...is my smart-aleck way of saying "think before you leap" (or, more accurately, look before you leap). Yeah I'm so smart because I know how to Google Latin phrases that complement my new topic (sort of).

ANYHOW

The point of this Topic is to get ideas on how GMs out there plan the most important part of any upcoming campaign: the BEGINNING.

How exactly do you assemble your group of rag tag jerks and creeps of the Old World into a cohesive band of anti heroes?

My plan, although a bit cliched*, is to have all the PCs be distantly related. They happen to be the last members of an old family. The problem with this, of course, is that they all have to be human. Luckily, none of my players care right now, but more on that detail later.

The point is that they are each contacted via letter by an old relative- a grand fatherly patriarch of the family, who is dying of some age related illness. He wishes to divide up his fortune to blood relatives. Hence he has sent out letters to his remaining grandchildren, inviting them to come and stay at his mansion in Eastern Stirland until he passes away. After that, they will be filthy rich! He's even given them money to make the trip!

Unfortunately, the mansion and nearby village are just a stone throw away from that lovely place called... SYLVANIAAAAAAAAA ! You can guess what sorts of problems will creep up.

The mood will definitely be a gloomy recipe with the following ingredients: some Poe, some Lovecraft, some Mike Mignola and some Gothic Horror. You can bet that they will eventually discover some kind of HORRIBLE secret about their bloodline. Bwah hah hah.

The first session will have them all meet up in a village about a day away from their destination. They will be sharing a coach.

I would like them to choose their Party Sheet after their first major conflicts.

- - -

SO that's good and all, but how on earth could I change this so that the players could choose other races? Any ideas? The blood relative idea is a cheap, quick way to unify a bunch of characters. But let's say that I can't do that? How on earth do I get all these players to go into Stirland... and stay there for a while? Why would an Elf or Dwarf go there?

Also: Stirlanders HATE halflings!

* - I can't figure out how to use alt keys on my laptop to create the proper accents. Merde.

Personally, and this is no reflection on your nicely done plan, I am going to use the party sheet to explain why the party is together. I'll make the players work the party sheet into their backstory. Heheh.

As for your issues... It sounds like a fun game. If there's only a single non-human, I would think it would be easy enough to explain that character as an old family friend. Both dwarves and elves live a long time. It is quite possible that the non-human character is like a "favored uncle" to the children of the family as they grew up, visiting every decade or so, bringing sweets to the kids and prestige to the family, etc. So, they are almost like family. You might need to change their inheritance a bit, possible to a specific heirloom they were interested in or something, etc.

If you're looking at more non-humans, I think it depends more on the party composition. It could be possible that the grandfather was relatively known for something ... a library or collection of certain items, etc. Perhaps elves or dwarves had arranged a viewing of the items with the grandfather, and just get caught up in the struggle. Perhaps the grandfather was once an adventurer himself, and reached out to his old companions and they sent representatives. Perhaps the grandfather has been controlled or influenced by a Vampire Count, and thus has summoned a variety of people, both human and non-human, for some nefarious plan. (maybe a ritual requiring the blood of multiple races, etc). The elves or dwarves might have some knowledge of an increase in undead activity in the area, and have sent some scouts to check up, and just happen (well, fate) to join up with the human heirs at the moment of need.

So, a bunch of wild suggestions thrown out there. I think if the group has more than a single non-human it will be a little more work, but not impossible. It would be easier to provide suggestions, though knowing which non-human races are represented and which aren't. Dwarves can be lured by artefacts, and high elves by a library, while Wood elves might be more interested in an arboretum or strange/rare plant, etc.

As the previous poster said, non-humans would be family friends.

dvang said:

Yes this is true. Use the party sheet. Creativity is not every GMs talent. Why inventing something mediocre for your group if you have a coloured party sheet with first class carefully developed professional motivations, georgeous illustrations AND special party bonus cards included? You pay for these roleplaying experience tools, so why dont you use them?

superklaus said:

Saying that people aren't creative because they want to draw inspiration from the printed material is quite rude I think. There are a lot of conflicting opinions on the forum as is and resorting to personal attacks won't make things better. Let's play nice.

However, it's an interesting discussion in itself; how to handle the party sheet when you start out. Try to weave it into the characters backstory as Dvang suggests or play a couple of sessions and then let the players choose what they feel suits them best as Necrozius mentions.

I really like your idea Necrozius and I just might steal it as a starting point for my own campaign.
I watched "I Sell the Dead" a few weeks ago and have since then been pondering an undead-infested campaign in Sylvania.

superklaus said:

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying (or whether or not you're being sarcastic), but just to clarify my intentions:

I'm asking people how they would like to get their protagonists together.

Ideally, I want the players to roleplay how their characters interact and work together first, then choose which Party Sheet would be most appropriate to their style.

