Suggestion for DMs

[jester47]

It occured to me the other night-

That one thing you can do to make getting the Game started easier (assuming you don't have a problem player) is before the players ever decide on what character they are going to make have them, as a group, decide what kind of party they are going to have. This allows the DM to cater the adventures, come up with hooks more easily. It also allows the players to select concepts for characters that have a purpose in the party.

A sample example (?!) is a party that is centered around doing jobs for a thieves guild. With this in mind the players have somthing to guide the concepts of the characters they might want to come up with, like a locks expert, a scrying expert, a diplomat, or whatever for breaking and entering and generally role playing in a thieves guild. Here the DM could have the adventures metered out by a higher up in the guild. Thus reducing the need for the characters to figure out whats going on. (Though nothing should ever be as it appears!!!).

Another example is a band of dragon slayers. The players would then be able to create characters around dragon slaying concepts, and all the DM would ever have to do is come up with interesting things dealing ultimately with dragons.

It seems that using this would make things eaiser.

Hrm... time to go kill my old party...

Aaron.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Another example is a band of dragon slayers.

"But all of these characters are bards! I said a band of dragon slayers!"
"That's right - we're a band. The Dragon Slayers."

-Hyp.

 

[Micar Sin]

Oddly enough, the problem with my group is, half the time they seem perfectly content to be the provebial 'We met in a tavern and decided to camp together in dangerous places for the rest of our lives' group, but later they will complain about having no purpose (sometimes within the same session )

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Since as the DM, I'm the one who's going to do most of, if not all the work, I'm the one who decides what kind of party the players are going to have, and if they agree with that, I talk with every one and I create the characters.

I know it sounds dictatorial, but it's been my observation that if you leave character creation to the players, you're going to end up with a party made of five psychopathic killers all named "Bob", none of whom will have any kind of background written down.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I've considered doing this next time I start up a campaign. We've always done the "met in a tavern and decided to work together" kind of thing, but we've been getting more detailed with our backgrounds and as a DM I've been trying to do some things related to these backgrounds. When the PCs are all completely different it becomes difficult to work that in and have a good reason why the party stays together. "It's the paladin's holy quest, why the heck should I get myself killed for that?"

 

[evileeyore]

In a similiar vein, has anyone thought of using the Atari games ToEE party alignment system to keep the group 'cohesive'?

I've been giving it some thought, considering dome problems in the past by having a single character (or half the group) being of vastly (or even just slightly) different alignments.

TTFN

EvilE

For those that haven't played ToEE (Temple of Elemental Evil) the aligment systems allows you to choose a 'party aligment'. then everyone has to be within one step of the party alignment. Thus if the party is True Neutral the only allowed aligments are Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Evil Neutral, and Good Neutral...

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I've done this from time to time. In my current game, all the players were either students at a Wizard's Academy, or had some strong tie to the Academy. It works well to give people a common purpose without being too restrictive.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I generally enforce a "you know each other" policy. I then let them decide how they know each other, each character knows at least one of the other characters.

It actually works out well.

 

[SylverFlame]

I've tried the whole spectrum. I've had groups that just met all at once, met over the course of a few days/sessions, I've had games where they all knew each other before the adventure, I've even had two occasions where the party tried to kill each other before realizing they were the party (one of these games the players knew who they were fighting, they just wanted to see how it went).

The big thing I've found is that the party tends to break down less, and the players throw fewer dice , when you leave the decision partly up to the players themselves. It keeps them happy, but you have your say to.

 

[jester47]

In a similiar vein, has anyone thought of using the Atari games ToEE party alignment system to keep the group 'cohesive'?

I've been giving it some thought, considering dome problems in the past by having a single character (or half the group) being of vastly (or even just slightly) different alignments.

TTFN

EvilE

For those that haven't played ToEE (Temple of Elemental Evil) the aligment systems allows you to choose a 'party aligment'. then everyone has to be within one step of the party alignment. Thus if the party is True Neutral the only allowed aligments are Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Evil Neutral, and Good Neutral...

I have somthing similar. IMCs Alignment is subconscious and internal. Its inate. It can change, but there has to be a damned good reason for it. It is not so much how you are expected t obeheve but more like an astrological sign. Essentially its what your actions ultimately bring to the world. So you could be the kindest, most humanitarian being and still be chaotic evil. Your alignment of chaotic evil just means that your actions, no matter what, will bring about chaos and evil. Maybe you save hitler from being run over when he is a kid, or perhaps training the overzealous kid with awesome force potential creates an evil warlord. Just like a tarus is always a tarus no matter what you do your presence in the world brings about chaos and evil. Some are just more in touch with this than others. So this brings about the alignment rule in my campaign: No matter your alignment, working with your party is in your best interest and your characters reasons are justified.

Aaron.