what's your favorite way to throw a party together?

[big teej]

just as it says on the tin.

new campaign, what's your favorite/best method of throwing these psychotic hobos together in to a cohesive fighting unit?

[Hiro Protagonest]

You all meet in a tavern... :smalltongue:

Seriously though, are you asking about how a party first meets, how you get them to work together, or how you make the characters?

[HappyBlanket]

In medias res. Preferably with the backdrop of a common, apocalyptic threat :D

[Fax Celestis]

new campaign, what's your favorite/best method of throwing these psychotic hobos together in to a cohesive fighting unit?

Generally, I play a character that employs all the other characters.

What? You didn't think that party cohesiveness was a DM-only responsibility, did you?

[Big Fau]

In medias res. Preferably with the backdrop of a common, apocalyptic threat :D

Likewise, I prefer Chandler's Law. When in doubt, NINJAS!

[Shadowknight12]

"You've all known each other for years."

Leaving it up to the players to interpret this vague premise, I've obtained the following:


A band of mercenaries.
An elite squadron in an army.
Childhood friends.
Family members.
A detective agency.
A loose circle of friends and acquaintances.
A web of intrigue.
More "I am your father!" reveals than a soap opera.
Party cohesion so thick it literally trascends the boundaries of life and death.
In jokes. So many in jokes.
A disturbing tendency for players to heedlessly leap into danger to protect each other.
Two enchanted swords.
And a drunkard who fell into a cliff.

[Meeky]

Honestly, I discuss this with my players before the game starts.

One way to do it is to work with something used a lot in Pathfinder -- 'Campaign Traits'. You give small bonuses to whatever skills for players to pick a reason their characters WANT to go on this adventure.

For example, in this campaign I'm starting (which is based on the colonization of a newly discovered continent), all my players are starting on a boat. However, I made up different reasons for them to possibly be on the boat and let them choose one. 'Fugitive', 'Pilgrim', 'Indentured Servant', 'Mercenary' -- They pick it, they reap small bonuses (typically +2 to two different skills), I keep them strung together from there.

...That's the plan, anyways. Money says the party's gonna split.

[Honest Tiefling]

One excellent game I was a part of was about an arena. Everyone was a gladiator, through not a slave. People could choose if they had willingly signed up for fame and glory, or were sent there because of a crime. It could also work for an introduction to home rules or DnD in general if there are new players, since the arena could very well have raise dead spells.

[big teej]

You all meet in a tavern... :smalltongue:

Seriously though, are you asking about how a party first meets, how you get them to work together, or how you make the characters?

my apologies for being unclear

I'm after the first two
party first meets + work together.

we've got character creation down.

[Alleran]

I like it when some of them arrange to have started out together, or grown up together, or something to that effect. It helps put them together.

Taverns... eh. A recurring feature in my taverns is a man in a black cloak and hood who sits up the back. Every time an adventurer asks him anything quest-related, he makes a notch on the table and tells them to buzz off.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I've only run one campaign, and I don't think I'll finish it. What I did was I had them all at a council, and they were sent to kill some ogre bandits.

A good one though, is if one of the guys is playing a warforged, say they met in a tavern and the warforged was sad that he couldn't drink anything. :smalltongue:

[HappyBlanket]

Ooh, having the players as childhood friends is wonderful. Love it when things like that happen.


ITaverns... eh. A recurring feature in my taverns is a man in a black cloak and hood who sits up the back. Every time an adventurer asks him anything quest-related, he makes a notch on the table and tells them to buzz off.

Stealing this idea.

[Honest Tiefling]

Having them all be childhood friends works, until the DM realizes that there is a very remote village with a tiefling, goliath, elf, and whisper gnome population. That, or the weirdest orphanage ever.

[Shadowknight12]

Having them all be childhood friends works, until the DM realizes that there is a very remote village with a tiefling, goliath, elf, and whisper gnome population. That, or the weirdest orphanage ever.

