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So a novice GM friend of mine is starting a PFRPG game and is looking for creative ways to link up the group members. So just like the thread in Rifts, how do you bring a group together other than "you all meet in a tavern"? but specifically in a PFRPG setting?

Some Ideas I've already had/seen (please feel free/compelled to add to the list or elaborate on the underlined questions):
Escaping slaves. Who is their captor? where are they when they escape? can any gear be recovered?

Established merc team, hired for a job/looking for work. What job?

New recruits for an unknown job contracted by an unknown but powerful employer (employer has paid for their travel and lodging to get from where they were and brought them all together but hasn't told them what they will be doing or who he/she is.) Who is he/she and what would you have them do?

Survivors of shipwreck. Where would you strand them?

Happen to be in town X when X disaster happens and characters band together to survive. Where is the town and what happens?

Wake up chained to a dungeon wall in just their smallclothes. Who's dungeon? Where's it located? is their gear nearby or gone forever?


Ideas?

I didn't ever do much fantasy GMing, but my favorite for fantasy was "you've all been hired by <some NPC> to do <something that sounds important>" and then once the "quest" begins, the NPC abandons them for some reason (or is killed). At that point, they've already become acquainted, but no longer have any reason to continue working for the NPC and are free to decide how to proceed.

--flatline

My current group meet because they were all on the same ship that sank at sea during a storm. They all washed up on shore near each other and needed to work together to survive.

They could all be travelling and all just happen to be staying at a pub one fateful stormy night, and while they are all having their individual meals quietly, an old man approaches each one of them and says " psst, wanna earn some gold, I have this rat problem in my basement. Its easy money, but im to arthritic to do it"

My campaign started with everyone being told that they were from the same village, an elder died, and they were back for the funeral. During the (Irish inspired) wake, soldiers entered the tavern and announced they needed mercenaries and draftees, and mercenaries would be paid twice what draftees would be paid.

A gm once had me and several other happened to be at a bar separately, be drugged a wake up chained and with slave collars on. This only really helps if you have someone with pick locks skill in the group.

The simplest way is to ask the players to come up with a back story as to why they are all friends. Being friends who travel together (are they going on vacation?) is the best way to ensure more group co-operation even if some characters are anarchist. Let them come up with their background.

I do like the funeral hook above btw.

Have everyone all as part of a slave gang on a ship traveling to sell their butts at an auction. Said ship hits a bad storm and the players have a chance to free themselves and take over the ship before the storm hits. Failing freeing themselves they survive the storm as the ship goes down. Maybe a slaver survives as some others slaves as well and they all wash up on a unknown beach someplace.

Create a common enemy for them to face. Force them to work together to build up a relationship of trust and teamwork. Ties forged in the heat of life and death make for the most enduring bonds.

Thinyser wrote:So a novice GM friend of mine is starting a PFRPG game and is looking for creative ways to link up the group members. So just like the thread in Rifts, how do you bring a group together other than "you all meet in a tavern"? but specifically in a PFRPG setting?

Some Ideas I've already had/seen (please feel free/compelled to add to the list or elaborate on the underlined questions):
Escaping slaves. Who is their captor? where are they when they escape? can any gear be recovered?

I expect any successful slave escape or revolt needs to be supported by someone already free and from the outside. They can provide the organisation and equipment needed to successfully escape and then support to get them somewhere safe. The escaping slaves could be escaping through the woods and find their way to somewhere safe and then get some gear. There is always the option of overrunning an armoury.

Thinyser wrote:Established merc team, hired for a job/looking for work. What job?

One idea which was suggested to me was that the team is approached by a noble on the road who hires the team to escort him from Timiro Kingdom to Western Empire and he has to get there in a very short amount of time. He does not offer any more details.

Thinyser wrote:New recruits for an unknown job contracted by an unknown but powerful employer (employer has paid for their travel and lodging to get from where they were and brought them all together but hasn't told them what they will be doing or who he/she is.) Who is he/she and what would you have them do?

