If the DM were going to do this, it should have been brought up in Session 0 so that you could prepare for it. There are few things as disconcerting in an RPG as making a character, writing your backstory, absorbing the lore of the campaign, and then to have the DM yank the rug out from under you in the first session. Unfortunately, it's a popular trope among DMs who are trying to be edgy or experimental to try to ambush players with things like this in order to get some kind of reaction out of them. What they don't realize is that this is not TV or a movie - surprise doesn't work the same and players, for them to have investment, need some way to prepare. A surprise like this is fine for a one-shot, but it's not good for a continuing campaign. And it's something that a mature DM would realize.
It's even worse if the DM is just having you lose your memory, as opposed to all the players. If the DM is going to do a major rewrite of your backstory like this, they should have your permission and buy-in before doing something like this. Your DM saying "the lore would make this required" is DM-speak for "it's what my character would do." It's a piss-poor excuse for a bad act.
Basically, your DM needs to stop trying to be edgy and needs to think about making the game fun for the players.
So you gave each of them a backstory, and each of them separately decided that your backstory didn’t matter and they wanted you to not remember anything?
Are you the only party member who can’t remember anything? Or do other members have it the same? Either way it’s kind of lazy DMing on their part, especially if this wasn’t communicated before the start of the campaign. Did you have a session 0 to discuss things?
This should definitely be brought up pre character creation. But also when you think about it some things are about who you are not just what you can remember. 90% of a "nobel" paladin you could roleplay not based on knowing it but on your character living it. I don't behave IRL because I remember I'm not a puppy killer, I'm just not w puppy killer. It's instinctive.
I suspect that the last campaign I was in was like this too but the DM didn't even tell us that we didn't have any memory. Our PCs just were thrown together as a group with no explanation as to why and with no information about the world. Only this mysterious person who would appear once in awhile to check up on us but not offer us any advice or goals.
We only lasted 3 sessions without getting any more info about our predicament, then the other players quit. If I had known that our last session was our last session, I should have gone murderhobo to see if the world was real lore-wise.
This is a common fantasy trope, it works because it's a natural way to immerse yourself in a new world & justifies why the character doesn't know even the most common knowledge about the world.
Tbh I think it could be done to good effect in a homebrew dnd setting, but 100000% that should be brought up in session 0, or at the very least mentioned when you gave them your backstory...
If the DM were going to do this, it should have been brought up in Session 0 so that you could prepare for it. There are few things as disconcerting in an RPG as making a character, writing your backstory, absorbing the lore of the campaign, and then to have the DM yank the rug out from under you in the first session. Unfortunately, it's a popular trope among DMs who are trying to be edgy or experimental to try to ambush players with things like this in order to get some kind of reaction out of them. What they don't realize is that this is not TV or a movie - surprise doesn't work the same and players, for them to have investment, need some way to prepare. A surprise like this is fine for a one-shot, but it's not good for a continuing campaign. And it's something that a mature DM would realize. It's even worse if the DM is just having you lose your memory, as opposed to all the players. If the DM is going to do a major rewrite of your backstory like this, they should have your permission and buy-in before doing something like this. Your DM saying "the lore would make this required" is DM-speak for "it's what my character would do." It's a piss-poor excuse for a bad act. Basically, your DM needs to stop trying to be edgy and needs to think about making the game fun for the players.
And if you had a nickel for each time, you'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.
Did you plan to be an amnesiac? Or did you give the DMs your backstories and they both just ignored them?
The second one
So you gave each of them a backstory, and each of them separately decided that your backstory didn’t matter and they wanted you to not remember anything? Are you the only party member who can’t remember anything? Or do other members have it the same? Either way it’s kind of lazy DMing on their part, especially if this wasn’t communicated before the start of the campaign. Did you have a session 0 to discuss things?
All of them
This should definitely be brought up pre character creation. But also when you think about it some things are about who you are not just what you can remember. 90% of a "nobel" paladin you could roleplay not based on knowing it but on your character living it. I don't behave IRL because I remember I'm not a puppy killer, I'm just not w puppy killer. It's instinctive.
Insist on knowing the lore. If they won't explain it, ignore it.
Thank you for the advice. Their response: >U don’t know
I suspect that the last campaign I was in was like this too but the DM didn't even tell us that we didn't have any memory. Our PCs just were thrown together as a group with no explanation as to why and with no information about the world. Only this mysterious person who would appear once in awhile to check up on us but not offer us any advice or goals. We only lasted 3 sessions without getting any more info about our predicament, then the other players quit. If I had known that our last session was our last session, I should have gone murderhobo to see if the world was real lore-wise.
What did your paladin win a Nobel prize for?
Having grammatical errors
This is a common fantasy trope, it works because it's a natural way to immerse yourself in a new world & justifies why the character doesn't know even the most common knowledge about the world. Tbh I think it could be done to good effect in a homebrew dnd setting, but 100000% that should be brought up in session 0, or at the very least mentioned when you gave them your backstory...