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How fast do new characters join the group?
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<blockquote data-quote="skippy_the_witch" data-source="post: 2137221" data-attributes="member: 18980"><p>In my current homebrew, I have the added problem of running for a college gaming group, where not every player can show up every week and even if they do, may be unable to continue playing for a semester due to class schedule, work, etc. So I have to be really flexible of how and when I add new characters, or reintroduce old characters. Also, I force my players to literally spend hours designing and developing their characters with me, so that both they and I know their background and capabilities pretty well before they ever get introduced into the game. This means that NO ONE is allowed to create a "quicky" character of stats/skills/feats/class in a few minutes and start play.</p><p></p><p>But, after all this work is done, I try to get the new character involved with the party as quickly as possible. I try and create a viable reason for the new party member to be joining the party, BUT it is up to the player to get in with the party. An example of this is that I have had two new players that I added (one almost 6 months ago, another about a month ago), both I knew were likely to be stable (as in show up), so tied them directly to one of my principle players (who HAS to show up, as he is the president of the gaming club) is a Heir of a High House (think duke level), and thus one player was brought in as a bodyguard for the new heir (along with a letter from the player's father and heir ring...allowing me to "nudge" the campaign in a direction I wanted it to go without railroading), and the other was a whisper gnome ninja sniper who is the House Assassin assigned to the heir. The noble player also has funds, so he has also done hiring of other players. All introductions have to somehow advance or add to the story I am creating, thus all of the required background.</p><p></p><p>For those folks who "show up" and are not sure if they want to play, we have a few NPC PCs that were created initially as PCs, but the players quit after a few games, and the characters became an integral part of the party. An example is what we call the "cousin" character, who is a samurai/fighter type distantly related to the noble character, and it became perfect for him to act as the Sgt Major to the nobles Colonel. Then that player quit, so the noble player has two characters, but regularly lets any random player play the cousin in the game (mostly the rolls and the like). This has netted me a number of players who decide they want to continue and create new characters, and filtered a few who decided that my game wasn't for them. Robert (the noble player) basically only has to do the book keeping for the cousin and his rolls, as the cousin was always designed as a strong silent type who would follow the noble into hell.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, this has happened once, that due to bad luck, a new players character has died in his first session. Usually I am very careful to monitor and modify such situations so as not to actually kill players. I prefer to keep them alive and torture them. making them WISH I had killed them. But I had no choice (something akin to firball going off in an enclosed room with locked door and no way to escape), so I said he had a twin brother, who had studied the exact same things, stats, etc. Made player modify his name slightly, and he started again (Bob is dead, Long Live Rob). Being as some of my players have a malicious streak, they keep on teasing Rob that they liked Bob so much more, even though they only new him for maybe a few hours game time.</p><p></p><p>skippy</p><p>The GM of The Cursed Earth Campaign</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="skippy_the_witch, post: 2137221, member: 18980"] In my current homebrew, I have the added problem of running for a college gaming group, where not every player can show up every week and even if they do, may be unable to continue playing for a semester due to class schedule, work, etc. So I have to be really flexible of how and when I add new characters, or reintroduce old characters. Also, I force my players to literally spend hours designing and developing their characters with me, so that both they and I know their background and capabilities pretty well before they ever get introduced into the game. This means that NO ONE is allowed to create a "quicky" character of stats/skills/feats/class in a few minutes and start play. But, after all this work is done, I try to get the new character involved with the party as quickly as possible. I try and create a viable reason for the new party member to be joining the party, BUT it is up to the player to get in with the party. An example of this is that I have had two new players that I added (one almost 6 months ago, another about a month ago), both I knew were likely to be stable (as in show up), so tied them directly to one of my principle players (who HAS to show up, as he is the president of the gaming club) is a Heir of a High House (think duke level), and thus one player was brought in as a bodyguard for the new heir (along with a letter from the player's father and heir ring...allowing me to "nudge" the campaign in a direction I wanted it to go without railroading), and the other was a whisper gnome ninja sniper who is the House Assassin assigned to the heir. The noble player also has funds, so he has also done hiring of other players. All introductions have to somehow advance or add to the story I am creating, thus all of the required background. For those folks who "show up" and are not sure if they want to play, we have a few NPC PCs that were created initially as PCs, but the players quit after a few games, and the characters became an integral part of the party. An example is what we call the "cousin" character, who is a samurai/fighter type distantly related to the noble character, and it became perfect for him to act as the Sgt Major to the nobles Colonel. Then that player quit, so the noble player has two characters, but regularly lets any random player play the cousin in the game (mostly the rolls and the like). This has netted me a number of players who decide they want to continue and create new characters, and filtered a few who decided that my game wasn't for them. Robert (the noble player) basically only has to do the book keeping for the cousin and his rolls, as the cousin was always designed as a strong silent type who would follow the noble into hell. Lastly, this has happened once, that due to bad luck, a new players character has died in his first session. Usually I am very careful to monitor and modify such situations so as not to actually kill players. I prefer to keep them alive and torture them. making them WISH I had killed them. But I had no choice (something akin to firball going off in an enclosed room with locked door and no way to escape), so I said he had a twin brother, who had studied the exact same things, stats, etc. Made player modify his name slightly, and he started again (Bob is dead, Long Live Rob). Being as some of my players have a malicious streak, they keep on teasing Rob that they liked Bob so much more, even though they only new him for maybe a few hours game time. skippy The GM of The Cursed Earth Campaign [/QUOTE]
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