Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zetakya 11-08-05, 12:41 PM	Sometimes characters die, and sometimes I get new PCs joining. I'm rapidly running out of new and interesting ways of working the character into the game in a believable manner. Any favourite methods/innovative ideas anyone else has used?
Chobemaster 11-08-05, 12:44 PM	why do you need a new way every time? There are a finite number of reasonable scenarios (broadly defined) in the real world...at some point, the lack of repetition is less realistic than the repetition. think about how you meet people in your everyday life. Through work/school/sports/church/clubs/out/existing friends. Beyond that, it's pretty hard to come up with reliable other means.
Salaman 11-08-05, 12:59 PM	Chobemaster has a point, but I can think of this right now: 1.) When the char.'s use a stone to flesh scroll on the old statue that has been on the market place as long as everyone living can remember, they revive someone who soon becomes their best friend. 2.) Wizard/guildmaster/Head of the Temple ensures his/her interests in a quest they gave the chars. by ordering an apprentice etc. to go with them. ...
Zetakya 11-08-05, 01:09 PM	think about how you meet people in your everyday life. Through work/school/sports/church/clubs/out/existing friends. Beyond that, it's pretty hard to come up with reliable other means. There's a great deal of difference between meeting people and meeting someone who is willing to go out and rely on you in combat situations. It's not like you can just bumb into 12th level characters in any given tavern (or at least, you can't in my campaign). Chobemaster has a point, but I can think of this right now: 1.) When the char.'s use a stone to flesh scroll on the old statue that has been on the market place as long as everyone living can remember, they revive someone who soon becomes their best friend. I haven't used that one before, but I have used "found locked in a prison in the BBEGs lair", which is similar 2.) Wizard/guildmaster/Head of the Temple ensures his/her interests in a quest they gave the chars. by ordering an apprentice etc. to go with them. ... That one I have used, several times :blush: Mainly I was just hoping people might have inspired ways of working a new character in that I hadn't thought of.
Bruunwald 11-08-05, 02:04 PM	There's a great deal of difference between meeting people and meeting someone who is willing to go out and rely on you in combat situations. It's not like you can just bumb into 12th level characters in any given tavern (or at least, you can't in my campaign). Maybe 12th-level characters are rare, but adventurers in general probably aren't. Think about it: the PCs' job is to adventure. They live in a world where that is a common profession. A simple ad on a bulletin board to replace a member is actually a reasonable solution in that sort of scenario. If anybody is really worried that the others won't do their job and get his back should he join up, one party or the other can draw up terms of contract ensuring so. Although that statue idea is a pretty good one. You can also take ideas from your setting/campaign itself. One variety of the apprentice thing mentioned I used: We had a longterm build-up of evil cultic forces along the border, in which I played out several dispatches to the King, many leagues away. When one of the players needed to introduce a new character, I had her come from the capital of the Kingdom, sent out to gather info on whether rumors of the cult were true. Got the new character involved and made it so she fit into the storyline right away.
Rurik_Torunn 11-08-05, 02:52 PM	I'd suggest giving them a common background with one of the existing characters (like childhood friends, former companion, ...), but I'm sure you've done that, too. Well I don't think there are that many possibilities. Either they stay because of the group, or because of the goal the group follows, or they simply don't have another option. Well, a former ally of a BBEG who realizes, that he got betrayed his master, maybe. A wizard sick of being put in his master's shade. An outcast seeking a chance for atonement. A young but skilled noble running away from his familiy (well, maybe level 12 is a bit to much for such a guy..) A former lord being exiled after a revolution (lost war, ...) A former paladin, unable to uphold the ideals of his order, because of his deep hatred against that BBEG, who committed a terrible crime against his family. (Not sure if anybody would play such a character, though.)
The Soul Collector 11-08-05, 03:06 PM	1) At some point the PC's killed a monster which the soon to be introduced PC had a long standing score to settle and seeks out to thank the PC's. 2) Combat specific to your campaign breaks out in a town where the PC's are staying and the soon to be introduced PC sees the PC's fight and grows a respect for the group.
