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So how do you usually do it? Do you require the characters to already know each other (either from childhood or working as caravan guards or whatever)? Or do you have them meet at the beginning of the campaign (they're all in the market for their own separate reasons when the goblins decide to attack)?
I've done both in the past and I'm always more satisfied with having them meet at the beginning (unless they want to know each other) but it's not always easy coming up with a reason why they're all in the same place at the same time.
What do you usually do? And how do you make it seem organic rather than forced?
Normally they know each other from the beginning. And serious in-group fights should not happen, even if it is a logical consequence of roleplay.
This comes from too much bad experience.
It's hard enough to make good adventures, I don't always have to find a very good reason for everybody to stay together. (and if the reason is not VERY good, people start scheming against each other easily)
I know that it might hinder roleplay (opportunities) but it seems better than the alternative.
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I have a loose goal that all new characters need to be on board with to qualify for joining the party.
For instance this friday I am writing in a Draconic Sorc/Fighter. I gave him all the info he needs about the area he is in, and left the rest up to him with the caveat that he needs to find a good reason for his character to want to help strive for the betterment of Westcrown and work with a group of adventurers who are similarly aligned. We are playing CoT for the record.
Hope my example helps.
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I use the "already know each other" tactic. It smooths out the initial game immensely and avoids "why would I trust this guy" stuff later. I have played games where the party did not get together as a group for 2 game sessions because one or two players kept finding reasons to not follow the hook that would bring them to the party. Very annoying.
I use the "already know each other" tactic. It smooths out the initial game immensely and avoids "why would I trust this guy" stuff later. I have played games where the party did not get together as a group for 2 game sessions because one or two players kept finding reasons to not follow the hook that would bring them to the party. Very annoying.
That's enough to get you disinvited around here. A non-evil party should play as a team, and screwing with the GM or other players just to be difficult is a no-no.
I prefer creating party ties during char gen, but have used a variety of techniques.
Starting in the same prison cell or slaver ship pen.
Having one PC with a goal that will require building a party, then running everyone separate and bringing them together one encounter at a time.
Kingmaker style, all applying for an adventurer contract and being assigned the job.
Graduation exercise for their school/guild.
Normally they know each other from the beginning. And serious in-group fights should not happen, even if it is a logical consequence of roleplay.
This comes from too much bad experience.
It's hard enough to make good adventures, I don't always have to find a very good reason for everybody to stay together. (and if the reason is not VERY good, people start scheming against each other easily)
I know that it might hinder roleplay (opportunities) but it seems better than the alternative.
+1
I'm moving toward this with my games. Too many bad experiences.
I use a mixture of different methods. I mostly leave it up to the party members whether they know each other or not before the start of the campaign with the caveat of no player shall have an evil alignment in a primarily good-aligned campaign. I usually come up with a compelling reason for them to stick together after the initial introduction. We try not to get too caught up in "well my character wouldn't do this!" kind of stuff. We kind of let majority rule and move on.
Another house rule I have is that no player will take any action that directly impacts another player in an adverse way, evil party notwithstanding. I'm not talking about accidently getting another player with Color Spray because there was no alternative. I'm talking about scheming against other party members for personal gain. That kind of behind the scenes scheming just, simply put, cannot be allowed to happen. All my players understand this and, in the interest of party cohesion, have agreed to comply, most enthusiastically I might add.
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Let's see (I'm usually the DM, BTW)
3.0 Campaign: Most of the PCs met in an Inn that served as a Adventurer's focus for several Guilds. All came from the surrounding area, other than one Dwarf (Who had been living as a Barbarian in the wilds, following his clan being attacked by a Red Dragon). 2 new characters joined a few month in, and both were rescues,found floating in a lifeboat (PCs were on an ocean voyage at that point. So, we had the dynamic of the 2 new guys knowing each other, and the original 4 likewise). Some minor rifts between the two made for good RPing, and everyone got along well, OoC, so it was fine.
