DMs, how did you bring the party together?

[ichabod]

I let the players figure it out. At the first session, they decide what sort of game they want to play, and what sort of group they are going to be. Then they make their character, and as they do so they work in how they got into the group.

 

[jester47]

There are only a few general ways to get the party together:

the linked background
(each character has to have one of the others involved in the background)

the same place same time
(tavern, market riot, jail cell)

the mutual employer

the rolling stone gains momentum (we start with one, and then add another and another and another as the action progresses.)

Met because a task presented itself

preplanned
(the players sit down and discuss how things happened) (this overlaps with the linked background.)

My favorite however is "in media res": The characters start in an action scene. This is tricky to do, but you build the background as whatever is happening unfolds. "Thorok, you are fighting an orc from the tribe that killed your family as a fireball flashes off to your right" "Mulseen, you were able to see that Morkoth your arch enemy was casting fireball and duck behind some cover ... etc etc. Thisone is hard to get characters to go along with.

Aaron.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

D&D: Except for one time it has always been "You meet in a tavern." The exception was when they had been summoned by a high-ranking priest who wished for their aid.

D20 Modern: We all met in a super-pub.

Car Wars: They were all penniless potential drivers seeking fortune. They had finally come across an agent who would take them- and immediately dumped them when they could afford someone better.

Deeds Not Wors: In this campaign, there had only ever been one successful group of supers before them. Their arch villain had apparently come back and began to wreak havoc in the center of the city.

 

[MarauderX]

They were all robbed by the same petty thief that isn't so good at pick-pockets, but knows how to run. When one of the PCs sees him running away from another in the marketplace, the PCs start to work together to cut him off from escaping, then have to loot his body to find what was theirs, and of course two characters had the same thing stolen, but only one of the item there.

 

[NewbyDM]

i like to do it easy
they are all on the same way to the big city...

They meet and join up for mutual protection.

 

[Sinistar]

May I heartily recommend NeMorean's Vault. One of the first modules to come out for 3E. It had the best idea I thought for getting a party together. (Though one of the previous posters mentioned something similar).

As a new 3E GM I also liked the module because it really spelled everything out for you. A bit high on the treasure side, but nothing is entirely perfect...

 

[hunter2112]

For my current game I tried to start the game with "roll for initiative" but didn't quite get it. I had them all at the same inn and got them to talking and introducing themselves to each other, then threw a battle at them mid-conversation and let them sort things out afterwards. They all provided their own reasons to travel together initially. Worked rather well I thought.

 

[Crothian]

Another thing I like to do is to have a solo adventure for each PC to ghet them all to the same point together. THis allows me to work out some individual stuff with them and build background and history.

 

[LostSoul]

I let the players figure it out. At the first session, they decide what sort of game they want to play, and what sort of group they are going to be. Then they make their character, and as they do so they work in how they got into the group.

I like this one.

Another option that I use is the "roll for initiative" method that's been suggested. That forces the PCs to work together right off the bat.

 

[mistergone]

In a Shadowrun game, I did actually have the characters all sitting around in a bar when one guy suggests that it might be a pretty good idea to go slay a dragon... Of course, this meant essentially the murder of both an endangered species and a prominent citizen of a forgein country...

But hey, it was within everyone's background that they all needed money and were loose enough in the morals department that yeah, it was a pretty good idea...