Ner0Sputnik Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 How do people out there introduce new characters to each other? I used to just connect people through each other, but it's a lot more interesting to link them together with something in common allowing them to bond without having to resort to "you meet your friends in a tavern and decide you want to go adventuring together." So, anyone have any good intro scenarios they've run? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... I prefer to have characters join through random events which somehow lead to the grand adventure. In my last FH campaign two of the characters met when the "fighter" was attacked while traveling through the forest. The "ranger" heard the battle and came to the character's aid. The ranger agreed to be the paid escort [that's what ranger's do] through the forest. They arrived in a "barony" city in time for a festival where they encountered the "elven gladiator" who was in a pit-fighting tournament and the "thief" who was there to steal the prize money for the tournament. There was an assassination plot against the Baron from his son at the tournament which the four characters managed to foil and they were rewarded small tracks of land by the baron. Eventually the "paladin" showed up on a quest searching for his country's lost prince. The ranger and fighter agreed to join the quest for differing reasons. The elf joined because he nearly died in the pit-fight and decided he needed a change of life. The thief went because of a sense of guilt for stealing the tournament money after being rewarded a small fiefdom. The group was assembled and the adventures began. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... How do people out there introduce new characters to each other? I used to just connect people through each other, but it's a lot more interesting to link them together with something in common allowing them to bond without having to resort to "you meet your friends in a tavern and decide you want to go adventuring together." So, anyone have any good intro scenarios they've run? Give them a town and ask them for a reason to be there. I've used this format many times and had a good rate of success. It's not perfect, mind you, but it does work, and when done correctly it can really kick start a campaign. Examples of what I’m talking about. Years ago (the last time I was a GM for a FtF fantasy game), I began the campaign in a middlin’ size town on the first day of festival. I informed every character that, in addition to their background, they had to be in that town at that time. I received a nice mix of backgrounds/reasons that included; A resident town guard on duty during the festival—his job was to walk around and basically make his presence known. A thief who had been thrown in jail for several days due to being in a brawl (he hadn’t actually stolen anything). Since he was an outsider he got blamed for it. He happened to be getting out of jail on the first day of festival. A relatively inexperienced mage who would be sharing a booth with similar NPCs and putting on little magic acts and whatnot for extra coin. A priest of the deity to whom the festival was in honor, in town to help promote the faith and participate in certain key ceremonies. A young farm hand who was in town to buy his sweetie some ribbon or cloth or somesuch…you know the type, strapping young lad naïve of “big city†ways. A mercenary hoping to score a contract (I think…he may have come later in the campaign). Anyway, they didn’t necessarily know each other. The guard knew of the man in jail and had, in fact, discovered that the fight wasn’t really his fault (but couldn’t do anything about it). I had the priest and the farm boy hook up on the road about a day out of town. The mercenary paid the mage to Glow his knife (basically a ‘Light’ spell that was supposed to last for months if not years, but in reality faded shortly after the festival ended). So there was some contact but not much, just enough to give a familiarity to the scene. Then I had a caravan of “merchants†turn into bandits, steal bunches of stuff from stalls, and ride out in a daring raid the likes of which had not been seen in many many years. Essentially, except for some minor opening role-play, the campaign started with everyone in or near the town square at the time the bandits threw off their disguise, stole some goods, killed a few people, grabbed some women and horses and bailed for the hills. Each and every character had a reason to go after the bandits and they got to know each other from there. The farm boy’s sweetie was one of the women taken. The mage’s spell books were taken. The mercenary lost his money and weapons (and promptly took new weapons from a dead guard). And so on. Good campaign. It failed shortly into the second leg as people began getting lives (and shortly after I discovered PBEMs), but it’s a great format to use if you don’t mind a little prelim work. In a seriously-less-winded addendum, you can always have the characters work out their backgrounds together so that they know each other before they start gaming. The “friends in a tavern†scenario isn’t so implausible when the PCs have actually had time to get to know each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... You could make the characters all citizens of the same small town, which, by the way, is in dire need of saving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ner0Sputnik Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... In a seriously-less-winded addendum' date=' you can always have the characters work out their backgrounds together so that they know each other before they start gaming. The “friends in a tavern†scenario isn’t so implausible when the PCs have actually had time to get to know each other.