I wrote the previous answer before reading this question. It’s not exactly the same situation since in the previous answer the noble is just giving them money to escort him and are not covering expenses and all of that. So as an answer to this question an option is that they are being hired by a kingdom to conduct sabotage attacks against a rival kingdom. They arm themselves and act like bandits and brigands who have no state support but, of course, they actually do.

Thinyser wrote:Survivors of shipwreck. Where would you strand them?

Personally, the South Winds. There is a lot of diversity they can end up. Islands, jungle, Timiro, and so forth. There is of course Isle of Lemaria and Isle of Set.

Thinyser wrote:Happen to be in town X when X disaster happens and characters band together to survive. Where is the town and what happens?

In my last PF campaign it started something like this. It was in Sims, Timiro where there was some drunken miners determined to hang an orc slave wrongfully accused of stealing from the mines. Not quite a disaster but it was an event to put the characters on the same page.

Thinyser wrote:Wake up chained to a dungeon wall in just their smallclothes. Who's dungeon? Where's it located? is their gear nearby or gone forever?

I’m not really sure you can fairly remove their gear from them in this way. Again, Isle of Lemaria and Isle of Set come to mind as options.

Everyone wakes up in an inn room with good equipment (but not theirs that they remember) decent amount of money and no memory of the last 6 weeks, the most attractive person has a locket with the picture of someone of the opposite sex. The pic seems familiar and vaguely important to everyone for some reason.

Everyone gets an inheritance letter from someone they don't know saying they have inherited x dollars and have to be at y location on z day to collect, and when they turn up to the room the lawyer is dead with a dagger sticking out of his back, and the town watch loudly turn up downstairs shouting out of the way, we have reports of "describe group" killing a notable person from the town.

Lightsabers, they only work when all of them are within 120ft of each other. Each party member gets one.

Summoned, some unscrupulous summoner cast summon humanoid and got the party members.

Military posting - new border patrollers, scouts or the like

Village in trouble - Home village is in financial ruin after the silver mines or whatever closed 10 years ago, if nothing is down the village will be deserted before the years end.

Zombie Patrol - Everyone wakes up as a freshly risen zombie, but for some reason still remember who they are/were.

Everyone wakes up one morning at a border town that the pc's were passing through at the same time, everyone is missing except the party members.

God says so.

Gold Fever - pc's arrive in a gold rush town on the same wagon, looking to find fortune and glory. The local bully calls them out when they arrive demanding protection money from them all. (should be more money then they have)

kiralon wrote:Everyone wakes up in an inn room with good equipment (but not theirs that they remember) decent amount of money and no memory of the last 6 weeks, the most attractive person has a locket with the picture of someone of the opposite sex. The pic seems familiar and vaguely important to everyone for some reason.

Nice, I like it. Pic in locket could be a royal/noble or some such or maybe a teacher they all revered? Where were you gonna take this (if you had thought any further on it that is)?

Everyone gets an inheritance letter from someone they don't know saying they have inherited x dollars and have to be at y location on z day to collect, and when they turn up to the room the lawyer is dead with a dagger sticking out of his back, and the town watch loudly turn up downstairs shouting out of the way, we have reports of "describe group" killing a notable person from the town.

Yeah that would put them in a pickle from the get go. Do they try to prove innocence, fight their way to freedom and find who framed them or just keep running. All sorts of fun on this one I like it.

Lightsabers, they only work when all of them are within 120ft of each other. Each party member gets one.

in PFRPG?!?! Well ok then, LETS ROCK B!+(#es!!!!
What are your stats for a lightsaber in an SDC setting?
Oh and my character would kill off the other party members and take them all for himself, or die trying. He's an aberrant Jeridu Juggler/Knife thrower who also wields 6 swords at once. Being that he just met these folks and hasn't yet bonded with them in any way means the temptation of these AWESOME MAGICAL SWORDS being all his would probably be too powerful for him to overcome.

