How do your PCs meet or know each other?

[Jody Nixon]

I GM a rolemaster campaign based in Sanctuary: Thieves World. I have a party of 4 players already established (2 of these are fairly new. Assassin and Bounty Hunter) but 2 are old friends (Burglar and Barbarian) from many previous adventures in the setting which is a small city. We play seasons of about 8-10 sessions each.

I am just about to add in a 5th player who is playing a paladin who has a secret dark past with a brother who has been corrupted and enslaved by an evil cult.

All 5 players will be present at a large festival that is happening in the city... two combat tournaments, foot race and horse race are the backdrop for the starting session for this season. Each pc has various reasons for being at the festival...

• Barbarian is fighting in the combat tournament
• Bounty Hunter is hunting a magician who is rumoured to be in league with the evil cult (this isnt yet known to the bounty hunter). This magician has information that is needed by the npc that hired the bounty hunter
• Burglar is a spy working for the assassins guild and has been given the order to eliminate the same magician that is being hunted by the bounty hunter. The magicians bodyguard is fighting in the tournament.
• Assassin is hoping to spoil an attempt on the Prince governor's life by a rival assassin's guild.
• Paladin is also a healer and he is supporting one of the fighters in the tournament (An npc warrior monk who follows the same deity). The paladin will also be on hand to protect the high priestess who the festival is for.

The high priestess is the real target for the assassins guild who are working for the evil cult. The cult plan to use the assassination attempt on the Prince as a diversion so they can kidnap the high priestess. They plan to use her as part of a dark ritual.

GM:

The city square is teeming with a large crowd of onlookers. Hundreds have gathered to watch the finals of the combat tournament. The two fighters are called by name into the arena. Each takes a moment to soak up the applause of the masses. The Prince, flanked by his royal guard and dressed in ceremonial armour sit in the center of the viewing area. Next to the Prince, the guest of honor the high priestess of Heqt watches with interest. Ok, one at a time, starting with the Bounty Hunter, tell me where you are at the festival and what you are doing. [Pause for player input]. That's all fine. Suddenly a large shadow moves over the arena. A scream from a few in the crowd causes you to look skyward. A huge winged creature with razor like talons and reptilian head glides overhead. A wave of panic hits the crowd. Chaos follows. Some flee for their lives. Others, still unaware of the danger look about in confusion. Four assassins, previously hidden in the crowd bring forth concealed crossbows and fire in the direction of the Prince. Roll initiative!

 

[5ekyu]

A system i use is called ties. Each player generates six ties like "was in jail and..." Or "at battle of four queens and..." Or " was travlling with ill fated caravan and.." Each dedigned to be easy to plug in someone else. Then at table session zero go round table rolling who gets which of your ties until everybody is tied to two pc. After that each tie must be fleshed out by the pair at least to small details as much as needed to establish prior neutral to good link. Also, all the unused ties go to gm to use for future npcs from their past. This gives each player six hooks, one liners at least but hooks. If they roll themselves, they choose who. If they roll me, gm, i choose who.

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[Jhaelen]

I think it's a bit boring if all characters share the same background. Instead, ask each player to come up with a different relationship to two other player characters. This usually creates an interesting mix of backgrounds and not all relationships are necessarily entirely positive.

 

[Jody Nixon]

I had two players working for rival assassin's guilds. One pc was working in secret with one of the guilds. The intrigue and mistrust this created was epic. It was known there was a traitor in the party... possibly an npc or player... none knew for sure. This wouldnt work for some players or campaigns but these guys were ok with it. When things reached terminal velocity... each player was contemplating killed the other one... I revealed that one of them was a double agent and they were both on the same side! Until that point both assumed they were working for rival factions.

 

[Godlycomplex]

Generally I make my players decide if they want a smooth start or a rough one..

Smooth start usually entails them all showing up for a warrant job listed by the local magistrate/ruler and they get grouped together to complete the task. Drinking contests in a festival etc.

Rough starts usually end up with bar room brawls, or One or all the members getting chased by a group of (name your favorite group of evil doers) and forced to band together to fend them off....

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[Grogg of the North]

In the last campaign I ran, two of the PCs were from the same church. The third happened to be out on the streets when a mugging happened. That's how they met.

In the current campaign I'm playing in, we were all hired to guard supplies going out to a mining town.

 

[ccs]

In the ToA game I'm running the characters are all well known adventurers in the kingdom. (we started at higher lv) Some of them knew each other directly, others only by reputation. They aren't the only, or even the most powerful, adventurers. But they were the adventurers immediately available.... So when things began going wrong the court vizier sent out summons.

In our PF game the party all started off working for the same lord. 1 paladin, 1 cavalier, 1 warmage, & a druid. As the games progressed the war-mage & druid died (though they've been raised & are recovering) and were replaced by a cleric & a winter witch respectively.
The witch is mostly an ally of opportunity & the cleric serves the same church as the paladin.

 

[PieAndDragon]

So I've taken lots of these ideas and made a "How Adventurers Met" generator.

I'll keep adding to it!

 

[Eltab]

For an upcoming "Intro to D&D" mini-campaign I am writing, the first adventure session begins by describing the area where the action is set (think: wild west frontier with bandit gang hassling pioneers, but set in tropics).
I'm going to tell the players they are all on a riverboat heading to Frontier Town when it is ambushed by raiders. This gives them a chance to decide if their characters chatted during the trip, and they all share a common immediate goal: beat the enemy.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I once played in a game where the player characters were all siblings.