Wild idea for some bored but creative PC's! Team Party Build!

[GavinRuneblade]

Quite a few campaigns I've played in have spent time linking the PC's back-stories together and they've been quite fun.

The biggest issue you need to be aware of is when/if a player leaves the group for whatever reason - and it will happen unless you're incredibly lucky. You then have a number of things to consider - get a new player who is willing to integrate into the developed back-story, change the back-story for a new player, etc.. Sometimes it works OK and things move forwards again, sometimes it doesn't work too well and things don't move forwards. It's definitely a bridge to be crossed when it happens, but something to keep in mind in case it does.

I've never seen this as needed. Character's die or leave in every form of story (TV, Movie, Novel, etc), just have the remaining players RP their characters reacting to the departure in whatever form it takes and carry on. Maybe one chooses to take up their mantle, maybe one denies their dead and the villain who was only after that one believes the denial so keeps coming after them while trying to find where the missing character "is hiding from me". Maybe they drop the plot hooks from that character and just go on with their own. All can be fun depending on the story and players.

Backstory is just that, BACK-story. After the game's been going for a while story-story is usually dominant over backstory. Sure the players might have started out tracking the vampire because it killed Bob's wife and they were hired by Bob. But will they stop just because the vampire killed Bob? Or if they do try to stop, will the vampire let them go or even know they stopped?

Sure maybe the PC who left was the only one who was prophesized to stop the dark lord from conquering the world. Skip ahead a few years and the PCs are trying to get to the site used for the ritual to undo it. Instead of tracking down a hidden cult, they have to hide from the cult that now rules. Same adventure path, same sites, different flavor. No worries. Just like on stage, the show can (vs must) go on. ^.^

And if someone decides, "well without her my character has no reason to be here anymore". Ok, no worries, roll up a new character.

[RolePlay]

That's dope! I love that!

[Trenloe]

I've never seen this as needed. Character's die or leave in every form of story (TV, Movie, Novel, etc), just have the remaining players RP their characters reacting to the departure in whatever form it takes and carry on. Maybe one chooses to take up their mantle, maybe one denies their dead and the villain who was only after that one believes the denial so keeps coming after them while trying to find where the missing character "is hiding from me". Maybe they drop the plot hooks from that character and just go on with their own. All can be fun depending on the story and players.

Backstory is just that, BACK-story. After the game's been going for a while story-story is usually dominant over backstory. Sure the players might have started out tracking the vampire because it killed Bob's wife and they were hired by Bob. But will they stop just because the vampire killed Bob? Or if they do try to stop, will the vampire let them go or even know they stopped?

Sure maybe the PC who left was the only one who was prophesized to stop the dark lord from conquering the world. Skip ahead a few years and the PCs are trying to get to the site used for the ritual to undo it. Instead of tracking down a hidden cult, they have to hide from the cult that now rules. Same adventure path, same sites, different flavor. No worries. Just like on stage, the show can (vs must) go on. ^.^

And if someone decides, "well without her my character has no reason to be here anymore". Ok, no worries, roll up a new character.

I've seen a few posts over the years on these forums mentioning games falling apart because the GM and remaining players couldn't find a new player with a PC that fits into the previously thought out detailed story line. Because BACK-story does meld into CURRENT-story. My post was just a "hey, just keep this in mind" post, based off my experience and things I've noticed on these boards. Glad you've never had an issue and it's worked OK for you over the years.

[RolePlay]

I've never seen this as needed. Character's die or leave in every form of story (TV, Movie, Novel, etc), just have the remaining players RP their characters reacting to the departure in whatever form it takes and carry on. Maybe one chooses to take up their mantle, maybe one denies their dead and the villain who was only after that one believes the denial so keeps coming after them while trying to find where the missing character "is hiding from me". Maybe they drop the plot hooks from that character and just go on with their own. All can be fun depending on the story and players.

Backstory is just that, BACK-story. After the game's been going for a while story-story is usually dominant over backstory. Sure the players might have started out tracking the vampire because it killed Bob's wife and they were hired by Bob. But will they stop just because the vampire killed Bob? Or if they do try to stop, will the vampire let them go or even know they stopped?

Sure maybe the PC who left was the only one who was prophesized to stop the dark lord from conquering the world. Skip ahead a few years and the PCs are trying to get to the site used for the ritual to undo it. Instead of tracking down a hidden cult, they have to hide from the cult that now rules. Same adventure path, same sites, different flavor. No worries. Just like on stage, the show can (vs must) go on. ^.^

And if someone decides, "well without her my character has no reason to be here anymore". Ok, no worries, roll up a new character.

