Help: How to "bond" a party?

[Fimmtiu]

I'm finally getting my feet wet by DMing a Planescape game, after a great many years spent only on the players' side of the screen. It's been a long time since I've tried to put a campaign together, but the first several sessions have gone pretty well. Enough so, at least, that I'm beyond the immediate "Holy ****, what do I do?" terror and have some time to think about the long-term plot.

Without boring you by going into great detail about the characters and the events to date, I'm worried about keeping the party together. My four players are all great role-players, and created an assortment of great PCs for this game, but they're very different in alignment, goals, and behaviour, and I'm casting about for ways to keep the party together in the long term once their present situation is resolved. I mean, I could just assume that the party will stay together because "that's what PCs do!", and my players would deal with it, but they're all doing a great job of playing their characters and I know they'd love a good hook to work with that doesn't feel artificial.

So I guess this is a cry for help. If you have any suggestions or old stories about fostering camaraderie among a disparate group of characters, I'd appreciate it. Hell, even just plot hooks that require them to stay together would be good enough. Thanks!

 

[Maerdwyn]

I think we might need a few more details to come up with something that's not going to feel "artificial" as you put it.

Best way is to take all of the pcs disparate goals and somehow weave them together, so that D helping A, B, and C towards their goals also helps D get closer to his.

What kinds of things does each character want to accomplish?

 

[abeltda]

I am having the same problem as u are having now Fimm. I am currently Dming the Maure castle adventure from Dungeon magazine and i think the character hooks in that magazine are not suitable for my style and my players. I like to have interesting plot hooks that convince and have much logic to them. Right now the party consits of four players with neutral to evil tendencies, sort of like an evil campaign if u wish. What i am planning on doing is give each character a special goal (i assume each of ur players have each their own goal) and make them realize that by having the other members their goal will be easier to achieve or very much so needed to achieve. This could be a double edged sword in the end but ill take the risk to see some very good roleplaying.

 

[fba827]

To make the coherance be PC-related, it would need more details on the PCs, their motivations, etc. But, truthfully, my attention span won't read all those details even if you did post them. SO, the coherance could also be plot related... Is there an over all story plot? Or is it several disjoint adventures making up a campaign? If there is an over all plot, then something about this plot should interest each of the PCs. In doing that, each would in turn have a reason for continuing on this plot - and, if at least one of them can rationally voice an opinion of "we'll be better off together" then in theory, they may all stay together for the duration of the plot (which should be the duration of the campaign if it's an over arcing plot) . Other trite possibilities include each of them getting instructed by an outside source(s) (old mentor, hired by a merchant, instructed by the king, whatever) to do adventure A which in turn puts them all together for adevnture B, C, and D....

anyway, those are just some thoughts off the top of my head

 

[ThoughtBubble]

I'm recovering from a similar problem in my game.

My solution was to talk to the players about it.

One person, to return a favor, helped another by getting him some ointment for a rash. Two days later, the favor was giving back, in the form of diving into combat to save the other's life. Why they may not see eye to eye now, there's mutual respect forming.

I'm hoping the rest of the party will find similar avenues.

Ultimately, I havn't found a way to push the party together. I can only hope.

 

[Ultramyth]

You need to give your party something in common. Something that further cements them together. This can be anything from a common goal - an enemy that burns or embaresses them into revenge, being the victims of a theft, it can be anything.

 

[Fimmtiu]

I think we might need a few more details to come up with something that's not going to feel "artificial" as you put it.

Best way is to take all of the pcs disparate goals and somehow weave them together, so that D helping A, B, and C towards their goals also helps D get closer to his.

What kinds of things does each character want to accomplish?

Well, without sitting down and starting a new Story Hour, here's a quick summary:

1. LN half-ogre barbarian/monk with a 4 Charisma that manifests as intense shyness and difficulty understanding social conventions. He's probably the best-played character of the lot, which unfortunately means he stays in the background a lot. Goals: Subdue his bestial nature, find harmony and inner peace, etc.

