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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imagicka" data-source="post: 3171939" data-attributes="member: 4621">Greetings… Starting off a party is always difficult.  Especially when you have jaded players who are familiar with the old stand-by “You are all in a tavern one day…” or “You see ‘help wanted’ notices pinned up to…” I do love that idea of having the players match their background to campaign.  I’m glad to see that you have such players that you can force them into making dove-tailing backgrounds.   My biggest problem has always been where players agree to work together, and might even go so far as to make character backgrounds to reflect this, but when it comes to game-play, they start bickering and fighting.  I’ve always given my players the option, if they want to start at a higher level (3rd or 5th), that they have to choose to be an already working-together team of friends and comrades.  If they prove that they can’t work together, then I just drop them all down to 1st level, and we start the game from scratch.  I’ve rarely done the ‘you’re in a tavern when…’ scenario.  I think the only time I’ve done it to start off a campaign was a d20 Wheel of Time game, where I was running the pre-made campaign (with some modifications from myself).  Even then, I had the characters’ backgrounds work so that they had a reason for being there, then threw trollocs at the party to take the bait.  <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">One character was looking for an blackmarket blacksmith, and was told that they could be contacted at the tavern.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Another character was to meet a blackmarket fence to sell some things that she had stolen.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The third character was just looking for a place to quietly have a drink, and was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the ‘big city’.</li> </ul>But then, I had a really good group of players for that game and wanted to work together.  Nothing irks me more than a player who wants to play the social-outcast, the difficult character, the outsider.  If you want to be a loner, then go play EQ/WoW or something and be in a world full of loners.  SunRaven, buy their loyalty?  What a very trusting merchant you have there.  Personally, I would have gone a little darker, if the players allowed for such a thing.  But since the players have escaped from the merchant… I’d try to situate it so that he blackmails the characters into doing things for him, since he can easily turn them over to the authorities.  Ulrick, ahh… you’re doing the whole ‘Party Flashback’-thing eh?   I find that it works best when you throw something out for them to contend with, such as mention a ‘witchlord’.  The challenge comes by getting the party into situations that fit with their current future.  I find that sort of thing works best when you run a campaign with players who aren’t going to go out of their way to make things difficult for you.  Too often I’ve seen players go out of their way to mess things up.  Yet, those seem to be the most fun to DM.  – My suggestion is to run it a full session where certain things are all wrapped up and resolved… such as aspects of the character’s backgrounds… ”You’ve now been traveling for three weeks in the desert of despair, hunting down the person who killed Olrich’s brother.  As you know, he was in league with the witchlord, but managed to escape when you defeated the lich.  You’ve tracked him to a canyon known as dead-reach, and as you approach you can see a dragon off in the distance flying towards you.  There doesn’t seem to be any suitable coverage for at least 500 yards in any direction.” This makes the situation more personal for the characters, so that they can’t help but get involved.  As well, it becomes more rewarding to know that they are attempting to accomplish something that resolves an aspect of their character’s long-term goals.   In the game where I did this, I ran the first session, detailing how they were wrapping up a campaign where they were about to take on the BBEG, and detailed what magickal items they had.  Even mentioning how one of them had lost an eye.  (I had everything planned out… what magickal items I was going to give them – they were all tailor made for the characters – I tend to do that a lot.  I had an encounter ready to go where the dwarven fighter was going to have his eye plucked out in a non-combat situation.  But I was lucky enough that I was able to remove it in a combat instead.)   When I first introduced the villain, the players decided that they would just cut to the quick, and kill him outright.  Well, it was the thief that decided this, and the rest of the party went along.  Thankfully, I had planned for this as well.  They had managed to kill a clone/doppelganger instead.  Which, of course, achieved the desired effect; it gained the attentions of the BBEG.  Flashbacks are easy enough for writers, because they know what’s going to happen.  Not so easy for DMs. – And that BBEG/PK thing sounds interesting.  I know as a player, I’d go for it.</blockquote>

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