Yeah, I guess this was part of what inspired this post. I'm definitely looking for ways to improve the immersion as well as the reliability of PC's over the course of the game- it seems everyone wants to build a character into the upper tiers, but it's tough when people either ghost on the game or offer last-minute cancellations. I really believe that the more the characters are bonded the less likely this is to occur. Even in the case of PC death, I'd love for the character to be so distraught that they'd rather re-start the campaign than give up on the game because of a tough session.

[GavinRuneblade]

I've seen a few posts over the years on these forums mentioning games falling apart because the GM and remaining players couldn't find a new player with a PC that fits into the previously thought out detailed story line. Because BACK-story does meld into CURRENT-story. My post was just a "hey, just keep this in mind" post, based off my experience and things I've noticed on these boards. Glad you've never had and issue and it's worked OK for you over the years.

I've heard of it happening, but every time I get the details it has come down to someone (or several someones) being too rigid and inflexible. Exactly as you mentioned them feeling someone has to fit into the detailed story line. I often wonder as people are telling me how their campaigns fell apart "why couldn't you/yourDM just chill out and call it 'close enough' and get back to having fun?"

But it certainly happens with out favorite TV shows and movie series too when an actor or director walks out. Not every series or RPG campaign can use the James Bond or Dr. Who solution, lol. So it's probably good you gave the heads up. ^.^

Yeah, I guess this was part of what inspired this post. I'm definitely looking for ways to improve the immersion as well as the reliability of PC's over the course of the game- it seems everyone wants to build a character into the upper tiers, but it's tough when people either ghost on the game or offer last-minute cancellations. I really believe that the more the characters are bonded the less likely this is to occur. Even in the case of PC death, I'd love for the character to be so distraught that they'd rather re-start the campaign than give up on the game because of a tough session.

I think you have that last sentence a little garbled.

The character is unlikely to be able to re-start the campaign unless they have a time-travel spell/artifact. So I'm guessing you mean player. But why would you rather them re-start or quit instead of roleplaying out the loss and carrying on? Also, why re-start specifically and not play a different campaign? Is there some major attachment to that specific campaign people want to finish? Because that could be a way to keep going forward and to find the right hook a new PC needs to jump in and keep the game going.

[Skillkoil]

Yeah, I guess this was part of what inspired this post. I'm definitely looking for ways to improve the immersion as well as the reliability of PC's over the course of the game- it seems everyone wants to build a character into the upper tiers, but it's tough when people either ghost on the game or offer last-minute cancellations. I really believe that the more the characters are bonded the less likely this is to occur. Even in the case of PC death, I'd love for the character to be so distraught that they'd rather re-start the campaign than give up on the game because of a tough session.

I think the onus is definitely on the GM to foster group buy-in to a campaign. I think one thing GM's don't do enough(especially online) is get with their groups prior to playing and make sure everyone wants similar things from the game. Or if they don't want similar things the GM needs to take that into account and make sure he is balancing what each player enjoys from a game and what they are providing to the group. It is fine for all your players to want to get something different or enjoy different aspects of playing in an RPG. But, if for example, you have someone who really enjoys intrigue or solving mysteries and all the group does is slog through a hex crawl or dungeon for months at a time. That player is going to probably get bored. There are a million different examples I could give. The point is that we as GM's really need to listen to our players and try to incorporate what they enjoy as much as we can, without taking away from what others might be looking for. It is the eternal dilemma and balancing act that we face.

As for players leaving and/or replacing a character. If you can tie that character to what your party has already been through, I don't think they need to have any of that "shared" backstory. Some groups you can just drop the player in and say "You met Altanyn in a pub and realized he was after the same bandits that killed your friend.", and they will be good to go. However, some groups will need some motivation for their characters to accept this brand new person into their "family". Which is what an adventuring party becomes. You could do things like have them be a long lost relative of the character you lost, who has heard their brother or neice was killed by "Insert NPC Name Here". Or it could be an NPC they met months before that you turn into a PC for your new player. Thing is, if you can come up with a compelling story for why, your players(if they are bought in) will handle the rest. In fact, you can get some very meaningful roleplay from a new player joining the game. There may be some conflict at the beginning but who says that is a bad thing.

I can tell you I have handled this wrong myself before and it took a lot of work to turn it around. Just always come at everything with the story in mind and I think you can overcome just about anything!

Hope this helps!

Happy Gaming!