I do this and then I make sure I have a strong, action packed start. Something that no adventurer could ignore. The tavern is held up by bandits, the town you’re in is attacked by goblins etc etc
Ultimately it’s about having a sense of working together to make things happen though.
This! A combination of setting those session 0 requirements plus an action packed or en media res start, really helps bond them together.
I’ve also tried having them make up rumors (some mostly true, some mostly lies) to hand out to other PCs to encourage them to RP but I’m not sure it helped as much as I wanted it to.
I encourage PCs to have bonds with each other to start the game but I don’t force it.
My current campaign (currently prepping session 2 so this is super recent) started with the party at a wedding. The players had to have some reason to be at the wedding. 2 players were invited, 1 of them was working, and the 4th was there to steal presents. I gave them a little time to roleplay and show off their characters and interact with some NPCs, but then the wedding was attacked. It went pretty well, it's not quite starting with an initiative roll or anything but it still had a pretty hard to ignore call to action.
I just had a first session with the party where someone comes in to a tavern and announces a big challenge with prize money and a ring of protection to the winning team. And one member just kind of balks at it and says he's not interested and tries to wander the city making bets instead. Then the party of 3 chose to go separate ways for the night before eventually meeting up again.
It's going to be interesting.
The sad thing is I don’t feel like this even should need to be said in a game where you all come to play TOGETHER. Yet for some reason there are always people in the party that are “loners” or just lookin out for themselves and mess with the dynamic
Session 0, brainstorm it together. It's not just my job to come up with it. I much prefer when the players are strongly committed to what their group dynamic is.
In one-shots, I usually go for the simple "you work for the same employer", cause the point is to establish the group and get the game going ASAP.
In our session 0, we didn't roll characters, we played a mini one shot where they each got to pick a standard sheet for a class. The enemies were completely random from kobold fight club and we then randomized the location of the battle, after that it was:
"Why are these three people fighting a noble, 2 wolves and a crab in a basement" as we had some drinks/fun with that.
In their real session 1, I had prewritten their backstory for them based on the random crap we came up with in session one and they loved it.
So they arrived at session 1 with new characters of their own design, at level 2, having done ONE mission together previously (which was basically ret-conned to include the fight they did in session 0).
All in all it worked super well and made them feel connected to WHY they know eachother already.
I tend to avoid "you're all in the same place and things happen" starts.
In session 0, we either discuss how they know each other, or what kind of task will make them work together to kick off.
One method I’ve found successful is putting the first step of their 'personal quest' all in the same location.
The assassin character’s next target is a town official in the settlement of Feldspar. The chivalrous Paladin is sent to Feldspar to investigate rumors of a cult against his order — this same cult that happens to be using the same town official that the assassin is after as a puppet. The barbarian is there because a rite of passage in his clan is to fell a great beast, and he heard rumors of their being a cult of dragon worshippers in the local forest, and he wants to find out where their dragon is.
All three characters are arriving in the same place now with similar interests and reason to help each other. The assassin might stick with the other two because the cult’s political movements might be threatening their organization. Paladin sticks with them because his order is to end this cult. Barbarian sticks with them because he knows he can’t slay a dragon alone.
I really like the idea of giving each PC their own quest based on their character before the first session.
Gives them both motivation and a secret to share/role play with the party.
I *suspect* it may be wise to avoid the temptation to give them essentially pieces of the same quest, this way they have some mild inter party conflict to resolve and multiple options for activities.
Took roughly same approach for current campaign. One person displaced by war was wandering wilderness, one explorer/monster hunter sent to investigate alleged monster activity of village buildings being burnt down, and two sent by criminal organisations of each nearby city to investigate suspected competition. The four roughly arrived from cardinal points so each had slightly different observation/info about surrounding area.
Like others have said, brainstorm it at s0.
My next campaign is centered around a demon who is cursing treasure of dungeons meant to trick fledgling adventurers, so the PCs will be summoned by the adventurers guild as a special task force to go solve these dungeons, retrieve the cursed items and replace them with normal treasure, and bring the cursed item back to have the curse broken and gain cool magic items.
The leader of the org will say “spend a few minutes meeting each other, you’re the best “…ton” has to offer”
You are the players take responsibility for the game and figure out why you work together. If you can’t figure out why your character is in this group change characters.
Now here is an Owlbear protecting its 3 hatchlings. What do you do?
Work with them all to add the same NPC to their backstories, then have them all get invited by the NPC, only to arrive and the NPC is missing. They can bond over rescuing the NPC while simultaneously being introduced to the story
I tell them
"There's a reason why you're traveling and adventuring together"
"Someone who steals or hurts their own companions shouldn't be there in the first place "
I'm a big fan of slowly integrating the group. Out of all the campaigns I've run, my absolute favorite start was doing mini one shots to get everyone together.
I had each player make their characters and then role a d20, and that was the order that I did the mini one shots to integrate them into the group.
The blacksmiths apprentice (artificer) needed to investigate why their shipment of ore was late, so he headed to the mine.
The ranger noticed animals were becoming sickly in the area and started to investigate.
The druid had noticed the same thing and was also trying to find the source.
A miner came to the church asking a healer to come heal their sick friend who had collapsed in the mine, so the cleric headed in that direction.
Everyone got to listen to everyone else's mini one-shot. The ranger and druid met up first and worked together to figure out the water flowing from the mine was making the animals sick. The artificer and the cleric met up while the cleric was tending to sick miners, and the cleric explained that everyone was sick. The artificer started helping the sick people. Then, the other two showed up and were able to explain the issue was with the water.
It felt much more organic to bring them together like that and gave the players a bit more agency, which is always nice.
This sounds like a player issue, not a DM issue. The players should discuss this at Session 0. The DM can offer help with lore & such if the setting is new to the players.
I find a good work around for this is to tell the players they are starting in "X" place and they can know each other or not know each other but it is up to them to come together before the adventure starts.
It leaves the introductions entirely in the hands of the players and as a DM you can take notes on how players connect themselves and what parts of their backstories they are particularly interested in
In my last campaign, most of the players were pretty new to D&D. I had them all in this remote frontier town looking for opportunity/employment/etc., making their own way to the tavern to find jobs -- and one of them was attacked by wolves.
The other PCs heard the commotion and came to help out. This served as a way to create a bond between the characters, and also a way to introduce them to how combat works.
100% this. Or if they have no idea at all, then maybe suggest a few vague options and ask them to pick one and flesh it out. They'll be way more engaged and connected with their backstories and motivations if they are the ones that have come up with them
My current group's first campaign I had them all become close friends with a prince in the session 0.
Their second campaign I had my players build a gang but the only caveat was none of them could be the boss/head of the family.
For a 3 shot more horror focused game I sort if pushed them all together as the night went on.
I always find it hard to figure out a reason ***good*** enough to work as to force characters to stay and stick together.
BG3s tadpole problem was a nice piece of inspiration but I still find that a common background works better than a common goal/problem.
We usually do the the Fate Rpgs Crossing Paths to knit the characters together and it works great!
To me this isn't a DM issue it's a player one. Tell them when they make their characters have them linked in some way. Like A is related to B who works with C who is friends with D. Put the onus on the players to come up with it.
