D&D 5E How the party gets formed.

[Uller]

Sorry for noob question but what's a session 0?

Typically we DMs call the first time a group gets together "Session 0". It is called that because no actually game play is planned for that game session. It is used to do some house keeping like:

Describe the basics of the setting, general thrust of the campaign and set guidelines and expectations for character creation.
- Don't go crazy with the setting details. Keep it vague enough that there is room to fill in things with the imaginations of your players. For instance, if a player announces he is a noble and a knight in a declining religious order, leave room for his noble family, their estate, connections and his order and its history.
- Guidelines for character creation can be what sources can be used (I use "PHB plus one other source with approval from me"), what races and classes are acceptable, etc.

Create characters as a group
This way, your players can work together to make a group of PCs of characters that WANT to adventure and WANT to work together. Either give them the reason in advance (you are all captured by Drow and trying to survive/escape) or you can let them decide.

Agree on house rules and set expectations for play
Every group has house rules. I keep them to a minimum (no more than what can fit on one typed page). Some groups want pure RAW but if you've been playing together and a particular rule has caused confusion, now is the time to set some expectations on how you will rule on it. Stealth is a big one...if I'm playing a Rogue, I want to know how the DM will generally rule on Stealth checks and the like before I agree to play the rogue. Or if a player is counting on a mount, how will the DM rule on mounted combat rules. You can't cover every thing here but you can hit the highlights.
.Also, some groups are playing as an excuse to gather for pizza and beer and exchanging pop movie quotes inspired by what is happening in the game...others are there to play a game where everyone is playing optimized PCs and paying attention with laser focus. Others find funny names and fart jokes distracting, others are interested in collective story telling by serious method actors who always speak in character...Session 0 is where you establish what you and the group consider acceptable (and FUN).


As for your original question: I like to start with action or a scene reminiscent of Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark or Temple of Doom...why anyone is there, it is up to the players to fill in. To me, it is far more fun (and gives a lot more flexibility) than playing through awkward introductory encounters.

 

[Sunseeker]

[MENTION=93444]shidaku[/MENTION] o how I wish I could do that, but my players would go nuts as they really Max/min their stuff with the starting money according to PHB (I'm beginning to suspect I may be giving my players to much power)

So tell them that they get everything in the PHB as normal...except no money. That's what I did. The PHB proscribes what starting gear they get with their class, so let them have that, but no cash.

 

[Wulffolk]

PHB page 4
"Playing D&D is an exercise in collaborative creation"

PHB page 15
"6. Come Together
. . . Each character plays a role within a party, a group of adventurers working together for a common purpose. . . "

Tell them to read the Player's Handbook and consider whether D&D is the right game for them.

If they prefer a game in which players compete with each other then they should try a war game. WarHammer and Mordheim are excellent choices.

If they prefer a game in which they play the edgy lone wolf then tell them to have fun playing with themself in their parent's basement, because the other people in the group are not needed and shouldn't be forced to waste their time watching them play with themself. BTW . . . Ewww!

Or they could get with the spirit of D&D and have some real fun as a group of friends creating tales that they will share and joke about for years to come.

 

[delericho]

Is there a known way of dealing with this?

These days, I leave that in the players' hands: "The game is going to start at a slave auction. I want you to decide (a) how you each know each other, (b) why you decided to all adventure together, and (c) how you each came to be at that auction on that day. Go!"

(Mostly because these days I don't have any patience for running the "get the party together" adventure, and because I've had one too many encounters with the player who wants to be awkward about it.)

 

[Lehrbuch]

Is there a known way of dealing with this?

As others have suggested, the best way to deal with this is before the players have made characters. You tell the players (or the players tell you) why the party is adventuring together. Then, the players generate characters that meet this criteria. If a player wants to make up a character that wouldn't be in the party, then they either have to make up a different character or explain/negotiate (out of character) their way into the party.

If the players have already made characters, don't despair, you can still do the same sort of thing.

