PDA

View Full Version : Why are the PCs together?



RE:Insanity
2010-07-31, 01:22 AM
As strange and new as some of my adventures are, I always have one problem starting up a campaign! It plagues me over and over, again and again, bugging me even in my sleep!
WHY DID THE CHARACTERS GET TOGETHER?
I can never for the life of me think of a good reason that the characters are together in the first place. Mercenaries and taverns are too cliched at this point, so I'm asking you all for help! What are good reasons for the PCs to be together at the beginning of the mission? Not like they were the best in town or whatever and all got hired and eventually decided to adventure together (it's just not realistic). What are good reasons for a bunch of adventurers with no renown or anything to be together when the first plot hook for the first mission is set off?

Tyndmyr
2010-07-31, 01:24 AM
Ties of family, friendship, or loyalty/duty to another generally work well.

The simple ones are always the best, and least likely to suddenly stop working at a given point.

Shadowbane
2010-07-31, 01:27 AM
Mutual survival. :smallcool:

Desril
2010-07-31, 01:29 AM
The adventuring wizard needs his meatbags...errr....traveling companions to round out his lack of physical power. So he let's them follow him.

lisiecki
2010-07-31, 01:33 AM
This is why Shadowrun works so well.

"I am willing to commit the following list of crimes, for money, and will spend time with others who are willing to commit the same list of crimes, and compliment my skills"

RE:Insanity
2010-07-31, 01:35 AM
And then they get wound up in a big conspiracy or get used to each other, yeah. But this is D&D, and I've used that before...

Chambers
2010-07-31, 01:35 AM
What are good reasons for a bunch of adventurers with no renown or anything to be together when the first plot hook for the first mission is set off?

The tavern is a cliche because it works. No name adventurers without a group hang out where they can meet people - taverns and inns. So they serve a purpose. Take that purpose and reflavor it, thinking of other places where people that don't know each other would naturally gather.

Possible ideas:

Church
Marketplace
Festival / Gallows Celebration (if it's that kind of world)


To specifically answer your question though, a good reason that they would join up together after learning about the hook is that they are simply the ones there to handle it. Luck of the draw, or in a darker campaign, the curse of conscription. Without knowing more about what the actual hook is it's hard to give specific suggestions.

Some other reasons:

They are forced to do it. Authority/Bad Guy says do this, or else.
They're The Only Ones That Can Help (because they are the first one the NPC ran into)
They've been secretly followed and watched by organization X that needs them for this special mission...

Serpentine
2010-07-31, 01:43 AM
Well, I can give you my experiences...

The campaign from which mine follows started in Montgomery Snake's Elevated Academy for Adventurers. I can't remember why most of us hung out together - maybe the academy forced us to work together - but it meant we had a reason to all be in the same place, and had pretty similar goals.
The DMPC's CG Elf Rogue and a PC LG Elf Cleric of Tyr had a backstory - the Rogue had been caught vulnerable by a bunch of zombies, and the Cleric happened by at the right moment and rescued him. They've been friends ever since. I think the rest of us happened to be friends in school, like normal people do.
My current PbP game was pretty straightforward: we were all called, and hired for the same job. Simple as that.

gomipile
2010-07-31, 01:43 AM
In the campaign I'm playing in currently, most of the PCs come from a sort of academy of player classes which trains people who want to help defend the kingdom from various threats. Our level 1 party was sent out together on a scouting mission by the headmaster as a kind of final exam.

fusilier
2010-07-31, 04:37 AM
I have trouble with this too. Typically, I try to let the players have some idea as to what the campaign will be about when they are building their characters (and developing backgrounds), then I try to get them all to meet each other. Sometimes, I still have some character that really wouldn't have any reason to go on the campaign. At that point I involve the character's player in the process, so that either he or I can make changes to get his character on board.

Finally, you only need to hook in a few characters, then others can be friends or acquaintances, former partners, known persons, etc. I typically use that technique when they spring a new character on me at the last moment.

Taverns are cliche, but they are for a reason: they were common gathering places, where such business was often discussed.

The first session is often just about getting the characters all together.

tordirycgoyust
2010-07-31, 04:52 AM
Old school/army buddies(eg. the a-team)
independently answer a help wanted ad and find you work well together(eg. Leverage)
Happen to be in the same area(eg. jail, immigration line, church, festival, etc.) when something(eg. demon invasion) important happens...

Dr.Epic
2010-07-31, 04:56 AM
WHY DID THE CHARACTERS GET TOGETHER?

A little metagaming is good. If the PC's acted like this was real life then they'd never stay on group and everyone would be off doing their own thing in game and the DM would have to focus only on one player at a time causing the others to wait for their turn to do something.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 06:54 AM
It's much easier if you can tie part of the group with the backstory. Two or three of them could be brothers, the other could have shared the dreams of glory, the next could be fleeing from his homeland and grew attached to this specific group...
Sharing too specific goals is just about as bad as not sharing any, as the reason to stay vanishes within a few adventures.
--

One character of mine fled home due to career disagreements, and decided to prove he could live by the sword. After a few humbling experiences, he sought a midterm that pleased him and kept going as a merc. When the group met, it was just a job as good as any, but midways a contact from someone that was spying him for his family gave him a reason to have his hirers owe him a favor or two. What keeps him in the group is two things today: The loyalty of the group and the antics with two of the guys(8 total)
--
My other character is a glory fanatic, and is currently following this group after a series of circumstances that started with her botching one of the guys' jobs, ended with the guy wiping the road from Valkaria to Malpetrim with her face and caught her interest because the other guy mentioned the reason they're traveling is going to spark a civil war.

Kiero
2010-07-31, 07:29 AM
In our games, this is one of the first things we consider as a group. Before the game even starts, we work out why this group of people is working together.

Yora
2010-07-31, 07:31 AM
Our current campaign started with the villages shaman disappearing and his assistant asked the local lumberjack (PC #1) and witch (PC #2) for help, because they were the only people in the village who had any experience with the wilderness or magical creatures. There was also a vagabond who came through the village at that time (PC #3), and as in that land anyone who travels alone outside of villages has some experience with staying alive, he was offered free food and lodging if he would join the search.
Two more players want to join the group later, and I think I have them come from the next village, send by their elders to ask the missing shaman for advice regarding the strange events in the forest.

