New Campaign/Characters

[grandmaster z0b]

Hi I'm about to start a new campaign and I was wondering...
When starting a new campaign how do you normally get all the characters together?

The old 'you all meet in a bar' is very dull but can work so you can get straight into the action.

You can try to have everyone thrown together into an adventure where they have no option but to join up as a team.

It's especially difficult though when the character's alignments aren't all similar, for example you have a unscrupulous rouge and a cyberknight.

[PalladiumRules]

I'm running a PFRPG game and I started it by saying, "Your party has been traveling together for the past four days..." Skipping the whole met in a tavern scene.

[MightyAtom]

Check out this site. http://www.dangermouse.net/gurps/reject/tavern.html. I found it in my searching of the web somehow. Haven't used it yet myself as I am yet to get a group together, but it has some ideas you could use or modify.

MightyAtom

[Dustin Fireblade]

Hi I'm about to start a new campaign and I was wondering...
When starting a new campaign how do you normally get all the characters together?

The old 'you all meet in a bar' is very dull but can work so you can get straight into the action.

You can try to have everyone thrown together into an adventure where they have no option but to join up as a team.

It's especially difficult though when the character's alignments aren't all similar, for example you have a unscrupulous rouge and a cyberknight.

Military games aren't very hard - orders issued and all that. Or if they are Mercs answering a job add.

For anything else, I'd basically let everyone know what city the game is starting in then cook up a number of rumors that would all tie into whatever the 1st adventure is. Basically a "hook" to appeal to each character, then maybe a misadventure to get everyone together.

[grandmaster z0b]

Hi I'm about to start a new campaign and I was wondering...
When starting a new campaign how do you normally get all the characters together?

The old 'you all meet in a bar' is very dull but can work so you can get straight into the action.

You can try to have everyone thrown together into an adventure where they have no option but to join up as a team.

It's especially difficult though when the character's alignments aren't all similar, for example you have a unscrupulous rouge and a cyberknight.

Military games aren't very hard - orders issued and all that. Or if they are Mercs answering a job add.

For anything else, I'd basically let everyone know what city the game is starting in then cook up a number of rumors that would all tie into whatever the 1st adventure is. Basically a "hook" to appeal to each character, then maybe a misadventure to get everyone together.

Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking of doing, you just have to make sure you have a motivation for each of the characters.

[Dustin Fireblade]

There is a pretty good sheet that one of my online GM's used that helps a player make a more detailed history and background. If you are interested I'll see if I still have a copy and I could send it to you.

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

[grandmaster z0b]

There is a pretty good sheet that one of my online GM's used that helps a player make a more detailed history and background. If you are interested I'll see if I still have a copy and I could send it to you.

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

Thanks, that would be cool if you can dig it up.

I was thinking of using a modified version of the background system from Cyberpunk, where for each year of your life you roll on a chart and you might get an ally or an enemy or a romantic interest etc.

[MightyAtom]

There is a pretty good sheet that one of my online GM's used that helps a player make a more detailed history and background. If you are interested I'll see if I still have a copy and I could send it to you.

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

That sounds like a great resource to use. If you manage to find it I wouldn't mind a copy as well. It's helpful for less creative minded people like myself...

MightyAtom

[Dustin Fireblade]

Sent you guys PM's.

[johnkretzer]

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

I do something similar but I ask the PCs don't go crazy in describing them or naming them...just a little general infomation(IE a crime boss, a corrupt noble, etc). Then I compare thier enemies, allies, and contacts and see if I can set up so that they share one or two. them share them...It makes a group alot easier to bring together.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

I do something similar but I ask the PCs don't go crazy in describing them or naming them...just a little general infomation(IE a crime boss, a corrupt noble, etc). Then I compare thier enemies, allies, and contacts and see if I can set up so that they share one or two. them share them...It makes a group alot easier to bring together.

Yeah we got a fairly close group for online gaming, and there's been a few times that we'll work out something that my ally is another player's enemy, work our backgrounds close together and other things. Before we know it we've somehow got the entire group connected in some fashion.

[johnkretzer]

Another GM used something called 3x3x3's - basically make up 3 allies, 3 contacts and 3 enemies that the GM might be able to work into a back story.

I do something similar but I ask the PCs don't go crazy in describing them or naming them...just a little general infomation(IE a crime boss, a corrupt noble, etc). Then I compare thier enemies, allies, and contacts and see if I can set up so that they share one or two. them share them...It makes a group alot easier to bring together.

Yeah we got a fairly close group for online gaming, and there's been a few times that we'll work out something that my ally is another player's enemy, work our backgrounds close together and other things. Before we know it we've somehow got the entire group connected in some fashion.

You do have to be a little careful with one player's allies is another player's enemy...that cause all kinds of party conflict. While I like party conflict at times I don't like it when it is built in like that....about as far as I would go is two character contacts or allies are rivals....

[Cyrano de Maniac]

I forget where I saw this described, but one of the more interesting ideas I've heard is to have each player introduce their character as if speaking in character. As the final part of each introduction each player has to explain how they're associated with a particular NPC (or maybe one of the other PCs, if that works better).

