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<blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 4142995" data-attributes="member: 18549">Yes.&nbsp; I actually do the complete opposite.&nbsp; I require my players to explain why their characters trust each other and want to go on adventures together.&nbsp; It saves me dictating a background to them, and also enforces group cohesion.&nbsp; Group cohesion is essential to your players not derailing the campaign with infighting.&nbsp; I also have an &quot;I backstab the paladin&quot; rule, which boils down to: no directly or indirectly messing with the other characters.&nbsp; You can have a rivalry, or an argument, but you can't kill them in their sleep, or secretly pocket the diamond you found, or spread nasty rumours among the local paladins.Not usually.&nbsp; If they don't, you can try two things that have worked well for me.&nbsp; First, sit down with the players and come up with a backstory as a group.&nbsp; Allow players to suggest bits of cool stuff for each other, but let each player have final say on what gets included.&nbsp; The goal is to have the players write themselves a background that brings the party together and provides lots of good roleplaying hooks.&nbsp; Second, you can write down a list of short background items and throw them in a hat, and let the players randomly draw 3.&nbsp; Things like &quot;your home village was razed by orc raiders,&quot; &quot;you believe you are carrying around a very powerful, but currently dormant, artifact,&quot; and &quot;you are the heir to an hereditary title that you do not want to inherit, and are fleeing from your family to avoid that responsibility.&quot;&nbsp; Afterwards, give each player ten minutes to pencil in the details, and have each player read out their story.Both of these methods can help get players interested in a new pregen character on short notice.Yes.&nbsp; Monsters are reasonably smart, and they know that the PCs are there to kill them.&quot;Hey guys, you're going to need to think about using tactics.&quot;&nbsp; Seriously, just tell them that no matter how kewl their powers might seem, they have to learn to exploit each other's abilities as a team in order to succeed.&nbsp; If they don't get your drift, they'll figure it out after they get their butts handed to them, and start to work out some strategies to avoid that in the future.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lonely Tylenol, post: 4142995, member: 18549"] Yes. I actually do the complete opposite. I require my players to explain why their characters trust each other and want to go on adventures together. It saves me dictating a background to them, and also enforces group cohesion. Group cohesion is essential to your players not derailing the campaign with infighting. I also have an "I backstab the paladin" rule, which boils down to: no directly or indirectly messing with the other characters. You can have a rivalry, or an argument, but you can't kill them in their sleep, or secretly pocket the diamond you found, or spread nasty rumours among the local paladins. Not usually. If they don't, you can try two things that have worked well for me. First, sit down with the players and come up with a backstory as a group. Allow players to suggest bits of cool stuff for each other, but let each player have final say on what gets included. The goal is to have the players write themselves a background that brings the party together and provides lots of good roleplaying hooks. Second, you can write down a list of short background items and throw them in a hat, and let the players randomly draw 3. Things like "your home village was razed by orc raiders," "you believe you are carrying around a very powerful, but currently dormant, artifact," and "you are the heir to an hereditary title that you do not want to inherit, and are fleeing from your family to avoid that responsibility." Afterwards, give each player ten minutes to pencil in the details, and have each player read out their story. Both of these methods can help get players interested in a new pregen character on short notice. Yes. Monsters are reasonably smart, and they know that the PCs are there to kill them. "Hey guys, you're going to need to think about using tactics." Seriously, just tell them that no matter how kewl their powers might seem, they have to learn to exploit each other's abilities as a team in order to succeed. If they don't get your drift, they'll figure it out after they get their butts handed to them, and start to work out some strategies to avoid that in the future. [/QUOTE]

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