How to include player backstory into an other-world campaign?

Mar 19 • Advice

Hey, I’m afraid I’ve painted myself into a corner with this campaign idea I’m hoping to start in the next couple months. I’m building a homebrew world that I was initially planning on having the players magically transported to at the start of the campaign. I don’t want them to be native to the land because the world has strange laws of physics that I want the players to have to discover and play with as they go.

The problem I’m having is that I’m worried that this setup will make it difficult to incorporate player backstories into the game, unless I somehow find excuses to teleport characters important to the players into this world, as well. Will it feel forced and maybe unsatisfying to the players to have Player A’s brother magically show up, or Player B’s childhood nemesis somehow appear.

Has anyone else had a similar problem or have some creative solutions?

Thanks!

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