Summoned, some unscrupulous summoner cast summon humanoid and got the party members.

Had this one use on me by a previous GM. It was good but he was a great GM and could pull stuff like this off without even trying.

Military posting - new border patrollers, scouts or the like

Kinda like any merc getting hired for x job but they are now tied to a kingdom which can add a needed level of stress.

Village in trouble - Home village is in financial ruin after the silver mines or whatever closed 10 years ago, if nothing is down the village will be deserted before the years end.

Hmm seems like the town would be better off going the way of other ghost towns. Not really seeing the point other than a nostalgic wish to preserve a characters home town.

Zombie Patrol - Everyone wakes up as a freshly risen zombie, but for some reason still remember who they are/were.

That would suck for them! (and me since I'll be a PC!). Do we have control of ourselves or are we under some master's control?

Everyone wakes up one morning at a border town that the pc's were passing through at the same time, everyone is missing except the party members.

Mysterious I like it.

God says so.

Which god? Why? What's the incentive/punishment for obeying/disobeying? In general I don't like gods interfering with low level characters. Once they hit level 8-10 then the gods may start to take notice.

Gold Fever - pc's arrive in a gold rush town on the same wagon, looking to find fortune and glory. The local bully calls them out when they arrive demanding protection money from them all. (should be more money then they have)

He better be a totally bad@$$ mothertrucker if he is gonna give a whole group of adventurers a challenge or does he insist on one-on-one duels? and if so who says that we are gonna abide but this bully's sense of honor? I like the idea that PCs are all converging here for riches but the single bully racketeering part kinda falls flat. Maybe he is the main muscle for a thief's guild. That has potential.

THANKS for the great ideas to EVERYBODY who's posted!
Keep them coming please!

Just some of the many I have used.

The locket led to a dead womans tomb, that had a writ of ownership of a small Cliffside keep, that had a problem with some evil fairy types, that held an ancient magic item used to lock a special door. (this is a variant of the curse of the azure bonds style campaign)

They jumped out the window, ran across some roofs, got to the edge of town, stole some horses and ran like buggery until they came across some itinerant knights, whom were badmouthed by a party member. That party member died then and there, and because of that the rest got caught and hung.

100 sdc damage, roll a 1 and a 1-5 and you hit and usually kill yourself. 3 minutes was all It took for the first self fatality.

Summoned to a desperate arcanist in beyond the supernatural which surprised them all. The animated t-rex skeleton chasing them out of the museum of natural history was hilarious, especially when it was taking chunks out of one of those old black gangster vehicles (all they needed was a tommy gun, or a bazooka, Emily the t-rex was pissed)

Found signs of wolfen, went and investigated without informing higher ups. Found out that they were coyles. burp.

Silver mine was closed down due to gracken issues. solved gracken issues, went on to become nobles of Lopan.

Everyone managed to find all their jars with their bits in them (zombies dont need eyes, brains etc) and resurrect themselves Frankenstein style. All of them were a little twitchy after that. (had to follow direct orders from master though until they rezzed themselves)

Well had cauldron of obedience juice, pc's hadn't drunk enough to follow more then the sleep and forget command. trackers in the party found villagers being used as slave labour by local witch.

Xy - and because he said so.

He's a Rahu man fighter wizard. He wins until characters find potion of slow(tainted his beer) and scroll of size of the behemoth (took his club). Then they beat him bloody, took his ill gained earnings and told him to leave or else. He then followed them causing havoc until he murdered a family close to one of the characters and they found him and killed him.

War has come to their province and the invading enemy isn't keen on talking things out and letting them go. As fas they're concerned these armed "adventurers" are just soldiers of their rival state. Will the players work togther to survive? Will they stay and fight the war or go to more peaceful lands?

A magistrate hires them to solve a crime they witnessed (usually because one of the players opens their big fat mouth and recounts details to the magistrate that makes him think they'd be good at it)

Capture/Slavery is always fun. The trick is to not let them know it was a device to them to be friends.

