One theme I noticed from yesterday’s D&D tweet was that many players intentionally kept their character’s loved ones alive in their backstories only to watch them meet a gruesome end at the fate of the DM.

DMs: death is not the only story fuel at your disposal! There are many ways to reintroduce NPCs from a character's backstory in impactful ways without killing them.

In FATWS, Sam Wilson comes home to help his sister with a non-world-threatening problem, which creates a parallel between his superhero life and humble beginnings.

— Justice Arman (@justicearman) May 13, 2021

Keeping with the Marvel example, look at Bucky!

Rather than just having a villain attack Sarah, Sam returns to his home town to assist with the family business. These scenes don’t stop Sam from saving the world, but they do depict his growth throughout the series from the perspective of someone who knows him well. Bucky is a character that a GM *resurrected* from Steve Roger's backstory. They then briefly turned him into a villain and STILL managed to keep him alive.

(You could do this sort of arc in D&D with a Geas or Modify Memory spell.)

— Justice Arman (@justicearman) May 13, 2021

Some other, more fantasy-centric examples:
– Childhood friend makes a deal with a devil, and the character helps them cope w/ or evade the consequences
– Sibling is set to marry someone secretly villainous (maybe THE villain in disguise)
– Parent starts adventuring in retirement Obviously, it's OKAY to have trauma in your backstory. Many heroes are born out of loss.

You can also tell your GM, "I want to keep my character's mom alive and occasionally visit her."

Alternatively, you can tell them if you're okay with or WANT those NPCs to be in danger.

— Justice Arman (@justicearman) May 13, 2021

All of this. 🙂

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) May 13, 2021