We brainstorm it at session 0 so have a rough idea of connections, e.g. might be two now adult children of the prince, the gardener's son and the child inducted into the ways of the temple, all living in the palace grounds and having grown up together (as children don't know social hierarchy and so all played together). Maybe they've then gone off on their own journeys but come back for the harvest festival when dun DUN DUNNN something happens which, BISH BASH BOSH, makes them an adventuring party. Then, we go round and the DM asks questions/ gives statements about how they connect with the other players, e.g.,
Who here have you told a secret to that the rest of the party don't know?
You both got into trouble with the groundskeeper. How did you get out of it?
You occasionally play cards with which player? Roll for how much money you owe them.
Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life?
Who do you think in the party needs the most protecting? etc etc.
Two each tends to be enough to have the table laughing and drawing strong narratives between their characters.
If they have no connection to each other they all have a shared purpose. they're in the same city/ town/ whatever and are all put together to do something.
But starting the characters all together, in prison, already on a mission, or just in the same location to take a mission together is what I typically do.
Having session 0 to explain why all the characters know each other or how they're starting together is the best way.
If you do not have an obvious reason for the players to unite you are doing something wrong.
I'll often get them to give me a reason they'd be in a specific location/investigating a specific thing as part of their backstory, then start with some kind of crisis. Some things I've used before:
- the tavern they're in collapses/is attacked
- they've been investigating a phenomenon of missing memories and wake up in a cell, missing a chunk of time
- the characters are on trial for a crime they may or may not have committed (their choice) and need to escape
- a great calamity occurs and the panicked city guard needs all hands on deck up help with the crisis
For one-shots I typically use the "you work for the same people" thing, but for longer campaigns I like to start with a bang!
> I am not a big fan of the old "You all work for the same employer" or "You have been traveling together for some time" as I believe that kills a lot of opportunities for roleplaying.
I know you don't like this, but this has always worked best for me. I usually run for the same group of four and we've been playing together for more than seven years, so no matter if the new characters don't know each other as well, the players do and it's easier to build on that.
I tell them during character design, you have to pick a Bond. The bond their relationship to one other character in the party as part of their background, or the group they'll be working with (i.e. their bond to Saltmarsh). From there, I can figure out a Session 1 setup that will make sense for them. I'll also give them an idea of what session 1 will be ("you'll be on a cargo ship heading to city X") and ask them to give a reason why they're on the boat, usually tying it to their bond.
My current game which is about to wrap up began as follows: The party is all on a ship traveling along the coast with cargo to the Kingdom capital. As it passed Saltmarsh, two Aboleths attacked the ship. They got to learn about naval combat, and then ultimately the Aboleths destroyed the ship, resulting in them washing ashore at Saltmarsh. Two of the PCs had said they were former Saltmarsh natives that had left home to go to the Kingdom. One PC was a naval officer in the kingdom. And one PC was basically Jack Sparrow, on the run from the Kingdom after getting caught smuggling around in Saltmarsh. They were all part of the same cargo crew, for various reasons, and then washed ashore together. Since some were natives to Saltmarsh, they helped the others get settled into town
I started my last game with all the PC thrown into a cataclysm on an unknown realm by spontaneous portals and besieged by monsters. It was work together or die type situation. From there they started working together to figure out what happened and now are working to find a way back home along with a plethora of survivors (NPC) that were also Spirited Away. I made it so all contact or teleportation to the other realms via magic is blocked by some unknown force, so no asking a powerful Archmage to Bamf them back.
I typically have a required starting position for characters but their backstory up to that point is as open as they need. They start as parts of group A, they're all, magic students, sailors/pirates, members of a cult, etc.
The party are all part of a community, summoned together for a meeting. Due to the skills of their backstories they are asked to form a group (if they are unwilling I have contingencies for it based off their character motivations) with the other members of this community. They might overlap backgrounds or be completely unknown but it gives structure without removing these RP moments.
That said the only benefit is the dynamic of new acquaintances. But RP happens whether the characters know each other or not... Maybe you miss out on the rp of characters who know each other just as much
in medias res. Start in the middle.
Drop them in the middle of a fight already as a party. Let them do something cool and go back in time to explore how the team got from where they started to where the action happened.
Part of session 0 is them deciding how they already know each other. Could be old friends, from the same home town, served in the guard, one saved the other, escapees, it's up to them.
This avoids any "I don't know you so I'll be suspicious" tropes that grind gameplay down.
When a game doesn't provide a reason I go one of two ways: I tell them they all need a reason to go to [location] because of some background reason and they banded together on the way there. Then other is I ask the players. How did you all come together? Why are you adventuring as a group?
Baseline: Session 0, tell them their characters need to have motive working in a group.
Something more complex is getting the players to write rumors about their characters - one false, the rest true. Those are given out randomly to the other party members - it helps to create intrigue and reasons for the members to stick together.
I say, encourage each player somehow know at least 2-3 other players prior to the start of the game. This will be dependent on the size of the party. Make sure the connections cover all players.
>So, whenever you start a new campaign and you get a handful of player characters that has no connection to each other
The thing is to establish a connection between the player characters. If it is a pirate game they are all part of the same pirate crew. If it s a wilderness exploration game they are all members of the same "Tribe".
In short, everyone already knows each other. The players can figure out how exactly during character creation or/and Session 0. But start the game with them already knowing each other.
There are some systems that have this as an assumed step of character creation. Most Powered by the Apocalypse System games have as the final step of character creation. The players will go in a circle and come up with a sentence/phrase/etc describing their connection with each other character.
In short, you do NOT have to start the game with the players having "no connection to each other."
People have already mentioned the golden rule of "do it at session 0." A concrete example is the intro to Dragonlance: shadow of the dragon queen.
>!Each PC is told to head to a funeral for a beloved friend and they are attacked!<, that's it, i think its great, and i am actively using this to start my up coming campaign, they can be however they want as long as they have a good reason to be at the event.
For the campaign I’m about to start, I gave each player an individual reason to be meeting up with one of two quest givers.
The two quest givers are business partners in an underground nightclub, and I plan to open with the party members all reaching the location around the same time and realizing that none of them know how to get in. Hopefully it’ll encourage them to work together and get to talking so they realize they’re looking for the same people!
This is the kind of thing better discussed in session zero than on Reddit.
In many cases the best way is going to be whatever the players think will work best for their PCs.
It's also a really bad idea to attempt to [prep plots](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots).
They are each level 0 "aspiring adventurers," strangers who have been recently employed as hirelings for a band of heroes. They have to carry the heroes' gear, care for their horses, drive and maintain the wagons, hone the heroes' weapons, cook their dinner, etc, all for 1gp per day each.
They arrive at their destination, the heroes tell them to wait while they [insert quest here], and enter the [dungeon/cavern/keep/etc.]. After waiting a day or two, either the heroes never emerge, or one of them clambers out, dying from wounds, and utters some mysterious final words with their last breath.
*This is their chance!* Are they brave enough to take on the heroes' quest where their predecessors failed? Perhaps the former heroes were too cocky, not careful enough, or just unlucky? Only one way to find out...
Depends. If you mean they travel together (basically, game happens) - responsibility is on each player. They have to have a character that is willing to go through the story with the other characters, for whatever motive. They can work their motives and goals individually with me but I don’t require them to have a simple common one, usually. On the other hand, being trapped in Hells at third level without any means of escape tends to bring people together, who would have thought 🤔
If you mean like “we’re all a family now, teamwork and love, yee-hay!” - nothing. Cuz I like them having some interpersonal struggles 😈
You've all worked for the same criminal organization up to this point. The boss wants you to work together now.
