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It can be good for a character to have some challenge or hardship in their background. Either something they struggle to overcome, or which motivates them to do better with their lives.
There are many options to choose from:
- A character or personality flaw, such as underconfidence, or kleptomania, or... the list of just these is almost endless.
- Family issues. Disowned, a hostile relationship with a parent or sibling, disapproval of chosen career path, etc.
- Physical disability of some sort.
- Past trauma.
- A mortal enemy.
- Poverty or low social status.
- Being a foreigner in a strange land, facing prejudice or cultural misunderstandings.
- Having an annoying or even dangerous habit, perhaps even an addiction.
- Constantly being mistaken for someone else.
- Bad credit record.
- Past crimes, which either haunt your conscience, or cause people to shun you.
Several games have lists of suitable things called flaws or disadvantages. In some cases they are game mechanically relevant, while in others they are merely descriptive tools to aid character roleplaying. Even if the game system you're playing doesn't have explicit mention of such things, they are worth considering for PCs. And of course the GM can use the same methods to develop NPC allies and villains to be more than cookie-cutter repeats of the same stereotypes.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
A few hundred views isn't a lot of views compared to some of the big channels, but I don't think views, or ads based on views, are much of a way to make money these days from discussions I've heard, especially about YouTube. Patreon and other direct support methods for artists and entertainers are probably more reliable methods of making living money, though even those would likely be minimal from a few hundred viewers.
I think Corey would have some difficulty in getting gamers like that to be interested in watching. Corey had some difficulty changing his preconceptions over to the tabletop, and he was in person for that. I can't think of any harm in trying though; randomly stumbling into things shared on unrelated forums/chat-rooms is how I've picked up about 1/4 of my current media interests!
And more big guns campaign info! Or I guess, the big robots and big guns campaign! I'm still quite lost for ideas here. I've seen The Matrix, Super Mario Bros. the Movie, Voltron, and a few comic book characters all mentioned as potential possibilities for campaign sources. I still think it might be The Matrix, if only because what I know about Voltron is the few giant transformer robots that turn into a bigger robot. Princesses with destroyed planets and big guns don't fit that image as well for me. It was also a TV show (not a movie) which would mean that it wouldn't match the other campaigns.
Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)
We have two different things happening here.
Session-wise, we have hints to the off-screen campaign. Giant robots, and a girl pretending to be a boy are pretty "standard" plot elements that could be any number of things. Destruction of a planet, a leader growing into their role, and ever-deadlier threats are all common things. So far, this could be any number of stories.
Movie-scene-wise, we have the arrival of the villain, and characters fleeing. Sally's character was previously attacking "enemy" computer systems (hey, it's just her boss, right?).
And yet, this was after the ship fled the "combat zone". So... I'm guessing that there is massive time chopping/slicing/re-ordering to get some good screencaps for this section.
"Ever more deadly threats... counts as character development". Well, yes it does. Making sure that the PCs are gaining in power through combat and XP, so that they will become strong enough to do something that the big bad wants done, that the big bad cannot do themself? Sure. Perfectly fine. Powering up the person that can do something you need done, and then manipulating/controlling them such that they do what you want done? Perfectly reasonable Xanatos gambit. Probably a trope specific page for it even. Heck, in Harry Potter and the Natural 20, Voldemort is trying to level Milo up to be able to cast a wish spell to bring Voldy back from the dead. I'm just wondering what possible reason Sally's character, who hates her boss, Nute, would possibly want to improve the other PCs for. Oh, right, wrong campaign. What was happening in this off-screen campaign that she wanted to level up the PCs for?
Transcript
Kylo Ren: Annie! Your video of our game is getting lots of views!
Finn: A few hundred isn’t that much. You need tens of thousands to start making any real money.
Kylo Ren: Oh, well. It’s early days yet. I’m sure it’ll pick up.
Kylo Ren: Corey, you should mention it on that gaming forum you’re on!
BB-8: I’m not sure it’s their sort of thing.
BB-8: They’re hardcore video gamers. Some really just want stuff to fight and destroy.
Chewbacca: Like your giant robots with big guns campaign?
BB-8: Sort of. But you had down time, with character development.
BB-8: Ben, you were the reluctant leader, growing into your role.
BB-8: Pete’s character was dealing with the destruction of her planet.
GM: I was a girl initially pretending to be a boy so I’d be accepted as the team tech-head.
BB-8: And Sally, well...
Kylo Ren: Creating ever more deadly threats to throw at you counts as character development!