Edmon 11-08-05, 03:29 PM	Sometimes characters die, and sometimes I get new PCs joining. I'm rapidly running out of new and interesting ways of working the character into the game in a believable manner. Hmm. If you mean characters (rather than players) are joining, I would ask yourself this question - why do the players keep changing their characters? If they were satisfied with their character, they would keep going with him/her, rather than change; and if it is because they have been running through a whole campaign and are getting bored, that is something that you as a DM need to address - how do you keep the player interested in their character? That might sound harsh, but I'll give an example. I used to play in a campaign with a character called Belise Samilkin (a dwarven cleric). I enjoyed playing as Belise for about a year or so...but after a while, I just found the campaign tedious. The DM was using the same recurring NPC bad guy time and time again - the plot was going stale, and I was becoming sick of the campaign. I began to associate the boring campaign with the character, so eventually I changed to Morn (a human barbarian). Unsurprisingly, it was just as unsatisfying. lol - that also sounds harsh! I'm not saying that your players are bored. However, I am suggesting that you talk to players and find out why they keep wanting to change their character. It could be that they are not making particularly good character. Another example: the same friend (who ran the campaign in the example above) also played in my Eberron campaign as a changeling rogue. It would have been an interesting character - but he just did not use the changeling's shapeshifting potential fully. He used as a nothing more than a party trick really - changing shape in the middle of a street just to get noticed, things like that. In terms of advancing the plot, the character was a waste of time. Unsurprisingly, he has just changed to an elven bard. What I mean with this second reason for character change is that your players may not be creating characters they are fully satisfied with, or their choices will only proove fun for a few levels or so. If this is the case, perhaps try to talk to the players in question; offer them advice when they create their characters, help to mould the persona into something you think they will enjoy using. Then start up. The other issue, of course, is whether you need to work new characters in the plot. If players are changing character so often that it has become problematic to make excuses for 'why they should enter the game', the party is clearly not very static (which might not be a bad thing); perhaps change the storyline of your campaign (if possible) so that instead of being a group of friends,the characters come from a mercenaries' guild. Alright, it doesn't give you the potential for individual character aims and backgrounds - but if your players change characters that often, they can't really expect that. No DM can successfully run a story around a constantly changing party of adventurers - it's simply not possible. Wow, me thinks I'm going to be slated for this post :D
Chobemaster 11-08-05, 03:36 PM	There's a great deal of difference between meeting people and meeting someone who is willing to go out and rely on you in combat situations. It's not like you can just bumb into 12th level characters in any given tavern (or at least, you can't in my campaign). certainly that's true. But "12th level adventurers you meet" is a subset of "people (broadly defined in D&D) you meet."
Gedrin 11-08-05, 04:14 PM	Hireling promoted to bodyguard.
Tibs 11-08-05, 05:17 PM	How's this: The next time your party is in a city, run a tournament. It can be a fighting-arena type thing, an archery contest, whatever your new PC might enter and one of your old PCs would be interested in. Have the old PC run through a few rounds, then come up against the new PC, and take it from there.
yellowdingo 11-08-05, 05:44 PM	Fthoomp. Harold the destroyer collapses under the impact. "Hi!" Franco the musician passes out. "Get 'im off me!"
rkr1970 11-08-05, 06:45 PM	Introductions are the easiest way. But, the vagarities of the introduction can make things seem fresh. Let's say you are about to introduce a high level character to the group. This example uses a fighting type, but it's not important what class he is. The party is at the local tavern where they always go when in this particular city. Some drunken lout suddenly collapses beside their table. The barkeep, an old friend of the party, asks one of the members if they could help get this guy to his room. While the barkeep and the PC struggle to get this guy upstairs, the barkeep mentions how this poor drunk could use a group like the party to join up with. Handy with a sword, solid reputation, a really good guy. Lately, he's taken to drink ever since his last party went up against a lich. He and another member of their group were all that survived. They couldn't even bring back their friends, since the lich raised the rest of his party as zombies. His surviving buddy retired, but this guy hasn't been able to let go of those glorious battles and the thrill of the fight. If the PCs want, the barkeep would be willing to make a formal introduction in the morning. Or early afternoon, depending on hangovers.