Though, honestly, i detest blanket plots. I don't like a plot that will work no matter what the PC's are. I like to tailor make them to the characters themselves. Character-driven plots are the best, in my opinion.

The best blanket plots are those that can be tailored to any group. They are hardly mutually exclusive.

The Dark Elf wrote:The simplest way is to ask the players to come up with a back story as to why they are all friends. Being friends who travel together (are they going on vacation?) is the best way to ensure more group co-operation even if some characters are anarchist. Let them come up with their background.

Seconded.

My favorite is a bit "in medias res"... you're all guards on a caravan. It not only gives them a reason to be together and know a little bit about each other, but it means that they soon have a bit of pocket money.

Bring them together to play the great Lopanic Games... ah, crap-
Really want this book to come out!!!

Here in Fairbanks Alaska, it's pretty much the same meeting point in most games. The group starts in Lemaria, strangers on a ship for various reasons of their own. They must survive the ship wreck and then the island. Usually until they are around level 5-6 and then can leave the island via "locating a hidden mystic portal in the Forbidden Area"

The different GM that start this and edit what they like and dislike of Lemaria are what change it up a notch, as well as the players. But up here it's generally the starting badge of honor starting at level one on the Island of Lemaria and seeing how it changes up.

:3 always fun too, not to mention the easiest way to start.

Another fun one: In town, when raiders attack.

Most recently, the PCs either answered the same want ad (wanted: brave souls willing to travel.) or were all members of the same knightly order.

Mark Hall wrote:Another fun one: In town, when raiders attack.

True enough, done that one a time or two in other campaigns Good times.

Braden Campbell wrote:Most recently, the PCs either answered the same want ad (wanted: brave souls willing to travel.) or were all members of the same knightly order.

Haven't done this one as of yet. Something new to add to the random start days

Mark Hall wrote:Another fun one: In town, when raiders attack.

I guess if I think about it this is how I started/am running my first game.
Pc's are all in town (the capital city) for the last day of a major festival/holiday (think spring break meets summer solstice) when raiders attack. In the chaos an underage princess, who snuck out of the castle to get drunk at a beach party and enter a wet t-shirt contest, winds up being kidnapped.

Another fun opener is Found on Page 106-109 of Island at the edge of the world. It can be refit practically for any starting town

The PC's wake to find themselves stripped down to their underwear locked in a single cage with irons for the tradition of 'Inking Day' A day they pit the group against Mental and physical tests to see if any of them are Changelings. Can be a harrowing opener but if gives a quick 'what can characters do' introduction and in a few areas even allows for escape. But it might certainly pull the group together and as a level one intro, would also teach them to never let down their guard as Adventurer's

crazycowproductions wrote: The PC's wake to find themselves stripped down to their underwear locked in a single cage

There seems to be quite a lot of stripping the players naked and locking them in cages. I had a game master do this to me one time and I let them know that the idea made me very uncomfortable.

The Oh So Amazing Nate wrote:

crazycowproductions wrote: The PC's wake to find themselves stripped down to their underwear locked in a single cage

There seems to be quite a lot of stripping the players naked and locking them in cages. I had a game master do this to me one time and I let them know that the idea made me very uncomfortable.

As it should for any character/player. Generally means not nice things at all, unless of course the players PAID for this *ahem* Privilege {not really seeing how it can be one myself, but I did have a player that *had* a Character that was into this kind of thing....Very Strange Mutant Horse-Man}

It's kind of hard to propose a workable way to meet up when you don't know the races or classes. It's one thing to take a bunch of human men at arms from the Eastern Territory and work them together. Harder if you have a Wolfen Soldier, Dwarven Knight, Elven Wizard, Human Imperial Jannisary and and Ogre Barbarian. You need some context. I had to get my group to help out with my last campaign since there were three Wolfen a Kankoran, an Elf and a Human.
The three Wolfen ended up being cousins. Two were in training at the College for magic and Psionics in Shadowhome where the Human also attended. The Elf was adopted into the humans family after her family was killed and the Kankoran was her protector and teacher for her wilderness skills. Three were in service to the Wolfen Empire, and the rest were hired on as additional escorts to bring books and manuscripts to Bletherad.
Do you know races and classes of the group?