So they are really working together because they share the same goal. Except the one rogue who doesn't have anything better to do and could use any rewards they might get. :smallamused:

W3bDragon
2010-07-31, 07:31 AM
Let's see, I'll list how the PC group got together for the last few campaigns I've played/DMed:

* (D&D) PCs were 1st level and most were from a couple of neighboring villages. The village elder, a retired old druid, saw potential in PC1 and had him sent to train under a friend of his in the city. PC2 was a wandering outcast ranger that the old druid showed kindness to and allowed access to his grove. PC3 was a Favored Soul who was sent to the druid to consult with when he began manifesting his powers. PC4 was being chased by bounty hunters when PC1 rescued him. They all met while visiting the old druid for different reasons. Village gets destroyed, old druid gives them a long term mission to fulfill.

* (D&D) PCs were a couple of brothers and some friends who had formed a small time street gang in a city were crime was rampant. They were pickpockets and con artists. They stuck together because of ties of family, friendship, and mutual survival.

* (CoC) PCs were the owners and operators of a Private Eye office. One of the PCs was the owner, another was the office fix-it man, and another was a retired cop working for them as an investigator

* (D&D) PCs were all recent initiates of a major thieves guild. Guild boss threw them together for a series of missions based on their capabilities

That's what I can remember off the top of my head. Was gonna add a couple of oWoD games, but those are too convoluted to summarize.

I've found that when I'm DMing, I get inspiration partly from the setting of the first adventure I want to run, and partly from whatever background the PCs give me about their characters. I try to weave those together as best as possible. For example, if two PCs mention an old mentor, then I make that mentor the same person for both, if possible. Someone mentions a favorite aunt and another mentions a soothsayer, then they're the same person, etc.

If I'm out of ideas, then I let the players work it out with me. It might be a bit time consuming, especially when everyone is looking forward to starting a new campaign, but the rewards are worth it.

Beelzebub1111
2010-07-31, 07:34 AM
Happen to be in similar locations during monster attack.
Monsters come from all sides pushing them back towards one location, working together they defeat the onslaught and decide that they work well together.

Or that they all applied for the same job.

Or *Gasp* meet in a tavern!

Sir_Elderberry
2010-07-31, 08:31 AM
In the last campaign I was in, the session opened with each PC scattered across Khorvaire and having an assassination attempt against them. They all catch their (rather incompetent) assassins and find that they bear an aberrant dragonmark, leading them back to Sharn. I handwaved some time (but geographically this was plausible) and they were all pulling in on one lightning train when a bomb went off in it, forcing them to meet each other by fighting the elementals that came out. Afterwards they continue in their investigations together, ultimately killing the agent of House Tarkanan who had been hired to coordinate these attacks. They find a letter stating that there is a huge bounty on the heads of everyone named in an attached memo, and an attached internal memo of House Cannith discussing their need for a small group of adventurers for an expedition to the Mournland, and listing possible candidates--most of whom have been marked off--leading them to their employer.

mint
2010-07-31, 08:37 AM
To the OP:

Make your characters together. While you're sitting around filling in your sheets, have the players talk about how they know each other. Just throw ideas out there. Childhood friends, family, in the same underground fight club, so on.
Its really a group effort and not really up to you as DM.
If its hard to get started, choose a PC and everyone has to come up with a relationship with him.
Once you get everyone involved, nothing could be easier.

Xallace
2010-07-31, 08:38 AM
I tend to ask the PCs to do that for me; just work together to find some common backstory with at least one other party member. Tends to work well enough.

One of my campaigns began with the simple requirement of "Find a reason your character would be at this noble's party." By the end of the first session, all five PCs owed the noble about 300,000 gold in property damages. As such, they felt rather obligated to do whatever random task he sent them on until they paid their debt. And I didn't plan any of that, which was awesome.

I began one game with "You find yourselves at the mouth of the dungeon." Clearly the PCs were together because they needed to explore this dungeon. Clearly.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 08:41 AM
I tend to ask the PCs to do that for me; just work together to find some common backstory with at least one other party member. Tends to work well enough.

One of my campaigns began with the simple requirement of "Find a reason your character would be at this noble's party." By the end of the first session, all five PCs owed the noble about 300,000 gold in property damages. As such, they felt rather obligated to do whatever random task he sent them on until they paid their debt. And I didn't plan any of that, which was awesome.

I began one game with "You find yourselves at the mouth of the dungeon." Clearly the PCs were together because they needed to explore this dungeon. Clearly.

Did they find the amulet of yendor?

Closak
2010-07-31, 08:42 AM
Simple, the evil government did it.

The PC's all have a grudge against the government.
So when they meet each other they decide to team up and play terrorists.

Bring down those corrupt asses! *Fireballs the local courthouse*

Kris Strife
2010-07-31, 08:46 AM
Adventuring groups get discounts on ale, food, rooms and other goods from Guild associated inns, taverns and shops.

Awnetu
2010-07-31, 08:57 AM
The BBEG killed their families, they ended up at the courthouse and found that the police can do nothing, (Lack of evidence or whatever) So they become vigilantes.

Nihb
2010-07-31, 09:09 AM
Play any online game and you'll see why adventurer group together : power in the number. It's been said, but the tavern is the right place to meet other adventurer in need of a party.

But I agree, I little change is always welcomed. So, let's see if I remember well... We had :
- Two houses in the neighborhood won't stop insulting each other, until a crime happens near their house. Seeing as the guards have their head up in their butt, they decided to join as a party and investigate. They still bitched, but they learned to work as a team. Haa, chaotic teams...
- A guildhouse just opened, and they needed members. One of the character's mentor was a friend of the founders, and all three dwarves were already friends, looking for some side jobs. Cliché, I know.
- A noble capured a bunch of lonewolves and brought them to him. He asked for something to be done, and a great reward would be given. Due to some players not showing afterward, the initial 4 men party broke in the desert and only two of them decided to continue, keeping the artifacts to themselves in the end.
- A man in the capital of a country is sure that he is tracked by spies from his own country, so he flees from them. A yound aristocrate and her elven friend she met when boarding an airship illegaly are found by the city guards, so they jump down the window and run. All of them hide in a tavern, but guards barge in. They sneak their way out and run thru the alleys, until they are blocked by a cart full of wheat. They hijack the cart and ask the frightened gnome adept to take them out of the town. Once outside, they start talking, and the gnome suggests to bring them to friends of her family that could be lodging them for the night. When they get to the farm, they're gone.
- A bunch of adventurers are running away from winter and decide to board ships to go on a tropical cruise. They realize they have the same ambitions and that it would be easier to find job if they worked together.