In the campaign where that happened, it was Sharn and they were all non-humans (some more monstrous than others). It worked, since the "weirdest orphanage ever" was actually the streets they grew up in.

[blazingshadow]

i yell wet tshirt contest and free booze and the party is already formed

[Honest Tiefling]

In the campaign where that happened, it was Sharn and they were all non-humans (some more monstrous than others). It worked, since the "weirdest orphanage ever" was actually the streets they grew up in.

In some campaigns, this does work. But unless your world has 'Weird-*** race city', it can be a bit silly. Now that I think about it, I think I was in a 4e campaign that started off in the racial crossroads of the world thanks to the racial make up of the party. This was a homebrew, by the way. I think my gaming group is starting to get sick of humans...

[Ajadea]

Either former knowledge of each other or massive coincidence that may or may not have been fate's intention (assuming fate exists) should work to get them together. They only need to stay together for about ten in-game minutes before the conflict shows up and gives them all a reason to band together. Perhaps for survival, perhaps for the sake of curiosity, perhaps for far more myriad reasons.

[Shadowknight12]

In some campaigns, this does work. But unless your world has 'Weird-*** race city', it can be a bit silly. Now that I think about it, I think I was in a 4e campaign that started off in the racial crossroads of the world thanks to the racial make up of the party. This was a homebrew, by the way. I think my gaming group is starting to get sick of humans...

Agreed, it really depends on the setting.

As an aside, I don't think I've ever played or had a player with a non-templated human character. It's quite the challenge to make them unique, interesting and fun. They are, after all, physically and culturally rather bland.

[Divide by Zero]

Unless the campaign has something to force them to work together (looming apocalyptic threat or whatever), I typically ask the players to write their backgrounds such that it would be plausible for them to meet.

[HappyBlanket]

Agreed, it really depends on the setting.

As an aside, I don't think I've ever played or had a player with a non-templated human character. It's quite the challenge to make them unique, interesting and fun. They are, after all, physically and culturally rather bland.

Since when has human life been bland? :smallconfused: Players can make interesting human characters pretty easily, I think, if only by merit of familiarity.

[Remmirath]

I usually let them know that they ought to have known each other prior to the start of the adventure, and then let them work it out between themselves. They come up with more interesting stuff that way, I've found.

Failing that, they all happen to end up in the same place when some event happens that throws them together. I prefer the first way, because the second usually ends up feeling more contrived to me.

I've also used things such as "you're all mercenaries set to guard this [insert here]" or "you've all been hired by [name] to accomplish [task]". I generally assume that the very beginning is going to be the rockiest part of a campaign anyhow, so as long as they start working together soon after the start it's all good.

[Gondram]

They wake up one morning in prison. Coincidentally their cellmates are the rest of the party.

It works pretty well. I've started characters merely locked up overnight for <insert whatever the player decides here>, prisoners of war in a epic campaign, or my personal favorite, shanghaied.

By the time they deal with getting out of their captivity they've generally formed a party dynamic and proceed to the rest of the campaign.

[Delcor]

They wake up one morning in prison. Coincidentally their cellmates are the rest of the party.

By the time they deal with getting out of their captivity they've generally formed a party dynamic and proceed to the rest of the campaign.

I like that ^

Another way, one that my DM hinted at will occur at the start of our next campaign, is we are all next to each other waiting in line to get into a massive city (ex: Ptolus by Monte Cook) and since gameboys/iphones havent been invented, there is nothing better to do in line than talk to strangers. As for dynamic, you could have something go wrong in line, what that is is up to you.

[SuperFerret]

"You're all traveling to (city/town that I gave you info on before the game) for (your own personal reasons), along with many other people, so you're traveling in a bit of an impromptu caravan (filled with NPCs, some important, some not). Oh look, bandits. Roll initiative."

[Mordokai]

I stumbled upon this long time ago and liked it enough to save it to my computer. I think there are some neat ideas in there.

You All Meet in a Tavern...
by David Morgan-Mar.

