Group Concepts [Archive] - Wizards Community

Group Concepts [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
SpellMaster
08-18-07, 11:41 PM My group has had some trouble with the group dynamic lately. That is, we tend to make characters that don't seem to fit too well with the others. Therefore, for our next game, we're hoping to find some coherent group concept that we can run with.

Just some brainstorming is all I'm looking for here. It's a four-man group, but there hasn't been much more ironed out yet.

Fantasy setting, standard rules and such.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Spellmaster
therationalpi
08-19-07, 12:24 AM The theme that ties my current group together is good dragons.

We have a Silver Dragon Shaman, a Dragonfire Adept, a cleric of Bahamut, a favored soul of some other Dragon god, a crusader of Bahamut, and a wizard (me) who worships Bahamut and has a few other draconic twists.

Everyone in the group, except the favored soul, also worships Bahamut. We call ourselves the "Platinum Brotherhood."

If you want to get involved with backstory, you could all be part of some organization together. For example, you could have all served in the guard. Perhaps you are all members of some cult.

Here's a thought for an evil party...
All of the characters are members of a devil worshipping cult. The face of your party would be a charismatic and wicked (Lawful Evil) Warlock. Serving at his sides would be a Duskblade (or some sort melee combatant), a ninja, and an evil cleric. The Duskblade would be the warlock's right hand man, the ninja his primary assassin, and the cleric his 'advisor.'
Terjon of the Blue Rose
08-19-07, 02:54 AM Your group doesn't fit together well? You mean your characters or your character's abilities? For the latter it just a matter of choosing your classes to fit roles and maybe define a specialty for your group. I've had a high ac group where our fighter was a monk with high ac, our stealth was a ranger with 2 weap spec and feats, etc to raise his ac surprisingly high, our mage went spellsword and got his ac up, and our healer was a warforged art w/adam body who crafted armor, etc to boost everyone's ac. Worked great since nothing at our cr could really hit us. My current group has a distinctive stealth advantage. A monk, rogue, bard, and druid and only the druid has trouble moving quitely (WS will fix that soon).

For the former it's tougher. Try making your character's backgrounds one at a time. Vote or draw straws or whatever to determine who goes first. That player creates whatever they want but needs to make sure they create a few undefined npcs in their background. The next player uses one of those npcs and gives it definition by creating his character to fill that spot in the other player's bg while leaving open npcs in his own bg. The next player can choose an npc from either of the other 2s bgs and so on. Your whole group should have an existing dynamic by the time your done. Of course I haven't actually tried this so if it works I'd want to hear about it.
SpellMaster
08-19-07, 03:43 PM It's the characters themselves that don't fit together well, and from that, sometimes, of course, the abilities don't mesh either.

I'm not sure off hand what it is, but some of the players in my group seem to have a penchant for making "solo" characters that conflict with any teammates. Whether they are dark, brooding rogues, self-righteous paladins or off-the-wall mages, it just seems to happen.

Mr. Pi, I actually like your idea about all the members sharing a religion and devotion. That might be something we can run with. Something I forgot to mention was that this campaign will be a good-aligned campaign, but I appreciate the evil idea nonetheless.

Are there any other ideas?

Spellmaster
camirblu
08-19-07, 04:09 PM A solid theme is easiest. You might also ask the DM to suggest going with L or N alignments, though I'd hate to curtail anyone's fun. :)

Other themes:
Nature ties
Protectors/tenders of some sort of Gate/Leyline/Crossroads/Travel system
Fey (Fey can be malicious as well as OMG PRETTEH. There's a huge range here, and alot of it centers on chaos.)
Faith
Plane-travelers
Were creatures (suggests a pack structure, common sense of isolation, etc.)

One quirky approach might be to craft similar to a wiki. Have one person post their background, then the next person has to take two elements from that person's background and weave it into theirs. Rinse, repeat, until you come full-circle.

