Integrating a new PC into your existing party - Great Role Player RPG Tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- 'As we mourn the passing of... wait what was your characters name again?' After the initial shock how do you integrate a new player character into your party? Whether they are simply a new character or a whole new player, we hope this will help. #WelcomeToTheTable
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"within the player woof" :D
Woof :)
I can only shudder at the number of times I've GM'ed, or been a player, where the new guy is "The Lone Stranger. I have a dark and troubled past. I trust no one. I am superior to you all. My mums never loved me." *Every* story arc pretty much had to begin with us coming up with convoluted reasons why the Lone Stranger would deign to accompany us on this adventure. S/he sure never tried to find a reason.
The trouble is, 99% of the gaming groups I've been part of are all friends outside the game. There's no "turf the annoying git" and no "Dial A Player" service to have replacement sent over.
Dial a player - we should start something...
Linking thru an NPC is a good way to bring in a new character, especially if you want one who is already familiar with the situation and goals of the party. The parties' patron or questgiver hired this other guy (the new character) to give you a hand. He just now caught up/found you.
That can work one must just be sure to make sure the contract for the quest-giver to the hired PC is limited to only this job :)
While watching the video, I came up with something very similar. (I think more fun)
But first: This is assuming that the new character is a new player as well, not just an old player's new guy.
You tell the new player to stay right outside the room, not letting the current players know about it.
A mission is given to the party in which they need a particular skill that they don't have a lot of. (the new character does)
They're told that if they need help, there's this one guy who can help them, being given the location.
When they get there, the guy is relatively far away from them (still story) so they need to get his attention.
Somehow make sure to get someone to shout at him, telling them "He doesn't hear you" in response.
When they try again, respond with "He still doesn't hear you" in a louder voice. (hinting for them to physically shout)
The moment one of the current players shouts, the new player walks in. (optional: "It looks like he heard you")
The new guy's call: You; "He still doesn't hear you!" Another Person; Shouting.
I bet no one would see that one coming.
Just wanted to say first the I love your videos, please keep them coming! I'm binging on them whenever I get a chance ;)
OK, so this vid has a load of excellent advice. I am DM'ing in a game where a new player character entered our campaign half-way through... and 'fortunately' (I thought) he chose a character synopsis who almost perfectly matched one the big-bad-guy's assassin dudes. Before he started roleplaying with us though, I spoke with him at great length about how he would be treading a fine line between PC and NPC, and there was a GREAT potential for his assassin to simply become a NPC again (roll new character). Especially if his acclimation with the party went poorly. I also explained this to the rest of the party a few sessions after - just so we all knew this was a possibility.
So the new character's backstory was such that he need the help of the party to save his mother and destroy his old boss (the bbg), and therefore his goals aligned very well with the heroes. The heroes were kicking up such a fuss for the big-bad, that the assassin saw an opportunity to break free from the boss and recruit the PC's to do this.
I have to say, it was a difficult time for all. He was suspicious looking, and held back information. This ultimately 'almost' derailed the entire campaign at one point.... but through clever roleplaying, and a few nudges in the right direction from me they are all best buddies (in game and out). To top it all off - they are now headed to finally deal with the bad-guy together as a team. It was heart warming to see who this played out.
I completely AGREE with Guy's assertion that you should not pick an enemy as a new PC to join in with an already established group... as causes a lot of fractures. HOWEVER, if you have a great group, a fantastic ongoing story, and a DM willing them on to victory, then miracles can happen. Sometimes.
Keep up the good work!
Really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for all of this wonderful information!
Gratitude for your comment! As long as they helpful, I will make them :)
Excellent, as always ;)
Thank you :)
One easy way to integrate new pcs would probably be have them be cadets/apprentices/ect in a role where they're learning from one or more of the other pcs in the group. It would work especially well in a hierarchical system where, if the player characters wouldn't normally want to teach someone else, they're more or less forced to by orders. A cadet fresh out of military school and is put on your team to fill in the place of the one who died last mission? There's great potential there. Some people might be put off because they're still getting over not having that other person there, some might immediately try to connect with them.