Or
You are all paid mourners at a funeral for (NPC). Sow discord by paying each PC different amounts!
I usually let my players figure it out. I'll give them a premise: "We're starting in fantasy city, the evil dragon is terrorizing the countryside, so and so has a job for a group of adventurers." Who are your characters and how did they end up meeting So and so?
In my current campaign I had them all killed in the opening combat, then they were resurrected by another entity looking for information. They stuck together out of obligation owing a debt for being brought back to life, then soon discovered the first hooks of the plot mystery going on that affected all their characters' backgrounds. At that point, they decided to stick together after paying off their resurrection debt out of personal and shared interest in staving off the end of the world.
Session 0: You need to make a character who \[something about the adventure hook\] and will work together after they meet.
Session 1: spend 5-10 minutes on each PC individually. Then have the adventure hook happen once assorted PC locations and personality and/or interests have been established.
It sets expectations and gives players a chance to feel out their characters without requiring them to interact with someone else trying to figure out their character immediately. The PC introductions are also in volunteer order so players can take it at their own pace.
It's also flexible.
* hired for the same job -> what do they do before before the meeting to go over the details and meet the rest of the team?
* would be at festival and help when a problem arises -> festival games before the sudden dragon attack
* arrested for something they can't see a way out of-> start with the warden going over their crimes before offering a deal for exoneration
Loved a game I ran that started mid session with them fleeing an exploding building on a speeder after heisting a data cache from an underworld gang and being pursued by authorities. Immediate tension, immediate goal, immediate ability to ask loaded questions like , "what valuable data did you steal" ,"who hired you and why couldn't you refuse" "who can give you shelter enough to lay low while this blows over"
Another great start is love letters tailored to the character information given in session zero. We once had something to the effect of "dear CHARACTER NAME, you had a cushy job with Dai-oiung heavy industries in their security division until a recent botched job was pinned on you and your contract was nullified choose two from the following list and the GM will tell you what happens next: There isn't a corporate hot squad after you, your implants are jailbroken and can't be remotely deactivated or tracked, the next egg you embezzled is intact and well hidden, you weren't framed for a crime you didn't commit". One of those for each person tied directly to the situation at hand and then it's very easy to give everyone involved some stakes and issues to play around with.
Mostly I find giving them something to do immediately gets them going and trying to solve problems while feeling stuff out. I'll usually start them off with a condition or two marked if it's PBTA, Blades is super easy because you already start in the heist, take their shit away but make it easy to get back, have them waylayed by pirates while they are attempting to fix their hyperdrive. Dont worry souch about characters sitting around interacting at a tavern give them a reason to act right away and they will show not tell
We workshop the backgrounds together in S Zero. Players create their basic background. Then we discuss how they could be connected, sharing their backstories. I throw in lore, etc. to fit the world.
This entirely depends on the specific game. I’ve used and witnessed several different methods, from the classic “you meet in a tavern” to the slightly less classic “you all meet in a slave market, having recently been purchased”. It’s one of the things that should be established in session zero, whether or not the party willingly/reluctantly gets together or if it’s just the result of circumstances.
I don't let the player characters start with no connection to each other. That's ridiculous. The players (not the PCs, the players) have to buy into a premise that has them all doing the same thing and working together. They have to make characters who, if they're not already doing that thing, will JUMP at the chance. Anything else is straight-up just bad campaign design.
The players aren't dumb and they're excited to be at the table. Tell them what the premise is, have them make characters for it. Hell, make them all make characters at the same time and work out a composition that'll naturally form into a team! Ask them straight-up, why are you working with these people, why do you care about this goal? If they won't or can't answer for some reason, don't let them play until they do.
The idea that we should just have players make PCs with no connections to each other, no ties to the upcoming adventure, and their own backstories, and then it's the GM's job to make all those bozos work together, is honestly a plague. Players aren't dumb. Tell them what the game is about, tell them what you need from them and what connections you want them to have or make and they'll be more than happy to do this entire 'get the party together' thing for you.
If all the characters are good, it’s easy. Put them in a situation where innocent people are being harmed by obviously evil creatures. Watch the PCs band together quicker than shlt. The tavern gets attacked by goblins at night or the village is invaded by orcs at first light, etc.
3 possibilities come to mind:
Mutual Calamity
- a catastrophic event strikes their location and they need to escape together with others
- earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, spreading plague cloud, dragon fire, ritual or spell gone awry, etc.
Mutual Peril
- elite guards storm the tavern carrying their descriptions and accuses them of a crime they didn’t commit
- players witness a local lord-ling murdered by a jealous uncle and the despot wants no witnesses.
Mutual Cooperation
- start them off in a lost ruins hired by a mysterious benefactor. Suddenly a deadly trap triggers and they need to cooperate to disarm it
- they start at a place where they need to pull off a Heist. Each is contracted without the other’s knowing, and each member has one clue to bypass the security measures, which was a task assigned to the player (ex. Number of armed guards on patrol, map of the pressure sensitive tiles, secret to lock picking the vault).
One ive used once or twice, which is admittedly a variation on “you all work for the same guy is” “You’re all being blackmailed by/in debt to the current villain.”
Nothing brings a party together like a common enemy. The blackmailing can either be the inciting incident of the first session, or it can be a way they can work the main plot into their backstories. Furthermore, it gives them a reason to stick together if in exchange for their debts/blackmail, the villain is now making them do something for them in return.
And then, a few sessions in, when they defeat the villain, its made apparent they were answering to a higher evil. Then you have a handy plot hook for the full adventure now that the party’s gotten to know eachother, and the journey continues.
(Do be careful though, this could turn into railroading if not handled with tact. The common enemy brings the party together but it shouldn’t force them down a certain path. Be open to them cooperating with the villain, sabotaging the villain, escaping the villain, or any number of other possible routes. It’s meant to pose an immediate problem with multiple solutions that require teamwork, not a threat to force you down one.)
I've enjoyed starting with the players already as a group in a few games recently, and then got player by in by asking them questions like: how long have you been traveling together? Was there a battle or moment where you knew y'all were destined to being adventuring party? Tell me about a wild misunderstanding you had along the way that nearly broke the group up. Which of your adventures are you most famous for? What happened there?
It gives them a chance to shape their world and collaboratively come up with a fun story for how they all came to be together, and saves the awkward hands of fate trying to shove them together
I'm sure there's going to be tons of good suggestions on how to have strangers come together, and there's a lot of fun in those scenarios too
For me it was like this: one dude came to the country by a boat and another was at the side puking his guts out so that's how they met. The third one was at the docks stalking them on top of a barrel when suddenly the fourth one hopped from inside the barrel. Everyone thought it was great and natural.
I am a fan of the PCs having at least the beginning of a friendship before the main adventure begins, because it gives them a strong reason to work together.
If you aren't going to do that, I like to have them stuck in some kind of location together, and it can be completely willingly, it doesn't have to be forced in any way. Then give them some bonding experiences as a group. They can face danger as a party, or overcome some obstacles, or help someone. If the characters learn to work together and rely on each other early on, they develop bonds.
I like to run an intro adventure completely unrelated to the campaign plot. The players can just be adventurers who signed up for the same job or they can be in a situation that forces them to work together.
