hanging PCs together

[bblackmoor]

One of the problems we all face when starting a new fantasy game is how to draw a group of disparate characters together. I've used the old standbys: henchmen of a powerful lord, escapees from a slave caravan, travelers who happen to be staying overnight at the same inn. I have also used a few unusual ones, my favorite of those (so far) being the new "house guards" of an old theatre which has been converted to an apartment building.

I just finished watching a movie called The Reckoning (2003). It's a terrific movie in its own right (go look it up on Netflix (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?&movieid=60034543), this isn't a movie review), but I thought the central idea of a traveling theatre troupe was a very good one for getting together a group of PCs.

What other inventive ways have you used (or seen used) to draw a group of fantasy PCs together?

[Rapier]

What other inventive ways have you used (or seen used) to draw a group of fantasy PCs together?
- Prison Break
- Innocent Bystanders (wizard hops in and blasts apart a player's farm or takes his sister hostage)
- The DRAFT (kingdom on war footing and the king starts drafting soldiers)
- All the PCs live in the same town/village that is overrun/attacked by monsters
- Want Ad (WANTED: Adventurers to kill evil guy, enquire after sundown at the Fluffy Marmot Inn - FYI there has been a Fluffy Marmot Inn in every single campaign I have ever run and all the patrons are pretty much the same).

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

[Fitz]

When I saw the topic my first thought was "Of course you have to hang them together; otherwise the one that's still free will inevitably rescue all the others and utterly decimate your city cops in the process".

But that's just me.

[Agemegos]

What other inventive ways have you used (or seen used) to draw a group of fantasy PCs together?

I have had them all be brothers, sisters, and cousins.

I have put them all in the same file (~fireteam) in a military unit.

I have insisted that they all be lodgers in the same boarding-house.

I have required that all PCs be co-husbands of the same polyandrous chieftainess.

I have had the PCs inherit shares of a valuable ship, along with and NPC who will refuse to sell it and split the proceeds. Similarly, I have had them inherit a castle along with the joint duty of guard-and-ward. I have also scooped them up for an initial adventure and given them a haunted castle with duty of guard and ward as their poisoned-chalice 'reward' from a jealous king.

Once I insisted that the (two) PCs had to be identical twins.

I have an idea for a campaign in which all the PCs are versions of the same person, who had different radiation accidents, built different battlesuits, and were bitten by different radioactive arthropods, in various parallel universes, brought together to defend the Multiverse… I can't get enough players together for that one though.

[Agemegos]

When I saw the topic my first thought was "Of course you have to hang them together; otherwise the one that's still free will inevitably rescue all the others and utterly decimate your city cops in the process".

But that's just me.

No, no, no! Don't keep any of them in gaol waiting to collect the whole set, or that is just what will happen. String 'em up one by one as you catch the little baskets!

[tgaptte]

One particularly good setup for a game had the PCs working for a retired Artifact Hunter...he'd be contacted by clients or hear of something and send them off...

Two of the PCs were brothers and another was their ogre bodyguard...made for great roleplaying

Tim

[Enforcer84]

Once had the PC's all happen to be the raised followers of several groups of heroes, thrown together since thier more powerful "benefactors" had basically left them to die. It seems one of the churces needed cheap adventurer laborors.

[Longshot]

After having thought about this for quite a bit, I think the best way would be to let the players sort it out themselves.

Since you know what the initial encounter/adventure for the game will be, have the first player making a character determine what their rational for being at that particular place at that time would be. Tell the next player "Okay, how do you know PC #1 and why are you with him?"

Its best to do this as part of character creation so they could work that idea in with their concept. PC #2 says "PC #1 saved my life, so I owe him big time. I follow him around and look after him like a wookie life debt." etc. Player #2, building on this concept decides that his character follows a strict code of honor.

This gives the players move investment in their characters (I *chose* to be here) and takes some of the burden off of you having to figure it out for them.

Just my opinion, though. : )

[amity]

i once started them on their own in one town.

one picked a second pocket. a fight started, and the both came to be in the prison cell for a night.

the guard was a 3rd person. - and they bribed him to let them all go ...




who said you have to start them off together ?
who said they all must be in one team.

let them play one against the other (now you have your monsters :) )

[bblackmoor]

let them play one against the other (now you have your monsters :) )

That's one way of doing it. :)

[Doc Democracy]

After having thought about this for quite a bit, I think the best way would be to let the players sort it out themselves.