"Hi, I'm Vanessa Vagabond, from right here in Podunk. I think you've all met my dad Bill Blacksmith..., and I thank you for coming here so quick after he turned up missing last night. I don't know what to say -- I just don't know where he could be." *sobs*

"Hi, I'm Joe Juicer. I'm from Missouri, where my parents and brothers and sisters eek out a living farming, mostly raising pigs and chickens and stuff, but a few crops as well. Well, my parents don't much farm anymore ever since they died when we was teenagers. Anyway, we were short on cash and, well, you've heard the same old story a million times so I'll skip all the boring parts, but I got juiced and somehow ended up in this stinkin' town. I don't really know many people 'round here, 'cept for Bill Blacksmith whose been renting me out a room in his house."

"I 'spose I don't need much introduction, being mayor and all, but I'm Fred Fixer. It's obviously a shame Bill's high-tailed out of town. I mean, not to speak ill of him or anything or disrespect your family there 'Nessa, but what with his horse missin' and his dresser cleaned out and him owing all that money to Widow Williams and all. I mean, I'll help y'all find Bill, but I's thinkin' he don't wanna' be found, and fixes to stay that way."

To me this sounds like a really fun way to get a story going and let the players provide a bunch of hooks that the GM can use later. Obviously the GM might want to work with one or two of the players ahead of time, and probably have them go first on describing themselves, if he'd like to steer the plot hook for the first adventure in a particular direction.

[random_username]

Its usually best to simply have the players start off as a group. Trying to force a gathering through circumstances, etc. can often backfire with PCs legitimately attacking and/or killing each other off for various legitimate reasons.

A back-story or reason to be adventuring together is not usually necessary for experienced gamers.

However adding one in can help set the tone of the campaign:
Examples:
- All were captured by ... (CS, Splugorth, unknown forces, etc.) have escaped together. Now adventuring together, blah blah blah. Can begin their story at any point - using Splugorth example: escaping from slave pens together, roaming Atlantis, on ship leaving Atlantis (probably pirate), have just reached mainland, are roaming mainland days/weeks/months after escape, etc.
- Have formed their own adventuring party (generic). Tends to lend itself to good aligned-only or good-themed groups.
- Have formed their own mercenary group. Very similar to adventuring party however sets slightly different tone. May encourage developments such as developing a cover story: traveling circus, traders, mobile tech repair/sales, mobile healing centers, etc. Any directly earned income is usually not kept track of instead it simply covers the cost of their cover story system (materials, fees, salaries for any employees, etc.). May also encourage setting up of hidden bases, teleportation networks, etc. Its also very 'standard Rifts style' for mostly gear dependent character types (tech based, purchased/learned magic based, other gear based, etc.).

Mercenary Group could also specialize:
- bounty hunters
- protection/defense
- repo (though not standard concept could actually be very common; also see Naruni company concepts)

[grandmaster z0b]

I just thought I'd give a little update, in the end I started all four players staying in the same hotel. Two of them already knew each other and the other two were identical twin dwarf cyberknights. A large explosion nearby got them all outside and a subsequent attack got them all together. In the end it was much easier than I thought. We're now up to our third game and introducing two new characters in the second session was actually harder than getting everyone together originally.

[Shorty Lickens]

- It is usually directly related to the kind of campaign I want to run. -

On my latest group and campaign (which has been taking years to run, cuz of its scope) they were a small mercenary company who banded with a larger merc army.

Soooooo............
I started them off in the middle of a big battle. They were all level 1 and had just joined a large, quickly made, poorly run army which had been thrown together on short order by a small, rich kingdom to deal with a supernatural threat. When the game started they were towards the end of a hopeless battle and looking for a way to pull out and regroup.
They do, and the rest of the army gets slaughtered, the supernatural menace crushed the town, then eased its way through a rift back to its home world, dimension, base of operations, whatever.

So, they now know each other somewhat well from being tossed into the same unit together and going through a brief yet brutal battle. They all also have the stigma of being known as a few of the handful of survivors from a great city-state being destroyed at the hands of an incompetent army. The few civilian survivors will eventually make their way to other towns and spread nasty rumors about them.
The handful of other military survivors have turned to ugly deeds in order to survive and may or may not encounter the PC's again in the future.

As one of the few survivors with immediate access to the battlefield, the PC's decide to requisition/scavenge whatever the hell they can get their hands on, keep the good stuff, sell all the rest, and start their own small mercenary company.

Thus the adventure begins.
And the way the campaign went, they actually never had to deal with any B.S. from the surviving civilians or soldiers. They did encounter the destructive supernatural force again, it turns out they were Mechanoids.

The basic idea being: We all look to Star Wars for our epic inspiration, since anything less than epic does not suit Rifts.
And all the good Star Wars movies started off with the heroes right in the middle of some crazy ass stuff.
As with the above GURPS website, some of the better beginnings are when the PC's are already together in the middle of something big about to happen, or already happening. You can flesh out their personal details later, as is done with most epic movies and books.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

Failed a Land Navigation skill check. Got lost and wandered into the alley where the other PC's were. Not so much a team up but a quick and dirty introduction. So at least when X event occurs that throws us all together we can say, "Oh hey I remember you, you got lost looking for the junk yard. Or, "Aren't you that guy who talks to random hobo's in dark alley ways?"