Bagel
2010-07-31, 09:20 AM
had a gm once that invented this wonderful method of creating a convoluded family tree that meant we were all related by blood or marriage. Granted we all started in the same small farm town as lvl 1 characters. It was a blast.

Pro tip: If a goblonoid hits on your half-orc second cousin its a good idea to bash his face, on principle.

Aroka
2010-07-31, 10:09 AM
- The PCs belong to the same social unit.

- Start in media res. The PCs are in the same difficult circumstance and must work together to get out of it, then work together to get to the bottom of it, then work together to follow the plot of the campaign.

I have a hard time even thinking of any potential way to start a game that those two wouldn't cover.

Dogmantra
2010-07-31, 10:25 AM
They work for the government's Redundant and Tautological Office of Redundant Tautology. They're together because they're together.

the humanity
2010-07-31, 10:33 AM
I always liked the idea of getting everybody thrown into a holding cell with an evil minion who hints at the dark plans of his master.

this usually results in either a jailbreak or a chaotic good sheriff who overheard the conversation and is letting the PC's go... if they try to stop said evil plans.

Vitruviansquid
2010-07-31, 10:34 AM
Why are the PC's together?

because they're the best of the best at what they do, despite their hilarious quirks and mismatched personalities.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-07-31, 11:01 AM
Plenty of reasons, here's a few I have used or thought about using:

-The heroes live in a typpyverse distopia, ruled by an evil dictator. La resistance dose not yet exist. The heroes, with a mutual hatred of the dictator/emperor/government decide to band together and start the beginnings of La resistance.

- The heroes are members of some kind of evil(or heroic) organization which has stuck them together based on their abilities.

-Heroes all come from the same school of arcane magic and where friends there. This only works if you have a party made of entirely arcane casters, however.(Though as ridiculous as that sounds, by RAW that is actually a more feasible party then the typical 5 man band at times.)

- The heroes have all been Geassed by a powerful wizard to complete the same quest. They somehow meet and learn of the others situations(perhaps all of them are headed to the same dungon?) Thus, since they have been forced into the same mission, they decide to work together to make the odds of achieving that quest better. This also gives you an instant BBEG in the wizard that geassed them. Bonus points if you make said wizard a real jerk*** or a complete monster so the PCs end up really enjoying taking him down.

-The heroes all own money to a powerful and greedy merchant or banker. They get thrown in jail for dept. In prison they unite to take down the merchant/banker if chaotic or neutral, or if lawful or neutral decide to unite and earn enough gold to pay back their dept. If chaotic or neutral, they can either attempt to break out of jail or wait for the same thing the lawful party gets to happen to them(and then it dose in fact happen.) If lawful or neutral, the merchant/banker decided that their high skill level(Even having 1 level in a PC class is considered being extremely skilled since most people in D&D worlds have levels only in NPC classes.) is useful to them and brings the PCs to his mansion. The Banker makes them a deal. If they do a certain number of quests for him, he will consider that payment for their dept. Bonus points if you make the banker/merchant a really greedy scumbag, because again, the PCs will love taking him down at the end of the campaign that way.

Calemyr
2010-07-31, 11:28 AM
So far I've run two campaigns, and both of them had non-tavern related reasons for the party to get together.

In the first one, all the PCs were students from different institutions in the city. When they heard one of the city's elite adventurers (a cohort from a previous campaign) was giving lessons on combat, they joined the crowd of hopefuls. The party was "randomly" thrown together for a practice combat. Gave the players (and a newbie DM) a chance to play with combat and learn the 4th edition rules before things got messy. While celebrating their victory, they happened to overhear an argument between a cleric and one of the PCs mothers, resulting in a low level quest that lead to the greater adventure.

In the second one, the first session took place on a train that was robbed. The catch is that one of the players was a paladin who was just riding the train while the other was a sorceress who was involved in the heist. When the heist goes south, causing the train to derail, the paladin is forced to work with his prisoner to figure out what was going on.

Leon
2010-07-31, 11:31 AM
They all work for a Bank in Venice as Problem Solvers (and freelance adventurers when not on a Job)

arrowhen
2010-07-31, 12:05 PM
Avoiding starting in a tavern because starting in a tavern is a cliche is, in itself, a cliche.

Connington
2010-07-31, 02:13 PM
This (http://www.dangermouse.net/gurps/reject/tavern.html) may interest the OP.

Anyways, the old cliche of You All Meet In A Tavern's big strength is that is allows just about any character to work, as long as they could theoretically be in a tavern. The only other start-off with quite as much flexibility is You've All Been Hired (For Whatever Reason) For an (X) Job. And honestly, I seem to get that one more often.

Other than those two standbys, you have to start imposing character restrictions of PCs, although the restrictions may be rather small.

Aroka
2010-07-31, 02:27 PM
Anyways, the old cliche of You All Meet In A Tavern's big strength is that is allows just about any character to work, as long as they could theoretically be in a tavern.

Not really,; in fact, it's an incredibly weak starting point for tying together PCs with great differences. It fails to provide either internal or external motivation, instead relying on the PCs to randomly band together.

You can combine it with "you all get hired", but that's a weak premise for the "you all get hired" - there are far stronger ones to build on it.

The best way to bring together PCs who have no reason to be together is the common threat (usually the in media res approach; at its simplest, it's "you're all attacked by zombies!").

wick
2010-07-31, 02:28 PM
I had my group start with a loved one being kidnapped by slavers and them all converging on the last know location of the slavers. After meeting each other and seeing that they had a more powerful and common enemy, they banded together and were a group ever since.

I sometimes string a few characters together as family members. Brothers/sisters adventuring together.

Sometimes they start in the same hometown which gets attacked.

A common circumstance is really all that you need. Maybe they worked as guards on the same caravan and decided that they can do better by banding together and going adventuring.


The whole "You meet in a Tavern," is really rather hackened and does not bode well for the richness of the DM's plot.

Ponderthought
2010-07-31, 02:42 PM
I guess I kind of cheat in this regaurd, as I tend to make the characters figure out the reason they work together on their own, before the game even starts.

On one rather interesting occasion, I dropped that and had them all sold to a powerful sorcerer as slaves. Instant villain. Man did they hate him.