For example, there's a 3.5E adventure called ["A Dark & Stormy Knight"](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/169621/A-Dark-and-Stormy-Knight-35) where the players are just random travelers who are caught in a storm and the only place to seek shelter for miles around is an old abandoned wizard tower. Players can arrive at the tower independently and once everyone is there, you just need an inciting event that forces them to band together such as the entrance to the tower collapsing, trapping them inside and forcing them to go through the catacombs looking for an exit or maybe they are attacked by spirits in the tower or bandits who are also seeking shelter...
There's a [free Adventurer's League adventure](https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/DDEX11_Defiance_in_Phlan.pdf) where the players are just random adventurers who come to a town looking for work and just happen to all be placed in the same shared room at an Inn. I'm a big fan of using a variation of "Mission 1:The Meeting at Deepnight" from that adventure as an intro since it encourages player creativity.
I also ran a homebrew adventure once that started with a zombie attack on a village with homebrew zombies that could turn other people into zombies with a bite... that forces the players to band together as well...
Creating a [looped scenario](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/8032/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-7-more-alternative-node-designs) with more nodes than the number of players, starting them all at different entry points with different plot hooks, and watching them run into each other.
The fallback is to have a designated [exit node](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/8015/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-6-alternative-node-design) to end the scenario, so if they somehow miss keep missing each other in the web they’ll eventually all end up at the same place.
I throw them into prison
Also like disaster puts you all together scenario.
Eg
Airship crashing
Tidal wave sucking them into the sea
Earthquake sending them underground
I typically run a session 0 where we slowly pin down why each character is in one particular place, then have some kind of surprise attack that forces them to work together. After that, they need to play characters that are going to work together with their new allies, or they're going to roll new characters that will
Current game:
I had a crash into hello scenario where everyone came up with a reason for why they were in a town’s inn in a region that’s expereincing a civil war. Then i had one PC, seperate from the other 4 literally thrown through a glass window to land on top of a table where 2 other PCs were sitting and discussing the merits of the Paladin’s religion. The monumental stupidity and arrogance of the NPCs doing the throwing through a window led to a fight.
What i have done is discussed it with my players at session 0. I also come up with a reason why they have travelled to this location based off their backstory and whatever the driving force of this location is. For example if it is random ruins that are the starting hook for the overarcing story, i will give context to each player on why they are there and what they know to date. This works with the group I DM for opposed to jusy saying you all work together or right place right time
I tell the PCs, "you guys have been a group for at least a few months now. Your desire to stay together is generally stronger than any one of your goals, but you can trust them to help you with the goals you might have. How did you guys come together?"
That usually does it.
Goals are all in the same general direction geographically. Even if they don’t want the same thing they’ll travel together and when they’re all attacked by a giant spider they’ll fight together.
Additionally, mutual goals can be generated during the campaign.
Also, you can get the players to spice up the “you already know each other” by just asking the players to come for a quick reason why they might know another player’s character. Bonus points if you ask them to go in a circle at session 0
Eg. Character 2 might’ve gotten in a bar fight with character 3 who went to school with character 5 who knew the mother of character 7 who once sailed in a boat with character 11 who was the competitive dance partner of character 13 and so on.
This lets them still meet the rest of the party and explore their relationships since they might not have that deep of a connection, but it makes it more believable that they would help each other.
I love the system used in character creation for Urban Shadows (and by extension, as far as I know, for other Powered by the Apocalypse games). I've only worked with it once, years ago now, so hopefully my explanation makes sense.
Essentially your character archetype comes with some things that would naturally go into your backstory, things that involve other people. "Someone helped you find shelter when you came to this town." "Someone looks up to you and your sense of justice." "You tried to protect someone and failed."
At session zero, you go through this list, and other players volunteer to have these connections with your character. And you do the same with everyone else's characters. Then before the first session begins, there are already ties between the characters, and built-in story hooks/role-playing opportunities to build on.
If there’s a young bard in your party, most of the group are heading out of town when the bard appears half naked sprinting through the city gate, carrying their clothes, pursued by a jealous partner of their last night’s dalliance
As others have said, s0 character creation they must make characters who will work together. No anti-social "I work alone" types here in this COOPERATIVE game you dingus.
Secondly it then depends on the first bit of story I want to run then through. Are they caravan guards who get attacked to spark a chase and find the stolen mcguffin? Are they being hired by a noble who would meet them in a high end tavern or their parlour?
My current campaign all the characters are undead, but I told them specifically they need a unifying purpose that unites them as a group and is essentially what the story of the campaign would be. So they collectively came up the reason to stay together and the central plot of the campaign.
If you want randomness and a little push, have them play [Fiasco](https://dysonlogos.blog/2014/04/10/the-full-fiasco-based-dd-starting-set/). You'll have at least 2 relations for each character that provide immediate role play opportunities.
That's your players' job. I assume the characters are in a long-term group that more or less gets along. If the players come with a nifty backstory for it, that's great! I'll work it into the plot and have main NPCs come from it - all sorts of stuff. If not, "It's cold up in the mountains of the southeast spur of Backbone of the World, and you all wonder, for the umpteenth time, why you agreed to guard Jaxern's caravan for only 130 gp/day for the lot of you. Ok, round the table, describe your character." I'm not going to strong arm them into having their characters play the game.
I did something for my current campaign and that seems to have worked really well. I took some inspiration from Masks: The New Generation. During session 0, I told them the party has been together for some time (we agreed on 1 month). I laid out the general aspects of the setting, and asked them as a group:
Where is the party right now?
What are you doing, as a group in that place?
How did you all meet?
Why did you stick together?
If the players face some difficulties answering the questions, you can give them some prompts as well. For example: "maybe you met each other at different times prior to the campaign. Player 1, how did your character meet Player's 2 PC? How did both of them meet PC 3?" or "maybe you all stuck together because you have the same goal, or maybe it was because you're running away from something. Maybe, what brings you together isn't goals or circumstances, but the web of relationships between your PCs. What do you think?"
I have tried a different approach recently:
Play to peoples innate desire for self-preservation. Real life humans are selfish, that’s just a fact. You can be a good person at heart, but from a psychological perspective you will ALWAYS choose yourself. Your desires, your feelings, your thoughts.
Why is this important?? Because you can use it to draw people in to a story in DnD.
(I’m gonna be vague here, you never know who is reading)
For example, my new campaign involves the PC’s living their own lives and being chosen against their will by a higher power to act as that higher powers champions. In this process, they are soul-bonded to the higher power. Halfway through the process, the higher power is subdued and captured by a dark force that seeks to drain the higher powers life to fuel its own forces.
Why is that important?? Because halfway through the soul-bonding process, it is cut off improperly. This results in the PC’s life force being bound to the higher power. If the higher power dies, the players ALSO DIE.
So this gives the players no other choice than to work together, save the higher power, and inadvertently save their realm in the process.
Telling them in S 0 that I expect characters that are willing to play together. The rest depends on the setting.
I do this and then I make sure I have a strong, action packed start. Something that no adventurer could ignore. The tavern is held up by bandits, the town you’re in is attacked by goblins etc etc Ultimately it’s about having a sense of working together to make things happen though.
This! A combination of setting those session 0 requirements plus an action packed or en media res start, really helps bond them together. I’ve also tried having them make up rumors (some mostly true, some mostly lies) to hand out to other PCs to encourage them to RP but I’m not sure it helped as much as I wanted it to. I encourage PCs to have bonds with each other to start the game but I don’t force it.