I don't want to invent a new party sheet, but keeping in mind that the fancy tools in 3rd edition aren't supposed to REPLACE storytelling and roleplaying- they're supposed to support and enhance the experience.

Anyhoo, does anyone have any good examples of starting up a campaign that they've experienced first hand or came up with themselves?

Until I get the rules I do not know if this is right, but I would not let a party pick a party sheet until the first adventure is over. Even if you are playing with a regular group, you will not know how their new characters under the new rules, wll mesh together. They may not even have any background history figured out for their character, until the first adventure is over. Also a group of new characters meeting for the first time will not know each others abilities and talents, so should not benefit from the party sheet. This could also apply to initiative order, so that the party members have to go in the dice order for initiative, until they learn about each other and pick a party sheet.

I started one once where an inn had been ambushed and burned down by a fingered assult from a gang of beastmen. The members of the party where adventurers with no connection who survived the attack somehow:

One hid in a side alley in the street,
another in a barn,
a third was cought in collapsing rubble but survived,
a fourth stunned in a ditch after participating in the battle,
the fith in a figth with a looting beastman that returned to the scene after the battle

These situation can be used randomly, the fight with the returninh beast could start bringing them together...

The innkeepers children has been taken by the beast an the inkeeper killer, the wife will pay a substantial amount to get her kids back.

The attack was fingered because:

For several years the inn keeper, whom is one of their most loyal members of a powfull chaos cult, have secretly gathered material on the cult and in the last few months he has started cooperation with the Witch Hunters from the Church of Sigmar. The cult has discovered his unhealthy interest and has set up an assassination. The cult has planned the assassination to look like a raid by a gang of Beast Men.

There where several other twist to this but it is a beginning.

Another way to start is to have the PCs caught by skavens an ending up in the same cell with an option t flee...

And after all I think Jay owes us a session demo video

ragnar63 said:

This is how I was planning on handling it, waiting until after (at least) the first adventure.

I think it depends on how you want your players to begin. I think it is personally acceptable for the players to decide their group when they make their characters. They might not always do this, but I think for beginning a brand new WFRP 3e it might be a good idea. It allows them to build their PCs with a knowledge and backstory of how their PCs came together. It's certainly not the only way to do it, but it is an acceptable way and is in no way uncreative. It's just a matter of when it gets created. My plan was to allow the players to put their initial meeting in their backstory. They have a reason for being together, and it allows them to have a solid foundation as to how and why their various PCs are together. So, they can focus more on the current story and how the game plays, rather than "why are we together" or "why do I care about these other people" threads that are fairly common. Just like NezziR is setting his players up to all be relatives, only I'll tell my players to a party sheet as the "reason" they are together and work from there. I won't always do this, but I thought it would be a good method to simplify things with their first game, as well as highlight the party sheet for the players.

It often makes for a far more interesting party if each player does their character completely independantly of the others. That way you do not get a planned party, with one fighter, one thief and one magic user etc. It makes for far more interesting party development, as they meet, form a party, and then similar starting characters diverge with experience and player preference. That is also why I wouldn't let them choose a party card until after their first adventure.

ragnar63 said:

I did this in one campaign I ran. I took it a step further by inviting them to the table, one at a time, on different nights (a week before the campaign started) and roleplayed with each of them solo, as I hired each of them with a shady NPC. It was a short lived campaign (by design), but very fun!

And, in my opinion, both methods work. I have been a player and a GM in both kinds of campaign starts. Neither one is inherently better than another frommy experience.

Although, I will mention that several times I have been involved in campaigns where some characters struggled to find a reason why they stayed with the group. The PC's background was done independantly of the 'party' concept, and the PC's motivations ended up diverging from what the rest of the party wanted to do. The player didn't want to roll a new character, but had trouble nearly every session with why their PC remained with the group. I've seen this a couple times (and it's happened to me before as well, to a limited extent). Sometimes the PC backgrounds and personalities are too different to mesh well if they are created in a vaccuum. Once the PCs get beyond the initial adventure, what keeps them together? That's why, sometimes, it's useful for the players to get a sense of why/how the group plans to function. If everyone knows that the group intends to be Swords For Hire, for example, then players can work that motivation into their back story. They can make sure their PC has a reason to be a hired sword, or to stay with a group of hired swords. It's not to ensure there is a "perfect" group composition, but so that players get a hook for why their PC sticks around with these other people after initial meet up. You can have the players a Party sheet, without them having met yet, for example.

superklaus said:

I`ll have to dock you for 100xp for that comment Superklaus. ehm I mean 1 advance according to the new system. geeh that doesn`t feel much. Well 1 advance and you have to wear this riddiculus hat for the whole evening. And don`t take it of when going to bathroom, the others didn`t.

some folks can`t help themselves, its like irony is in their blood instead of iron.