The Party Is...

At the beginning of a campaign, the group is more important than the character.

I was reading through Grimwild when I was struck by a lightning bolt of “Oh, duh!” It was one of those revelatory moments that change how you think of games forever.

You should create the party before you create the characters!

Oh man, what pure genius. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for any new campaign is “why are these people together?” You meet in a tavern, some stuff happens, then you spend years killing kings and gods and becoming great friends. But why did they stick together in the first place? It was plainly obvious to each of them that the others were trouble.

But if you make the party first, you not only have an answer to that question, your character will magically fit in, have relationships, know things about the others, and have something interesting to play off of - from the very first scene.

With that in mind, I wanted to make a short table of what the party might be. Here’s some ideas. Feel free to comment with your own.

1. Firefly-esque guns-for-hire crew

2. A noble house's advisors/council/house administration

3. A book club whose field trip idea went south very quickly

4. A research group sent to study something commonly found in ruins

5. Spiritual warriors from a small clan who received a powerful spirit vision and seek to circumvent the dangers it warned them about

6. A mercenary group tasked with staking out land for a petty lordling’s new keep

7. Scout refugees of some crisis searching for a new homeland

8. A traveling circus - with a secret agenda

9. A family of exiled nobles seeking old allies to right the wrongs done to them

10. Falsely convicted criminals fleeing the law

11. The crew of a trade caravan, waiting for a buyer to come through, hungry in the meantime

12. The crew of a cursed ship, unable to make port until they relieve themselves of their terrible burden.