Getting a group unattached from their old characters

[Silverfang]

I want to start a new campaign as DM without upsetting my PCs who were close to getting cool stuff level-wise during our occasional one-shots last year. I was planning on making them roll whole new characters, but when I first suggested it, they seemed a little unhappy with the idea. What's the best way about going about this?

[Diarmuid]

Were you DM'ing the one shots that involved these other characters?

If not, the answer is easy in that you want to be able to set your own pace and craft your own story without having to incorporate a bunch of stuff someone else created.

If it was you, then you simply communicate that you want to start fresh and have a more cohesive game with new characters. If they want to play their old characters, ask one of them if they want to DM then.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Is there any particular reason you want them to make new characters?

If their attachment is solely due to upcoming cool stuff, or they just don't want to start over at level 1 or whatnot, you could start your campaign at a higher level. If their attachment is due to roleplaying reasons... that's awesome. You should do everything you can to encourage that.

[prufock]

Your options may be limited if they are intent on using the same characters.

1) TPK. You probably don't want to do this. It will just upset them. With the right crowd of people this can be an interesting way to switch campaigns, but these guys don't sound like they'd appreciate it.

2) Let them play the same characters. If they are intent on keeping the same characters, and they have fun with it, why do you want them to change?

3) Have their original PCs "disappear" within the game world. Their new goal is to find their old PCs and rescue/restore them. Once they do, they can choose to play their original PC or the new one, whichever they prefer.

4) Have their original PCs gain the "cool stuff" and MORE. They become NPCs in the game world, high level, uber-powerful, and nigh-untouchable. The new PCs know of them, know they are stupid powerful, and that they may encounter them.

5) Let them do both. Run the two games simultaneously, periodically switching between Old PCs and New PCs. They may have similar goals but should cross paths. Ideally, Old PCs are higher level, and have more expansive goals, while New PCs may be just looking for some solution to "small-town problem X." This may culminate with working with or against Old PCs.

6) Say "Guys, I'd really like to try something different for this game. Please? Pretty please? This actually may work if you have a good reason.

[Silverfang]

Darimuid, I was, I think I've signed myself for perpetual DM by introducing the group, lol. As for your idea, I like it, nice and straightforward, I'll probably try that first.

Grod, I'm pretty sure its just cool stuff, but I'll double check, we played for about a semester every other week (15 weeks where I go to college). If it turns out it's RP I'll probably more likely let them but my hatred of Drow (dealt with a really bad Drizzt knockoff in the past) is starting to get the best of me and 2 of the 5 are Drow.

Prufock, I like your ideas, but "Rocks fall, everyone dies" does call problems. I like the idea of bringing them back as NPCs for at least most of the characters. And the main reason I want them to change is because I have a campaign designed for 1-20 that wasn't finished/didn't have time to run last year on top of gaining a few new players and losing some old ones. I could probably squeeze some things, but I'd prefer not to.

So far, sounds good though. I'm having the first meeting to set stuff up, I'll talk to them. Thanks!:smallbiggrin:

[JusticeZero]

We had this kind of thing happen over and over in my games in high school, to the point where we ended up implementing a rule that nobody could bar an old character from being played in a game because making new level 1s was so annoying. This also led to things like parties of mostly level 1 and 2 characters, accompanied by a 9th level wizard and an 8th level druid.

[Silverfang]

That just sounds like too big of a power gap, if players join late, I usually have them join at the same level as the rest of the group at least.

[JusticeZero]

It was AD&D, and the system really wasn't set up with a good idea of how to make characters higher level at start. There is also the "inexperienced character" angle that kept being brought up. We never actually decided characters needed to start at 1,but people kept doing it.
Anyways, it got very old, resulting in the house ruling that GMs couldn't forbid existing characters from jumping in to new games. It was fueled entirely by an OOC concern and debate.
Making a clean break shouldn't be controversial. But in 3e/PF, there is a lot of stuff available to customize the experience to keep things fresh instead of "Oh no, not kobolds *again *.."