That is very much the way I have done it consistently in the past.

I require each player to indicate why he is friends/would willingly travel with/adventure with at least two of the other characters - and I will not allow exclusive loops that exclude other player characters.

I find that the players are far more inventive in doing this and it encourages them to develop their backgrounds and embeds them more firmly into their group.

[Eodin]

My favorite took about half of a gaming session to get them working together, but they each came to the big city on their own/alone, each with different reasons (most of them looking for work). Of the available options -- caravan guard northbound to the gnomelands, solicitations to join the local crime guild, and several other possibilities, they all decided (independently) to go on the trek north as caravan guards. Then they got to talk around the campfire the night before leaving, and fight goblins, orcs, and other raiders along the way. By the time they got to the gnomelands, they WERE a band of adventurers.

In another campaign, they met up one at a time traveling the snowy road south for the local holiday festivities over the course of several game days. After one of the hunteds showed up, they decided to stick close to each other until they got to town.

Of course, these assume you're willing to spend the time to "turn strangers into friends", rather than starting with them all knowing each other. But I love the RP part of RPG. :)

[Eodin]

And one favorite as a player... my character was the only survivor of an encounter with a red dragon. He managed to get away to safety after he was the last party member alive (barely), and used his magic to turn into a fly or bee or something innocuous and leave undetected. When he got to town, he had to hire adventurers (as in conduct interviews) to help him retrieve the remains/loot of his former party -- HE was the patron. He ended up hiring a pair of dwarven warrior-rogues (brothers), a half-elven wizard, and a couple of human tough warrior types. The interviews were such fun! :)

[AlHazred]

When I saw the topic my first thought was "Of course you have to hang them together; otherwise the one that's still free will inevitably rescue all the others and utterly decimate your city cops in the process".
It's not just you. When I saw the topic, my first thought was, "Hang them all together, since otherwise you'll have to hang them all separately and pay the executioners overtime."

[C++]

I had them all be young folks who manifested a particular mark on their wrist and were quickly banished from their homes. They were all drawn to each other through the marks and then the mystery began to unfold.

[The Mad GM]

One of my longer running games started with the question to the players: "So why does your character want to overthrow the Evil Emperor?"

Other than that, I've encouraged players to plan their own connections before the game, to whatever extent, and then bring in the others in various ways: Coming across a scene of a crime/battle, the dying messenger with a treasure map, the old man in the bar with knowledge of some important wrongdoing, being hired by a noble, etc.

I've played in a game that started out as a theatrical troupe. I originally wanted to play a sort of doe-y eyed thespian with magical talents suited for the stage who gets pulled into a real adventure with more typical characters, but the other players flocked to the idea. The only real dungeon worthy PC was a bodyguard we hired to help going through some orcish areas.

In one game we were all voyaging on the same vessel towards a newly discovered continent (think Australia). We were explorers, missionaries, exiles, and thieves running from the law.

[Michael Hopcroft]

In one game we were all voyaging on the same vessel towards a newly discovered continent (think Australia). We were explorers, missionaries, exiles, and thieves running from the law.
Historically, many colonies (Australia, Guyana) were originally settled by prisoners. player-characters could all have been sentenced to trasnpoprt to the "New World" and meet while on the same ship. then, when they get to the prison, something happens and they find thesmlves free -- but alone and on the run in a totally unfamilair environment with no way home.

Or the authorities could just drop off the prisoners in port, give them a few coins and say "You're on your own from here on in."

[llewin]

In my favorite campaign i decided to have the players transported 20 years in to the future, wake up in an empty cave in the middle of the mountains with no memory of how they got there, who the other people in the cave were, or any information of the 20 years that had gone by...

of course this requires that the players start with next to nothing as far as equipment/animals goes... basically a 'clothes on your back' situation...

It worked remarkably well. The players were forced to bond together since they were outsiders in the world, they had an immediate plothook to follow..

"who are we, how did we get here, why are we here, where is here..." and eventually "WHEN is here?!?"