"You all meet in a tavern..."
How many campaigns have begun with these immortal words? Probably too many. This conceit has been used so often to introduce PCs to one another and begin a campaign that it has become a cliche.
Characters meeting for the first time at the beginning of a story is a classic device in literature, cinema, and television. These sources give inspiration for vastly more possibilities than meeting in a tavern, however. Another approach is to assume that the characters are known to each other before the campaign begins, either by reputation only, acquaintance, long friendship, family ties, or even rivalries.
Either way, a campaign has to begin somehow, usually by gathering the PCs together and giving them a common goal. Here then are some different ways of assembling characters, either strangers, friends, allies, or enemies, into a group with a common motivation which can be the foundation of a campaign. These are deliberately vague, and can be developed in many different directions by considering them in the context of a desired genre.
The PCs are members of a trade caravan. They could be merchants, or employed by the merchants as guards, animal handlers, freight handlers, craftsmen, cooks, book-keepers, scouts, entertainers, or whores. They might also be family members of others in the caravan, or people travelling for another reason (pilgrims, diplomats) and staying with the caravan for safety.
The PCs are assembled at the reading of a will of a distant relative or a friend. Some PCs may thus be related, although perhaps only by marriage, while some might be strangers known only to the deceased.
The PCs are passengers on a commercial long-distance vehicle - a train, ship, plane, or spaceship are some possibilities.
The PCs are drafted from various prison facilities to form a special ops suicide squad - with the promise of a pardon if successful, of course.
A mutual enemy of the PCs drops hints about or outright invites them all to some event or location. The PCs show up and negotiate an alliance, probably to get them out of the trap set by the enemy.
The PCs are members of a small village. Some local disturbance or uprising forces them to band together for the sake of the village.
The PCs went to school or university together. Something happens at the reunion. Or someone (or something) from their old school days comes back to haunt them all.
The PCs knew each other long ago and made some sort of pact which becomes significant when NPC members of the group start dying.
The PCs knew each other in a past life (or several past lives). They become aware of this and seek each other out to find out why, banding together when they learn the Awful Truth.
The PCs are already an established group of "troubleshooters for hire" or "traders looking for a cargo". Simply begin the campaign with the introduction of a significant client.
The PCs are new recruits to a cause - either an organized force such as the police or military, an organization such as a trader's guild or environmental lobby group, or a company. They may be assigned to work together or work on a single problem from different sides.
The PCs all answer an advertisement seeking people with certain skills. An exploratory or scientific expedition is the likely result, but people might also advertise for guards, escorts, business professionals, or entertainers for other purposes.
The PCs are press-ganged into service on a ship, or in a military unit somewhere far from home.
The PCs know each other by correspondence (carrier pigeon, pony express, mail, Internet, crystal balls) about a shared interest. Something threatens that interest, and they band together to combat it.
The PCs simply wake up near each other, with no memory of who they are or what they are doing here (wherever that may be). For a twist, maybe they remember each other, but not themselves.
The PCs are all incarcerated in a prison, either legitimately or arbitrarily. Or they might all break out or be released from a prison and have to work together to survive outside.
The PCs are captured and used as slaves. A variant sees them captured and studied as specimens, either by a known sentient species or aliens. Or maybe they are to be used as food.
The PCs have just graduated from school or university and decide to go into some sort of business together.
A natural disaster or hostile attack strikes an area or town. The PCs seem to be the only survivors, at least initially.
The PCs all share a mutual friend, who invites them to a party or other social event.
The PCs are members of a secret society, either religious, mystical, political, or scientific. They work on a mission to further the society's ends, and may end up questioning those ends.
The PCs work for a volunteer organization (militia, disaster relief, humanitarian, environmentalist, etc) and are assigned to work on a mission together.
The PCs are rivals in some sort of competition. A cross-country race or a treasure hunt are classic examples. Perhaps they cut deals and form a grudging alliance to beat other rivals, or maybe an external threat forces them to cooperate.
The PCs are the significant crew of a new mission of exploration and discovery, either assigned from the military or recruited for the purpose.
The PCs are a retired group of troubleshooters. Their arch-enemy escapes from prison/slavery/stasis/another dimension and they must reform to fight him one last time.
The rest of the world is going insane, or is being abducted or replaced by aliens, or they have simply vanished with no explanation, and the PCs seem to be the only ones unaffected.
Or the PCs could simply meet in a tavern...

