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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 7:01AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jan 26, 2011
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What ways do you Dm s. have of getting your part meet up with each other? Other then the stereo typical meet up in a bar?
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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 7:09AM
#2
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I never do "Getting to Know You" scenes. They're boring and trite and I'd rather not play out a scene I already know the ending to (e.g. "Okay, now that we know each other, let's go risk our lives..."). Thus, I prefer when the players discuss their adventuring group's purpose, their character relationships and how they know each other and get along before play. I don't need any backstories, just a few elements here and there - the ties that bind, enough to get them on the same page for the purpose of the adventure.
Then start the adventure with action. The rest will fall into place. Character/group development is best in the crucible of the dungeon, not on a piece of paper before the game or a hackneyed scene that everyone awkwardly bumbles through.
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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 7:14AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2010
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I like to start a campaign by having things happen _around_ the PCs and giving them freedom to react to it however they want. So maybe a massive fire breaks out in the town that they are in, or there is a goblin raid, or a plague.
Then, each PC, as pertinent to their individual backstory, rises to the occasion and contributes to the common good, and through those contributions they meet and collaborate with each other.
Sleeping with interns on Colonial 1
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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 12:48PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2005
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I ask the players how they met, and expect them to have worked this out during character creation. I let them know this while building PCs, and generally that works fairly well. Usually one or two players doesn't fit, and I just try to get enough out of the backstory that I can come up with something to bring them into the main group based off of that. The game almost always starts with the group knowing one another unless their meeting is some important plot device. If it is, I tell them this when desigining a character.
5e comments and thoughts all in one place. Check it out to provide feedback, mock, or steal ideas.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/28835423/Krusks_5e_Design_Goals?sdb=1
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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 1:52PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jul 29, 2012
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Having them in a shared tragedy is always a good way. "You where all passengers on the ship right before it got sunk by pirates..."
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10 months ago ::
Jul 30, 2012 - 3:09PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Mar 29, 2012
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How I started the last campaign...If you don't know the adventure, it's called Cross-Town Race...it's in some dungeon magazine, but it's basically a lvl 1-3 skill challenge that pits the competitors against each other in a race across town...Everyone enjoyed this (except the paladin, he left on his platemail for the race, and thus had -3 to his checks)...
Several reasons why this was good, imo...
1) They didn't have to participate in it, if they didn't want, but they did get xp and the top 3 got gold (first was like 500gp which, when you play a tighter campaign, is a LOT of gold at lvl 1)...so naturally they all tried...
2) it familiarized the group with their characters with regards to skills (based on this, we have a TON less 'Who has the highest perception/etc later on)...everyone got to know what each other was good and bad at skill wise...huge as a DM to save time later on in the campaign...
3) It allowed for a lot of RPing...they could size each other up, bet on the games, talk to people in town to help them gather which route was the best to take...(this was a huge bonus since those that were a little wary of RPing were all of a sudden thrust into it and if they wanted to get the crowd on their side, they had to RP...so they ended up breaking the ice when it comes to RPing).
4) offered some fun competition between classes...which our group loves...the 2 drow of the group were a little irritated that the mage convinced the crowd to interferre with the Drow, since, 'they can't be trusted'...but they quickly learned that turnabout is fair play...
5) part of the reward at the end of the race was a quest to deliver a letter to a far away town, frought with danger, so whomever won would need companions to make this journey (thus the hook that drew them all into the same party and started their adventuring together), but the reward was well worth it for any who did the journey...which prevented the thief from being, 'so, like, um, what's in it for me?'...and the letter was from the local clergy pledging their assitance to the far away orphange...so the lawful good were like, 'so, um, yea, I'm totally game in helping out'
6) it also helped show the personality of the group as a whole...who was going to bend the rules, who was going to play it straight, etc...
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10 months ago ::
Jul 31, 2012 - 1:57AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jul 28, 2012
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Memory wipe (party united in crappy starting situation: jail, shipwreck, burned out village, naked on top of a glacier plus gives campaign drive to find out their back stories and get even with whoever wiped their memories)
Prophetic destiny (with something to make it obvious they are supposed to be together: dragonmark, birth sign, etc with an npc cleric or bard telling them about their destiny)
Arrest or enslave the party (start with a uniting event and a jailbreak scenario, then they can go after the unjust system for falsely arresting them, go after whoever framed them, or start an insurrection agains the local government, or just flee the region)
Have a high level mage force the PC's to go on a despicable quest for him/her. (using geas/quest/or DM fiat) Possibly even a long term-quest. The PLAYERS and probably the PC's will be aware of this and you will give them someone to hate and want to take out for the campaign. More importantly you CAN give them their revenge THEN have the PC's learn the mage was working for someone else (balor, pit fiend, what have you) giving you a more advanced villain for them to take out. Easy enough to flesh out the plot with minions.
Just a few of the ideas I've used.
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10 months ago ::
Jul 31, 2012 - 2:03AM
#8
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Date Joined:
May 14, 2010
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I do the intro like I do the games. The world is happening around them. If they decide to stand still, time doesn't stop. They tend to band together to survive in my games. I can be brutal some times with encounters.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 08, 2012 - 9:23PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Feb 16, 2011
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Someone is hiring people to do something, not just warriors but others as well, and the group is assembled by the employer.
I posted to another person a few days ago about this: throughout most of history, service to one's government has been mandatory when necessary. Today, the US calls it Selective Service (the Draft.) Conscription. Wealthy people could pay a special form of tax called scuttage to avoid service, and that scuttage paid for someone else to be sent--- the PC's. Once they are together, they can figure out the group dynamics while you focus on the adventures.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 08, 2012 - 10:17PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2010
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My players were ambushed by NPC characters who were tasked with gathering slaves warriors for a mission. Instead of going to the local slave market they rounded up a couple of adventurers.
Ant Farm
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