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I allways find this to be maybe the hardest thing in the whole adventuring career. Most groups fall or succeed at the succes of getting a party together. I am starting a new group and the thing I want to do is find a good, not stereotypical way, of having them become a group. I find the "you meet up in a tavern" done to death. One way I do it now is have them read Rich Burlew's roleplaying tips on his site and remind them that they are playing together. Anyhow what I would like to hear from other DM's is how they got their group together and maybe it'll get my creative juices flowing.
The most original I managed to do so far (albeit that it did not form too big a band)was have all 4 of them walk into a caravan robbery and talk to them each seperate. Then ask them what they did (they didn't know who were the other pc's from the npc's) It somehow succeeded allthough they also shot each other ;)
A method I've found works quite well is for each pc to be hired individually into a group task eg. caravan escort, group of guards, rescuing someone who has been kidnapped and so on.
I've done the tavern meet, although it was more from a perspective of "this is a good place to find jobs for good pay."
The latest campaign the characters met up when events were already in motion. One character prevented another one from getting mugged and showed them around town. They ended up at City Hall where they met the other character who ended up there because his contact he was supposed to meet in the city was dead.
Other "starts" you could try are:
* The PCs are prisoners (think Oblivion or Morrowind)
* The PCs are slaves on a ship that's attacked/liberated by pirates/privateers
* The PCs are representatives from varying guild factions that are trying to come to a truce
Some non-tavern ideas. :)
Taverns are the internet of the D&D universe. Having said that, I've used the following alternative hooks to assemble adventuring parties:
*Everyone is from the same village, and it gets attacked
*Everyone is from the same culture, and every 16 year old goes through a coming of age ritual--party meets as they are all going through that ritual
*They're all traveling together in a conveyance (ship, wagon train, etc)
*They're all captured slaves and in the same cage when an escape opportunity comes up
*They're all being discharged from a mercenary company at the same time, in a strange town, when the local lord runs out of money to pay their company commander
*They're all related
*They meet at an inn ;)
Some of these are repeats of Lilith's suggestions, but I just repeated ones that I've used before.
I am running a mercenary campaign.
First adventure found our group new recruits in a mercenary company. The were invited to join the banner company because they displayed great ability in the last battle fought. They march off to another battle - just a little affair with some goblins and gnolls a few hours out of camp, shouldn't take long to wipe them out.
By night-fall, they find themselves hopelessly surrounded by thousands of gobby-riders and gnolls supported by ogres and magic. They decided to make a last stand but soon were scattered and being chased down and slaughtered. Our adventurers made it out with the banner and the help of one of the scout captains who led them acroos country to a small village far away fro mthe battlefield. The scout captain was slain by a gnoll hunter who has been hounding them... obviously after the banner and collecting scalps of the mercenary company.
Evidence pops up, after finding an old retired veteran of the company in the village, that something was up with this little excursion. Back dealing from the employer, the banner is more than it appears, vengence is sworn and a dark history proceeds our young recruits as they (the only survivors of the massacre) carry on the traditions of the company, rebuild it and seek vengence!
If your game has a penal colony or a frontier area, the PCs might have been sent there as punishment for various crimes or by members of a guild who are envious of a PC's talents.
This puts them where (presumably) the action is, and gives them a reason to work together. Later in the campaign, the PCs may want to redeem themselves for past crimes or take revenge on those who wrongly sent them to the gulag.
I find it fairly easy just to have someone else bring the party together. In my current game, the SCAP, I had one of the cities nobles act as a sort of patron. He introduced the players in the hopes that they could solve the cities problems and make him look better than than the Lord Mayor. After the first story they decided that they worked so well together that it was natural that they continued to do so.
'Within the Circle' (DUNGEON #130) is a good example of this. The PC's are invited to dine with the Baron, and when they arrive they meet each other. Then, when the story is done, they should stay together.
Other than nobles I also find guild leaders, guard captains, and even shop owners seem to work.
About the whole PVP thing, there's not much I can say to help.
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I always tell the players that it is their job to decide why they're a group. While you can put them together, most things a DM does are fairly contrived.
Our groups usually make characters as a group. We start working in our backstories together right away. Two PCs might play siblings, they might all decide to be from the same village, or they might all decide that they want to be hired by the same employer.
I always tell my player that it is their job to work that aspect out (it is their character) so I don't have to deal with crap like the Ninja that wants to hide from EVERYBODY. If you're in the party, you have a reason to be there and they have a reason to want you.
If you make a PC that the other players wouldn't want in the group, he doesn't join the group. I won't make PCs take a character that they wouldn't otherwise.