First 3.5 game, 3 of the characters grew up together (Rohirrim-like Fighter, elf scout and a druid from the nearby woods), the 2 others were travelers, looking for gold (As in prospectors, not Dragon-Horde-Sackers).
Campaign began with an event/situation that caused them all to come together as a group: A Necromancer and his goblin henchman were attacking the various peoples, killing all the adults, but taking the children alive... Collecting enough to activate a really foul artifact (The PCs eventually defeated him,saving most of the kids, so no worries).
Next 3.5 game, I wanted a really strong group dynamic, no in-fighting, rivalries,etc... I said to the Players that they all needed to pick either one Race ope Class/ or close group of classes (Clerics and Paladins, etc...) for a very Group/Family oriented story.
They chose Dwarves, and our 'Dwarf Campaign' (With one token Gnome...who was one characters best friend) was born. All Dwarf characters were brothers/cousins, and I actually started them enslaved in a goblin mine,following them being overrun.
They escaped in a really hilarious fashion (One Dwarf ended up taking Weapon Focus:Thrown Rock, since he killed 2 goblins with them, another took up the pick as his weapon of choice from then on, since that's what he used during the escape). This game is a favorite of mine, and pretty much the fave of each of the players who were involved. Giving them a serious Goal (Trying to reestablish their Clan in a new Dwarf Hold, having lost their original lands) became their driving focus, and often lead to really awesome and funny RPing.
One player mentioned being weary (IC, OoC he loves combat) that he needed a break from rooting out Drow from the tunnels that surrounded their parcel of old Dwarf hold... he spent 2 whole sessions RPing standing in assayer lines, libraries and similar, trying to legitimize their Clan. XD
He loved it.
Point is, this group really came together. I am actually thinking of converting this one to PF (thy are 13th=14th Lvl).
My Kingmaker game started as written. PCs began as 'winners' in a lottery to settle a new land. None of them knew each other IC, but they took the time before session 1, RP/talking to each other, as they finalized gear, as if they were actually shopping in Brevoy before setting off.
I am blessed with a great group of players, I realize... They all get along pretty well in real-life. Helps that we play out of a game store, where 2 of them work. Also, 3 of us are bartenders in the same night club) tend to Meta-Game backgrounds during the week, so I will come in and someone will say 'David and I have this great idea for our characters...
-Uriel
Usually when I am in the process of starting a new campaign as the GM, I will initiate a round of email discussions about the party and how they met. Generally different players like to approach this in different ways. Sometimes none of the players care one bit about how they met, they just want to get the campaign going.
Frequently it ends up with a couple of players wanting their characters to have a linked backstory, and a couple of other players wanting to join the party at the last minute as either hire ons or as adventurers who just happen to be in the area and looking to join up with a group.
In my current Pathfinder campaign I had two players who really liked the campaign setting and built complex character backstories around the setting. The other two players just wanted to get the game going. So I gave the two engaged players a detailed explanation of the setting, some powerful motivations for them to want to investigate the campaign goals and set up some very important plot hooks for their characters to take advantage of later on in the campaign. The two other players I just gave the raw motivation of power and loot. The first two players had their characters meet and get to know each other off line and then all four characters ended up meeting at the local tavern where a soldier was posting recruiting posters for mercenaries to come earn their fortune. Since the two involved players already had powerful motivations to go on the campaign, they used the treasure/loot angle to entice the other two characters to join them, and off they went.
I tend to tell players before or during character creation what the beginning of the campaign will look like, so they know how to plan for characters. Once I have characters in hand, I decide exactly how to introduce the adventure to these particular PC's.
For the Kingmaker game I'm running they were all basically just looking for work, and essentially responded to the same classified add. Granted, I started Kingmaker with, literally, 8 hours notice. I had had a chance to read The Stolen Lands, and skim the Players Guide. I didn't even have a chance to tell the players anything about Brevoy until the next session.
