Cliche Character Introductions?

[kitsune9]

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!

I like to use this approach too, but I did read some funny forums where the DM writes up a really good adventure where the hook is the notice and the players want to do other stuff other than answer the notice. Now I say funny, because the DM tries to lure the players back into the mod and the players don't bite.

So when I think of this approach, I have to wonder if my players will decide to go "off-map" or will they answer the call.

 

[Rechan]

Not an approach that works for all groups, of course.

Yeah. That adventure worked great... until the party got out of the Courthouse. Then they disintegrated into undermining one another behind eachother's backs.

The method of PC introductions I'm going to use in my next campaign comes straight from Spirit of the Century.

Works like this:

Step 1: Tell each player, "Write your character's first Novel." A 'novel' in this case is just three to four sentences of a "story" where the PC is the protagonist. In the case of fantasy, probably "how I became an adventurer".

Step 2: Have each player pass their novel to the person beside them. Now instruct the players, "You guest star in your fellow PC's novel. Write a sentence showing how you provided aid to the protagonist."

Step 3: Repeat step 2.

Now, each character has established history with two other members of the group. You can present a hook or two to two PCs, and they go find those guys that helped them out before.

 

[TheNovaLord]

TBH, ive got over how the tavern is a cliche and learned to embrace it as the obvious meetng point/place to do business

historically all adventures often started there

cowboys, pirates, crusaders, highwaymen, customs dodgers, victorian skallywags, napoleonic soldiers, vikings, etc

--Its a place that provides warmth, food and something safe to drink (ie beer) in a normally unfriendly world, whether it be real or fantasy
--its often a focal point for a village small town, if the church or town hall is 'inappropriate' to ones business
--tales are spun there
--where else would a stranger in a new place be fairly welcome (as customer, mark or employee)
--working folk go there to relax and be happy after a lonmg day being a peasant
--they are next to big roads and canals and bridges of rivers, ferrymen etc


you can give folks backgrounds etc whether they are brothers, long lost friends or whatever. they are still going to go to the pub to eat n sleep n drink.

its what built our nation

 

[Doug McCrae]

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!

I had an idea to start a campaign like this when the PCs are first level. They are taken on as henchmen by a much higher level party and have a short dungeon adventure where they get little freedom and are pretty much told what to do by the experienced adventurers (this would last no more than a session). The higher level NPCs presumably get brutally killed by something in the dungeon and the PCs (hopefully) run away. Alternatively the high level characters might just horribly mistreat the PCs and give them virtually no treasure until they leave. Perhaps using them as trap finders in a Tomb of Horrors type dungeon.

 

[Mark]

How many of you have found that setting up a place in the same manner as a tavern but that is not actually a tavern can create a whole new feel? I had an area on the outskirts of town where many gathered around multiple bonfires that really functioned as a tavern, even with some wandering hawkers of ale and wine. A great room in someone's home, perhaps a chieftain or rural lord, can also function that way, with many retainers and hangers-on that take advantage of the generosity. These places have a slightly different tone but work very well to break up the tavern routine.