Connington
2010-07-31, 03:20 PM
Not really,; in fact, it's an incredibly weak starting point for tying together PCs with great differences. It fails to provide either internal or external motivation, instead relying on the PCs to randomly band together.


Conceded, but the tavern opening has it's roots in the classic dungeon crawl. Players generally like having all their starting gear to hand, which is harder to justify when they're suddenly attacked by zombies. That kind of opening is fun, but I'm hesitant to categorize any opening as being definitively better or worse than any other.

Machiavellian
2010-07-31, 03:28 PM
I actually agree with not using Taverns. Prisons however tend to work out favorably.

In my new campaign, they all were told by their village elders/wisemen/witches/ect. that they are destined to change the universe. So vecna threw them all in a cell. They've been in this cell for 10 years (pcs start @ lv8), so I'm betting they've learned to get along

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 03:33 PM
I actually agree with not using Taverns. Prisons however tend to work out favorably.

In my new campaign, they all were told by their village elders/wisemen/witches/ect. that they are destined to change the universe. So vecna threw them all in a cell. They've been in this cell for 10 years (pcs start @ lv8), so I'm betting they've learned to get along

Twist!
Guy A and B are in the tavern talking business to a shady person. Guy C is a stranger on a mission and has a rather rough time dealing with cultural shock, and starts a brawl. He hurls a mook on the table where guys A and B are busy, and destroys their meal and knocks down their shady partner. Guy A greets Guy C's face with his foot, and a few confused rounds later, everyone is arrested.

Tinydwarfman
2010-07-31, 03:33 PM
Say, we have all happened to meet just as a great and dark evil power threatens to take over the world. I think we should all divide our power and work completely independently of each other.

Also, Idea for new campaign: The PCs are all noble heroes who have died, but instead of going to heaven, their souls were kidnapped by evil demons, and they must escape from the abyss.

ryleah
2010-07-31, 03:36 PM
One of my favorites was everyone was a low level member of a different competing branch of the government put together to solve a major abomination problem. Every player was given to understand that the team was meant to be epic and their presence was to be a calculated insult to the other organizations. When they all met up and saw that they were a party of seventh level adventurers sent up against an atropal worshiping pan-aberration coalition, they decided their allegiance to their own survival was more important than spying for their respective organizations and are now working together rather cohesively.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 03:40 PM
More likely, they'd go back and bitch about it, and civil war would start, further dooming the world.

ryleah
2010-07-31, 03:48 PM
More likely, they'd go back and bitch about it, and civil war would start, further dooming the world.

One does not bitch to the great wyrm red dragon.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 03:50 PM
I just mean that when they all gather and see that everyone is sort of a failure, "let's band together and fight crime" is a huge stretch of logic, considering they all knew they were going there expecting not to have to contribute.

Daelen
2010-07-31, 03:50 PM
I've always been a fan of the job listing board in the middle of town. Adventurers set off from their respective homes, end up in the same town with not much money, no fame... they need to find work.

Mr.Bookworm
2010-07-31, 04:06 PM
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

-Michael Corleone

Well, the mutual loathing and attempted homicide usually comes later, but most adventurer parties end up this way eventually, as a group of sociopathic lunatics who are only kept together by distrust, spite, and loot.

the doomed one
2010-07-31, 04:10 PM
Say you have four players: ask player one how he knows player two, ask player two how he knows player three, ask player three how he knows player four, and ask player four how he knows player one.

It works surprisingly well.

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-07-31, 04:12 PM
Two are essentially indentured to the paladin for saving their lives from the angry townspeople after they burned down a bar together. They go along with it because they need meatshields.

Boci
2010-07-31, 04:13 PM
This is why Shadowrun works so well.

"I am willing to commit the following list of crimes, for money, and will spend time with others who are willing to commit the same list of crimes, and compliment my skills"

And this doesn't work in D&D because...?

Dust
2010-07-31, 04:16 PM
Depends on the group. For parties with mostly-neutral characters, I think the most-successful group I ever ran began with a prison-breakout. they had all been wrongfully charged/over-sentenced and didn't plan on sticking around. They continued to work together due to mutual respect.

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-07-31, 04:21 PM
Conceded, but the tavern opening has it's roots in the classic dungeon crawl. Players generally like having all their starting gear to hand, which is harder to justify when they're suddenly attacked by zombies. That kind of opening is fun, but I'm hesitant to categorize any opening as being definitively better or worse than any other.

How about a compromise? I'm actually planning on having my next campaign start in a tavern, which is soon attacked by zombies.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 04:27 PM
How about a compromise? I'm actually planning on having my next campaign start in a tavern, which is soon attacked by zombies.

who were created and released at the same time by all characters' guilds.

RE:Insanity
2010-07-31, 04:30 PM
who were created and released at the same time by all characters' guilds.

Made from the animated bodies of friends who broke out of prison!

Connington
2010-07-31, 04:37 PM
Made from the animated bodies of friends who broke out of prison!

Which they were put in after their zeppelin crashed?

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 04:45 PM
Which they were put in after their zeppelin crashed?

Which crashed because the players were all failures sent by their teams to fumble the yearly maintenance on it.

jiriku
2010-07-31, 05:07 PM
As strange and new as some of my adventures are, I always have one problem starting up a campaign! It plagues me over and over, again and again, bugging me even in my sleep!
WHY DID THE CHARACTERS GET TOGETHER?
I can never for the life of me think of a good reason that the characters are together in the first place. Mercenaries and taverns are too cliched at this point, so I'm asking you all for help! What are good reasons for the PCs to be together at the beginning of the mission? Not like they were the best in town or whatever and all got hired and eventually decided to adventure together (it's just not realistic). What are good reasons for a bunch of adventurers with no renown or anything to be together when the first plot hook for the first mission is set off?

This is not your problem. Tell the players to come up with a reason, and don't let them start until they've got a good one.

Snake-Aes
2010-07-31, 05:10 PM
This is not your problem. Tell the players to come up with a reason, and don't let them start until they've got a good one.

It is everyone's responsibility (and not a problem). It's a story being built by the players in the world the dm made. Everyone is involved!

Jack_Simth
2010-07-31, 05:18 PM
Let's see... many of these have likely already been mentioned...