1. "In Media Res." Basically, you ignore the question entirely. The group formed "off-stage," and you start the game right in the middle of their first encounter.
2. "Wrong Place, Wrong Time." Take any situation in which this group of people might plausibly be together (cellmates, passengers on the same ship, happen to be shopping in the same store). Then use extreme circumstances and force them to cooperate in order to survive. Do that long enough and they'll just stick together out of habit.
3. "Hey, Me Too!" Direct the players to have their characters worship the same god/pantheon, or be loyal to the same lord, or be members of the same tribe.
4. "The Boss Said So." Have an NPC hire all of them for a job.
5. "Figure It Out Yourselves!" Make their group identity/origin story part of their character creation process.

Since this is a 6-year-Necro'd thread I doubt we will get specifics. OP has not been online since July 2019. For new GMs looking for inspiration..

Soldiers/Mercenaries/Knights can easily be written into a military based campaign. Priests who worship the same god or pantheon can easily be connected by a church. If you have a bunch of odds/ends of OCCs and races, the GM and players will have to work a bit harder...remember a good character is more than just a collection of stats and skills, they should have a few details like: passions (music, fame, money, religion), flaws (angry, shy, liar, drinking), a origin (wanderer, aspiring hero, wanted criminal, sheltered student).

As a player:
1st: Rifts GM inserted my character into existing group; a Coalalition States raid on the small border town we were all at.
2nd: TMNT my character introduced to existing group; as a wild self-taught mutant I was caught raiding the existing PCs home for supplies, ran as an actual game session.
3rd: Rifts/Mechanoids -you all meet in a tavern
4th: Robotech all new characters and all RDF military. All characters in same unit and assumed to know each other.
5th: Macross II same as above.
6th: Robotech same as above, but we actually role-played the final bit of training and a "night out" on town to celebrate.
7th: Beyond the Supernatural was a one-shot with pregen teen characters; other than all going to same highschool, GM left further details up to us players.

As GM, I have run:
Macross II all military characters stationed on same ship during initial Marduk attack.
Robotech to introduce players to the Palladium game system all characters were pregen Zentradi. New OCCs available after play started.

For various other games:
- I have had players start in a tavern then had monsters attack x2
- an NPC hire/orders each character for a job/quest ( more times than I can count)
- had a kraken shipwreck the boat the PCs happened to be traveling on
- just started in middle of events and let PCs work out the backstory.x2

the only pure PFRPG game i was in*, the other players and the GM liked part of my character's backstory so much (wolfen knight) that they all made wolfen and we were all part of the same warrior order. traveling together because the higher ups in the order assigned us each to the mission.

while you don't have to go to quite the same lengths, making the players all part of the same secret society, organization, or other such distinct group would be a very good way to bring players together since it gives them a common thread to build off of.




*not counting the time the rifts campaign i was in accidentally took a wrong turn at albuquerque and wound up there.

The players meet as part of the same Convoy going to the same Town/City.

They meet go after the same villain.

That how I do it.

Nothing builds bonds of friendship and mutual admiration like fighting a hydra...

Braden Campbell wrote:Nothing builds bonds of friendship and mutual admiration like fighting a hydra...

and surviving.

kiralon wrote:

Braden Campbell wrote:Nothing builds bonds of friendship and mutual admiration like fighting a hydra...

and surviving.

I disagree. If they loose and get eaten they will be brought together...in the colon.

OK...OK... maybe not a hydra - but defiantly a nasty big enough that an otherwise random group of people, who all happen to be there when the thing attacks, have to team up in order to defeat it.