[The Big Dice]

Unless they way they meet is going to be important, I don't sweat it. You don't need to know how the A-Team met. Other than John Crichton, nobody needed a big scene taking up half the pilot (pun intended) of Farscape to get everyone together.

If there's no good reason why people wouldn't take the hook for the first session of a new campaign, why bother baiting one? Start off with "You all read the handout, which was posted on every tree in the province. Now you've all met up with the Mysterious Hooded Stranger (TM) in the inn."

It saves taking up time having to find new disbelief suspenders and running individual scenes while everyone else is kibitzing. If it's not relevant to the story, skip it.

[Takronix]

It saves taking up time having to find new disbelief suspenders and running individual scenes while everyone else is kibitzing. If it's not relevant to the story, skip it.

It's those asides that separate DnD from console/computer games. No reason to take it away unless the players don't enjoy it.

[LeshLush]

I started my last campaign by saying, "Two velociraptors are charging at you. Roll initiative." It wound up being probably the best campaign I've ever run.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I started my last campaign by saying, "Two wild Talenta halflings riding velociraptors are charging at you. Roll initiative." It wound up being probably the best campaign I've ever run.

Fixed that for ya. :smallwink:

[Tyrmatt]

When I had a campaign of characters of apparently disparate backgrounds, I had the city guard force conscription of able individuals to deal with some minor threat that is beneath the army but beyond the strained resources of a city PD. I gave them an experienced guard/soldier to lead them and then had the DMPC brutally killed at the end of the first boss encounter by the future big bad.

[Volthawk]

Well, let me see for the group I'm in:


Originally, the four of us were hired by the people in charge of looking after the district we were in.
2 players had to leave (Skype game, you see), and the two replacement people did join in a tavern. See, the owner of the tavern we were staying in had been taken, and they were looking in the damaged tavern as well, and sorta joined us when we were going to get him back.
One of those two guys had to leave after the rescue, so our next new guy again joined in a tavern. This time the owner, a necropolitan, went crazy so our new guy helped us take him to the local asylum and then joined us for good.
The second guy in the first joining bit decided to change characters for the next adventure, so his original guy went off (he'd just come from the Plane of Mirrors, being a Nerra, and our adventure kinda made him go 'screw this, it's safer back home'), and we found his new character through a journal of a gang leader we killed, being some kind of experiment or something, so we went and rescued the character, and she's now coming with us.

[PollyOliver]

Recently in pbp, I had one PC (the rogue, of course) steal her starting equipment from an adventurer NPC at a bar in her first post. She bumped into the rest of the group (two of whom knew each other, one of whom was unconnected) in the marketplace as she was running from the guards. Two managed to talk her punishment down to a small fine, while the third got his brother, a member of a trading house, to pay--indenturing the party to the trade house and setting them off on their first adventure. I didn't plan it (they did), but it worked very well. They also met a couple people who may or may not be really important, who I hadn't intended on introducing yet until they decided to start that way.

A campaign I'm a player in recently began with "everyone else is dead, now what?", and another with "so, you're under attack now, and by the way one of those guys is a spiked-chain whirling frenzy wolf totem barbarian and the other one is a shock trooper leap attacking lion totem barbarian, and btw they're both demons and their evil paladin handlers are over there, have fun". Also quite entertaining.

[Hiro Protagonest]

A campaign I'm a player in recently began with "everyone else is dead, now what?", and another with "so, you're under attack now, and by the way one of those guys is a spiked-chain whirling frenzy wolf totem barbarian and the other one is a shock trooper leap attacking lion totem barbarian, and btw they're both demons and their evil paladin handlers are over there, have fun". Also quite entertaining.