1) NPC intervention: Maybe they all received the same mysterious letter, and for reasons of their own, followed up on it, and got the same introduction from the same person at the appointed time and place. Maybe they all got elected by their village to be the ones to go forth and handle the X problem (possibly by being sent to the local dragon as payment for protection...). They all got arrested at the same time, and need each other's help to get out of jail. They all got drafted at the same time, and were lumped into one magically-compelled group as a matter of convenience. And so on. Some NPC or group of NPC's coerce/trick/force them together initially.
2) Combat Intro: Survival. Something dangerous happened (skeleton attack in the marketplace, plague of dire rats, outbreak of lethal sarcasm, whatever) and they were the ones in the crowd who didn't immediately run.
3) Personal reasons: They all grew up in the same village / went to the same school / ate at the same diner / got seduced by the same girl / had the same parents / whatever, and became buddies during the course of normal life events.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 05:19 PM
And this doesn't work in D&D because...?

Is every PC in D&D a criminal? no, D&D is a vastly different game then shadowrun not only in system but setting.

In shadowrun its expected every player is a shadowrunner, and shadowrunners are criminals doing work that Mega Corporations, governments and mob families can't be seen doing.

in D&D one day adventuring probably provides enough wealth to stay at an Inn for a year. In Shadowrun it may take two or three jobs a month to live comfortably if you want a high standard of living.

Because everyone is a shadowrunner be no matter their skill set, assembling for a job is easy. "Your fixer calls about a job offer, here's the details to meet the Johnson"

The game comes built in with a unifying factor, D&D does not.

Boci
2010-07-31, 05:30 PM
Is every PC in D&D a criminal? no, D&D is a vastly different game then shadowrun not only in system but setting.

In shadowrun its expected every player is a shadowrunner, and shadowrunners are criminals doing work that Mega Corporations, governments and mob families can't be seen doing.

in D&D one day adventuring probably provides enough wealth to stay at an Inn for a year. In Shadowrun it may take two or three jobs a month to live comfortably if you want a high standard of living.

Because everyone is a shadowrunner be no matter their skill set, assembling for a job is easy. "Your fixer calls about a job offer, here's the details to meet the Johnson"

The game comes built in with a unifying factor, D&D does not.

Meh, fluff is fluff. Whose to say the DM doesn't reflavour things to make the shadowrunners a sleeper cell of urban saboteurs who have just recieved their first order 6 months ahead of the planned invasion?

oxybe
2010-07-31, 05:45 PM
why are the PCs together?

because you had a pregame session and told the players to figure it out for themselves while they were generating the PCs and you were explaining the setting in greater detail.

this here never failed me once.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 06:03 PM
Meh, fluff is fluff. Whose to say the DM doesn't reflavour things to make the shadowrunners a sleeper cell of urban saboteurs who have just recieved their first order 6 months ahead of the planned invasion?

If you restyle it so the entire party is X instead of Y. The entire party is still all X. Once again built in unifying factor.

No fluff is not fluff, The setting of shadowrun isn't fluff its what makes it shadowrun. If you change the fluff your not playing shadowrun anymore.
Just as if you take all the fluff of starwars out of a starwars RPG its no longer starwars.
The fluff and system are woven together in this instance, unlike in D&D.

D&D is mainly the system with a bit of built in fluff, with several different campaign settings. But because the world is much more varied then in other games, there isn't the same unifying factor unless the DM assigns one.

When the game assigns a unifying aspect such as your all shadowrunners players will natural build there characters around it. When the DM assigns a unifying factor like you all work for the Harpers. Well that can generate resentment.

Boci
2010-07-31, 06:17 PM
Just as if you take all the fluff of starwars out of a starwars RPG its no longer starwars.

You could have some Sith and/or Jedi marooned on a planet filled with hostile beast, the goal being returning to civilization. That is still Starwars. You could have the rebela nd Jedi all dead, the universe ruled by Sith who are now at civil war. That is still Starwars.


No fluff is not fluff, The setting of shadowrun isn't fluff its what makes it shadowrun. If you change the fluff your not playing shadowrun anymore.

So the game I described is not Shadowrun?


The fluff and system are woven together in this instance, unlike in D&D.

I find that very hard to believe.


When the game assigns a unifying aspect such as your all shadowrunners players will natural build there characters around it. When the DM assigns a unifying factor like you all work for the Harpers. Well that can generate resentment.

I wasn't suggesting a DM should ambush his players with this.
"Okay, so everyone's ready with char gen? Okay, just one more small detail before we start..."

Algerin
2010-07-31, 07:12 PM
Our latest campain started in(or, to be more precise, the PC's met in a tavern)

Although, this was mostly because of my characters backstory.

See, my character is a Warlord(officer) from a Soviet Russia style country. He used to be a member of a minor noble family which is how he was able to afford schooling and to get through officer school.

However, part way through his schooling, the country devolved into civil war. the character was graduated early and was sent by the queen(as one of the youngest, and therefore expendable officers) to go to different lands and seek allies to help the loyalist forces.

talking to the lord of a small town seemed promising. But they couldn't lend forces due to the overwhelming crime problem. If the two warring(yet cooperating) factions could be put down, forces could be lended.

So after a quick scenario, where the Officer kidnaps and interrogates a thief to find out where the guild leader is at (a seedy bar), the warlord meets the other two members in said bar.

good opening, in my opinion.

Yuki Akuma
2010-07-31, 07:28 PM
Why are the PCs together?

Because there wouldn't be a story otherwise, duh.

FoE
2010-07-31, 07:35 PM
I remember one adventure where the DM said "You all meet on a road and decide to adventure together." That inspired a lot of eye-rolling on my part.

Generally I have the party "already together" by the start of the game or I invent some incident that PUTS them together. You All Meet In A Cell (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouAllMeetInACell) works pretty well for this. In any case, they stay together for mutual survival.

Yahzi
2010-07-31, 07:43 PM
Let me tell you how to not do it.

I once bragged to my players that they could create any characters they wanted - I had such a strong plot hook that it would hold them all together. So off they go and make up some GURPS modern characters.

- An environmental lawyer
- A taxi driver with PTSD from his military service
- A drug dealer
- The drug dealer's hooker girlfriend
- An investigative journalist

So the first session starts. I tell them,

You're standing at a subway stop, waiting for the train. There are 4 other people on the platform with you. When the train comes it, the doors open and a man in a white lab coat holding an oxygen canister blocks the doorway.

"Sorry," he says, and sprays you with gas. You pass out.