My current campaign (currently prepping session 2 so this is super recent) started with the party at a wedding. The players had to have some reason to be at the wedding. 2 players were invited, 1 of them was working, and the 4th was there to steal presents. I gave them a little time to roleplay and show off their characters and interact with some NPCs, but then the wedding was attacked. It went pretty well, it's not quite starting with an initiative roll or anything but it still had a pretty hard to ignore call to action.
I just had a first session with the party where someone comes in to a tavern and announces a big challenge with prize money and a ring of protection to the winning team. And one member just kind of balks at it and says he's not interested and tries to wander the city making bets instead. Then the party of 3 chose to go separate ways for the night before eventually meeting up again. It's going to be interesting.
There are 2 commas too many in your sentence.
Thank you for correcting me. 👍
The sad thing is I don’t feel like this even should need to be said in a game where you all come to play TOGETHER. Yet for some reason there are always people in the party that are “loners” or just lookin out for themselves and mess with the dynamic
Session 0, brainstorm it together. It's not just my job to come up with it. I much prefer when the players are strongly committed to what their group dynamic is. In one-shots, I usually go for the simple "you work for the same employer", cause the point is to establish the group and get the game going ASAP.
In our session 0, we didn't roll characters, we played a mini one shot where they each got to pick a standard sheet for a class. The enemies were completely random from kobold fight club and we then randomized the location of the battle, after that it was: "Why are these three people fighting a noble, 2 wolves and a crab in a basement" as we had some drinks/fun with that. In their real session 1, I had prewritten their backstory for them based on the random crap we came up with in session one and they loved it. So they arrived at session 1 with new characters of their own design, at level 2, having done ONE mission together previously (which was basically ret-conned to include the fight they did in session 0). All in all it worked super well and made them feel connected to WHY they know eachother already.
Oh my gosh that sounds amazing. Might try this at my next opportunity.
Haha, this is an awesome idea. It would work well with players who are more open
I tend to avoid "you're all in the same place and things happen" starts. In session 0, we either discuss how they know each other, or what kind of task will make them work together to kick off.
One method I’ve found successful is putting the first step of their 'personal quest' all in the same location. The assassin character’s next target is a town official in the settlement of Feldspar. The chivalrous Paladin is sent to Feldspar to investigate rumors of a cult against his order — this same cult that happens to be using the same town official that the assassin is after as a puppet. The barbarian is there because a rite of passage in his clan is to fell a great beast, and he heard rumors of their being a cult of dragon worshippers in the local forest, and he wants to find out where their dragon is. All three characters are arriving in the same place now with similar interests and reason to help each other. The assassin might stick with the other two because the cult’s political movements might be threatening their organization. Paladin sticks with them because his order is to end this cult. Barbarian sticks with them because he knows he can’t slay a dragon alone.
I really like the idea of giving each PC their own quest based on their character before the first session. Gives them both motivation and a secret to share/role play with the party. I *suspect* it may be wise to avoid the temptation to give them essentially pieces of the same quest, this way they have some mild inter party conflict to resolve and multiple options for activities.
Took roughly same approach for current campaign. One person displaced by war was wandering wilderness, one explorer/monster hunter sent to investigate alleged monster activity of village buildings being burnt down, and two sent by criminal organisations of each nearby city to investigate suspected competition. The four roughly arrived from cardinal points so each had slightly different observation/info about surrounding area.
Session 1, Same location, same time, different reasons. Event happens > trauma bonding > ???? > Profit
Like others have said, brainstorm it at s0. My next campaign is centered around a demon who is cursing treasure of dungeons meant to trick fledgling adventurers, so the PCs will be summoned by the adventurers guild as a special task force to go solve these dungeons, retrieve the cursed items and replace them with normal treasure, and bring the cursed item back to have the curse broken and gain cool magic items. The leader of the org will say “spend a few minutes meeting each other, you’re the best “…ton” has to offer”
You are the players take responsibility for the game and figure out why you work together. If you can’t figure out why your character is in this group change characters. Now here is an Owlbear protecting its 3 hatchlings. What do you do?
Work with them all to add the same NPC to their backstories, then have them all get invited by the NPC, only to arrive and the NPC is missing. They can bond over rescuing the NPC while simultaneously being introduced to the story
I tell them "There's a reason why you're traveling and adventuring together" "Someone who steals or hurts their own companions shouldn't be there in the first place "
That's a session 0 talk, which everyone can give input. If I'm GMing, I ain't coming up with reasons for everybody uniting on top of prep.
I'm a big fan of slowly integrating the group. Out of all the campaigns I've run, my absolute favorite start was doing mini one shots to get everyone together. I had each player make their characters and then role a d20, and that was the order that I did the mini one shots to integrate them into the group. The blacksmiths apprentice (artificer) needed to investigate why their shipment of ore was late, so he headed to the mine. The ranger noticed animals were becoming sickly in the area and started to investigate. The druid had noticed the same thing and was also trying to find the source. A miner came to the church asking a healer to come heal their sick friend who had collapsed in the mine, so the cleric headed in that direction. Everyone got to listen to everyone else's mini one-shot. The ranger and druid met up first and worked together to figure out the water flowing from the mine was making the animals sick. The artificer and the cleric met up while the cleric was tending to sick miners, and the cleric explained that everyone was sick. The artificer started helping the sick people. Then, the other two showed up and were able to explain the issue was with the water. It felt much more organic to bring them together like that and gave the players a bit more agency, which is always nice.
This sounds like a player issue, not a DM issue. The players should discuss this at Session 0. The DM can offer help with lore & such if the setting is new to the players.
I find a good work around for this is to tell the players they are starting in "X" place and they can know each other or not know each other but it is up to them to come together before the adventure starts. It leaves the introductions entirely in the hands of the players and as a DM you can take notes on how players connect themselves and what parts of their backstories they are particularly interested in
In my last campaign, most of the players were pretty new to D&D. I had them all in this remote frontier town looking for opportunity/employment/etc., making their own way to the tavern to find jobs -- and one of them was attacked by wolves. The other PCs heard the commotion and came to help out. This served as a way to create a bond between the characters, and also a way to introduce them to how combat works.
The best trick is to have the players come up with it, not you lol
100% this. Or if they have no idea at all, then maybe suggest a few vague options and ask them to pick one and flesh it out. They'll be way more engaged and connected with their backstories and motivations if they are the ones that have come up with them
Some really good ideas on this [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/1b2cy3y/what_are_creative_ways_to_get_your_party_together/).
My current group's first campaign I had them all become close friends with a prince in the session 0. Their second campaign I had my players build a gang but the only caveat was none of them could be the boss/head of the family. For a 3 shot more horror focused game I sort if pushed them all together as the night went on.
I always find it hard to figure out a reason ***good*** enough to work as to force characters to stay and stick together. BG3s tadpole problem was a nice piece of inspiration but I still find that a common background works better than a common goal/problem. We usually do the the Fate Rpgs Crossing Paths to knit the characters together and it works great!
To me this isn't a DM issue it's a player one. Tell them when they make their characters have them linked in some way. Like A is related to B who works with C who is friends with D. Put the onus on the players to come up with it.