It does work out.
As far as how they all know each other, it depends quite a bit on starting level. If you start at 3rd level or so, they have a fair amount of past history, so they can already be an established group. It often works better, simply because a 1st level character hasn't done anything - so most backstory is about how they haven't done anything or met anyone yet.
If they don't want to, aren't inclined to, or lack the werewithall to figure out their own prehistory perhaps you could find out what kind of races and classes they're wanting to play and retrowrite a beginning that suitably binds them.
Although there are five billion ways to group PCs together at 1st level, here's one uvvem:
You might create a fierce loyalty amongst them if, despite varying alignments and races, they came up together somehow. The oddness of an NE rogue abandoning stealth to charge the armored minotaur that mortally threatens his NG druid comrade can create some enticing tension. These kids go back, way back.
A well written three pages of fiction that detail some of their prehistory might stoke a fire. And add a few dark mysteries from the past that they will need to group solve as they rise through levels together... ooo.
You'll have them hooked before they roll ability scores.
Hmm, sounds kinda like Stephen King's IT. I'd better go send him a check.
Man... The last time I had to DM the whole new-group-formation scenario, I'd been mulling over "how it should go" in my head for a few days before I realized I had an adventure to script for them.
In other words...
SHORT ANSWER: I winged it.
LONG ANSWER:
Night of the 1st gaming session (I'd guided them thru character creation over the phone and Internet), about 1-hour before everyone arrives I realize that I've been so concerned with setting up the adventure and getting my new apartment ready for guests that I totally neglected the set-up. No worries, there was still Chinese food to eat and the fact that everyone was using chop-sticks *except* for the one Asian player would buy me some time right?
Yeah... right.
So there I am, grabbing my white board and pulling my ottoman up to the head of the coffee table without a solid plan and resolving myself to winging yet another D&D session on 3 hours of rest. For the record...
PLAYER CHARACTERS:
* Verandil: Wood Elf Ranger (brother of...)
* Fanya: Wood Elf Druid (player is the GF of Verandil's player)
* Lissi: Pixie Warmage (player is the GF of...)
* D'relln: Drow Rogue (secretly working for the BBEG who gave him a ring that masks his alignment as True Neutral and makes him look like "Celek" the High Elf, only myself and the player knew that he was a spy)
Skifell: Viking Bear-Totem Barbarian (part of the longship crew of the same player's high-level Viking Warlord [separate campaign])
* Andúne: Winged Elf Cleric (squire of one of the main NPCs, would have been played by my ex-GF but her new BF wasn't keen on her being around me, kept the character on as an NPC)
NOTES:
** All players were given the same 6,000 starting XP and starting gold (adjusted up/down by a multiplier based on average starting gold by class) to create whatever their hearts desired.
*** Two days prior to starting the campaign, I ran a 1-on-1 with D'relln to lay the groundwork for his employment by the enemy as a spy. The entirely of the threat our party would later be deputized to handle had been setup by the BBEG in order to gain a valuable spy inside Wildethar's government in the capital city of Tol Ilmarond.
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So with only the brief blurbs about each character's backgrounds, I toss back a glass of plum wine and start story-telling:
Verandil, a young recruit in Wildethar's ranger corps, is on leave visiting his less militant sister's grove when he hears trouble. He rushes thru the forest just in time to see his temperamental sister shredding some hapless pirates by the stump of what was once a rather lovely Oak overlooking an inlet of the sea that leads to the elven capital of Wildethar.
Out at sea, his eyes can make out a rather unusual looking ship (stylized to look like a bird of prey) that has seen some rather heavy battle damage to its masts and rigging. One intelligence check later, it dawns on him that the pirates must have hewn the great tree as lumber to rebuild their main mast and effect repairs.
As the last of the land-bound pirates falls beneath Fanya's fury (little sister is bigger and meaner than her older brother), Fanya takes off after the limping ship yelling for Verandil to follow. Elf and ranger though he is, the Verandil is a ranger, not a marine and still a recruit at that. Taking on an entire ship full of pirates to avenge a tree that has already been slain is just folly.
As the druid dives into the surf, she calls out, "But that was a *Living* Oak, even though it can't grow anymore it's still alive AND it's the home of my friend Trilea the dryad!"
With an oath to his patron deity, Lady Corollairë the Valier, Verandil takes off after his sister and a short while later, they are both captive aboard Cair Tuithoron (The Swallow-tailed Raptor, see http://forums.worldsunknown.com/index.php?topic=93 for history, crew and illustration.)