When you wake up, there is a crowd of worried people around you. You see that the other 4 people who were waiting are also just now waking up. But more importantly, you see one of the people in the crowd is in fact an alien squid in a business suit. No one else pays him any attention, except the other 4 victims of the gas attack, each of whom stares at the squid-man in shock and horror.

It's perfect, right? They're the only 5 people they know who can see the aliens. They have to work together!

By the third session they were throwing dynamite at each other...

My next game, I made them all members of the same noble house.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 07:50 PM
You could have some Sith and/or Jedi marooned on a planet filled with hostile beast, the goal being returning to civilization. That is still Starwars. You could have the rebel and Jedi all dead, the universe ruled by Sith who are now at civil war. That is still Starwars.

Except you keeping the fluff Jedi and Sith and once again as a DM applying a unifying aspect, survival on the planet that isn't inherent to the day to day goings of the game.

Starwars is also a fairly simple setting, "Jedi vs Sith" "Empire vs Rebellion" and whomever is caught in the middle. The setting lends its self for easy party unification.

What is a shadowrunner is actually defined
Somebody who receives wages from: - international corporations - crime organization - independent people claiming revenge... or something else - others To: - Steal data / objects - " Extract" ( see "extraction" later) somebody - kill somebody - sabotage corporate/ private installations Somebody who performs a shadowrun .

You all get called to perform the same job, works in shadowrun because the game is built around being a shadowrunner. Why you became a shadowrunner is the big character question.

In most RPG games the setting is built into the game your not supposed to play werewolves or mages in Vampire The Masquerade. Or starfleet officers in Legend of the Five rings. The settings of those games already define the character in a certain way.

The game D&D isn't built around anything like that which is why these topics exist. If you used a specialized setting like Athas bringing the party together is answered for you "survival" But that's inherent to the setting not to the basic game.

So do you see what I'm saying in that "bringing the party together" is built into the setting of shadowrun but not D&D.

Boci
2010-07-31, 07:58 PM
Except you keeping the fluff Jedi and Sith and once again as a DM applying a unifying aspect, survival on the planet that isn't inherent to the day to day goings of the game.

Starwars is also a fairly simple setting, "Jedi vs Sith" "Empire vs Rebellion" and whomever is caught in the middle. The setting lends its self for easy party unification.

I'm just saying you can refluff Starwars and still keep it Starwars. You could have the Sith and Jedi as two rival crime organization, it would still be Starwars.


What is a shadowrunner is actually defined

Which can be refluffed.


In most RPG games the setting is built into the game your not supposed to play werewolves or mages in Vampire The Masquerade. Or starfleet officers in Legend of the Five rings. The settings of those games already define the character in a certain way.

Really? You're equating changing a group of criminals to a group of urban saboteurs to adding spaceships to a fantasy setting?


The game D&D isn't built around anything like that which is why these topics exist. If you used a specialized setting like Athas bringing the party together is answered for you "survival" But that's inherent to the setting not to the basic game.

So do you see what I'm saying in that "bringing the party together" is built into the setting of shadowrun but not D&D.

Yes, but in D&D, the PCs could be together because they are collective doing an assigment and they each compliment eachother, or because their superiors ordered them to. In Shadowrun, the PCs could be together because they are collective doing an assigment and they each compliment eachother, or because their superiors ordered them to.

oxybe
2010-07-31, 08:00 PM
So do you see what I'm saying in that "bringing the party together" is built into the setting of shadowrun but not D&D.

shadowrun has a set theme and tone though. you go into shadowrun expecting certain things.

with D&D however you could have a generic fantasy goblin stomp in the forgotten realms, a traintop fight against some servants of the dragon below in eberron, run away from cannibalistic halflings across the deserts of Dark Sun, or try to tame miniature giant space hamsters in Spelljammer while stuck on the planet of terrasques.

in D&D you generally expect far less then you will with something like Shadowrun or Vampire unless you know specifically you'll be playing in a certain setting.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 08:21 PM
Boci once again.
Bringing the party together is BUILT into shadowrun, its inherent to the setting. Brings the party together is almost never a question in shadowrun because of how the setting is designed.

If you refluff dragonlance into Ebberon your not playing the Dragonlance campaign setting your playing The Ebberon campaign setting.

If you take the fluff out of the setting its not longer the setting.

Starwars is no longer starwars if you refluff the Jedi and Sith into something else. The universe more or less revolves around so if you change the Jedi and Sith everything they effected needs to change to.
It be starwars like but not actually starwars

Shadowrun is the setting if you refluff the setting into something else it ceases to be shadowrun.

D&D is more or less a fantasy game system. The setting isn't built into the game its fairly modular in that respect. I think your confusing the system of a game with the setting of a game.
You could do the shadowrun setting using the d20 system. I'm not quite sure how but with some work it could be done. No matter what system you use the setting lends it self to bringing the party together fairly easily.

Because the setting of D&D is not predetermined by the game you have to think about "why are the PC's together"


shadowrun has a set theme and tone though. you go into shadowrun expecting certain things.

with D&D however you could have a generic fantasy goblin stomp in the forgotten realms, a traintop fight against some servants of the dragon below in eberron, run away from cannibalistic halflings across the deserts of Dark Sun, or try to tame miniature giant space hamsters in Spelljammer while stuck on the planet of terrasques.

in D&D you generally expect far less then you will with something like Shadowrun or Vampire unless you know specifically you'll be playing in a certain setting.

Well you obviously understand what I'm saying,
If you go out and buy the Shadowrun 4th edition book you get both a gaming system and a campaign setting. What makes it shadowrun is not the system, the system has changed a great deal over the years.

The setting is what makes it shadowrun, that has remained much the same, its simply advanced from 2054 to 2074

Boci
2010-07-31, 08:24 PM
Boci once again you completely miss the point,
Bringing the party together is BUILT into shadowrun, its inherent to the setting. What brings the party together is almost never a question in shadowrun because of how the setting is designed.

No no, I get that point completly, I was just choosing to focus on your claim that you cannot just refluff Shadowrun and that fluff is not fluff, since I found it hard to believe.

Also, while we're on the subject, if what brings the shadowrunners together is that they need to build a team, well wouldn't that team change from job to job?

Jerthanis
2010-07-31, 08:29 PM
Think back to how you met your friends in real life. Likely you met each other over a staggered length of time, building up to your current setup. You probably met over happenstance and bonded over similar interests and activities.

An adventuring group should be exceptional and have special reason to stray widely from this concept.