1. Give the players the general premise for the party (you are all captured, you are all employed by ..., you are all shipwrecked, whatever).
2. Get each player to explain how their character fits into the general premise. Give out Inspiration (or maybe XP) for good explanations. Tell the players you are going to give out Inspiration (or whatever) in advance so that they are motivated to come up with good explanations.
3. If the players come up with advantages to themselves in the explanation, then let them. For example, if the PCs are all captured, and one player says that he has managed to sneak a key (or a weapon, or has a useful contact, or whatever), then just run with that. Obviously, you will need to make some judgement, but if the player's ideal is plausible (even if unlikely), it is better to let them have their way.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Alright so another advice request from an inconsistent DM. I'm starting a fresh campaign (lvl 3) with my players, some from my old camp and some new guys (8 players). One of the things i can predict is that the players are gonna want taken care of is how their characters meet. I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how to make this happen smoothly. I don't really want to play through an encounter with each one of them on how they got to a place, that would take way too long and bore everyone else and it feels a little contrived to just say "and you guys are all there." Is there a known way of dealing with this?

I make it the players' problem. Usually when I instruct players on how to create characters for my campaign, I give these two rules:

1. Include in your back story a reason for adventuring.
2. Include in your back story a reason for adventuring together.

The first one is mainly because I'm not going to waste my time giving your character motivation over being a dirt farmer. I instruct you to actually play an adventurer in a game about adventuring.

The second one is because I want the party to be at least loosely cohesive. I'm not running my campaign from a confessional one PC at a time. I instruct you to pretend to like the other characters.

Frankly, deciding how the party makes a party is not an interesting bit of storytelling. If the players are happy with, "We're an adventuring party," then so am I. The adventure -- and therefore the game -- begins after the characters have banded together.

 

[Lylandra]

Phew, this kind of depends on how much your players are on the roleplay-heavy side of the game.

Generally speaking, the aforementioned "session 0" (or maybe a bit of email discussion) is a good start to make sure everyone agrees to your common expectations of the campaign. Nothing worse than, for example, wanting a pirate story and then having one player whose character insists that he'll never set a foot on a boat.

From my own experience the statement "find a reason why you are here, know and trust each other" can get tricky, especially when you have 8 players. Getting to know each other is part of the fun for many and the "but I thought you'd do XY, my character *trusts* you since we were teens!" scenarios can lead to some nasty arguments within your group.

What works better is to ask them to find reasons why they could be interested in each other. Like the rogue who always wanted to be a fighter with a battleaxe when he was little meeting said fighter. Or the wizard who loves flute music meeting a flute-playing bard.

In my opinion, you could also propose a starting scenario and have all your players agree to this before. Like being put to jail by an evil lord for doing "insert your story here". Or ending up on a ship. Or being part of a caravan. Or being abducted by evil cultists because you all got something special in your soul that evil deity Z wants.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think a good way of handling this is to have the game start in the middle of things....like they’re about to enter a dungeon or something similar. You say “For various reasons, each of you agreed to try and recover the cup of contrivance for the duke.” Then start play. Throughout the adventure, every now and then, pick a player and ask him why his character took the mission, or how he knows another character, or something similar. Let the players come up with the details as you play.

They may start to build off of each other, which is when things get interesting. The more that the players add to the game and the story, the more likely they’ll become invested in the game.

You can use these in game questions to fill out the Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws sections of their sheets, too, if that works.

 

[Imaculata]

I usually start of by asking the players if their characters perhaps already know each other, because that makes it a lot easier for me as DM. Then I make up how the rest of them meet, and play it out with them. I let the players introduce their character one by one, and I usually throw them right into a situation where they get to establish their PC's personality and traits. This also allows us to space out all the character descriptions.

 

[ArtaSoral]

Thanks for all the advice guys. What I think i'm going to do is have them start off being guards for a caravan that's in progress and have them, as part of their character introductions, explain how they got there. I really like the idea of rewarding them Lehbruch's idea of rewarding them for creativity but im kinda scared that if I do that ill A) have people arguing with me over which backstories were actually best B)be "punishing" the newer players.