[Raellus]

Of course, PCs wouldn't know everything that happened leading up to their respective then-and-now, and they probably don't need to. That said, they'd certainly be privy to at least some background information.

To draw a historical example, a grunt on Okinawa in early 1945 wouldn't know what went on during the Tehran Conference, or in the Wolf's Lair on the eve of the Kursk offensive, or the results of a US daytime strategic bombing raid on city x date y, but he would know the broad strokes of the war- Nazi invasion of Poland, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and probably something of Guadalcanal, Midway, the invasion of Sicily and Italy, and D-Day in the ETO. At the very least, I think most players want to know how their PC got into the game world- when and why did they volunteer, for example, and did they fight elsewhere prior to the campaign start date.

Also, "historical" background info can help players come up with PC concepts that they might not otherwise. For example, I've had Australian players want to play Australian PCs. They were able to find a bit in the v1 timeline that would justify Aussie military personnel being in Poland, c.2000. It also helps with justifying a PC having certain skills, like picking up a language not spoken in the AO or home country.

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