For example: Berserk
Guts joined up with the Band of the Hawk, who were sort of his adventuring group. They all joined for various personal reasons. Then they all died. Then new characters were introduced one by one and each given reason to adventure further with him, some losing their own group or allegiances in the process.

ericgrau
2010-07-31, 08:31 PM
The simple ones are always the best, and least likely to suddenly stop working at a given point.
This. Think of why your real life gaming group is together. Think of what has ever caused it to break apart, if ever. Yeah, doesn't take much to be together. And a complicated reason often won't happen in most groups.

Grommen
2010-07-31, 08:57 PM
This is why Shadowrun works so well.

"I am willing to commit the following list of crimes, for money, and will spend time with others who are willing to commit the same list of crimes, and compliment my skills"

Quote of the day my friend. :smallbiggrin:

In our current campaign all the players were drawn to the Town of Riddleport to "Cheat the Devil" and take his gold, a local tournament held in a gambling Hall in the town. After a series of mishaps our small band of friends ended up working together to further some of their mutual goals, and now are an adventuring party out to keep the world from exploding...er well having the world explode or stop a giant world from crashing into their world and then exploding.....Ok well it's complex.

Prior to that we were all from the same town, or just happened to be passing through. A boy was stung by a giant bee (the six foot long kind, ya we grow them big sue us!) They took the stricken boy to the church for healing. Well the boy died, due to the fact that the head cleric was out of town and in his place he left his (We will go with Alter boy) to tend the church. After the boys death the town constable rounded up all the able bodies men in town (ya our soon to be adventuring party) and offered them a bounty to find all the bees and kill them. They stopped the bees (only burnt down one farm in the process!) but found an underground cult of ^$#%^ suck'en demon worshipers. A year latter we are throwing down in a titanic battle between good verses evil with a fiendish giant fire breathing dragon. :eek:

How you get together is less important than how you manage to stay together. Six months on the road and no secret is left behind. The person you left with might not be the same person you see now. And that can be all kinds of stories.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 09:04 PM
Also, while we're on the subject, if what brings the shadowrunners together is that they need to build a team, well wouldn't that team change from job to job?


The team actually can change, the pre-packaged shadowrun campaigns are designed to incorporate the possibility to changing characters from one to the next. So if you only get play at conventions or otherwise can't have a stable group you can still play the game.

*also given the lethality of shadowrun its quite possible the team will change quite a bit just from deaths*

But then why stay together? well why does any group of characters stay together. Unless there was some major party conflicts they stay together for the simple reason they worked well together and thats appealing to the characters and the fixer.
*If they didn't work well together then that is a problem but its shared by any RPG*

The most blatant reason could simply be the money. In shadowrun your basic standard of living is covered by your lifestyle rather then itemizing everything. This includes how nice your home is, the food, the security and even the cost of your off-shore shady bank account.

Just like in real life its cheaper for two people to maintain a lifestyle together as oppose by themselves.

A team that sticks together can pool their resources to build better hideouts.
And really most criminals are most comfortable doing crimes with people they've done crimes with before.

Boci
2010-07-31, 09:09 PM
The team actually can change, the pre-packaged shadowrun campaigns are designed to incorporate the possibility to changing characters from one to the next. So if you only get play at conventions or otherwise can't have a stable group you can still play the game.

*also given the lethality of shadowrun its quite possible the team will change quite a bit just from deaths*

But then why stay together? well why does any group of characters stay together. Unless there was some major party conflicts they stay together for the simple reason they worked well together and thats appealing to the characters and the fixer.
*If they didn't work well together then that is a problem but its shared by any RPG*

The most blatant reason could simply be the money. In shadowrun your basic standard of living is covered by your lifestyle rather then itemizing everything. This includes how nice your home is, the food, the security and even the cost of your off-shore shady bank account.

Just like in real life its cheaper for two people to maintain a lifestyle together as oppose by themselves.

A team that sticks together can pool their resources to build better hideouts.
And really most criminals are most comfortable doing crimes with people they've done crimes with before.

So there is a built in reason, inharant in the game for shadowrunners to stick together for 1 mission, but not for the whole campaign?

Lord Vukodlak
2010-07-31, 09:27 PM
So there is a built in reason, inherent in the game for shadowrunners to stick together for 1 mission, but not for the whole campaign?

The reasons to stick together after the first mission in shadowrun aren't any different then other RPG games. If the group works well together it stays together, and being in a team as its advantages.
*if the team doesn't work well together you have a problem but that can come up in D&D or any game.*
The stumbling block in an RPG is how do they get together to begin with, hopefully that first adventure will be way they stay together. Where DM's stumble in D&D is how do I get them together for that first adventure.

But for Shadowrun as I already said.
Its more comfortable working with people you've worked with before, especially with something shady. The fixer who finds jobs for shadowrunners doesn't want to keep working with new people any more then the runners do. So once he assembles a team he keeps calling that team for jobs.

They stay together simply for the benefits that having a stable team, they can pool resources for better security and a higher lifestyle.

If the team keeps changing you can't have the trust and security you get from a stable team. And someone to trust is quite valuable in shadowrun.[a trusted ally costs build points at character creation for example]

Earthwalker
2010-08-02, 08:23 AM
No fluff is not fluff, The setting of shadowrun isn't fluff its what makes it shadowrun. If you change the fluff your not playing shadowrun anymore.


I would like to point out the published books with rules for playing the game of shadowrun with all the player characters being corporate resources, or a paramedic crew, or law enforcment.

I have see rules for running a mercenary campaign, where the players are expected to be part of some military organization.

Playing as criminals is not and should not be the only option.

Of course all these work for DnD as well.

A DnD Paramedic campaign starts with one healer cleric, some muscle and protection and a skill monkey. The Players are part of a medical team that are running around a major city healing people who have paid a up front for medical insurance.
As the campaign continues the players begin to learn of something darker happening in the city.

Lysander
2010-08-02, 08:38 AM
There's a very simple reason why any group of PCs stays together. They need help to accomplish their goals. The question is what are their goals?

If you tell the groups to make characters that share a common goal then the party will work together smoothly. If they all want to save the world from an evil demon, then they will work together to fight demons. If they all want gold, then they'll work together to get a dragon's hoard.

Party conflicts crop up when players want vastly different things. If player A wants to protect the innocent and player B wants treasure at all costs, player A is going to be upset when player B decides to start pillaging villages.

klemdakherzbag
2010-08-02, 10:57 AM
Our current campaign started with the PC's indentured to a gladiator trainer. We eventually regained our freedom after fighting in the arena. Afterwards we left for our respective homelands, vowing to get together after a year and a half.