Nothing's happening? "My apprentice, let's go practice your magic so you're better in the next battle"
Plus with the newbie pc, they could ask "what did you do" or ask for stories about their experiences
When I saw this topic, a trainee was my first thought on how to integrate new pcs
I laughed out loud at the "Have you always been elvish?". Reference to the changing character video or just a coincidence?
Great video, as always!
Maybe :) lol
"I used to be a gnome but I grew up."
A knight character that brings a squire with them is a good opportunity.
I feel like I have the least violent and most good willed party ever... Not saying much when everyone is a murderhobo is it? Haha
Hahahaha...murderhobo's... they're awesome... in a sandwich with lettuce and mayo
I'm going to have my new character deliver a messege to my old character and deliver an opportunity to him to leave (which he would take) than I world converse with the pcs ask what are they up to, mention adventuring in the past(since it's a level 7 bard) and ask if they want to fill the gap since I'm bored performing at taverns of the road.
I like this video.
What advice do you have about how to play differently in public play?
Ooo that's a good question. It is on my list - how to run a Con-Game which would cover public play as well. And there is lots of mixed opinions on how to play in public. So I'll make it into a video for you :) Thanks for the question!
"Greetings, heroes! I heard about your quest, and wanted to offer my assistance, if you'll have me." "... Ok." "Ok?" "Yup. Welcome aboard." "That's it?" "We need the numbers."
I was in an Adventure League game where a new player hoped in in the middle of a dungeon crawl and it went terribly XD. We found him digging through the stuff in the dungeon and we could see he was a drow (we were all some form of moral neutral so no one cared) but he introduced himself as a murderer and it spiraled out of control from there. The party jumped him and started using him as a crash test dummy for all of the BS that we saw down there (we had been to this dungeon before so we know where everything was but not what they did). By the end he was zapped by an unknown god for pissing on its statue, cursed by an unknown well, nearly killed by some slime monster, and then left with the court wizard to do whatever he needed to. The player laughed about so, all good but not a great introduction to the character. The player didn’t come back this week but his character became an NPC in the guild hall much to everyone’s surprise XD
Well, I have an Ex-gladiator Half-orc Fighter. High AC and difficult to kill. One of my party members died so the player had to make a new character. After the character found himself in the party, my character (Away from the new character) if they knew him and that he didn't trust him. Walking past the new character, my character told him to just stay away from him.
The new character then decided it was a good idea to try and prove himself by 'tripping' my character. He failed which just caused my character to chuckle. He then decided to pull a weapon and attack still trying to prove himself. He actually crit which did a lot of damage to my character.
It was on. My character knocked him down and just went to town. In two rounds I brought him down to 0 HP and just left him to bleed out. Party members stopped him from bleeding out.
On his first sessions with the new character he attacks my characters, almost dies; and was not welcomed. He had to reroll ANOTHER character.
It's kinda like how you make friends in real life, isn't it?
Nobody else has seen the original "The Gamers"?
DM: "You're in an area of intense evil and foreboding."
PC, upon finding another player's new character just standing around: "You look trustworthy. Would you like to join us on our noble quest?"
what if the new player's character is actively seeking a group in their backstory, and what happens if that player's personal quest scale eclipses the main quest in such a fundamentally world changing way.
Enemies can work in a betrayal scenario allthough i would not recomend betraying your party
Absolutely agreed!
what if just under half your party was killed off. is there anything different there
What are some of your Pathfinder houserules?
Do you do away with feat taxes? have liberal magic?
My magic is very liberal - no spell book or components needed. I've always had that rule - Gandalf never asked the Hobbits to wait whilst he rummaged around looking for the tip of an eagles feather to cast his magic. If a player askes for more feats and is willing to make sacrifices then I don't have an issue with it, but generally my houserules extend to ignoring rules that slow down the game. I do have a house rule about dice. Roll a 1 or a 20 and you reroll the dice. 1 is obviously a fail and 20 is a crit. On that reroll if you roll 1-5 it's just a regular fail or crit. 6 - 10 is double damage on a crit, On a fail you drop your weapon. 11 - 15 is triple damage for a crit and you throw your weapon 15+ feet away or break a bowstring. 16 - 19 is Quadruple damage or your attack hits a party member roll damage as normal. On a 20 your attack is pentriple damage or a critical hit on a party member. It's totally unbalanced but totally epic fun.
