Will be starting a new campaign soon and looking for some new and original ideas for bringing the PCs together and/or creating relationships/bonds between them such that the adventuring band is more naturally drawn together. The fact that the players are sitting around a table shouldn't be the basis for their heroes to also just come together.
Everyone starting off in a tavern has been done to death, so I would like to explore some new possiblities.
Any suggestions?
They're all sleeping with the constables wife?
And meet each other at the apothecary?
The classic Elder Scrolls approach, also fairly common in low level Dark Sun adventures:
They start as slaves/criminals/imprisoned together.
Or, have them all in a market/street when something big happens, and that big things involves all of them. Like having them all be close to each other when someone is murdered on the street. Now the guards are going to want to talk to them, now they're together in the office of the guard captain waiting to give a report.
RP a mini-session with each player where they have a dream. Each player's dream leads them to the same place, where they come across 2 or 3 other people who were also lead here by a dream.
Have the players begin play with their characters already being acquainted and on the road.
Those are just off the top of my head.
Same patron/group of patrons saying we've trained you in your various classes, time to put that training to use....
All characters in local militia...orders to go check something out...
RotRL...riot happens, characters all fight the goblins, then get pulled together because they are above competent...
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Childhood friends
Followers of the same faith
Grew up in the same town
Was saved by another PC and is returning a "life" debt
Related, maybe they're distant cousins
Multiple PCs have related goals, probably something other than getting money.
Help defended town from a raid, decided to stick together afterwards
Married
Serves as a guardian to another PC
Needs help from others for an important goal
Those are all the ones I could think of, hope they somewhat help.
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1. They are all summoned individually to the house of the same lord/official/priest/etc. (Similar to Kingmaker and Council of Theives)
2. They are all attending the same event when something bad happens. (RotRL) - This event can even happen in a bar (Second Darkness)
3. They all share a common enemy. (CotCT)
4. They all share a common friend. (Jade Regent, and similar to Carrion Crown)
5. They are hired by the agent of the same ship/caravan/business/etc. (Legacy of Fire) - similar to #1 but different in when the characters encounter each other.
6. They are traveling to the same place when something bad happens. (Serpent's Skull) - similar to #2 but also different in when the characters actually encounter each other.
7. The characters are all captured/enslaved by the same group. (Similar to Skull & Shackle) - similar to #3 but the heroes may no know who that enemy is at start.
Thanks, certainly some ideas to mull over there.
Taverns and dreams we've done before. Slaves/criminals is good but not ideally suited to the new game unfortunately.
There is a plan for threads through the campaign, and one of the villains I'd like to do is an intelligent item - something for another discussion possibly.
But the idea of relationship to items, etc. related to the plot is a nice one.
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1. They are all summoned individually to the house of the same lord/official/priest/etc. (Similar to Kingmaker and Council of Theives)
Roleplaying this for low level characters would be great.
Lord: I have summoned you all here because I am in need of the help of great advent...
The lord looks the obviously under geared and unseasoned party.
Lord: I will be honest. You're all that I have. I have my best and brightest out on missions of the utmost importance. While not my first choice, word is you all posses at least some skills of use. Hence, I, and the nation itself, have need of you!
Just have the lord constantly bring up the ludicrous notion that the lord of the land really needs the help of level 1 characters.
Working for the same faith won't work with the group - religious clashes were one the the highlights of the last campaign - my god is better then yours featured a lot!
It might be an idea to take some of these great suggestions and weave a few together, maybe forge some relationships between characters early on, and then let the real relationships develop as the group plays.
For the most part, I let the players themselves handle this.
I usually give my players a brief campaign write-up a week or two before we start playing. This outlines the general theme of the campaign, and a little about the starting location, so that the players can create an appropriate character for the plot. This is pretty much the same approach that Paizo uses with Players Guides for Adventure Paths.
Then, I usually tell the players to work out for themselves whether/how they know each other (subject to my approval).
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I always like to start each character in their home environment (farm, temple, barracks, etc.), and then have an envoy summon them to a High Lord or Wealthy Merchant or some other patron for a quest. They were chosen because their lives have been foreseen by an elderly soothsayer in the patron's employ. PC's are special, so make them special from the start. I like to make it as if their is a certain destiny to be fulfilled.
But, I have also started a party of commoners that just happen to be at the same place at the same time when "stuff" happens. ;)
Good luck with whichever way you go.
Later,
Mazra
Will be starting a new campaign soon and looking for some new and original ideas for bringing the PCs together and/or creating relationships/bonds between them such that the adventuring band is more naturally drawn together. The fact that the players are sitting around a table shouldn't be the basis for their heroes to also just come together.
Everyone starting off in a tavern has been done to death, so I would like to explore some new possiblities.
Any suggestions?
Hello Zimheaho,
I find that shared events make for a better bonding experiance than a backstory that is just on paper. Here are a few ideas.
1. An event such as an earthquake shakes a town sending buildings toppling and creating a deem chasm. The players could be from all walks of life and awaken as the only survivors that are currently at the bottom of the aforementioned chasm. They must find a way back to the surface and encounter some creatures on the way and maybe find out that the earthquake was not as natural as they thought.
