Integrating new player

[Darth Credence]

One of my players had to leave the game a month or so back, and another player has a friend that wants to join. Perfect, I like DMing for five, it just feels right to me.

But I'm not sure how I am going to work them into the campaign. Everyone is level 11, and we haven't added a new character since level 5. That one was pretty easy to work in, as it coincided with another character alone on a boat, and the two formed a friendship. Right now, the main party is in the capital city, participating in the solstice festival. Immediately after that, they will be going on downtime for the winter months. They will come out of downtime a bit differently than they expect - about a year ago in campaign, they successfully stopped a wizard and a witch from fighting and destroying the surrounding area by reminding them that they loved each other, and they will each get an invitation to a baby shower for them, where I intend to introduce them to a bunch of characters that will be important in the rest of the campaign.

I can pretty easily have the new character at the tournament - that's the easy part, and there are many ways for it to work out. I have an easy way for them to fight together and form a bit of a bond, as well, since at the end of the festival, an ancient dragon turtle is being summoned and will attack the city, so it becomes all hands on deck for the fight. But I have no clue how I am going to justify them being together enough that the new guy joins them for further adventures, especially getting together to go to the baby shower. Short of telling the new player, put this in your background, I've got nothing. Is it OK to do that? Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.

[Mastikator]

There aint nothing wrong with pregenerated characters/backstories. Especially for new players. Ask them for input though, they might have good ideas for adjustments and it will make them feel more like they own it.

It IS OK to do that!

[Warder]

I've found that at a certain point after a campaign has gone on for a while, the best way to get a new character into the party is to make sure they're already connected to the plot somehow. If the party is embarking on a new adventure, let this new player have some inside information into what's going on and may have been pursuing this course for a while themselves already. If you've already made sure their interests align, it's way easier to integrate them into the party.

[Keravath]

It seems to me that there are a number of ways to add the character. However, you may need to add elements to the character backstory to make it a smoother plot transition. Depending on the class and other background elements of the character these could also factor in.

- the new character is also in town for the solstice festival - they could know some people in common with the characters who make an introduction
- the new character could help out with the fight you have planned - you haven't mentioned how common higher level adventurers are in your world - it could be that the new player and the existing characters have heard of each others reputation (I'm assuming level 11 isn't that common and any character reaching that level has likely done something significant to get there).
- the new character could be a member of an adventuring company that recently disbanded with some members retiring so the new character is looking for "work"
- the new character could have roots near wherever the characters spend the winter and make friends with them over the downtime period
- the new character could have known either the wizard or the witch in the past and as a friend has also received an invitation to the baby shower. High level characters probably move in similar circles and it could be that the adventuring group the new character was a part of had done some work for the wizard or the witch sometime in the past. A baby shower of this sort might be something significant to which a lot of people might be invited depending on the stature of the NPCs involved.

Anyway, pick one or a combination of the background elements and mix it with the new character encountering the party and helping with the fight at the festival and you probably have a decent basis for a more lasting relationship - especially since the party had recently had a member retire and they might be actively looking for a replacement.

[MoiMagnus]

Short of telling the new player, put this in your background, I've got nothing. Is it OK to do that? Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.

You can ask for the new player a short summary of who they want their character to be, and then ask your old players if that's reasonable for any of them to be an old friend / a cousin of some sort / etc of the new character. If any of them is interested, put the two players in contact so that they can agree on their common background.

As for "is it OK to force some background on a player", it's usually OK as long as it doesn't force personality traits. "You're the child of X and for some reason of your choice you left" is totally ok, while "You're the rebellious child of X, and your ran away from your family" is an interesting suggestion but IMO should not be forced onto a player.

[Darth Credence]

Thanks for the thoughts. I was really worried about it being considered railroading, but it sounds like having them have a certain thing in their background in order to get them involved is not an issue.

To clarify things - the player wants to be a kobold, which is fine in the lore, but means they wouldn't be related to anyone else. The possible places they could be from as a kobold also eliminates having them living near each other. (Not that there aren't places it would have been possible, but the places the existing players are from wouldn't allow for it.) Two are from a different continent that I can't really justify another person coming from, one is from a small village and they play up the wonder of meeting all these other races, and the last is from a major city where I have, unfortunately, previously established no kobolds living there.

I think I will go with this: The new player can write up their backstory as they want to, as long as they have some reason to be adventuring, and are generally aligned with "good". Their adventures have brought them to the solstice festival, and I will introduce them by having them competing in an event of their choice. They can join with everyone fighting the dragon turtle, to help them all bond together. Part of their adventuring had led them to interact with the witch and wizard (or perhaps a dragon guest of the W&W, since they are a kobold drakewarden), and they will get their own invitation, where they can meet the original party again, and get sucked into whatever happens there.

[da newt]

In a recent campaign our party lost a Player and we knew of a Player who wanted to jump in, so in game the party decided to seek a new member. We put out wanted notices and conducted interviews looking for a teammate with a certain set of skills. No need to make anything complicated, unless you want to.

[KorvinStarmast]

No need to make anything complicated, unless you want to. Over complicating things and overthinking tend to go hand in hand with D&D, though. :smallbiggrin: (I agree with your assessment).

[Easy e]

The easiest thing is for the character who is always amazed at new races to become friends with the Kobold during the winter downtime. No awkward in game intro needed, and when the next session starts they are just there.

[clash]

My advice is don't think to hard about it. I find me players can get turned off when it takes too long to integrate then into the story. Just keep it simple. Have him join. The story is important but you need to remember it's a game and the game comes first.