What are some of the strategies you use for unifying a party before the campaign even begins?
- All characters are of the same race.
- All characters worship the same deity.
What other traits/experiences are good for creating unity in an early adventure party without railroading characters too much? Race and deity may be too constricting for some players. My group is starting a new Pathfinder sandbox campaign, which we'd like to start with characters that have some sort of bond. We're not deadset on what that bond might be, so I'm looking forward to your ideas.
- The PCs are related.
- The PCs make up a strike force from some army or organisation.
- The PCs all owe money, fealty or a big favour to some nebulous patron.
- The PCs all come from the same (small) village.
siblings
1) Party has to be at least half-human (or used to be human like a ghast or were-wolf) and all have the same father. Party is trying to find their father while dodging the assassins who are trying to Kill off all his spawn.
2) Party is escaped slaves. First adventure is the escape. Now dedicated to bringing down the empire of 'X' that was built on slave labor.
3) Party is all from the younger sons' of some countrie's aristocrats and will inherit next to nothing. The party is sent out to extend the countrie's influence to new territory.
4) Similar to 3. Party is all new blood and young guns from a criminal organization that already saturates their current territory. The party is sent to start move in on the territory of a weak organization in the city of 'X' and eventually take over.
5) Party are all priests or lay persons of the same church. The church send them out as a team to take care of problems discreetly.
6) Part members were all former students cohorts of the 'Great X' who was recently murdered. Party is trying to determine who killed him and bring them to justice. (Similar to Carrion Crown.)
But the big thing is to tell the players that they have to find a way to work together and make builds that can get along with others. (In other words, play nice with company.) If you build something bizzare that hates or is hated by the other PC's, it is not my responsibility as GM to find a reason why they get along.
Can't have a "destroy all undead and anything associated with them evangalist" and a "anti social hermit who animates undead because he hates people" both in the same group.
I once started the campain in your standard tavern. Had them all do what ever it is they want to do. They tend to gravitate to each other. If they don't, have something major happen and let the party br the only people who step up. Earthquake, burning man comes screaming in through the front door, or the tavern gets teleported to he'll and only the PCs are willing to leave the inn to find out why.
What are some of the strategies you use for unifying a party before the campaign even begins?
- All characters are of the same race.
- All characters worship the same deity.
What other traits/experiences are good for creating unity in an early adventure party without railroading characters too much? Race and deity may be too constricting for some players. My group is starting a new Pathfinder sandbox campaign, which we'd like to start with characters that have some sort of bond. We're not deadset on what that bond might be, so I'm looking forward to your ideas.
More details on the sandbox campaign would help to have more focused suggestions.
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What are some of the strategies you use for unifying a party before the campaign even begins?
None.
The point of the game is to work together and we're all mindful of that. We don't need some contrived method to make us work together.
More details on the sandbox campaign would help to have more focused suggestions.
We're doing a fantasy setting, which may or may not be the default Pathfinder setting. We're not deadset on that either. I'm not looking for tailor made suggestions, just general ideas.
As players we do work well together, but have found that the characters can be enhanced by a unifying theme/experience. Those were the sort of ideas I was hoping for.
I think anything is contrived for starting out your adventure party. While individual character motives are great, having them unified is also great - and that is what I am looking for.
Maybe come up with a theme or two for your campaign. For instance:
Crusade against <distant threat or monster type>
Unite the land against <incoming threat>
Bring down the <guy you don't like>
Uncover the mystery of <something ancient and forgotten>
Then have each PC have a reason to support that theme. Whether or not they make/join an organization along those lines is up to them, but the unifying factor is already there. If the adventurers all have a similar goal, they will stick together.
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What are some of the strategies you use for unifying a party before the campaign even begins?None.
The point of the game is to work together and we're all mindful of that. We don't need some contrived method to make us work together.
I don't really think comments like this are helpful. Having a preexisting connection to other characters gives some players the ability to fully explore the concept they've chosen while never having to worry about metagaming or "why am I with this bunch of dorks?" This is doubly true for sandbox games without a clear motivation.
The PCs are all from the same village
The PCs are all from the same city neighbourhood
The PCs all have the same mentor and are working together because of the mentor's request
The PCs are the sole survivors of a caravan, ship, etc.. and the incident has made the band together
The mother of one of the PCs has "told" the others to look out after little...
The PCs all worked together, using xxx skill, when younger
The PCs started out as caravan guards, were assigned to the same squad and not only got along, but stayed together once the destination was reached.
