Bringing PCs together when starting a new campaign

[SLupo]

Hi there.

I registered just for this thread - I am that desperate. First of all: My group plays together for about 16 Years now. We have started dozens of new systems and campaigns, so my players have seen it all - festivals, waking up in a prison, the simple "You sit in a tavern and a hooded guy comes in", etc.

Now we want to start a Pathfinder campaign and I simply can't think of any more situations where the player characters meet and start to adventure together. I need something which throws them into an adventure after meeting immediately, but really - my mind is a blank sheet.
Problem is, my group doesn't like the idea of the PCs knowing each other before the adventure starts - they all want to come from different parts of the world, or at least country - we have always started like this.

So, fellow Dungeon Masters, I am asking you to share your creativity with me - I just can't think of anything original anymore

Well, I hope you have some hooks or ideas!

Thanks ans greetings,

SLupo

 

[Morrus]

I always use the "you already know each other" method these days - for much the reasons you cite.

NeMoran's (sp?) Vault by Fiery Dragon had a good meeting hook - the characters were all summoned to the reading of a will; turned out they all knew one person in common, he'd died, and the will launched the mission.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I almost always go with some variation of the "you already know each other" routine.

Something I have used sporadically and to varying effect is the "Group Template" as suggested by the folks over at Fear the Boot:

this episode talks about group template

Here's the template.

 

[Grogg of the North]

A couple ideas, though I don't know how much use they'll be to your specific campaign/setting.

1) All the PCs are summoned to the lower planes by a powerful devil to fight in the blood war. The campaign basically starts off as "Make a will save. Did you roll a 20? No? Good, you see...."

2) Start off en media res. The party is in a carvan, town or fort that is attacked. As soon as the session starts, pull out the battle map set up some monsters and other people fighting them, and ask for initiative. And even if they are all from the same town doesn't mean they all knew each other. They could be complete strangers or it could be as familiar as "Oh, you're the baker's son, right?"

3) Put them in a big town or city. The party is contacted by the Lord Mayor/Captain of the Guard/Someone In Charge and is hired to do something for them. They've all been contracted because they show great promise in their own areas of expertise.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Hi there.

I registered just for this thread - I am that desperate. First of all: My group plays together for about 16 Years now. We have started dozens of new systems and campaigns, so my players have seen it all - festivals, waking up in a prison, the simple "You sit in a tavern and a hooded guy comes in", etc.

Now we want to start a Pathfinder campaign and I simply can't think of any more situations where the player characters meet and start to adventure together. I need something which throws them into an adventure after meeting immediately, but really - my mind is a blank sheet.
Problem is, my group doesn't like the idea of the PCs knowing each other before the adventure starts - they all want to come from different parts of the world, or at least country - we have always started like this.

So, fellow Dungeon Masters, I am asking you to share your creativity with me - I just can't think of anything original anymore

Well, I hope you have some hooks or ideas!

Thanks ans greetings,

SLupo

I leave it up to the players to decide how and why their PCs meet up. They are the adventuring party afterall - why shouldn't they know why they came together? Me, as DM, telling them how they met feels way to much like me playing their characters for them. I give them the adventure background and what they can expect when they get to wherever it is they are supposed to be. Everything else is up to them. I have used this method several times now and it always creates a far more interesting and cohesive group than I could ever come up with. I would imagine it is simply because the players feel in control of their PCs lives right from the get go and being able to make these decisions so early really helps bring the PCs to life so to speak.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The PC's don't know each other starting points:

1) The party members are all passengers on ship. The ship is attacked by pirates or a sea monster and the passengers must cooperate to survive.


2) The PC's all have powerful mentors of high repute. A noble is throwing a party and has invited all the mentors-who have sent the PC's as proxy because they are far too busy. Someone at the party actually believes one or more of the PCs are actually their mentors.

3) The zombie apocalypse start. The PC's are in a small town for various reasons and the town gets overrun by zombies.

4) Each PC has a treasure map that has attracted them to the area. Each map has one clue that leads to the treasure. There are rumors that multiple maps exist. All the clues together lead to great danger, and a great treasure.

5) Every PC has recently been the target of an assassination attempt. Clues have pointed to someone in the starting town as being the one who hired the assassins. Who did hire them? Was it a real attempt to kill them or a test to see who was worthy to take on a dangerous task of great importance?

 

[Gold Roger]

One of the Paizo APs start with funeral, which I quite like. A wedding could work similarly, though that might be a bit to much like the festivals you've already done.

To me, it boils down to mutual aquintances. I intend to start my next campaign with a shopkeeper gathering talents he knows for a simple job. He sells all kinds of ends and odds. A noble might know him as antiquarian, a mage as a source of components, a thief as fence and another even as neighbour. One or two character might come by way of of knowing someone, who knows someone. It gives an initial connection, without need of knowing one another.

Edit: Forgot another good one- refuge camps. Few people know one another and must connect with new faces for security.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been in the same boat. Then I came up with having only 2 of the PCs in the bar to start. They do not know each other. Then a bar fight breaks out, and after a few rounds of fighting, the PCs end up back to back. With teamwork of necessity, they get to a side door just as the Watch bursts in from the front. Thus, as folks scatter and the Watch pursues, the 2 PCs encounter PC #3 in a situation that has him/her in a position of needing help. They help #3, but hear the approaching melee & Watch, and decide they can't hang out where they are too long. They hoof it, and shortly thereafter, encounter #4...

Et cetera.

I've been doing various versions of this for a few years now- the PCs are trying to join a Caravan or troupe of entertainers; they are refugees from a conflict- anything involving people being thrown together at random.

Hell, given today's popular fiction, perhaps they all meet in a bar because they are trying to escape a zombie outbreak, and all thought of the pub as a safe, defendable location, a la Shaun of the Dead.

 

[Enkhidu]

I leave it up to the players to decide how and why their PCs meet up. They are the adventuring party afterall - why shouldn't they know why they came together?

I prefer the same.

For the campaign that just started, the PCs started at 2nd level. I informed them that they've just completed their first adventure together, and asked them what it was, how it went, etc. During this, I gave them nudges to make sure they came up with something cohesive, and then had them take an index card, and write down "something that really impressed your character that [PC to your right] did, and [PC to your left] did."

They really seemed to dig it, and we avoided that whole "getting to know you" phase.

 

[ahayford]

I read this trick somewhere else...maybe a thread just like this. I usually start off by having the players read each others origins. Then, each person has to write something that links their character in some way to one element in another character's backstory. You can iterate this as much as you want until you get the desired gelatinization of the group. Usually, after one or two iterations, I'm able to come up with something that makes sense for the group based on their choices of how to link their characters together.