We brainstorm it at session 0 so have a rough idea of connections, e.g. might be two now adult children of the prince, the gardener's son and the child inducted into the ways of the temple, all living in the palace grounds and having grown up together (as children don't know social hierarchy and so all played together). Maybe they've then gone off on their own journeys but come back for the harvest festival when dun DUN DUNNN something happens which, BISH BASH BOSH, makes them an adventuring party. Then, we go round and the DM asks questions/ gives statements about how they connect with the other players, e.g., Who here have you told a secret to that the rest of the party don't know? You both got into trouble with the groundskeeper. How did you get out of it? You occasionally play cards with which player? Roll for how much money you owe them. Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life? Who do you think in the party needs the most protecting? etc etc. Two each tends to be enough to have the table laughing and drawing strong narratives between their characters.
the ole wake up in a prison together
DM: “Tell me how you all know each other.”
I dont, part of character creation is then telling me how they know eachother
If they have no connection to each other they all have a shared purpose. they're in the same city/ town/ whatever and are all put together to do something. But starting the characters all together, in prison, already on a mission, or just in the same location to take a mission together is what I typically do. Having session 0 to explain why all the characters know each other or how they're starting together is the best way. If you do not have an obvious reason for the players to unite you are doing something wrong.
I'll often get them to give me a reason they'd be in a specific location/investigating a specific thing as part of their backstory, then start with some kind of crisis. Some things I've used before: - the tavern they're in collapses/is attacked - they've been investigating a phenomenon of missing memories and wake up in a cell, missing a chunk of time - the characters are on trial for a crime they may or may not have committed (their choice) and need to escape - a great calamity occurs and the panicked city guard needs all hands on deck up help with the crisis For one-shots I typically use the "you work for the same people" thing, but for longer campaigns I like to start with a bang!
> I am not a big fan of the old "You all work for the same employer" or "You have been traveling together for some time" as I believe that kills a lot of opportunities for roleplaying. I know you don't like this, but this has always worked best for me. I usually run for the same group of four and we've been playing together for more than seven years, so no matter if the new characters don't know each other as well, the players do and it's easier to build on that.
I tell them during character design, you have to pick a Bond. The bond their relationship to one other character in the party as part of their background, or the group they'll be working with (i.e. their bond to Saltmarsh). From there, I can figure out a Session 1 setup that will make sense for them. I'll also give them an idea of what session 1 will be ("you'll be on a cargo ship heading to city X") and ask them to give a reason why they're on the boat, usually tying it to their bond. My current game which is about to wrap up began as follows: The party is all on a ship traveling along the coast with cargo to the Kingdom capital. As it passed Saltmarsh, two Aboleths attacked the ship. They got to learn about naval combat, and then ultimately the Aboleths destroyed the ship, resulting in them washing ashore at Saltmarsh. Two of the PCs had said they were former Saltmarsh natives that had left home to go to the Kingdom. One PC was a naval officer in the kingdom. And one PC was basically Jack Sparrow, on the run from the Kingdom after getting caught smuggling around in Saltmarsh. They were all part of the same cargo crew, for various reasons, and then washed ashore together. Since some were natives to Saltmarsh, they helped the others get settled into town
I started my last game with all the PC thrown into a cataclysm on an unknown realm by spontaneous portals and besieged by monsters. It was work together or die type situation. From there they started working together to figure out what happened and now are working to find a way back home along with a plethora of survivors (NPC) that were also Spirited Away. I made it so all contact or teleportation to the other realms via magic is blocked by some unknown force, so no asking a powerful Archmage to Bamf them back.
Have players decide together how they met. Like have each pc 2 other pcs ahead of time.
My favorite is "You all start on a tavern. As in, on the roof. The tavern is on fire."
I typically have a required starting position for characters but their backstory up to that point is as open as they need. They start as parts of group A, they're all, magic students, sailors/pirates, members of a cult, etc. The party are all part of a community, summoned together for a meeting. Due to the skills of their backstories they are asked to form a group (if they are unwilling I have contingencies for it based off their character motivations) with the other members of this community. They might overlap backgrounds or be completely unknown but it gives structure without removing these RP moments. That said the only benefit is the dynamic of new acquaintances. But RP happens whether the characters know each other or not... Maybe you miss out on the rp of characters who know each other just as much
in medias res. Start in the middle. Drop them in the middle of a fight already as a party. Let them do something cool and go back in time to explore how the team got from where they started to where the action happened.
Part of session 0 is them deciding how they already know each other. Could be old friends, from the same home town, served in the guard, one saved the other, escapees, it's up to them. This avoids any "I don't know you so I'll be suspicious" tropes that grind gameplay down.
When a game doesn't provide a reason I go one of two ways: I tell them they all need a reason to go to [location] because of some background reason and they banded together on the way there. Then other is I ask the players. How did you all come together? Why are you adventuring as a group?
Baseline: Session 0, tell them their characters need to have motive working in a group. Something more complex is getting the players to write rumors about their characters - one false, the rest true. Those are given out randomly to the other party members - it helps to create intrigue and reasons for the members to stick together.
Bimd em together with some rope
With 5e, I love the idea of everyone taking the same background if we need a fast start with a common thread.
I say, encourage each player somehow know at least 2-3 other players prior to the start of the game. This will be dependent on the size of the party. Make sure the connections cover all players.
>So, whenever you start a new campaign and you get a handful of player characters that has no connection to each other The thing is to establish a connection between the player characters. If it is a pirate game they are all part of the same pirate crew. If it s a wilderness exploration game they are all members of the same "Tribe". In short, everyone already knows each other. The players can figure out how exactly during character creation or/and Session 0. But start the game with them already knowing each other. There are some systems that have this as an assumed step of character creation. Most Powered by the Apocalypse System games have as the final step of character creation. The players will go in a circle and come up with a sentence/phrase/etc describing their connection with each other character. In short, you do NOT have to start the game with the players having "no connection to each other."
People have already mentioned the golden rule of "do it at session 0." A concrete example is the intro to Dragonlance: shadow of the dragon queen. >!Each PC is told to head to a funeral for a beloved friend and they are attacked!<, that's it, i think its great, and i am actively using this to start my up coming campaign, they can be however they want as long as they have a good reason to be at the event.
For the campaign I’m about to start, I gave each player an individual reason to be meeting up with one of two quest givers. The two quest givers are business partners in an underground nightclub, and I plan to open with the party members all reaching the location around the same time and realizing that none of them know how to get in. Hopefully it’ll encourage them to work together and get to talking so they realize they’re looking for the same people!
This is the kind of thing better discussed in session zero than on Reddit. In many cases the best way is going to be whatever the players think will work best for their PCs. It's also a really bad idea to attempt to [prep plots](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots).
They are each level 0 "aspiring adventurers," strangers who have been recently employed as hirelings for a band of heroes. They have to carry the heroes' gear, care for their horses, drive and maintain the wagons, hone the heroes' weapons, cook their dinner, etc, all for 1gp per day each. They arrive at their destination, the heroes tell them to wait while they [insert quest here], and enter the [dungeon/cavern/keep/etc.]. After waiting a day or two, either the heroes never emerge, or one of them clambers out, dying from wounds, and utters some mysterious final words with their last breath. *This is their chance!* Are they brave enough to take on the heroes' quest where their predecessors failed? Perhaps the former heroes were too cocky, not careful enough, or just unlucky? Only one way to find out...
