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One thing that I especially liked about Vampire: The Masquerade was character creation for Sabbat characters. When you create Sabbat characters, the entire group of players gets together and has to randomly determine (or mutually agree) how "bonded" you are to your fellow neophytes. A number, ranging from 1-10, determines how closely bonded you are, how familiar you are, and how likely you are to save that person's buttocks from a Camarilla justicar. 1 being "I know the guy. A little.", with a 10 being "I'd give up eternal life for myself, my family, and everyone I know for this person if they would only ask".

It isn't a perfect system, and it still leaves a little to be created by the players (like "ok, I have a 3 for being bonded to you, but how do we actually know each other"), but it's not a bad system if you want your players to actually have to know each other before gaming starts. We implemented it when we were creating Camarilla characters as well, and I've tried to use something similar to it for other games other than Vampire/White Wolf. But I haven't come up with anything that works across the board, or anything that works period.

I have found that players generally figure this out without being told when the game is new and characters are new, and I don't force them to have to know each other. Most of the time, I assume (as a GM) that the players don't know each other and just throw them into a situation where they have to defend themselves and each other (a minor, minor fight just for introductions, or the classic "You are in a bar when someone posts something that gets your attention"). This generally gets the characters speaking to one another, and then they are off like a bride's nighty.

I've never had need to motivate players to co-conspire their backgrounds, nor have I had trouble creating reasons for them to be working with strangers at the start of a game. Granted it can be harder to convince a group of strangers to work together then characters with a mutual background.

I've always seemed to be able to pull something from my nether regions to throw the party together. Of course, this can take a fair amount of forethought and work for me but it's worked so far. On the other hand, one thing I have noticed with many of my players is a reluctance to include significant individuals in their past ("All my family members are dead" gets a bit old). So, I developed a random-roll chart to determine significant others (including friends and acquaintances). Then, the first time I used it the couple in my gaming group both rolled an ex-SO and without any prompting from me decided to make it each other's character. THAT led to some interesting banter...

Zachary The First wrote:Very cool. We've actually used a random background chart before for players who had ______ (Orcs, Elves, The Coalition, Juicers, Floopers) KILLED MY _______ (Parents, Brother, Sister, Master, Sensei, Uncle, Girlfriend) Syndrome.

I pity the man who has suffered tragic results from Floopers. Their scourge is unending. Please donate to the Flooper recovery fund.