Dallas Favel Ya I struggle a lot with the spell components system. I can only justifying if you are attempting a spell above the PC's class level then I see it as a conduit to focus your arcane power when dealing with the more powerful snd hence more volatile arcane powers. That I myself cannot rationalize Medium Armor rules it has the weakness of both light and heavy wih no strengths. And depending on the nature of the campaign I will modify 5th Edition rest and healing from rest rules.
"I saw your groups post on the tavern's notice board, the one about looking for an additional party member? Here's a copy of my resume. As you can see, I have extensive experience in dungeon crawls (rogue), and have also studied for a time at a temple of Sarenrae (cleric). An old adventuring partner if mine, who now lives as a farmer, on the outskirts of town, can vouch for my capabilities and worth to a party".
There, I just approached the party as an experienced adventurer, looking for work.
I like the "an old acquaintance/relative" idea that you had. Another great way to integrate a new character is the ol' "We need somebody who knows how to hunt vampires, oh look, McSadyLookin'Dude over there is, apparently, a very accomplished Undead hunter, according to the towns folk. We should totes hire that guy!"
Much more constructive
I have had trouble with new players being introduced into the group but it was mostly conflicting player personalities as opposed to the characters they were playing. One player showed up with a real assault rifle which he broke down and reassembled while telling the entire group of players and their young children about his military service and how all Republicans are whores. He had signed up with us through an RPG message board at the local gaming hobby shop and that was the first and last time he joined our group.
Now a friend of mine from high school also joined our group for a single adventure. He and I were never close friends but I tried to be nice to him when others in our high school often bullied or picked on him for being a bit odd; he wore a Superman cape in high school, 10th or 11th grade I believe. Anyway,I had invited him to one of our games because I thought the social interaction would do him some good and it was a disaster. His character was average in that he was of the same level and held many similar abilities with the rest of the group but the player insisted on being the hero. He wanted to save the damsel, disable the bomb, slay the dragon and get the girl while telling everyone else how to play their characters which mostly involved standing back while he basked in the glory. There is a bit of sadness in knowing that in the real world, he has no power and is often looked down upon by those believing themselves to somehow be superior and I believe it was his character's sudden ability to be the hero that turned a normally shy and quiet introverted individual into a power hungry megalomaniac. His sudden shift in personality caught me completely by surprise and I didn't know how to handle it. I tried to give him some moments to shine but I also wanted the same for the other 4 players in the group and when I shifted my attention to them, it was if the new player struggled to get back into the spotlight. "No, don't do it that way! This is how I would do it." And that's pretty much how the 3 or 4 hour session played out. So here is my question: How would you handle a situation like that? What would your first response be? And what if that didn't work?
My first response? Drop my boss a whatsapp and ask for a phone call. We have a system. I ask for a call. She calls and demands I come into the office. She's good at 'screaming' on the phone so others can hear. I then call the night to an end. Everyone leaves and we never invite that person to the table again. OK... maybe not so often. I take the person aside and say that the others seem unhappy that he's directing all their efforts. If that still doesn't help, I then usually throw my dice in and say - right guys. This is over. You want to be the hero fine. This is how the story ends - you kill everything in a glorious combat, everyone worships you. The end. OK, can we have cake and coffee now? Usually that shocks the player into accepting they're a dick. Usually it doesn't and we all have cake. Either way, it's never pleasant and I try end it as quickly as possible. Some people get role-playing. Others don't and never will. I made a video called ' are you a dick' where you can see how fired up I get about people doing this kind of stuff. Hope that helps? and I'm serious, everyone should have a work emergency buddy....
He did only play that once and your advice is solid. Maybe I should get a phone emergency buddy. Regardless, I now want cake and coffee! It will be mine. Oh yes! It will be mine. Cheers!
Awesome! ;)
Have you always been elvish? Of course not! I am a dragon kin dwarven trans elve!
"Have you always been elvish" that's a bit like saying; "have you always been white?"
It's more like "have you always been a human?" ;)
Oh my god Deplorable Mecoptera, you can't just ask people if they've always been white!