Many players have come to believe their character needs something called a “backstory” - the life story of what one’s PC was doing before Session 1, his motivations and desires, why he’s getting out of bed early at a foreign inn and trekking down past the Old Mill into the hills with a just-met group of adventurers into the strange tunnels discovered by a passing merchant last week who mysteriously got ill and died the next morning.
“Backstories” are not an entirely new phenomenon, though anyone exposed to Critical Role or Stranger Things or D&D 5.5e probably believes these are a necessary step.
There’s a similar belief amongst some Old School-type gamers. It doesn’t involve explaining the midnight visits from “Uncle Billy” so much as agonizing over minute character sheet details. Here’s a response (appropriately named) Gelatinous Rube (I left out the insults, he’s not very talented at it) made to a simple comment I made on automated character creation:
Just as a spider builds its web one thread at a time, connections between a new npc become apparent through the process of building it. You could endlessly cycle a fresh random NPC generator and (potentially) never acquire a connection with your ongoing campaign. Why? Because nothing in an endless menu of ready-made menu of finished NPCs is contingent on your campaign. It’s no different—no, worse in fact—than mining a hundred modules for your next campaign character. A high strength score naturally fits into the king or wizard’s bodyguard, a character you didn’t know existed until you sat down to roll.
Sound familiar? This is just backstory with extra steps … and less creativity. No one cares why you chose an 11’2” pole over a 10-foot pole, it’s not that fascinating that you chose Feign Death over Gust of Wind, no one cares you carry a Glaive instead of a Longsword.
The only thing that matters is game play. Your PC is interesting because of choices you made during gameplay. Nothing else. That is where the story comes from.
Likewise, your NPC is interesting because he co-evolved with your players in your campaign, not because of whether you agonized over the 17 should be on DEX or STR. Until the game is played, your NPC is scribbles on paper. I’m not saying put zero effort into it, but one NPC is as a good as another - you never know what’s going to happen until you’re at the table and the players start making choices.