Awesome, two optimized barbarian builds. Now if the guy with the spiked chain had combat reflexes...

[PollyOliver]

Awesome, two optimized barbarian builds. Now if the guy with the spiked chain had combat reflexes...

He did. He was surrounded by three PCs and my character's animal companion, and usually only the AC was standing on any given turn because of his extra legs. It was kind of absurdly entertaining.

[Tvtyrant]

What I really would like to do is have them all be criminals that are being offered a pardon in return for returning a macguffin. They each get a mark of justice on their heads and off they go; by the time they have removed the mark they have become enmeshed in the politics and rivalries of the region and don't think to just leave. Especially since all of the criminals were let out with marks and sent out in separate bands, and only the ones that find it will get to live.

[Claymore007]

I usually do Tavern or Official offering rewards for harsh tasks or jobs.

the most memorable one for me was one a friend ran where each of us started out separate and we were slowly captured and taken to a prison/keep.
After meeting and finding out we were to be executed because some prophecy said we'd become bad people.
We pissed off the guards to where they opened a cell to "teach us a lesson"
shared cells, they entered the center one, the rear 2 guards were grabbed through the bars on the left and right sides, and the front guy didn't realize his target was a monk.
We then went on through the whole keep, even the NPC cooks who at first wanted to be left alone, grabbed knives and came at us...so...only 5 bastards (the PCs) came out of that keep alive...with the keep on fire of course...:smallcool:
/best game ever

[The Big Dice]

It's those asides that separate DnD from console/computer games. No reason to take it away unless the players don't enjoy it.
You mean apart from those group based games like the Baldur's Gate line that spend the first hour or two of play introducing the characters?

My players have all known each other and been gaming together for many years. There's no reason to go through the tedium of pretending to have never met before unless it's going to serve a purpose other than being a contrived opening for a campaign.

[Fax Celestis]

i yell wet tshirt contest and free booze and the party is already formed

The party don't form 'til I walk in?

[some guy]

For one-shots I use this table (http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/08/give-me-reasonor-hundred.html) (download halfway post).

For my first campaign I made everyone meet each other through a series of events. It took 2 sessions to get it together. But it was fun.

For a new campaign I let the players think up a reason themselves.

For my CoC-campaign the pc's were all there when freaky things started to happen.

[shadow_archmagi]

Telekinesis.

[dspeyer]

I've always found doing it in the backstory is best, either as "you are a long-established adventuring band, used to working together" or "you have each decided to attempt foo. As you set off, you meet eachother and decide to attempt it together."

This way starting the campaign flows naturally out of the character (since in fact the character was carefully designed to start the campaign) without excuses or hasty retcons.

[The Big Dice]

I've always found doing it in the backstory is best, either as "you are a long-established adventuring band, used to working together" or "you have each decided to attempt foo. As you set off, you meet eachother and decide to attempt it together."

This way starting the campaign flows naturally out of the character (since in fact the character was carefully designed to start the campaign) without excuses or hasty retcons.

This is exactly the kind of thing I mean when I say, skip the contrived introduction. Unless the introduction is going to serve the overall story, of course.

[faceroll]

Hulking Hurler.

[Tancred]

I was once in a mini-campaign where the DM asked us to make new 5th level characters but wouldn't tell us anything about the type of adventure ahead of us.

The opening words of the first game were "You're awoken by the tolling of the bell. Your ship is under attack."

The druid with a panther companion, the paladin, and the heavily armoured cleric all face-palmed. I grinned as I rolled initiative for my monk...

[BoutsofInsanity]

Gotta go witht the new idea I just began using. Your characters are a bunch of kids who havent come into their mystical/divine/magical/ powers yet and have grown up as slaves on an island. Oh and your all seventeen now and if you dont escape by the end of winter you will all disappear like all the other 18 year olds on this island. Good luck. The setting is of course freeform sandbox.