A wizard a ninja and a knight enter a tavarn (forming the party)

[Gettles]

I have a question, how do you guys make the party a party?

I will be runnimg my first campign soon and I'm wondering what are some effective ways for the group tomeet up and form into a team.

No one ha made a character or anything yet this is more about theory than anything

[Drelua]

I believe the title should read 'A wizard and a knight enter a tavern and there's a knife in your kidneys'.

Anyway, my group usually either has some of the characters know each other already, or give them some reason to work together like a fight breaking out in the bar. Then again, it's sort of a running joke that we meet in a tavern with little explanation. We don't really bother making it logical, so I'm probably not very helpful.

[McToomin]

My party knew each other as part of their backstories, but they had parted ways. Three of the four were captured by slavers (as part of the story, not an encounter). The fourth was aboard the slave ship looking to sabotage it. So three of them began the game mostly naked and locked in cells, while I assumed the fourth would quietly break then out and lead them to an armory of sorts (he knew exactly where it was, since he worked on the ship). However, I failed to anticipate two things that occurred within 5 minutes of beginning this first session:

1) The entire party is Chaotic Good. All of them. Including the Paladin. This is because my players are into RolePlaying insomuch as it's a second skin for them to wear hole moving through the story. They don't think "what would my character do?", they think "what would I do?" And so they end up trying to do the right thing by their own standards.

2) If it's a slaving ship, then surely there must be more slaves than just the three party members aboard right? So they decided to, as quietly as they could, release as many prisoners as they could. A small patrol stumbled across them, but they dealt with them before they could sound the alarm. Anyway, it would've made no sense for there to only be three captives aboard the ship, so I allowed them to release about a dozen more slaves (still not an entire ship's worth, I know). Even though the others were low-level NPCs, they still dealt with the guards and captured the ship easily.

My point is that whatever you have planned could get derailed immediately, but don't shut down your players for having good ideas. Try to roll with the punches as best as you can.

I'm on my phone, so I'll post other ideas later on.

[nedz]

I tend to prefer theamatic games where everyone has a reason to be there. Examples:-
You are all Dwarves in a recon unit.
You all got to know each other in the Army, and now you've mustered out.
You've all be banished from the City for Crimes which you may, or may not, have committed.
You are all members of the same kobald tribe.
etc.

[agentnone]

I had my players get captured/arrested/trapped or what-have-you by the BBEG of the campaign and locked up in his dungeon. They are all locked up together and have a couple common goals: break out of imprisonment and deal with the guy that put them there. Having this guy interrogate them violently makes the urge to leave all the better. Their captor doesn't have to be the BBEG of the game, maybe a level 2 or 3 encouter for them to take on together. But it has the group working together from the get go, whether they know each other or not before hand. Then, once they break out, kick start the rest of the campaign from there. Maybe the locals catch wind of their escape and killing the BBEG and they praise the group so much that someone takes notice and employs them to adventure.

The one I just recently used for my current PF game, is have a major adventure guild in the game that is looking for young men and women willing to prove themselves in a dangerous world in the name of their deity, king or coin. This way, they are part of an organization that can toss them hints and minor gear when it comes to the main campaign story.

Just my two coppers...

[Redshirt Army]

You all got to know each other in the Army, and now you've mustered out.
You've all be banished from the City for Crimes which you may, or may not, have committed.
etc.

"Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from maximum security stockade to the underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the party."

[Vangor]

The party has to invent reasons to be in this place and band together. I tried giving individual starts to bring players together. I tried creating starts which forced players together. I tried creating backstory for what has been happening. What works best depends on your players.

[NNescio]

"Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from maximum security stockade to the underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the party."

And they all have the Shaky and Murky-Eyed flaws. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ATeamFiring)

[Anderlith]

I always put them into life & death situations. It's not only a traumatic experience but a bonding experience

[Calanon]

I usually place them in a easy to escape situation (I.e. a Jail cell)

All the players of Evil (Or Good) alignment are always on one side of the cage while the Good (or evil) are on the outside of it... You can never go wrong with the Colosseum and have the players fight for there freedom for the first game :smallbiggrin: (which usually works as a way to make them work together over the long run)

[DodgerH2O]

Depends, if they're the typical party, they show up in a Tavern, somehow agree to all work together despite much of a reason to (IC, OOC they're all at the table ready to play, so they work together)

I started my last campaign with the PCs as a bunch of teenagers living on the border of a vast empire, they were the only people in the village within their age group (16-18) and so pretty much hung out together despite their differences.

The campaign I'm currently working on, I intend for the PCs to have just been slaves on a ship that was boarded and captured, maybe even start with a brief narration of how each character got there and then jump into a (mostly NPC-based, since slaves tend to lack weapons and spellbooks) combat. Then the king of the land will personally pardon them (nothing special, he does it to all slaves that enter his lands, Slavers tend to stay away) and the Royal Advisor or General or someone will approach them and say (more or less) "So you all have only the clothes on your backs and are in a strange land, I might have some work for you..." and hope they bite.

[Kenneth]

the good old classic D&D start point is cliche for a reason, it works everytime!

Your PCs are in a tavern and suddenly teh town crier, or royal herald or what not runs in and does the whole "hear ye hear ye' speech about goblins stealing sheep or orcs raiding outling farms.. etc.

[Stone Heart]

In my group we often work it out among ourselves and tell the DM how we go together. We will also however just handwave it and be in a group in the first dungeon already.

I think the best was when we all entered the same dungeon through different ways (One person entered this way out of fear, this guy was exploring, except me and one friend as our characters were brothers and we fell through the roof) and worked our way through the dungeon, getting to know each other and stuff.

What I have done most recently was simply a charter from the local government to do this and that. Helps me give them quests more directly too.

[Flickerdart]

It's not a party until someone cracks open the Portable Hole Full of Beer.

[1of3]

I tend to prefer theamatic games where everyone has a reason to be there. Examples:-
You are all Dwarves in a recon unit.
You all got to know each other in the Army, and now you've mustered out.
You've all be banished from the City for Crimes which you may, or may not, have committed.
You are all members of the same kobald tribe.
etc.

This. Some other ideas...

We are the vassals of a small lord. Some of us may be related to him.
We work for Sharn University, locating ancient artifacts ... for purely scientific reasons.
We are a free-lancing group of monster hunters, specialising in aberrations.

It doesn't matter, if the party is already assembled. There could be two or three aberration hunters or vassals or archeologists hiring the other members. That's a nice twist on the usual employer theme.

Note that you can completely hand this to your fellow players, if you think you can handle what they come up with.

[silver spectre]

I always insist that the players have some kind of link between the PCs that the PCs know of (shared job, marriage or blood relation, alignment components, faith, etc...).

Overall I have never really had any issues with this and it makes forming the group easier.


A favorite tactic of mine for lower level groups that won't form a group is forced conscription (I generally DM'd for military gamers).
The local lord/king/ruler is planning on attacking a neighbor or being attacked by a neighbor. He needs soldiers and the PCs just happen to be in the area that the lord's men are canvasing for conscripts. They enlist or they are declared outlaw/traitor and imprisoned or killed.

Most often the PCs uniformly tell the recruiters where to stick it and end up becoming outlaws, but hey.. they're working together.