Hooks for getting mixed alignment parties to work together

[Felon]

So, who here has experimented with DM'ing a party with both good and evil characters? I mean actively experimentation, with the express goal of seeing good and evil characters motivated to tolerate each other and work towards some common goal, prevented (or at least discouraged) from directly assaulting one another, if only by temporary circumstances.

Just curious what techniques folks have come up with and how well they worked out.

 

[edbonny]

One idea: Have the differently aligned characters be related to each other (siblings, cousins). They could genuinely have a strong family bond despite their outlook; come from a family that demands loyalty regardless of personal views; have a vested interested in looking out for their own.

 

[Felon]

Interesting!

 

[Steverooo]

The two strongest motivators are always fear and desire. This suggests two obvious means of REQUIRING party cooperation...

1) Survival: The skills of every party member are required to escape the current situation. If one dies, we ALL die. This does wonders for cooperation, but is short-term. "In the Belly of the Beast" did this well, I understand.

2) Greed: Kill the monsters and take their stuff. Just make sure that the obstacles are such that all party members are required.

3) Self-Aggrandizement: Everybody wants to level, and increase in power. It is easier if they party together and cooperate.

Beyond the obvious, there are multiple other means, such as:

4) The Chosen Ones: A Prophecy says that they will (X), and each has their pre-destined part to play. (The Ring wouldn't have been destroyed without Gollum.) The Prophecy could prevent the End of the World, or herald a great personal boon to the PCs, whatever.

5) Same Family: As above.

6) Same Organization: Merc. unit, Monestary, Merchant's Guild, Adventurers' Guild, whatever. Works best if "Membership Has Its Privileges", and attacking other members gets you "disbarred"!

7) Same Patron: As Organization, but "Master" is more personal. He won't appreciate your killing off the other "apprentices"!

8) Same Religion?: Followers of different alignments (Wee Jas, for instance). Hard to see a deity with both good & evil worshippers, though... Perhaps in an Abjurative manner?

9) Same Path: All PCs follow their own interpretation of (X), whether it be Bushido, Kung-Fu, becoming "The Ultimate Adventurer", or whatever. They all seek to out-do each other.

10) Ritualized "Combat"/Contest: Killing the other PCs disqualifies you. You must defeat them in the manner specified (most treasure, most kills, whatever).

 

[Clueless]

There's of course the "Same person you hate so you gang up to go kill him." technique as well. There's a certain plot involving a loth from a past game that comes to mind for that.

The big trick is to make sure the *players* understand that you expect them to keep the conflict in game only, and that they're expected to get along in the end - they can just make a good story out of it along the way to that end. The only reason players are allowed to do this sort of thing is for the story, so they better make it a good one.

That's how my current group gets along, characters range from LG to an NE bordering on CE. We all, as players, want to enjoy the game and make sure our friends do too so we find good reasons to work together. It helps that the party leader is not one of the extremes, as he's pretty strongly LN and strict about not tolerating inner-party grudges. It also helps that our most obviously evil character said so straight out once we decided to form a group: 'You should know, I don't like the Upper Planes and they don't like me. I'm not gonna try to hide that because I anticipate working with you for quite some time. You guys are good at what you do, I appreciate competance. And I appreciate money. So I think we'll get along.' We've worn off on her since.

A few key beliefs have let us pull this off:

1) The idea of 'small to big' evil or good or whatever else for that matter. A slightly evil mortal is much easier to work with than a horrifically evil fiend.

2) Being all LG is as much about redemption as it is punishment. So not all evil should be approached with a burning stake.

3) Evil people have friends *too*. (And wow can evil people be protective of friends they consider 'innocent and naive', even if they never let said friends know how much they're going around threatening dire harm to any who would harm their friend... )

A smart evil character will quickly realize that keeping his/her friends makes them stronger in the long run. Without friends, no one's around to retrieve your body when/if something ganks you, for example. And it can be good to have reliable people backing you, that you don't have to constantly check over your shoulder in dealing with. People you can actually trust. So long as the friends are not overly pushy in their own ways - things work out in the long run. Especially if you make a point of demonstrating that you aren't going to turn on your friends for both logical and emotional attachment reasons.