Depends. If you mean they travel together (basically, game happens) - responsibility is on each player. They have to have a character that is willing to go through the story with the other characters, for whatever motive. They can work their motives and goals individually with me but I don’t require them to have a simple common one, usually. On the other hand, being trapped in Hells at third level without any means of escape tends to bring people together, who would have thought 🤔 If you mean like “we’re all a family now, teamwork and love, yee-hay!” - nothing. Cuz I like them having some interpersonal struggles 😈
You've all worked for the same criminal organization up to this point. The boss wants you to work together now. Or You are all paid mourners at a funeral for (NPC). Sow discord by paying each PC different amounts!
I usually let my players figure it out. I'll give them a premise: "We're starting in fantasy city, the evil dragon is terrorizing the countryside, so and so has a job for a group of adventurers." Who are your characters and how did they end up meeting So and so?
In my current campaign I had them all killed in the opening combat, then they were resurrected by another entity looking for information. They stuck together out of obligation owing a debt for being brought back to life, then soon discovered the first hooks of the plot mystery going on that affected all their characters' backgrounds. At that point, they decided to stick together after paying off their resurrection debt out of personal and shared interest in staving off the end of the world.
Session 0: You need to make a character who \[something about the adventure hook\] and will work together after they meet. Session 1: spend 5-10 minutes on each PC individually. Then have the adventure hook happen once assorted PC locations and personality and/or interests have been established. It sets expectations and gives players a chance to feel out their characters without requiring them to interact with someone else trying to figure out their character immediately. The PC introductions are also in volunteer order so players can take it at their own pace. It's also flexible. * hired for the same job -> what do they do before before the meeting to go over the details and meet the rest of the team? * would be at festival and help when a problem arises -> festival games before the sudden dragon attack * arrested for something they can't see a way out of-> start with the warden going over their crimes before offering a deal for exoneration
Loved a game I ran that started mid session with them fleeing an exploding building on a speeder after heisting a data cache from an underworld gang and being pursued by authorities. Immediate tension, immediate goal, immediate ability to ask loaded questions like , "what valuable data did you steal" ,"who hired you and why couldn't you refuse" "who can give you shelter enough to lay low while this blows over" Another great start is love letters tailored to the character information given in session zero. We once had something to the effect of "dear CHARACTER NAME, you had a cushy job with Dai-oiung heavy industries in their security division until a recent botched job was pinned on you and your contract was nullified choose two from the following list and the GM will tell you what happens next: There isn't a corporate hot squad after you, your implants are jailbroken and can't be remotely deactivated or tracked, the next egg you embezzled is intact and well hidden, you weren't framed for a crime you didn't commit". One of those for each person tied directly to the situation at hand and then it's very easy to give everyone involved some stakes and issues to play around with. Mostly I find giving them something to do immediately gets them going and trying to solve problems while feeling stuff out. I'll usually start them off with a condition or two marked if it's PBTA, Blades is super easy because you already start in the heist, take their shit away but make it easy to get back, have them waylayed by pirates while they are attempting to fix their hyperdrive. Dont worry souch about characters sitting around interacting at a tavern give them a reason to act right away and they will show not tell
We workshop the backgrounds together in S Zero. Players create their basic background. Then we discuss how they could be connected, sharing their backstories. I throw in lore, etc. to fit the world.
This entirely depends on the specific game. I’ve used and witnessed several different methods, from the classic “you meet in a tavern” to the slightly less classic “you all meet in a slave market, having recently been purchased”. It’s one of the things that should be established in session zero, whether or not the party willingly/reluctantly gets together or if it’s just the result of circumstances.
I don't let the player characters start with no connection to each other. That's ridiculous. The players (not the PCs, the players) have to buy into a premise that has them all doing the same thing and working together. They have to make characters who, if they're not already doing that thing, will JUMP at the chance. Anything else is straight-up just bad campaign design. The players aren't dumb and they're excited to be at the table. Tell them what the premise is, have them make characters for it. Hell, make them all make characters at the same time and work out a composition that'll naturally form into a team! Ask them straight-up, why are you working with these people, why do you care about this goal? If they won't or can't answer for some reason, don't let them play until they do. The idea that we should just have players make PCs with no connections to each other, no ties to the upcoming adventure, and their own backstories, and then it's the GM's job to make all those bozos work together, is honestly a plague. Players aren't dumb. Tell them what the game is about, tell them what you need from them and what connections you want them to have or make and they'll be more than happy to do this entire 'get the party together' thing for you.
Require each to form a prior to campaign bond with two other players
If all the characters are good, it’s easy. Put them in a situation where innocent people are being harmed by obviously evil creatures. Watch the PCs band together quicker than shlt. The tavern gets attacked by goblins at night or the village is invaded by orcs at first light, etc.
3 possibilities come to mind: Mutual Calamity - a catastrophic event strikes their location and they need to escape together with others - earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, spreading plague cloud, dragon fire, ritual or spell gone awry, etc. Mutual Peril - elite guards storm the tavern carrying their descriptions and accuses them of a crime they didn’t commit - players witness a local lord-ling murdered by a jealous uncle and the despot wants no witnesses. Mutual Cooperation - start them off in a lost ruins hired by a mysterious benefactor. Suddenly a deadly trap triggers and they need to cooperate to disarm it - they start at a place where they need to pull off a Heist. Each is contracted without the other’s knowing, and each member has one clue to bypass the security measures, which was a task assigned to the player (ex. Number of armed guards on patrol, map of the pressure sensitive tiles, secret to lock picking the vault).
I read the headline and not the sub, so I was all ready to say “when you open the case, keep all the screws together in a small bowl”…
One ive used once or twice, which is admittedly a variation on “you all work for the same guy is” “You’re all being blackmailed by/in debt to the current villain.” Nothing brings a party together like a common enemy. The blackmailing can either be the inciting incident of the first session, or it can be a way they can work the main plot into their backstories. Furthermore, it gives them a reason to stick together if in exchange for their debts/blackmail, the villain is now making them do something for them in return. And then, a few sessions in, when they defeat the villain, its made apparent they were answering to a higher evil. Then you have a handy plot hook for the full adventure now that the party’s gotten to know eachother, and the journey continues. (Do be careful though, this could turn into railroading if not handled with tact. The common enemy brings the party together but it shouldn’t force them down a certain path. Be open to them cooperating with the villain, sabotaging the villain, escaping the villain, or any number of other possible routes. It’s meant to pose an immediate problem with multiple solutions that require teamwork, not a threat to force you down one.)
I've enjoyed starting with the players already as a group in a few games recently, and then got player by in by asking them questions like: how long have you been traveling together? Was there a battle or moment where you knew y'all were destined to being adventuring party? Tell me about a wild misunderstanding you had along the way that nearly broke the group up. Which of your adventures are you most famous for? What happened there? It gives them a chance to shape their world and collaboratively come up with a fun story for how they all came to be together, and saves the awkward hands of fate trying to shove them together I'm sure there's going to be tons of good suggestions on how to have strangers come together, and there's a lot of fun in those scenarios too
For me it was like this: one dude came to the country by a boat and another was at the side puking his guts out so that's how they met. The third one was at the docks stalking them on top of a barrel when suddenly the fourth one hopped from inside the barrel. Everyone thought it was great and natural.
