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

[RolePlay]

Have you ever, as a group of players, developed your characters into a group of characters with established relationships?

I was musing over the idea of building a party, and presenting the party as a full-team to a DM based on our availability. This would make for a quick and convenient game start, and would give the players an opportunity to discuss their roleplay style as a group prior to beginning an adventure. There's a bunch of other benefits (party chemisty, teamwork, party management).

Just acouple ideas:

- A band of barbarian raiders
- A folk hero and their (equally inexperienced) attache
- A band of evil thieves and/or wide-eyed travelling musicians...

[Skillkoil]

That is a great idea RolePlay. Something I do as a GM, especially online, is have my group meet 1 week before session 1. We get together and discuss what we expect from each other and from the game. We "break the ice" and go over character ideas, rules, our favorite parts of Roleplaying, etc..

For my latest campaign my group will be starting as an established group of mercenaries that have worked together for the past 6 months. They got together and make backstories together. In fact, two of the characters are dwarven clerics that are married to each other.

You don't always want your groups to be familiar but it works for certain campaigns or adventures. You just want to make sure that you don't share your entire backstories with each other. That way, you can still be surprised and surprise each other.

Best of luck in your group!

Happy Gaming!

[RolePlay]

Thanks for the encouragement!

Definitely keep in touch if you're ever building a roster for your next campaign!

[Skillkoil]

No problem! I will do that.

[Zacchaeus]

Any of the 5e adventures would work with a party like that - one where the characters already know one another. They might all come from the same town/village or may all have studied at the same place. Adventures like PotA positively encourage that since having all of the characters start as captured Drow is one of the options.

The only downside would be where the players want all sorts of different races. It can be difficult to fit in a Dragonborn, Half Ogre, Half Elf and a Tiefling all living in the same tiny village.

[LordEntrails]

Many times, though still a minority of the games I've played in. Always have a session 0, very important even if you're not coordinating characters.

[Skillkoil]

I think as far as story elements that you can counter just about anything to make a party work. The reason I would not want a group to have prior knowledge of each other would be for hooks and party development. When a group is just meeting each other in session 1 it is a great time to foster roleplay and group cohesion. Even subsequent sessions can involve learning something new about a person/people in the party. I would say PoTA and OoTA could still even be strangers as prisoners of the Drow. It all comes down to preference really. That and how the GM wants to bring you all together. I have one campaign where the party woke up in a room together and were all strangers(Each having the same last memory before they blacked out) and each session they become more and more a family.

The beauty of Roleplaying is the infinite combinations and possibilities that you all weave together into your group authored epic story.

[RolePlay]

Yeah, there would be a limitations in terms of party balance. but I think the potential for epic amounts of memorable, immersive and unique campaign outcomes.

I'd like to coordinate something like this.

[Trenloe]

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.

[GavinRuneblade]

I do this often, and I have two players who do it when I don't or in other campaigns when their GM doesn't.

My last 3e Eberron game all the PCs were the only survivors of a Cyrran military unit, except for one who was a human child they rescued from some hobgoblin mercenaries and one of the PCs tricked the warforged (male aspected) into thinking that he was now the child's mother. Since the warforged had no idea how biology worked he believed it, and the child of course called him mom. The Warforged was actually my character, I wasn't DMing this one just playing in it.


I did a Witchfire game with a priest and a paladin in a romantic relationship, the paladin's niece travelling with them to keep her safe (family being hunted down and killed), and the other two PCs were the last family servants of the Paladin's noble house.

Player 1: How did you and Naz meet? (curious)
Player 2: In Hell (calmly)
Player 1: How did you get there? (surprised)
Player 2: Oh, the traditional way (still calmly)

My second-to-last campaign in my homebrew world for 4e had three players bringing in characters they had each played in past campaigns but never together. Their story was that the tiefling (prince of hell epic destiny/paragon path) had met the other two in hell which is where they ended up after they died (because they deserved it) and he got them out in return for them being his servants, but they ended up in the wrong plane of existence. Also, they don't really live up to their end of the agreement and don't serve him. Technically their race is "petitioner" rather than the mortal version of their previous race. But meh. The Tiefling and one of the two were husband and wife in real life and the third was a long-time friend of the family. So they had awesome dynamics at the table, and never excluded the other players. Each of them picked one other PC from outside their triad and mostly rp'd with that PC. Was really a fun group and added a lot to the game.

In my current campaign I pre-built 11 characters and wrote up all their backgrounds as short stories and the PCs each cast secret ballots for their first and second choices to figure out who was playing whom. All the ones no one is playing I run as NPCs. So whenever I kill a PC then there's already easy replacements available and worked into the story.

[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. :p 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!