Whining about roleplaying character additions

[alsih2o]

I am facing the very real possibility of adding a character or two to a party that is travelling in an area where humans are very infrequently encountered.

What is the best RP way you can think of to add new P.C.'s?

How does the party end up travelling with a new stranger permanently?

And- What is your best story of a new P.C. addition?

Thanks..

 

[eris404]

I am facing the very real possibility of adding a character or two to a party that is travelling in an area where humans are very infrequently encountered.

What is the best RP way you can think of to add new P.C.'s?

How does the party end up travelling with a new stranger permanently?

And- What is your best story of a new P.C. addition?

Thanks..

I have a few questions:

1. Is the area where the party is travelling hostile or just remote?
2. How do the current players play their characters? Are they heroic, suspicious of strangers, cut-throat adventurers, or what?
3. What are the new characters like?

My initial thought (and it's a tad boring) would be to have the current characters come upon the new character(s) in trouble, say, being attacked by an overwhelming force of orcs or trolls or whatever would be appropriate for their level and the area. The new character(s) might be also plot hook, such as a messenger that needs to get to a particular area safely, and could "hire" the PCs to help him or promise that the recipient of the message will reward them, or something along those lines.

 

[eris404]

I forgot to add this. My favorite way (although probably not the best way) I've seen a character added was created by a DM in our group. We had so many players join and drop out that he had to keep coming up with new ways to add new characters. At one point, he just had the party come across the new character tied up in sack.

 

[Pseudonym]

I first read this as Whining about roleplaying character addictions, which is an odd tangent to be sure.

I have used all sorts of methods before. In fact I brought in a new character this past Saturday. The players needed to recon a building where they suspected a cult was gathering, so I had an NPC set up a meeting between the party and the new PCs rogue.

I think the oddest one I used was having a new character with his fighter PC "appear" as the result of the Knight card from the Deck of Many Things.

 

[diaglo]

What is the best RP way you can think of to add new P.C.'s?

an old idea made into a movie...Lost in Translation

How does the party end up travelling with a new stranger permanently?

the new PCs are only strangers when you first meet. given time and shared experiences they can become more than strangers...maybe even friends.

And- What is your best story of a new P.C. addition?

See The Gamers. the introduction of the new Mage.

 

[Henry]

Lessee now...

1) Characters are adventurers also in area with similar or mutual goals.
2) Characters are pinned down by superior force, and the group are the rescuers.
3) Characters are imprisoned by mutual enemies.
4) Characters are transported (gated, teleported, etc.) into area by accident, and need assistance in finding the way home.
5) Characters have been sent to the group by an allied power to deliver a message or to help see them home.

If you have more than 5 people or groups of people to add to this group, you've got some very happy problems, indeed.

 

[Voadam]

Some connection to current characters or existing plot are good.

Reincarnated old characters explain old memories but new character well.

Mutual goals, patron, etc. can tie them together well.

 

[Nifft]

I say you ask the new PCs how they think they'd be encountered, or how they'd convince an unknown party to travel with them, and why they are asking for help / new companions.

(Players need to work harder! er, I mean, players are an untapped creative resource!)


Things I've done in the past:

- A group of Hobgoblins had a "Door of Holding" where they kept their prisoners while waiting to sacrifice them. One new PC broke out of the holding pen and ran straight to where the rest of the PCs were hiding, and another was the last one left in the "door" (when the player's other PC died).

- Far less trouble, for a low-RP player who didn't really care about his character's background: "As you walk back towards the city, the Cleric evaporates and is replaced by a Druid."

- For a more RP-intensive player who was switching PCs: the Dutchess had a "helper" who was her liason to the party (a tiefling elf dandy, not trusted much by the party), played by me (the DM) until the Big Fight Scene On A Bridge, when the original PC was taken over by a Necromancer's Magic Jar, and I handed the Tiefling Elf's sheet to the player. The party was in some confusion as they were attacked by invisible imps and their former friend. However, the Tiefling Elf earned their trust... sort of.

-- N

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I am facing the very real possibility of adding a character or two to a party that is travelling in an area where humans are very infrequently encountered.

What is the best RP way you can think of to add new P.C.'s?

How does the party end up travelling with a new stranger permanently?

No problem: KILL THEM!! KILL THEM ALL!!!




... oh wait, that doesn't really apply here, does it?


Ahem. OK. Let's try this again.


The party comes across a village that was put under a curse by whatever Force of Evil they are currently fighting. The villiage was cursed at a time when the Force-o-Evil was just getting started and wasn't nearly as powerful as F-o-E is today.

F-o-E had access to a wish back in those days. He normally wouldn't have used it on something so small as a villiage, but remember this is when he wasn't very powerful and the villiage stood in his way. So he condemmed all people in the village to phase in and out of the real world in accordance to what stars were in the sky. The whole villiage should come back to the real world in about 83 years, by which time F-o-E will have long accomplished his ends. However, unbeknownst to F-o-E (but beknownst to us) a couple members of the villiage were out hunting that fateful night and didn't suffer the full brunt of the curse. They have been released earlier and now seek a way to free their villiage and fight F-o-E.

You know have a supply of adventurers dropped in the middle of nowhere with a motivation to beat up the Force of Evil in your game. Unless you go with one of the other great ideas in this thread. In which case you still have all that but in a different way.

 

[Steverooo]

1) The PCs are Rangers, out exploring.
2) The PCs are Barbarians; they live here.
3) The PCs are Druids, wandering through nature.
4) The PCs are herbalists, out gathering rare plants.
5) The PCs are Wizards or Sorcerers, experimenting with a new, low-level teleportation spell, which dropped them off, here...
6) The PC was in a dungeon, last survivor of their old party, opened a scroll, read it, and... here they are!
7) Captured by (local bad-thangs), they managed to escape.
8) PCs encounter bad-thangs, find the new PCs tied or chained up, with their gear in the "treasure pile".
9) The PCs are repentant Clerics and/or Paladins, just finishing shriving their souls for some past misdeeds, and are now head back towards civilization, after a year of silence in the wilderness.
10) Escaped kidnap victims.
11) Beaten and robbed by bandits, brigands, orcs, blackguards, etc., and left for dead.
12) Lost and wandering... Took the wrong turn at Poughkipsie.
13) Adventurer! Out questing for fame, glory, and loot (in alphabetical order, not neccessarily order of importance).
14) Died; woke up here!
15) Amnesiac. Been wandering for a week, doesn't remember anything before that.
16) Attacked the evil Wicked Witch of the South, there was a bright flash, and... here we are!
17) Found this bag in a dungeon, See? Opened this bag, and pulled out a bean... Reached in, again, and these tentacles grabbed me, pulled me in, see? So I fought my way clear, and... here I was! Never seen anything like this! Why are all the leaves green?
18) Sailor on the Seas of Fate; shipwrecked on this strange world.
19) Was cursed to wander the Earth as a Shambling Mound for... who knows how long? Just came to herself!
20) Shapechanged into a cat, forgot she could change back. Chased mice for a while, then hit that patch of catnip... Don't remember much, for a while, after that!