I am the necro-poster. Bringing threads back from the dead!

[Jay05]

Sometimes it takes clever manipulation to bring all the characters together. The good GM is one who can take even a blatant Deus ex, and make it "interesting". Although that wasn't what happened in your case Nate, your GM used a failed roll well.

[Akashic Soldier]

My "favorite" opening so far was when I had a pyromantic demonically possessed scarecrow called Willy Wikkle kidnap the entire party, strip them of all of their clothes and possessions, and then put them in magical cages in his cellar while they awaited to be sacrificed to the great Old Ones.

It didn't turn out as well as I'd liked (I ****** up during the character screening process and the Crazie character ruined the suspense by busting his cage and doing pretty much everything himself). So yeah, what was supposed to be a gritty escape scene where the players learned teamwork turned into well, a gritty combat instead (very disappointing).

Still, *sighs wistfully* had it worked... had it worked...

I just made sure all the PC's gear was in the cellar packed away in barrels (didn't want them to feel like they'd lost everything).

***

I've also tried stranding everyone together in Dinosaur Swamp (in a hostile world) in an effort to encourage them to build into a team (worked, EVENTUALLY). Randomly telling the characters to make up their own reason (this always leads to the "why would I even hangout with this psycho" arguments so I no longer do it.), and my latest game is going to start with all the characters as 8 to 10-year-old children that are a group of friends and then it is going to skip routinely (about 3-5 years at a time) and do another adventure with them slightly older. Until at last, the group has worked out all their "issues" and have established their natural pecking order and so I don't have a group of strangers with the ability to sink continents running around together for no real reason and arguing over who is the best spell caster/fighter in the group (as they will have gotten that out of their system while playing as children... at least that my plan.)

[Bill]

I always have the players work out the reason for their characters traveling together. Typically I break up the group into pairs and then have the pairs fill in how they came together as a complete group, which still allows for a little in-group drama here and there.

And, because I run drop-in games at my LGS, my standard introduction for randomly appearing group members is that they were there the whole time, they just hadn't done anything important up to that point.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

kidnap the entire party, strip them of all of their clothes and possessions, and then put them in cages.

That sounds eerily familiar to just about every other opening that my GM puts my TMNT Ibex through.

I just made sure all the PC's gear was in the cellar packed away in barrels (didn't want them to feel like they'd lost everything).

Except this part. He doesn't do this part. I found out was because he hates modern body armor. Class 4 hard has an AR of 14. Which to him makes me nigh impossible to hit and there for no fun to him as an NPC trying to hurt me. This is an understandable, but crappy and annoying, reason. Armor is expensive and you don't find it laying around everywhere.

I like the idea of the pyromaniac demon scarecrow. Sounds almost like a BTS game.

[Akashic Soldier]

I like the idea of the pyromaniac demon scarecrow. Sounds almost like a BTS game.

In the end they failed to stop him from summoning Xy to Rifts Earth.
Except Thoth appeared in his place. Everyone was confused.
Thoth then telported Willy into the sun (which would not kill him since he was immune to fire because he had a few levels of burster) but essentially 'defeated' him. Thoth then cured the retardation of one characters in the group (yes, one player was playing a mentally disabled character--he was a janitor) by turning them into a Godling as a reward for their heroism and then promptly ascended once more into the sky (without speaking once or any explanation for what he had done to the 'retard' or why he was summoned instead of Xy). It was good times, mostly.

In game it was never explained why events occurred as such but I am sure anyone who has read world book Africa would know.

[scottypotty]

I like the idea of perks. Simply create a list of little abilities and pieces of cool equipment maybe about twice as many as players. Assign some quick background to each one and let the players choose a perk. This works very well for players who don't create elaborate backgrounds.

I'm also a GM who likes to tie in characters with subplots and personal goals that work into the overall storyline of a campaign. It is very difficult to get player characters together in a meaningful way. It sets the tone for their initial character interactions and first impressions. The theme of a game can get muddled if characters don't connect well. They don't have to get along, but they need to believe everyone is there for a descent purpose.

[Goliath Strongarm]

First off, I'm using my phone so I blame all errors on autocorrect!

1) You've been drafted by duke/prince/king whatever
2) Kidnapped
3) You owe a favor to John Smith. He is owes a favor to duke Jones, who needs a (insert archtype) for a job. You're paying off your favor by paying off John's favor.
4) So, you're minding your own business when you get arrested for something you didn't (or maybe DID) do. Your sentance is to help clean out the sewers. Meet the other prisoners on your chain gang.

Etc

[nilgravity]

HU has an adventure perfect for getting a party together. The mall is attacked. The characters were all shopping etc...

[Dunia]

The first campaign in Rift I GMed had one Mystic and a mutant human Ley Line walker so I started my campaign with that hey were captives by the CS and that they were on their way to get incinerated from their prison camp, when a Tolkeen retribution squad downed their transport over a Chi Town Burb and the players survived the crash.

So it was pretty much "the two of us against the world!"