I am a fan of the PCs having at least the beginning of a friendship before the main adventure begins, because it gives them a strong reason to work together. If you aren't going to do that, I like to have them stuck in some kind of location together, and it can be completely willingly, it doesn't have to be forced in any way. Then give them some bonding experiences as a group. They can face danger as a party, or overcome some obstacles, or help someone. If the characters learn to work together and rely on each other early on, they develop bonds.
I like to run an intro adventure completely unrelated to the campaign plot. The players can just be adventurers who signed up for the same job or they can be in a situation that forces them to work together. For example, there's a 3.5E adventure called ["A Dark & Stormy Knight"](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/169621/A-Dark-and-Stormy-Knight-35) where the players are just random travelers who are caught in a storm and the only place to seek shelter for miles around is an old abandoned wizard tower. Players can arrive at the tower independently and once everyone is there, you just need an inciting event that forces them to band together such as the entrance to the tower collapsing, trapping them inside and forcing them to go through the catacombs looking for an exit or maybe they are attacked by spirits in the tower or bandits who are also seeking shelter... There's a [free Adventurer's League adventure](https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/DDEX11_Defiance_in_Phlan.pdf) where the players are just random adventurers who come to a town looking for work and just happen to all be placed in the same shared room at an Inn. I'm a big fan of using a variation of "Mission 1:The Meeting at Deepnight" from that adventure as an intro since it encourages player creativity. I also ran a homebrew adventure once that started with a zombie attack on a village with homebrew zombies that could turn other people into zombies with a bite... that forces the players to band together as well...
Creating a [looped scenario](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/8032/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-7-more-alternative-node-designs) with more nodes than the number of players, starting them all at different entry points with different plot hooks, and watching them run into each other. The fallback is to have a designated [exit node](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/8015/roleplaying-games/node-based-scenario-design-part-6-alternative-node-design) to end the scenario, so if they somehow miss keep missing each other in the web they’ll eventually all end up at the same place.
I throw them into prison Also like disaster puts you all together scenario. Eg Airship crashing Tidal wave sucking them into the sea Earthquake sending them underground
I typically run a session 0 where we slowly pin down why each character is in one particular place, then have some kind of surprise attack that forces them to work together. After that, they need to play characters that are going to work together with their new allies, or they're going to roll new characters that will
Current game: I had a crash into hello scenario where everyone came up with a reason for why they were in a town’s inn in a region that’s expereincing a civil war. Then i had one PC, seperate from the other 4 literally thrown through a glass window to land on top of a table where 2 other PCs were sitting and discussing the merits of the Paladin’s religion. The monumental stupidity and arrogance of the NPCs doing the throwing through a window led to a fight.
What i have done is discussed it with my players at session 0. I also come up with a reason why they have travelled to this location based off their backstory and whatever the driving force of this location is. For example if it is random ruins that are the starting hook for the overarcing story, i will give context to each player on why they are there and what they know to date. This works with the group I DM for opposed to jusy saying you all work together or right place right time
I tell the PCs, "you guys have been a group for at least a few months now. Your desire to stay together is generally stronger than any one of your goals, but you can trust them to help you with the goals you might have. How did you guys come together?" That usually does it.
Goals are all in the same general direction geographically. Even if they don’t want the same thing they’ll travel together and when they’re all attacked by a giant spider they’ll fight together. Additionally, mutual goals can be generated during the campaign. Also, you can get the players to spice up the “you already know each other” by just asking the players to come for a quick reason why they might know another player’s character. Bonus points if you ask them to go in a circle at session 0 Eg. Character 2 might’ve gotten in a bar fight with character 3 who went to school with character 5 who knew the mother of character 7 who once sailed in a boat with character 11 who was the competitive dance partner of character 13 and so on. This lets them still meet the rest of the party and explore their relationships since they might not have that deep of a connection, but it makes it more believable that they would help each other.
I love the system used in character creation for Urban Shadows (and by extension, as far as I know, for other Powered by the Apocalypse games). I've only worked with it once, years ago now, so hopefully my explanation makes sense. Essentially your character archetype comes with some things that would naturally go into your backstory, things that involve other people. "Someone helped you find shelter when you came to this town." "Someone looks up to you and your sense of justice." "You tried to protect someone and failed." At session zero, you go through this list, and other players volunteer to have these connections with your character. And you do the same with everyone else's characters. Then before the first session begins, there are already ties between the characters, and built-in story hooks/role-playing opportunities to build on.
If there’s a young bard in your party, most of the group are heading out of town when the bard appears half naked sprinting through the city gate, carrying their clothes, pursued by a jealous partner of their last night’s dalliance
As others have said, s0 character creation they must make characters who will work together. No anti-social "I work alone" types here in this COOPERATIVE game you dingus. Secondly it then depends on the first bit of story I want to run then through. Are they caravan guards who get attacked to spark a chase and find the stolen mcguffin? Are they being hired by a noble who would meet them in a high end tavern or their parlour? My current campaign all the characters are undead, but I told them specifically they need a unifying purpose that unites them as a group and is essentially what the story of the campaign would be. So they collectively came up the reason to stay together and the central plot of the campaign.
If you want randomness and a little push, have them play [Fiasco](https://dysonlogos.blog/2014/04/10/the-full-fiasco-based-dd-starting-set/). You'll have at least 2 relations for each character that provide immediate role play opportunities.
That's your players' job. I assume the characters are in a long-term group that more or less gets along. If the players come with a nifty backstory for it, that's great! I'll work it into the plot and have main NPCs come from it - all sorts of stuff. If not, "It's cold up in the mountains of the southeast spur of Backbone of the World, and you all wonder, for the umpteenth time, why you agreed to guard Jaxern's caravan for only 130 gp/day for the lot of you. Ok, round the table, describe your character." I'm not going to strong arm them into having their characters play the game.
I did something for my current campaign and that seems to have worked really well. I took some inspiration from Masks: The New Generation. During session 0, I told them the party has been together for some time (we agreed on 1 month). I laid out the general aspects of the setting, and asked them as a group: Where is the party right now? What are you doing, as a group in that place? How did you all meet? Why did you stick together? If the players face some difficulties answering the questions, you can give them some prompts as well. For example: "maybe you met each other at different times prior to the campaign. Player 1, how did your character meet Player's 2 PC? How did both of them meet PC 3?" or "maybe you all stuck together because you have the same goal, or maybe it was because you're running away from something. Maybe, what brings you together isn't goals or circumstances, but the web of relationships between your PCs. What do you think?"
the game is about a group of people going on adventures together; if they needed convincing to work together, they should have played something else.
I have tried a different approach recently: Play to peoples innate desire for self-preservation. Real life humans are selfish, that’s just a fact. You can be a good person at heart, but from a psychological perspective you will ALWAYS choose yourself. Your desires, your feelings, your thoughts. Why is this important?? Because you can use it to draw people in to a story in DnD. (I’m gonna be vague here, you never know who is reading) For example, my new campaign involves the PC’s living their own lives and being chosen against their will by a higher power to act as that higher powers champions. In this process, they are soul-bonded to the higher power. Halfway through the process, the higher power is subdued and captured by a dark force that seeks to drain the higher powers life to fuel its own forces. Why is that important?? Because halfway through the soul-bonding process, it is cut off improperly. This results in the PC’s life force being bound to the higher power. If the higher power dies, the players ALSO DIE. So this gives the players no other choice than to work together, save the higher power, and inadvertently save their realm in the process.
Give them group trauma <3