The PCs, with their bickering, annoyed a powerful wizard, who cast a geas on them, to work together and to get along
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I once started a campaign where i had the players all sit down and create out an entire family history for themselves. They made themselves the only living scions of a noble house, brought low by hard times, and luckily everyone either played a human or half-human, with the half-humans getting away with being bastard siblings. The house they created was specifically about duty, honor, and family, so they stuck together no matter how hard times became. Only time we ever had legitimate party unity, and it was a great and fun project as well :)
Here's the NPC that will be the initial questgiver. Write him into your backstory such that you have a positive relationship with him (maybe he was your mentor, a friend, he saved you or you saved him, uncle, etc). The PCs are brought together by their mutual desire to help out this NPC. Maybe they've already met each other depending on how important the NPC is in their backstory (if he's your mentor, you've probably already met his nephew, one of the PCs)
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The PCs all come from the same (small) village.[/list]
This was used to great effect in a 3.5 game my DM ran, where all the characters were from the same village, many were childhood friends, and they all took the Unearthed Arcana Flaw "Shaky". The joke was that it was something in the water that affected their hand-eye coordination. :)
We've more or less basically assumed that the PCs knew each other for reasons which were driven by the first adventure arc; e.g., we had all drifted together as highwaymen, when (during the first campaign session) one of the carriages we robbed had a massive onyx, which was both cursed and sought after by a gang of cultists.
Although I've got to say that the idea of doing mini-scenarios with each player needing the help of the others is interesting, it's, to me, something that can be handwaved a bit in order to get to the actual playing, if the "you all meet in a tavern/ship's mess/drunk tank" isn't part of the story going forward (which we've also done when the story warranted).
I like the idea of the mini-scenarios to unify the pcs...
The entire Western Region of Living Greyhawk started with a short scenario where the pcs were hired to deliver mail along a river. I hope it's okay to mention that campaign here. But the upshot of the whole thing was to unify the pcs, and it even served as a unifying backstory for pcs who didn't even sit at the same table during that first scenario. You could use the mini-scenarios to introduce pcs to each other, the world and to npcs who might become important to the story as it develops.
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The PCs all come from the same (small) village.[/list] This was used to great effect in a 3.5 game my DM ran, where all the characters were from the same village, many were childhood friends, and they all took the Unearthed Arcana Flaw "Shaky". The joke was that it was something in the water that affected their hand-eye coordination. :)
Ah, the 'It' approach... ;)
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My last 3.5 Campaign, I told the players that I wanted them to have a Unity theme. Pick either a race or an organization that would justify a particular group of Classes. The picked Dwarves. I then informed them that they were all family members of Clan Ironheel (They picked the name).
I allowed one player max to be another race. My buddy Steve chose Gnome,threw together a backstory about being the childhood friend of one of the Ironheels.
I also started them as prisoners in a goblin mine, having recently been overrun by the smelly little vermin. Players established who was in charge (Oldest of two brothers, other Dwarves were cousins), and began their escape plans... Fighting with shovels, thrown rocks and using shackles as a makeshift bola made for one of the coolest first battles of a campaign ever.
Honestly, one of my most enjoyable Campaigns ever (And I have been running since 1981 or so...). The players went on a self-imposed Quest to re-unite their scattered Clan members, warn the surrounding lands of an impending Hobgoblin invasion, and (Eventually) won recognition for their (rather Backwoods) Clan in one of the larger Dwarven cities through doing whatever unsavory tasks the that their 'betters' didn't want to do.
'Ironheels'll do it...' became their mantra.
Just a story of how such a unifying theme can make for a great run.
-Uriel
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But the big thing is to tell the players that they have to find a way to work together and make builds that can get along with others. (In other words, play nice with company.) If you build something bizzare that hates or is hated by the other PC's, it is not my responsibility as GM to find a reason why they get along.
Oh, totally.
As GM, it should be perfectly acceptable to tell players "You can make whatever legal PCs you like, using the sources on this list, but I only have time to run one game. If you can't find reasons to travel together then I'm going to follow the exploits of the larger group."
(It helps if you have an odd number of players, to avoid a tie.)
In my Council of Thieves Campagin, I started the game before the players met with the main NPC. I showed how bad a city Westcrown was and harrased the players with corrupt Dottari guards and evil Hell Knights. When they were offered the option of going rebel against Westcrown they were totally all for it.
I'm not a fan of making players be from the same place or race. It feels like I'm taking too many options from them making their own unique character histories. Honestly, if you know your players well enough, you'll be able to introdue a NPC or Organization that they will all jump on the chance to take down.
My two cents.
I don't really think comments like this are helpful. Having a preexisting connection to other characters gives some players the ability to fully explore the concept they've chosen while never having to worry about metagaming or "why am I with this bunch of dorks?" This is doubly true for sandbox games without a clear motivation.What are some of the strategies you use for unifying a party before the campaign even begins?None.
The point of the game is to work together and we're all mindful of that. We don't need some contrived method to make us work together.
I think comments like that are VERY helpful.
I usually GM, but I recently joined a game with a group of veteran players. I knew most of the people, but had never gamed with them. A year before I had put together another group of players to run a game for (who were mostly veteran board gamers, but old-time D&Ders).
In both cases, these people who had a minimum of 20 years gaming, never fretted about such things. Because it is the unwritten contract when you sit at an RPG table that you are there to be part of a shared-storytelling experience. And if you aren't on the same side, then you're likely to be written out of the story. Friends get together to play games and have fun. If you aren't down with that, then why are you even at our tables? It's really that simple.
If I think it's an issue I'll just tell them that they need a reason to be together and let them work out the whys.
At least it's not as goofy as it can be in CoC.