I just had them make characters for a new campaign, and just due to the homelands that people chose, they're going to know each other from the start. The Nexian wizard and Thuvian rogue traveled on the same ship to Korvosa, along with a dwarven merchant from Alkenstar I had planned on using. The Varisian Cleric of Desna, and the Varisian fighter also know each other. The campaign is going to start with them hiring on to the same caravan through the Bloodsworn vale, and en route coming to the attention of a Pathfinder who sets them on the path to joining the Society.
The Serpent Skull campaign that we are all playing in was quite a bit different. We had all either boarded in Varisia, or worked on the Jeneviere. However, my gf and I who were Varisian were best friends and two of the the crew members were my siblings, so it only made sense that we go out together and explore, essentially having a party of three Varisian adventurers meet a related "party" of coworker/adventurers.
For years and years it was "you all meet in a bar" I kind of liked that as everyone rolled played 'against' or rather off of each other for a while, and there were always contract negotiations and such for the forming of a party, as we usually hashed out who got what before we set out to do anything, bought equipment and supplies and/or even agreed and where we were going and what we were doing.
The way we usually played not everyone had blown all their character creation money. They were starting out so they hadn't quite invested it all yet.
There for it wasn't uncommon for characters to start out wearing leather, and having a short sword, even though he was a fighter.
Once the party got settled, and a charter agreement was formed, party members put money on the table as to what they were willing to invest. This money was often pooled to by better armor for the tank, for example.
this always made us much better off, as the fighter more often than not couldnt even get hit by anything that wasnt a boss.
Base on amounts invested was order of treasure pick, share of gold, and even wills and stuff (what happens to my stuff should I die).
I liked this way, you usually took two sessions just to swing a sword the first time, but...it gave a real feel to it.
Lately we have done alot of "you know each other already, whats you backround story"
Last group we started were all dwarves from the same small citadel, either related to eachother or no so distant relatives, (cousins and such)
Next campaign I'm going to have everyone called together by an outsider via a reverse Planar Ally spell.
I don't require that the PCs know each other to start (though they're certainly welcome to come up with ties) but I do require that they make characters that will have some motivation to follow the hooks within reason. If you're not going to play the adventure you've agreed to play then why play at all? Obviously that's not as applicable in a "sandbox" game, where there are lots of hooks laying around and you can bite whichever one you want. There really does have to be some player/GM cooperation to make things work.
M
I always let the players decide. If they can't decide how they know each other then I normally make up a reason for them.
I've used and had used all sorts of hooks.
"You all meet in a bar." Clichéd, but when the bar in question is in a tavern that sits in a sub-planar realm at the centre of the multiverse, you can get away with it. Otherwise it's been done to death ... but it can be a good point to tie in with other methods.
"Shared contact." Be this a dream, an individual or an advertisement, it's something the party have in common and it's a good one to kick off with a group of people who don't know one another. Kingmaker starts this way, as do several other games.
"You already know each other." This can work great for a themed adventure, where the players are all from the same place and have the same goal. I was in a game where all PCs started as the youngsters from a given village, which had developed a bandit problem.
"Straight into the fight." Always fun, the party are barely where they are before the fun kicks off and they have to rely on one another. Rise of the Runelords starts off with this.
"We're all in this together." A variant on "Straight into the fight" and "Shared contact" this places all PCs in the same boat, from some event other than combat. I did this literally in an Eberron game by having all the PCs be passengers on a ship that hit a storm and sank, leaving all the PC's literally in the same life-boat, and stranded on the same small island trying to get off.
"Common purpose." All the party members have the same desire and the same enemy. Similar to "Shared contact" but a bit more reliant on goodwill if the purpose is a valuable thing. Curse of the Crimson Throne uses this well.
"Met via prophecy." This one can work, but you need a really good game to follow it so that it's worthwhile. I have seen it done well, but that intro had the prophecy, shared dreams, the party meeting in a local pub and then getting attacked by a gang of thugs. The GM in that case wasn't taking chances ...