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in the Port of Jehiril...
Skifell's Viking Prince (the same player's high-level character) has just concluded a diplomatic council involving the elves of Tol Ilmarond, the humans of Aramol, and the minotaur pirate lord who had secretly allied himself with the elves. Also in attendance are some of the remaining pirate high-captains and the flamboyant and buxom privateer "Admiral Wardove" (secretly employed by Tol Ilmarond to prey upon the pirate fleets). Having settled on a profitable new alliance with Aramol and Wildethar, he is eager to cut his crew's trading mission short and send envoys home to his king.
Young Skifell then gets selected to arrange a quick barter for their lumber and furs while other members of the crew prepare their prince's longship for the open seas.
Now while Skifell is a stalwart (and at times cunning) fighter, his powers of appraisal and diplomacy are somewhat limited. So then, while asking around in a tavern frequented by stevedores, D'relln/Celek spots an opportunity waiting to happen and volunteers his services as a negotiator.
A short time later, they have not only acquired enough liquid gold (booze & liquor) to pay for their goods 3 times over but with the extra currency, a new buyer presents itself. Some pirates of a nationality neither has seen before hint that they have some special merchandise they need to unload — the kind that would be well-suited to a departing vessel (i.e. slaves).
The pair boards a rather odd-looking vessel (The Swallowtail) to find a captive male wood elf below deck and a female wood elf in the captain's chambers. Also in the captain's chambers is a 1' tall pixie trapped inside a large glass bottle who has ripped a miniature tricorn hat in two and looks none-too-pleased at her current situation.
Though the pirates admit the "elf boy" is kind of scrawny, they note that his curvy sister is both attractive and fiery, sure to make a good woman for a discerning chieftain. The pixie is not for sale. As they are talking, the dryad whose tree was taken pokes her head thru the decking momentarily before ducking back out of sight.
At this point, Celek recognizes that not only is this a stolen elvish vessel but recalls that his mysterious employer mentioned the "marks" would be arriving by sea. The elven rogue takes the Viking aside and the two form a plan to "buy" the slaves to get them safely off the ship to call for backup in order to claim whatever bounty must surely exist on such a unique stolen vessel.
Skifell and 'Celek' ask for a moment alone with the elf girl "to make sure the goods aren't damaged" and start elaborating their plan to the druidess just in time to keep from getting knocked in the back of the head by the disgruntled and disoriented dryad. The druid relates how they were captured while Lissi the Pixie explains how the pirates tricked her into going on an adventure with them only to find herself trapped in a magic jar that they'd "agitate" several times a day to milk her for enough pixie dust to turn the whole crew invisible for their heist of The Swallowtail.
A few minutes later and the dryad has freed Verandil, and is making a distraction by running around (and thru) the ship naked to distract the pirate crew. All the while, the burly Viking finds a classic way to liberate the pixie that involved a strength check, a 2-handed warhammer and a metric ton of pixie-sized Aspirin. Even as the entire military police force of Jehiril is marching on the docks and sealing the port upon spotting The Swallowtail, there was about to be a heroic showdown against the pirates when Skifell the Viking ended the battle before it could start. With a single blow (and back-to-back natural 20s) he knocked out the pirate captain with the flat of his great axe just as the commander of the city's garrison leapt aboard.
Thus, everyone got a nice reward, the pirates wound up dead or in jail, the elves got their prototype warship back and the BBEG got a spy inside Jehiril's new government. For the following morning, when all of the characters arrived at the civil courthouse to collect their rewards, word had already arrived of a rather unique threat by an organization though once defeated. With the city's garrison committed to protecting the city against further demonic incursions (supplied by the BBEG), the commander needed a group of adventurers to handle the job and offered them positions as deputies of the constabulary.
Although I've abridged the events greatly, the formation of the party took the entire gaming session. By quitting time though, the players were all well-entertained and quite happy with such a unique and exciting campaign hook. As one commented, "I didn't know where it was going to go next!" To which I just grinned and replied, "Yeah, neither did I..." ;-)
Moral of the Story: Sometimes a little procrastination, a little wine and a supportive audience are all that's needed for a good story to present itself. :)
My wife and I are always sibs. We tried married once, but that was not fun for anyone but my wife. Strangers does not work either, as we always end up hooking up. A good friend of mine is usually my cousin. Various other PCs and NPCs are also cousins. One other player is always a dwarf that we pick up along the way. His clan usually owes our family a favor. The last player is always some weird race that just hangs out at our family house. It works for us and is more realistic than we meet at a bar.