This actually has worked very well cause not only do we have our own backstories but a common shared backstory.

Kaww
2010-08-02, 11:53 AM
As strange and new as some of my adventures are, I always have one problem starting up a campaign! It plagues me over and over, again and again, bugging me even in my sleep!
WHY DID THE CHARACTERS GET TOGETHER?
I can never for the life of me think of a good reason that the characters are together in the first place. Mercenaries and taverns are too cliched at this point, so I'm asking you all for help! What are good reasons for the PCs to be together at the beginning of the mission? Not like they were the best in town or whatever and all got hired and eventually decided to adventure together (it's just not realistic). What are good reasons for a bunch of adventurers with no renown or anything to be together when the first plot hook for the first mission is set off?

They have the same powerful enemy. They are broke so they have to join the police/guild/city beggars... They are in the army. They are related. They start at the same place with no memory whatsoever. Be creative. I'm sorry if I'm repeating other people's replays here...

chaotoroboto
2010-08-03, 06:40 PM
Is every PC in D&D a criminal? no, D&D is a vastly different game then shadowrun not only in system but setting.

In shadowrun its expected every player is a shadowrunner, and shadowrunners are criminals doing work that Mega Corporations, governments and mob families can't be seen doing.

in D&D one day adventuring probably provides enough wealth to stay at an Inn for a year. In Shadowrun it may take two or three jobs a month to live comfortably if you want a high standard of living.

Because everyone is a shadowrunner be no matter their skill set, assembling for a job is easy. "Your fixer calls about a job offer, here's the details to meet the Johnson"

The game comes built in with a unifying factor, D&D does not.

I think I may run with this conceit when my current campaign finishes and I run Dark Sun. I could see a tweak on the Shadowrun conceit working well in Dark Sun.

My personal best start as a DM was with a group that was, to a person, unfamiliar with 4e. I started them in a refugee camp, and no one had characters. They started as level 1 NPCs, like a halfling skirmisher or a cleric of Pelor, which let me teach some mechanics. The refugee camp was invaded by Kobolds, who stole the kids. A large group of refugees was led by one of the Clerics attending the camp to go save the kids, and over the next several games, people brought in characters as they became comfortable with the concepts, playstyle, etc. Sometimes they'd change characters from game to game, or whatever. When they all had the characters they wanted, they were separated from the main group, saved the kids, and, this is what I thought was the kicker, were greeted as hero(in)es by the same crowd they had emerged from.

So if I'm starting at low levels, that's generally my goal: to create a sense that these are people who grew into hero-hood.

Ajadea
2010-08-03, 07:40 PM
Let's see...I've used 'You meet in an inn' twice, been through it a three times. Two of those even had the 'shady dude who hires you' bit.

One of those ended up with us destroying a mindflayer at level 4. The other ended up with us soaring through the air on a rocket-powered mine cart (yes really), using everything from create water to ogre-flesh shock absorbers to keep us from dying upon landing. We crashed through the tavern's roof and next campaign, there was a mention of a large crater in the tavern's floor...

Sasha Tate
2010-08-03, 08:30 PM
The characters wake and find themselves together in these rusting cages with rotting blobs of flesh sloughing off the backs of their necks. They're all hairless and pale and naked in a strange laboratory with strange apparatuses, aberrant servants, and deformed experiments running amok. All of them have strange tattoos that alter and morph on their bodies and they emerge into a city that is run by 20th level versions of themselves. Oh, and the first cleric they ask about it comments that they're sharing the same soul, and it's not even human... or mortal.

Safety Sword
2010-08-03, 11:20 PM
I too like the jail cell idea. With a twist.

None of the PCs can remember why they're there. Last thing they all remember is going to the *whatever festival suits you*.

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-08-03, 11:26 PM
I too like the jail cell idea. With a twist.

None of the PCs can remember why they're there. Last thing they all remember is going to the *whatever festival suits you*.

Ooh, I like this. It sounds like the setup for an amusing "The Hangover"-esque one-shot, working backwards to try to figure out what happened last night.

Safety Sword
2010-08-03, 11:31 PM
Ooh, I like this. It sounds like the setup for an amusing "The Hangover"-esque one-shot, working backwards to try to figure out what happened last night.

I usually like to make sure they've done (or appear to have done) something really terrible. Make them wrestle with whether to turn themselves in or not... then drop a hint about magic compulsion and/or mind control.

Screwing with good aligned characters makes being a DM so much fun :)

arrowhen
2010-08-04, 05:03 AM
Ooh, I like this. It sounds like the setup for an amusing "The Hangover"-esque one-shot, working backwards to try to figure out what happened last night.

You wake up in a tavern. Make a DC 15 Search check to find your pants. While you're searching, you realize your best friend is missing. Oh, and there's a tiger in the privy.

joe
2010-08-04, 06:05 AM
In my current campaign, I originally introduced the PCs together by having them all summoned by the captain of the guard to carry on a mission for the governor. How the guard knew them was different from PC to PC. The cleric was introduced because a letter was sent to the temple, and the head of the temple sent the cleric based on the request. The rogue was already in the prison and was sent on the mission to nullify his sentence. Once all the PCs were there, the captain basically said "You're all here, and you're working together, go do this."

It may seem a slight railroaded, but its a good way to introduce all the characters to each other and it prevents characters from refusing to work together early on. Once they're all set in their party, they generally stay that way, despite any differences between them.

Sure beats everyone meeting in an inn.

Roderick_BR
2010-08-04, 11:27 AM
In my games, people usually makes up their reasons.
They may be childhood friends, knew each other a few weeks before the story began, or just looked for group, and everyone else in the town is too much of an average joe.

Another fun way is a sudden event that forces people to stick together or perish. Let some NPCs run on their own and get slaughtered, and the party gets the hint.

Fitz10019
2010-08-04, 12:05 PM
TL, DR...
I heard Fear the Boot refer to the concept of a "group template." How the player characters know each other is part of the definition of the group (childhood friends, served in the army together, hunting club), so it explains why they are willing to work together. The template should be 'deep' in that it can explain the appearance and acceptance of replacement characters later in the campaign. Theoretically, using a group template prevents getting an urban ranger and an I-distain-civilization druid in the same party.