordinate with them to help smooth things over. Usually that stuff can be handled with an OOC conversation. That’s just a courtesy, since roleplaying is a multiplayer game.
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If it is not a Mary Suish thing, people who keep retconning their stories to look “amazing”, it is not a problem “per se”.
And if you have a character for a long time in your WoW history, it might need to change when you learn new stuff, when lore is itself changed, and when things are added to the Universe.
The problem is when it is made so it is always “convenient”.
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Storytelling is much like placing together a puzzle, Retcons seems necessary for rebooting one’s character.
Also when new Original Characters are introduced, you could also take the opportunity to use the new character to expand on your previous character’s backstory.
When new character are introduced, expect your primary character’s backstory to expand.
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As we grow as writers, ideas we may have will change and grow too. Concepts we never considered might seem appealing, lore we never knew revealed.
Ultimately, the characters are yours to write. I feel that retconning is a necessary part of growth and development, as both writer and character.
I’ve completely scrapped and restarted entire stories multiple times as I’ve grown as a writer.
The only thing I will say is it would be polite to let rp partners that have characters or stories tied to your character know. Polite, but again it is your character.
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