How Does The Party Know Each Other? (5 Suggestions)

I've said it before on this blog, but TTRPGs are a team sport. With very few exceptions these games tend to be about the players working together toward shared goals, and attempting to reach the end of the narrative. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they fail, but the idea is that they should all be on the same bus, and at least heading in the same general direction.

Objective sighted!

However, one obstacle to cooperation at the table is creating characters in a vacuum. While experienced players may know how to form a party quickly when they first get together, sometimes it's easier if you start out as a team. But that isn't always one's first reaction, especially if they're used to, "A bunch of strangers meet at a tavern," kind of scenarios.

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So, How Do You All Know Each Other?

If you want to begin the game as a cohesive unit (or at least a group of individuals that is on their way to becoming a cohesive unit), I'd suggest giving some of the following options a try! These are not your only choices, obviously, and choosing any of these options is going to require buy-in from fellow players at the table in order to make things work, but if you all decide to work within a given idea it can help simplify a lot going forward!

- Family That Slays Together, Stays Together: The members of the party are all related in some way. This might be a clan of farmers from the edge of a monster-infested wood where just growing crops basically makes you an adventurer, or a band of orcs who are out to fight for their tribe's gain. The party might all be descendants of a particular dragon (or a particular bard), or they might all have some elven blood in them, allowing for multiple generations to quest together. Found family fits into this one, as well, for those who have a more diverse family makeup!

- Take Your Show on The Road: For this particular instance, the party isn't made up of your typical "adventurers". Instead you are some kind of traveling show, performers, or competitors. For example, you might all be part of a circus, with the sorcerer as a stage magician, the barbarian performing acts of great strength, and the bard as your ringmaster. The party might, instead, travel to tournaments as a fighter (or fighters) and their entourage, putting on a display of skill and showmanship. The PCs might even be part of a band, with each member taking on a different role from lead singer, to drums, to pyrotechnics and special effects. Those looking for inspiration might want to take a look at 100 Fantasy Bands if the last option seems particularly appealing.

- Servants of The Same Master: Whether you're all part of a church, a free company of mercenaries, a military organization, or even a secret society that keeps its true intentions hidden away from the public, this is one of the more flexible options. Those who choose this path may not know one another personally, but they've probably heard of each other through the grapevine if they haven't served in the field together before, as I mentioned in Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend. If you're in the market for potential organizations the PCs might all be working for (or even organizations they're opposing in your campaign) then you might want to check out: 100 Secret Societies, 100 Fantasy Guilds, 100 Knightly Orders, and 100 Random Mercenary Companies!

- Champions of The Same Cause: For those who've played the Curse of The Crimson Throne adventure path, this is the theme used by that campaign's character traits. Everyone in the party has suffered at the hands of a particular gang leader, and they have come together at least partially out of a need to provide Gaedran Lamm his comeuppance. While pettiness and vengeance are perfectly functional as causes, the PCs might desire to save their hometown, to oppose a particular force, or to find a given set of lost treasures. If the characters are regional champions they might even form a kind of fantasy Justice League, with their particular foes forming an Anti-Party as a Legion of Doom, which can be a useful tool for the GM.

- Close Comrades: Sometimes the simplest explanation is the easiest to choose; the party are already friends. Maybe they grew up in the same corner of the world, or they were thrown together in earlier adventures. Perhaps they met at university (or at least while some members of the party were at university), or their families all knew one another. While a casual background, this one can often make for a strong start as players work out how they met, what their friendships were like when they were younger, what parts of their lives the party members shared with one another, and what things are still hidden, waiting to be revealed as the story goes on.

These are just a handful of ideas to get your brains turning, and your ideas forming. And, of course, you can always make combinations to rope in different parts of the party. Perhaps the fighter and the barbarian met on campaign, and the fighter grew up in the same dale as the druid. So the fighter is now the connection between the forest hermit and his old war buddy, providing an easier connection between them. The elven ranger might be the druid's godmother, stepping in to help as needed when things go wrong in the region. And so on, and so forth.

As with everything else, however, this is just a suggestion. Your mileage may vary, but if you haven't tried this approach before, consider giving it a go!

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