2. LN maenad psion (from the XPH). Philosophically inclined, arrogant, sort of disdainful of the other characters. Similar goals.

3. CG gnome bard who's just "along for the ride". A trickster who relishes money and danger for their own sakes. Hasn't got any goals, really, except perhaps to feel useful.

4. CN tiefling sorceror recently escaped from slavery in an efreeti palace, whose sole goal at the moment is to evade recapture. He's been the plot "pivot" since the beginning, hiring the other three as bodyguards against the forces pursuing him, but that plot is approaching completion and I'd like to give the other characters a chance afterwards.

As far as the setting is concerned... the psion is a member of the Fraternity of Order, and the half-ogre is curious about the Ciphers, so I might be able to use that somehow. I haven't had any serious problems with the alignment issue yet, but I can tell they're coming. It'd be nice if the party was already fairly closely-knit when they occur.

 

[Kaleon Moonshae]

Something I did in my planescape game to bond everyone together might not be for everyone, cause some players would see it as noseleading but my players liked it. I had that they were all offered an obscene payment for something simple (deliver parchment a to place b kinda thing). Since they were all desolute after being dropped into sigil from other worlds their greed got the best of them. They were leary, of course, so they all inspected the diamonds, which the cloaked figure encouraged. Of course it was a trap. The diamonds were cursed and in order to reverse it the characters had to basically endenture themselves to the man for a time. It didn't last long but it did serve to motivate them to the same goal and when they got free of it they just kept working together out of habit.

As I said, it won't work for every group and is something I recommend only doing rarely in any case.

My two cents

 

[jmucchiello]

I find the best way to do this is to have the players do it. Tell them you want a character background that includes reason for the characters to know and TRUST one another. Why should you do the work? You've got the entire rest of the world to deal with. Additionally, they have a bunch of brains to your one. They should be quite capable of coming up with something given enough time. (And if they can't work together to have common goals, then nothing you impose on them will last beyond your imposition of it.)

 

[Quick Leaf]

I find the best way to do this is to have the players do it. Tell them you want a character background that includes reason for the characters to know and TRUST one another. Why should you do the work? QUOTE]

Jmucchiello is absolutely right on! If that doesn't work out, here are some pointers I learned running an RP-heavy planescape game as a DM for 5 years.

*There are some basic motivations behind every action fantasy characters take: ambition, curiosity, devotion, duty, fame, greed, love, lust, pride, revenge, self-realization, survival. Note your PCs motives...

The way I see it, your characters motives are:
barbarian/monk = self-realization, and maybe acceptance
psion = (same as above?)
bard = curiosity, and maybe acceptance
sorcerer = survival (but that's changing now), and probably acceptance (being a tiefling)
Right away, I notice the PCs probably all are seeking acceptance of some form or another, that could be common motivation.

Oh!!! What if they were put in charge of an orphanage? I think that would connect their emotions to the adventure. The barbarian/monk must learn to care for children, embracing his human nature. The bard gets to explore the haunted parts of the orphanage, and feels very useful playing music for the kids. The sorcerer faces moral dilemma when finding an orphaned son of the efreet prince, perhaps. The psion could be the focus-- at first he thinks the work is beneath him, but gradually he loses some of his arrogance toward the other PCs when he sees how much effort they put into protecting the orphanage (especially if they save a maened kid).

*At the beginning of every adventure, have each player write up a kick-off for their PC, including wrapping up from last adventure and setting out PC goals for this adventure: "And after escaping from the nymphs chasing me by jumping off the bluff, I have learned to trust my party even more, for they told the nymphs I was dead then rescued me from the octopus woman at the base of the cliff. Now, I will help free the all the nymph's prisoners, though our mission is only to rescue Duke Helpless, though I'm afraid to face the nymphs again. At the very least, I hope to avoid any sort of female attention."

Cheers!