Family adventures: Ever use `em?

[AFGNCAAP]

Something I've always been curious about.

Have you ever used/encountered games where the PCs are all related somehow (by blood or marriage)? Perhaps the group's human, half-elf, and half-orc members are all half-siblings? A group of adventuring cousins?

Or, OTOH, has a family of NPCs taken a prominent role in a past campaign: a family of wizards, a group of grown children who work for a parent, etc?

Curious to hear what anyone has to say on this.

 

[Mark Hope]

Yes, often. It makes for great group cohesion, motivation, conflict and development. Plus it is an unending supply of adventure hooks.

In my current homebrew, all the PCs are the children of three brothers. So they are all related as siblings and cousins. In my WoD Dark Ages games two of the characters are brothers. Most of my D&D games over the years have featured brothers, sisters, cousins and parents/children as PCs. In a Dark Sun game, one player had his character tree composed of a "chain" of half-siblings, all related through one parent to the next (a human related to a half-elf, who was in turn related to a full elf, who was in turn related to an elfling). I've done the same with NPCs as well of course, but the best results come from building PC relationships in this way.

 

[Psion]

Have you ever used/encountered games where the PCs are all related somehow (by blood or marriage)? Perhaps the group's human, half-elf, and half-orc members are all half-siblings? A group of adventuring cousins?

In 2e, we played an short lived campaign where we were all members of the same noble house. I played a bard in that one, using the Gallant kit from the Bard's Handbook. It was fun, but all too brief (sadly, we suffered from one of those DMs who never felt comfortable using D&D outside of dungeon crawls. He didn't run the game for very long.)

Or, OTOH, has a family of NPCs taken a prominent role in a past campaign: a family of wizards, a group of grown children who work for a parent, etc?

A major setting element that drove multiple campaigns in my Trinalia campaign setting revolved around the rise and fall of the Imperial house of the Empire of Drakar. There were 3 brothers and a sister, descendants of a deity and holder of the blood of kings. They each corresponded to one of the classic 4 classes: fighter, mage, cleric, and rogue.

The fighter, Dorion, was the eldest, and was a warlord type. He started the ascent of the armies of Drakar. He was brought low in a 2e campaign.

Fyre, the mage, was to take the throne in the name of his anscestor-tyrant-god Idan. He wanted no part of that, and instead of taking the throne, initiated a civil war that threatened to cast out the priesthood (including his brother). This tale is recounted here:
http://members.tripod.com/~hawk_wind/trinalia/hodcam.html

Fyre was eventually destroyed in a combat that unleashed a cataclysm on the land.

Tellus, the priest, assumed the throne after his brother departed and started his civil war. After the cataclysm, Drakar was in no shape to start a war. But he waited for years, slowly formulating his plan.

Shaleen had charge of the navies, and was a self-styled pirate queen. When Tellus decided not to trust any of his siblings after Fyre's treachery, Shaleen disappeared, and took charge of a loosely assembled pirate navy. She was, however, eventually captured. After PC actions in a 3e campaign that removed Tellus from the throne, Shaleen became empress to a less sinister, but not exactly nice, Empire of Drakar.

 

[Voadam]

In my long running 1e-2e-3e game two of the four core group were wild elf assassin brothers.

I've played in one where my dwarven character was cousin to two of the other characters, one was a half orc who got adopted by the clan so my character fiercely defended him against other dwarves who insulted him.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Several of my players' characters in the Midwood campaign are related, some more closely than others. The two wizards are cousins, for instance.

More than just having them related, but having all the player characters be from the same small town helps in that all their backgrounds are mushed together, and something that's a hook for one character will also be a hook for others, although often in a slightly different (even conflicting) way. It works great, and I'll likely use a similar sort of set up (maybe changing them all to being veterans of a military unit or something) whenever it's practical in future, since I find it's superior to the "meet on the adventure" system.

 

[Mark Hope]

More than just having them related, but having all the player characters be from the same small town helps in that all their backgrounds are mushed together, and something that's a hook for one character will also be a hook for others, although often in a slightly different (even conflicting) way. It works great, and I'll likely use a similar sort of set up (maybe changing them all to being veterans of a military unit or something) whenever it's practical in future, since I find it's superior to the "meet on the adventure" system.

Absolutely. The characters in the current game are all members of the same clan within a small barbarian tribe. The opening session of the campaign started with the funeral of the father of one of the PCs (and hence uncle to the others). He rose as an undead from his grave in the middle of the ceremony and fled into the wilds after wreaking some minor havoc. Instant motivation on the part of all PCs to capture him, lay him to rest and remove the stain upon their clan's honour. Much better than clumsy meetings in the Inn of the Shady Stranger.

 

[WayneLigon]

We've done that in the past. One campaign we used selected parts of an old third-party book called Central Casting. Our basic family backgrounds were so similar that we declared we were brothers and half-brothers (two humans, two half-elves).

 

[Severion]

My DragonLords of Melnibone campaign featured the three granddaughters of Yyrkun. Thier father went through three wives whom he executed after each of them failed to bear him a son. They each in turn cursed him with thier dying breaths. The first cursed him with foolishness, her daughter was the party cleric (Xiombarg). The second cursed him with weakness, her daughter was the party fighter (tank). The third made him impotent and her daughter became a sorcerer. good times. They were supposed to quest for the three artifacts of the emperial line, two swords and the Ring of Kings, to return Melnibone to its former glory. They had no interest in the last part of thier quest but they certainly wanted the stuff. The campaign ended when the cleric had Mournblade and the fighter found Stormbringer, thier deaths were inevitable.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Grand-daughters of Yrkoon, what a cool premise!

Back in 1e, I had two or three players that ended up making elven siblings, of the last name Starsearcher. It was fun at first, but there ended up being an ever-escalating rivalry that ended in the one player being ejected from the group for a time, to cool off.

 

[Telsar]

I'm currently in an online game where my human character was raised by the two warforged PCs in the group, so he considers them "Mom" and "Dad". It makes for interesting role-playing and immediate strong ties between PCs. My guy sees the rest of the party as siblings, although being more, um, normal adventurers, I don't think they quite see it that way.