[/quote'] That's one of the things I'm trying to avoid. I want to make the characters have to come together, maybe not trust each other, etc... But wow! Thanks for all of the advice. It's given me some pretty damn cool ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... There's drafting as well. The regular sort - they are all called up by their lord as part of the feudal army to go off to battle some other lord. On the way they get cut off/reduced in size/desert/etc... The Nikita sort - used in one of the Feist books - all the characters are prisoner, possibly even condemned to death. But get given a suicidal mission instead. There's accidental- The characters are all aboard a form of transport at the same time, but for different reasons. Something happens and they have to work together to carry on. Half the party are friends trying to do a mission. The other half are also friends and are trying to do the same mission. They bump into each other and end up working together (or not, if you see Life of Brian). There's supernatural- All the PCs have something about them that Bad Guy wants, and so hunts them down individually. Either they are all captured and meet that way - or they do some detective work, find out about the other PCs and join forces before being captured. And my altime least favourite meeting McGuffin - Prophecy. Much like time travel and "it was all a dream", do not ever use it if you can help it. I hate it - it leads to sloppy plots and cutting corners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 keyes bill is the disparate I thought you might find this useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinanju Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... That's one of the things I'm trying to avoid. I want to make the characters have to come together, maybe not trust each other, etc... But wow! Thanks for all of the advice. It's given me some pretty damn cool ideas! Watch John Carpenter's THE THING, then. Put the characters all in a contained setting (an island settlement, a snowed-in village, a beseiged castle, etc.) and then create a threat that can--and will, unless it is stopped--kill EVERYBODY there. The PCs (and a few NPCs and redshirts) will be forced to cooperate to survive. If there are possibilities for betrayal (possession, shapechanging bad guys who pretend to be allies, outright cowardice or greed leading to backstabbing), there'll be plenty of reason for the PCs to distrust one another. Lots of roleplaying possibilities when they _can't_ trust one another but they _must_ trust one another.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ner0Sputnik Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Re: keyes bill is the disparate I thought you might find this useful. That site is just too damn cool. I've been running fantasy campaigns since I was in Jr. High (1986.) I've learned a lot of things, but still am improving. I spent WAYYYY too long reading through yesterday when I should've been working. THANKS! My players (but not my boss) will thank you! ;] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 keyes bill is found on roleplayingtips.com not That site is just too damn cool. I've been running fantasy campaigns since I was in Jr. High (1986.) I've learned a lot of things' date=' but still am improving. I spent WAYYYY too long reading through yesterday when I should've been working. THANKS! My players (but not my boss) will thank you! ;'] You are welcome. I spend many hours there as well. I have even put several of the bulleted lists on a single page for inclusion in my GM notebook. It makes good reference during play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citizen Keen Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... I prefer to have characters join through random events which somehow lead to the grand adventure. In my last FH campaign two of the characters met when the "fighter" was attacked while traveling through the forest. The "ranger" heard the battle and came to the character's aid. The ranger agreed to be the paid escort [that's what ranger's do] through the forest. They arrived in a "barony" city in time for a festival where they encountered the "elven gladiator" who was in a pit-fighting tournament and the "thief" who was there to steal the prize money for the tournament. There was an assassination plot against the Baron from his son at the tournament which the four characters managed to foil and they were rewarded small tracks of land by the baron. Eventually the "paladin" showed up on a quest searching for his country's lost prince. The ranger and fighter agreed to join the quest for differing reasons. The elf joined because he nearly died in the pit-fight and decided he needed a change of life. The thief went because of a sense of guilt for stealing the tournament money after being rewarded a small fiefdom. The group was assembled and the adventures began. Fighter. Ranger. Gladiator. Paladin. I love me some combat! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... I chose the simple terms to make it easier to understand. The beauty of the Hero System is that you can easily blend and merge classes together. The gladiator was actually a reincarnated elven prince who was an alcoholic. The paladin was a knight and also one of 12 priests to serve a god in a military capacity. The fighter was the viscount in hiding who carried the fabled Sun Sword of Pelor who could also control birds. The ranger was really a fighter druid who had a very broad group of nature spells. The thief was really a mage who specialized in thieving magic. So it wasn't quite so cut and dried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... I prefer thinking of these things as "current occupation" and not using the term "class" at all - it leads to confusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenstar Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... I've used several methods over the years that worked pretty well, to wit: - All were on the same ship when it was wrecked on a "deserted" (yeah, right) island. - I told them as part of their character creation that they all had to be loyal for some reason to a particular noble, and then had his spymaster call them together for a mission. - All were told to have a reason to be in a particular town and then the "priest" character was given a vision by his god to go find them all and round them up as part of a prophecy - All were in the same prison when they got a chance to break free (earthquake, in this case) - and had to cooperate to survive the underground passageways that lead outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx! Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... related thread Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Re: Starting a new campaign... Let the town be attacked by a horde of lesser monsters. After a while the npc's die off and then the pc's meet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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