2. Players could be from any and all walks of life. They could be from any region and pretty much any race. When a young wizard uses an ancient scroll to summon monsters to aid in his battle the group members find themselves “summoned” and for a brief moment are under the effects of a summon spell. (The monsters have to come from someplace right?) However for some reason the players remained even after the duration. Why? Maybe the gods have plans…
3. A traveler comes into town and does a “show and tell” of some artifacts he found in ancient dungeon. One of the artifacts drop and there is a flash of light everyone is dazed for a moment. Not much is thought at the time bit everyone in the bar begins seeing odd things. Soon it’s reported that a person died, then another. Players discover that the people who were in the bar and saw that flash of light are the ones mysteriously dying. The players characters are the last remaining survivors from that ill fated night. Can they solve the mystery before they are next?
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4. All the players have an odd tattoo that they have little recollection of how they got it. They don’t even know when they got it. This is not kind of tattoo you get after a night of drinking. It’s odd and incomplete and on their shoulder. For years it’s been a mystery. Then one summer at a festival that bring in people from all over the realm the players make spot checks and find other people with this same tattoo (the other players). Together the tattoo creates a rune or a map or something that gives the players a quest or mystery.
5. A comet streaks across the sky and makes landfall. The players who are from all walks of life are sent in various groups from their assorted town to find this comet. When they arrive at the impact zone (with all the other groups) the area looks to be infected with some dark cosmic matter. The groups began to ward off and fight whatever menace the comet is causing to the area. One by one people fall until all that remain are the players who obviously survive. When they get back to the nearest town they find that the effects of the comet are more widespread than they thought…
6. The burial grounds of a cemetery have been dug up and various bodies are missing and they happen to the deceased friends or family of the PC’s. When the city is too busy and tells the concerned citizens that they have no leads and will not be able to help the players band together to avenge their dead anncestors. This leads them to a Necromancer with his possie of walking dead who happen be the PC's recently dead loved ones.
Design Manager
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I once had a group where the alignment and class selections of all my players worked out well enough for me to have several different benefactors hire them all to rob the same bank, and then allow chaos and necessity to lead them out of the ensuing disaster as a more or less unified group trying to figure out who alerted the authorities, how to divvy up the loot, and what to do next since they had to high-tail it out of town. I also had some fun turning some of the benefactors into recurring villains since the party wasn't able to satisfy all of the interested parties in the robbery. I think I was watching Firefly or Serenity when I was working on that one...
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If the characters are all from the same town, they may have been friends for years before the campaign starts.
One of my recent campaigns started with all of the characters getting de-petrified in a 'statue gallery' together. They'd all been petrified at different times and places, and then had been discovered and/or purchased by an unscrupulous collector.
Most adventurer types would happily attend if invited to a interesting party by a prestigious noble who was serving free booze, just have them supply a reason why they might be invited and seat them all near each other.
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Will be starting a new campaign soon and looking for some new and original ideas for bringing the PCs together and/or creating relationships/bonds between them such that the adventuring band is more naturally drawn together. The fact that the players are sitting around a table shouldn't be the basis for their heroes to also just come together.
Everyone starting off in a tavern has been done to death, so I would like to explore some new possiblities.
Any suggestions?
Hello Zimheaho,
I find that shared events make for a better bonding experiance than a backstory that is just on paper. Here are a few ideas.
1. An event such as an earthquake shakes a town sending buildings toppling and creating a deem chasm. The players could be from all walks of life and awaken as the only survivors that are currently at the bottom of the aforementioned chasm. They must find a way back to the surface and encounter some creatures on the way and maybe find out that the earthquake was not as natural as they thought.
2. Players could be from any and all walks of life. They could be from any region and pretty much any race. When a young wizard uses an ancient scroll to summon monsters to aid in his battle the group members find themselves “summoned” and for a brief moment are under the effects of a summon spell. (The monsters have to come from someplace right?) However for some reason the players remained even after the duration. Why? Maybe the gods have plans…
3. A traveler comes into town and does a “show and tell” of some artifacts he found in ancient dungeon. One of the artifacts drop and there is a flash of light everyone is dazed for a moment. Not much is thought at the time bit everyone in the bar begins seeing odd things. Soon it’s reported that a person died, then another. Players discover that the people who were in the bar and saw that flash of light are the ones mysteriously dying. The players characters are the last remaining survivors from that ill fated...
You should add these to the 1001 campaign seeds thread...
To the OP. I recently ran a campaign where the characters were all brought together in order to recover an ancient artifact. Each of the characters were "needed" because of their unique bloodline that enabled them to handle and use said artifact. The wizard was the great-great-great-great grandson of the original crafter. The barbarian the distant relative of the Hero that had the artifact created. The Dwarven monk was the grandson of the dwarf that created the weapon that was then enchanted by the wizard. Etc...
I played up the fact that if I could find another group of heroes I would but they were all the realm had. The fun part was that there was another group of adventurers seeking the same artifact... All were distant relatives and were actually working for the good guys. My team was just a bunch of well meaning saps working for an evil wizard.
One of my recent campaigns started with all of the characters getting de-petrified in a 'statue gallery' together. They'd all been petrified at different times and places, and then had been discovered and/or purchased by an unscrupulous collector.
Fantastic idea Bodhranist.
For my Castle of Baron Sedov adventure, I had them all recieve invitations to the same dinner party. It worked pretty well :P
I guess my question is: do your players want a backstory on how they got together? Or do they just want to charge into the adventure?
Wow, everyone thanks you so much for the thoughts and suggestions - now I have a wealth of ideas to draw on :-)
The group do like backstories, and we are quite keen on factions (not in the bad sense) within the team and these do usually form along common aspects - religion certainly.
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Just have the lord constantly bring up the ludicrous notion that the lord of the land really needs the help of level 1 characters.
Don't underrate the value of being able to "deny" any associations with such "unknowns."