I'd also suggest some group-RP where members focus on feeling eachother out, establishing relationships, hierarchies, etc. If the characters don't do this on their own, ask the DM to push it through scenes. For the loners, they need to have situations where cooperation has greater rewards then standing off on their own, to encourage these relationships to develop. Then let them go off on their own and be a hero sometimes.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SpellMaster 08-18-07, 11:41 PM	My group has had some trouble with the group dynamic lately. That is, we tend to make characters that don't seem to fit too well with the others. Therefore, for our next game, we're hoping to find some coherent group concept that we can run with. Just some brainstorming is all I'm looking for here. It's a four-man group, but there hasn't been much more ironed out yet. Fantasy setting, standard rules and such. Any ideas are appreciated. Spellmaster
therationalpi 08-19-07, 12:24 AM	The theme that ties my current group together is good dragons. We have a Silver Dragon Shaman, a Dragonfire Adept, a cleric of Bahamut, a favored soul of some other Dragon god, a crusader of Bahamut, and a wizard (me) who worships Bahamut and has a few other draconic twists. Everyone in the group, except the favored soul, also worships Bahamut. We call ourselves the "Platinum Brotherhood." If you want to get involved with backstory, you could all be part of some organization together. For example, you could have all served in the guard. Perhaps you are all members of some cult. Here's a thought for an evil party... All of the characters are members of a devil worshipping cult. The face of your party would be a charismatic and wicked (Lawful Evil) Warlock. Serving at his sides would be a Duskblade (or some sort melee combatant), a ninja, and an evil cleric. The Duskblade would be the warlock's right hand man, the ninja his primary assassin, and the cleric his 'advisor.'
Terjon of the Blue Rose 08-19-07, 02:54 AM	Your group doesn't fit together well? You mean your characters or your character's abilities? For the latter it just a matter of choosing your classes to fit roles and maybe define a specialty for your group. I've had a high ac group where our fighter was a monk with high ac, our stealth was a ranger with 2 weap spec and feats, etc to raise his ac surprisingly high, our mage went spellsword and got his ac up, and our healer was a warforged art w/adam body who crafted armor, etc to boost everyone's ac. Worked great since nothing at our cr could really hit us. My current group has a distinctive stealth advantage. A monk, rogue, bard, and druid and only the druid has trouble moving quitely (WS will fix that soon). For the former it's tougher. Try making your character's backgrounds one at a time. Vote or draw straws or whatever to determine who goes first. That player creates whatever they want but needs to make sure they create a few undefined npcs in their background. The next player uses one of those npcs and gives it definition by creating his character to fill that spot in the other player's bg while leaving open npcs in his own bg. The next player can choose an npc from either of the other 2s bgs and so on. Your whole group should have an existing dynamic by the time your done. Of course I haven't actually tried this so if it works I'd want to hear about it.
SpellMaster 08-19-07, 03:43 PM	It's the characters themselves that don't fit together well, and from that, sometimes, of course, the abilities don't mesh either. I'm not sure off hand what it is, but some of the players in my group seem to have a penchant for making "solo" characters that conflict with any teammates. Whether they are dark, brooding rogues, self-righteous paladins or off-the-wall mages, it just seems to happen. Mr. Pi, I actually like your idea about all the members sharing a religion and devotion. That might be something we can run with. Something I forgot to mention was that this campaign will be a good-aligned campaign, but I appreciate the evil idea nonetheless. Are there any other ideas? Spellmaster
camirblu 08-19-07, 04:09 PM	A solid theme is easiest. You might also ask the DM to suggest going with L or N alignments, though I'd hate to curtail anyone's fun. :) Other themes: Nature ties Protectors/tenders of some sort of Gate/Leyline/Crossroads/Travel system Fey (Fey can be malicious as well as OMG PRETTEH. There's a huge range here, and alot of it centers on chaos.) Faith Plane-travelers Were creatures (suggests a pack structure, common sense of isolation, etc.) One quirky approach might be to craft similar to a wiki. Have one person post their background, then the next person has to take two elements from that person's background and weave it into theirs. Rinse, repeat, until you come full-circle. I'd also suggest some group-RP where members focus on feeling eachother out, establishing relationships, hierarchies, etc. If the characters don't do this on their own, ask the DM to push it through scenes. For the loners, they need to have situations where cooperation has greater rewards then standing off on their own, to encourage these relationships to develop. Then let them go off on their own and be a hero sometimes.