Name some of your best Party Origin methods

[Wolfpack48]

Wow, some great ideas. I'm a fan of starting in media res as well, but I'm not a big fan of having characters with lost memories, amnesia etc. especially if they've done a lotta work on their background. I wonder if the first adventure should have 2 goals: 1) solving the adventure hook and 2) introducing the characters to each other along the way. The trick is to get the party all in the same place at the same time but start with action. What are some great hooks in media res that break the mold? I like the parachute example, but what about fantasy? One idea is a group traveling on a caravan on their way to X, and Y happens to bring the characters out of the crowd and to the fore to solve the hook (Y). By the end of the adventure, they should know each other well without long introductions.

I'm wondering if the back story generator mentioned could actually be used to create adventures rather than have it just be 'known background.'

 

[Lanefan]

Wow, some great ideas. I'm a fan of starting in media res as well, but I'm not a big fan of having characters with lost memories, amnesia etc. especially if they've done a lotta work on their background.

Were I doing the amnesia trick I'd say something before they started rolling up, along the lines of "Don't bother developing any background as it's not going to be relevant any time soon", and leave it at that. Will they be aliens dropped on to a new world? Will they have amnesia? Will they be swapping characters after roll-up? Answers to come when the game begins!

I wonder if the first adventure should have 2 goals: 1) solving the adventure hook and 2) introducing the characters to each other along the way. The trick is to get the party all in the same place at the same time but start with action. What are some great hooks in media res that break the mold? I like the parachute example, but what about fantasy? One idea is a group traveling on a caravan on their way to X, and Y happens to bring the characters out of the crowd and to the fore to solve the hook (Y). By the end of the adventure, they should know each other well without long introductions.

I'm wondering if the back story generator mentioned could actually be used to create adventures rather than have it just be 'known background.'

Sometimes the players can help here too. I had a campaign start by two players having their characters - who already knew each other - roll through the country, trying to recruit neophyte adventurers at every village they found, because "There's gold (and adventure) in them thar hills and we gon' get some of it!". By the time they got to said hills, in which awaited a certain Keep on some borderlands, they'd built a party around themselves.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Were I doing the amnesia trick I'd say something before they started rolling up, along the lines of "Don't bother developing any background as it's not going to be relevant any time soon", and leave it at that. Will they be aliens dropped on to a new world? Will they have amnesia? Will they be swapping characters after roll-up? Answers to come when the game begins!

Sometimes the players can help here too. I had a campaign start by two players having their characters - who already knew each other - roll through the country, trying to recruit neophyte adventurers at every village they found, because "There's gold (and adventure) in them thar hills and we gon' get some of it!". By the time they got to said hills, in which awaited a certain Keep on some borderlands, they'd built a party around themselves.

I like players to have some opportunities to do a background for themselves but not every niggling detail. I kinda don't like blank slate characters because the details tend to never get filled in. Some kind of happy medium where there's enough to hook the players to each other and themselves, but not necessarily War and Peace.

I'm liking the idea of the intro adventure also being a party intro to each other though.

 

[Wolfpack48]

The Party Backstory Generator by Severed Books is a pretty neat solution to this for fantasy campaigns.

I just went out and bought this - it looks great. Did you use this as a general aid / hooks, or go through the whole random process?

 

[BookTenTiger]

A while back I was inspired by FATE to create a system for "character prologues." Each player would tell a brief story about a challenge their character faced, and another player would say how their character wound up helping or hindering. They would then roll for a random Boon or Bane based on how the challenge was resolved.

You can find the post here: https://www.enworld.org/threads/session-0-character-prologues-fate-style.683253/

 

[MatthewJHanson]

For my current campaign, I said that the characters had to already know at least two other characters.

Then we did a "putting together the team" montage.

Character A's hometown was under attack by dragon, and she went to her friend Character B.
Character B signed up to help and new another guy, Character C.
Character C brought in Character D, and so forth until all the group was together.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I like the idea of or Event or Location X (GM decides), and each player writes a short description why their character is there. Then start the scenario at X. The GM then uses hooks in the character backgrounds to bring the party to the fore as part of the scenario.

 

[jdrakeh]

I just went out and bought this - it looks great. Did you use this as a general aid / hooks, or go through the whole random process?

One of my groups went through the whole process once, which was fun, but I haven't been able to get another group to commit to it since then.

 

[overgeeked]

My favorites come from Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu.

In DG, you're all members of a secret organization and your contact calls you in to work on a mission. No guarantee of survival and no guarantee you'll be partnered up with those same people again.

In CoC, you all become embroiled in the same mystery and band together to solve it. The PCs can stick together and solve further mysteries, but no guarantees.

 

[Lanefan]

For my current campaign, I said that the characters had to already know at least two other characters.

Then we did a "putting together the team" montage.

Character A's hometown was under attack by dragon, and she went to her friend Character B.
Character B signed up to help and new another guy, Character C.
Character C brought in Character D, and so forth until all the group was together.

My main issue with that sort of idea is that while you might start out with a party of friends and acquaintances, soon enough the inevitable casualties will lead to turnover and the recruitment of strangers - which means the friends-and-acquaintances model goes out the window.

The first adventure or two isn't just an exercise in the characters getting to know each other once, it's an ongoing exercise in meeting new people and adventuring with them.