Do your characters ever go to make friends\allies?

[robberbaron]

PCs making friends?

Not so much. They occasionally hire a Sage, but the last one ended up having his house and library burned to the ground when the PCs were attacked. Burned by a combination of fireball/missed scorching ray and wind wall to keep vampires from escaping/distribute flaming paper around the room.

Ignore Plot?

Yep. Previous group abandoned a quest when the geased character died.
Sometimes, a player will ask about something going on but, as a group, generally not.

I don't bohter them with the overarching plot these days, except where they intersect it.

 

[frankthedm]

How often do parties, in your experience go out looking for friends & allies - no maiden to save, no impending doom, just ask the DM to show them their setting and have a good time?

In the current game I am playing in, the DM has made it very clear the huge amount of recruitable NPCs theme of the Suikoden video game is being used. Adds a little bit of believability when it is more than just replacement PCs joining your side.

Our side;
ToM Binder {PC]
Mongrelfolk Cleric of Hextor [PC]
Conjurer {my PC]
Advanced othyug [eww]
mercenary captain Jim
Dwarven huntmaster [PC]
Goliath Barbarian [PC]
Half ogre brawler {sent off with Jim]


Could have had as allies by selling out mercenary captain Jim;
Bugbear whipmaster
Trio of goblins destined to be Frenzied berserkers

Foes;
Large Green dragon
His 3 out of 6 remaining half dragon children {our fault , but did they have to go crying to daddy?
Our Romanesque home country that was trying to make peace with said dragon
One former PC, {he decided not to help us kill the first two of the dragons' kids]

 

[Wombat]

Having friends, allies, contacts, and enemies is what my games are all about.

If you don't have a point of connection to the society in general, you are in major trouble...

 

[haakon1]

We normally make quite a few friends in most games I've been in, especially allies who are working towards the same goals we are. Our characters date, fall in and out of love, make allies who often turn into friends.. pretty much the whole gamut of human relations.

Nod, my campaign is like this too. In addition, the PCs usually have patrons, who are recurring sources of adventure hooks and can help them find training, etc.

I also usually have the PC's repeatedly returning to a base camp area to trade, train, etc., and the PC's will get to know the magic item dealer, innkeeper, jeweler, etc, in that town.

I also like to get PC's involved in running the vilages they rescue . . . and most of my adventures do have a village, rather than just an isolated dungeon.

 

[Mycanid]

I agree with WayneLion and haakon.

There is a truth about the statement "It's all about who you know."

I can easily see this to be so in rpg worlds as well in general. In our campaigns it certainly is so.

 

[Darklone]

Depends on the character AND on the player. At one huge final climax battle of a 3 year campaign, three different armies showed up to help the players out in the best LotR "the cavalry is always on time" style.

So yes, some of my players do make friends and allies.

 

[Herobizkit]

My player makes it a point to "collect" NPCs. No matter how insignificant they are, he insists on knowing their names, their histories, and anything they can do for him or they themselves need help with. It's funny as hell, because I make it a personal challenge to make people so boring that he'll leave them alone. I fail most of the time.

As for when I'm playing, I'm kind of the same way; I take laborious notes about any and all NPC's I encounter, just in case the NPC comes in handy later. Plus, it's a valuable world-building tool for the DM as he may forget here and there about NPC's and their relation to others.

Both of us DM each other in Solo campaigns, so NPC's in the party are heavily used. Most often, they become the "supporting cast" in all of our stories.

 

[Vrecknidj]

In the campaign in which I play, allies are a key component to the game. It's a very political setting, and our characters are in contact with "long-lasting" NPCs all the time. Much of what we actually accomplish we do on our own, but certainly not all.

In the campaign in which I DM, I have an enormous folder of NPCs because I want to give life to just about everyone. Every tavern owner, merchant, farm hand and the rest have their own stats and at least a paragraph description so that I have a personality to give to that individual. About half of them have been encountered by the PCs, and perhaps a tenth are frequently recurring characters in the campaign.

Dave