D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Kurotowa]

I find it the opposite. "You're all part of a Thieves' Guild" is right up there with "you all meet in a tavern" unless you put some solid work into the guild and its role in the world and its relationship to the PCs.

I mean, that's true of any campaign hook, isn't it? At least with the Thieves' Guild concept you've got a lot of fertile ground for roles and backstory. The housebreaker, the enforcer, the informant, etc. And then you've got past jobs done together and friendships and rivalries and all that good workplace drama stuff.

It's a great hook if everyone puts in a little work, which you can't say of "you all met yesterday in a tavern".

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I find it the opposite. "You're all part of a Thieves' Guild" is right up there with "you all meet in a tavern" unless you put some solid work into the guild and its role in the world and its relationship to the PCs.

Of course when I use the Thieves Guild example, I mean it as a it's a campaign about that. Not "you're part of a thieves guild but we're going into another unrelated adventure". I think what I mean is that I like to force a certain tone and purpose in a campaign. The players can break out of that if they wish, and they do sometimes, but it's always given me much more solid start to campaigns than having them start in a tavern with a bulletin board with three jobs available.

Heck, even if everyone does start in the same guild, I'd want them to each have their own goals.

Of course. They're not exclusive!

 

[Umbran]

It's a great hook if everyone puts in a little work, which you can't say of "you all met yesterday in a tavern".

So, any hook is a great hook if everyone puts in a little work. Even the tavern one.

While it has since been clarified, the original statement didn't speak to that work.

If the original statement had been, "I prefer a fully fleshed out central origin for all the characters," we could have talked about how several people with their own agendas meeting in a tavern can itself be a fully fleshed out central origin, if you put in a little work....

 

[Kurotowa]

So, any hook is a great hook if everyone puts in a little work. Even the tavern one.

I figure it as the hook concept having latent potential and the effort invested is what unlocks that potential. So a "good" hook is one with a lot of fertile ground, while a "bad" hook is dry earth that needs a lot of extra effort to nourish. You can make anything work with enough effort, but personally I'd rather have a good starting point with lots of easy potential to play around with.

Edit: Which to bring it back on topic is kind of the problem with circus troupe PCs when they go wrong. The player is grabbing and many weird and wild elements for their character as they can, but then they don't put in any effort to actually developing them and so all the potential goes to waste.

 

[Xethreau]

Try it in 3.PF, where you can also ban the core  classes.

Oh yeah. I also banned wizard and cleric and have never been happier!

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I figure it as the hook concept having latent potential and the effort invested is what unlocks that potential. So a "good" hook is one with a lot of fertile ground, while a "bad" hook is dry earth that needs a lot of extra effort to nourish. You can make anything work with enough effort, but personally I'd rather have a good starting point with lots of easy potential to play around with.

The hook is definitely one part.

But it's also constraints. It says to everyone "you can make whatever character you want, but it has to make sense that they are where they are and want to do what they're about to do". It's a box where everyone starts in. Some games don't have this issue has much. Traveller takes for granted that you're a crew that's already travelling together. Your ship is your home. Blades in the Dark says that you're a group of thieves, or assassins, or smugglers. Spire says you're revolutionaries caught between oppressors and your own faction, etc.

 

[Mind of tempest]

this topic re appears often so I must ask? if say the players want to play centares rather than dwarves and spirits rather than elves why not also cut out the classics and factor what they would prefer in?
limited options does not mean the classic demihumans and humans only it mean only say 7 options exist at all not what those options are or should be.