Cliche Character Introductions?

[amethal]

My current campaign started with the WotC free adventure A Dark and Stormy Knight.

In that adventure, the PCs are all travelling across country when the weather takes a turn for the worst, and each heads for the only available shelter.

Worked out quite well, because the two characters we had were (developed in isolation) a druid-hating pixie and a fey-hating druid. It was hard to see them spending any time together voluntarily, so a potentially lethal hailstorm came in very handy.

Paizo Module U2 Hangman's Noose has all the characters drugged by someone with a grudge, to wake up locked in a haunted courthouse with a bunch of strangers. Not an approach that works for all groups, of course.

 

[tyrlaan]

Right behind the "meeting-in-a-tavern" cliche is the inexplicable magical phenomenon that teleports them all to the first dungeon or the powerful NPC who forces the characters to work together for the first adventure.

Personally, I usually make the players tell me how the party got together. Putting the ball into their court not only takes some of the load off of me as the DM, but it also gets the players to think about how their characters relate to each other and the setting.

In my current group, two of our primal characters (shaman and a warden) are cousins, who met up with our bard during a harvest festival. The bard met the wizard at an arcane symposium. Our fighter met the warden while they worked guard duty together with the town watch. Our barbarian joined the party when he met the warden on a hunting trip.

I'm a huge fan of this method. I really feel that building pre-established connections between the characters helps get passed that metagamey "why are we adventuring together" issue.

 

[Mallus]

These days I don't have much use for character introduction sessions. I prefer to mandate that the characters already know each other (in some fashion) and leave it up to their players to explain how.

Games like Spirit of the Century make this an official part of character creation.

 

[DaveyJones]

player writes in his background (s)he is the last known follower of X faith/survivor or knight of far off kingdom Y/ magical being from Z

and then expects everyone they meet to know about them/it.

 

[CorditeJimmy]

The current game I'm running started with the premise that all the players bar one worked for a private investigation agency, the owner of which fled the city five years prior.
At the start of the first session they're all going about their business when in walks their former employer, played by the last character, with a new case from a dame. "Hey guys, sorry about not paying any of you for that last gig, or talking to you for 5 years. I'm back now, and we've got a runaway to find."


The next one will start with everyone attending a party, and simply asking each player in turn "So, why are you at this party? And how do you know <some other character>?" By the time everyone's answered that, the group should be all linked up, and have a reason for being there.

 

[Turtlejay]

These are some fine and good explanations for the beginning of the campaign, but what do you do to introduce *new* characters? Character death or real life group fluctuations can bring new PCs in at an. . .inopportune time. I think this is where the prisoner of orcs comes into play.

Jay

 

[kitsune9]

Nowadays, I avoid the "You all start in a tavern/inn/guild hall" intro. I will establish a different location, a motivation, and whoever happens to be there along the way.

I find this works really well if I know I have players who aren't motivated to do anything unless there is some NPC who comes in and basically says, "I need help, here's gold, get off your butts and go do X."

I also like to start an adventure with some kind of action scene, even sometimes in the middle of a battle (like a war).

 

[Hjorimir]

These are some fine and good explanations for the beginning of the campaign, but what do you do to introduce *new* characters? Character death or real life group fluctuations can bring new PCs in at an. . .inopportune time. I think this is where the prisoner of orcs comes into play.

I do much the same as for a new campaign. I work with the player to find a hook into the events of the campaign and draw them in with the other characters. If the group is in a dungeon, obviously that is much harder. Depending on how far they have to go they may push on without the one player, but more likely they'll back out to lick their wounds and that's when we'll work in a new character.

 

[Engilbrand]

As much as I enjoy starting my PCs off in The Saucy Wench, my current game has been a bit different.
I have 2 people playing an Eberron game, so I let them create their PCs and tie them together. They chose Valenar, so I had them arriving at a yearly Bazaar. They had already known each other.
I introduced another "character" by having him be a personality in a shard. The main PC absorbed the shard, and this character sprang forth, complete with memories, items, and personality. He also happens to be a literary figure in the world, belonging to a race that doesn't exist. Insert plot point and quest here.
Another character will be introduced in the near future when one of the PCs dies. I asked the guy to make up an alternate character based on what he'd like to play once. His character is going to die, time travel shall happen, etc. If something truly happens to his character in the future, this alternate character will be handy, and there will already be an element of trust.

Then again, the PCs belong to House Ghallanda, so they tend to meet a lot of people in the bar.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this one yet: I have the party come to me. Using the old 1E method of the party posting notices and such to find henchmen and hirelings works just fine if an NPC does the same and they're the respondees. Of course, they then get hired for a job (sometimes as Adventurers, sometimes as couriers, etc.) and off they go!