Building Bonds: How to Create Party Cohesion in Roleplaying Games
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- This can sometimes happen when characters just don't seem to need to work with one another. How do you make sure the group sticks together? Here are 5 easy to use methods of keeping them all working together, whether it's Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, or Star Trek, it all works the same!
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*Thanks for watching!* How do you get party cohesion with your players? Let us know in the comments below!
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My GM didn't have anything setup to motivate the characters into working together. They made us players work to figure out a reason why our characters would become a party even though we dont know the story at all. I was wondering if that's how it's supposed to be because I am new to table top role-playing. But I can tell it led to about 0 cohesion 😅
When I ran a Conan game, I came up with a fun way to link all the players. I gave them all a piece of paper which I said was a personal secret that might or might not come up in the campaign. Unbeknownst to the players, each piec of paper had the same question written on it, which they had to complete:
"Xolatar Khel must die because..."
Who/what was Xholatar Khel? What was their relationship to the campaign or the players? That was up to them. One said he was a warlord who laid waste to his homelands; another that he was a fellow priest who betrayed his order; still another was philosophical, saying that he had to die because every man dies in the end. Through the players' contributions, I created a villain which everyone had a personal link & stake in, & each had a hand in forming.
And the best part was that none of the other players realised they all shared this common foe until the third session: the discovery felt organic to the ongoing story.
The final showdown with the villain thus meant everyone felt a personal involvement, & crucially, *wanted* to keep together, even characters with historic/cultural rivalries. Its the best game I've ever run (not least because I had such excellent players).
That's profoundly clever. Well done.
I'm stealing this.
I've had good luck with the shepherd in the past, the best part is it does not have to be a friendly ally. You can have enemies use mechanics and tactics that the party is capable of using and it will click for them just as quickly.
Love this. Currently running a game for a group of four real-world siblings (yes, Mum is GMing for her own kids, and what? That counts! 😅). This presents unique challenges, as their out of game dynamic keeps showing up in their characters interactions.
Now this is amazing.
I am a player myself but I always try to build my characters with cohesion in mind. I usually fish around to find ways to connect themes, backstories, and parallel events (without overshadowing anyone’s particular “thing”) with the other players and whatever information I can gather about the dm’s world building. I don’t just mean mechanically, I mean socially too. I try to figure out the answer to that. However, one of the big ways I try to keep my characters attached to the party is to develop a protective or familial/platonic feelings/affection for the party members, regardless of personality. I will admit, this is because of personal bleed over from my own caretaking personality but I gave up on trying to hinder that as I just have less fun and keeping it helps my character bond and stay with the party, even helping promote the party members themselves to want to get along. So it works. But outside of that, I try to weave together little details that give the other players an excuse to have their characters be interested in my character and eventually use that as an avenue to develop a friendship with them. I do want to point out that, caretaking or not, I’m no leader in a group…most of the time (a few tiny parties I played in had me be but it was still more of a back and forth even then). I prefer to simply be a grounding type of character, the type who offers advice if asked, gives perspective, finds the silver lining, validates feelings, helps find a solution to social issues, etc. Like I said, caretaker, not overbearing leader who pushes their values. Often I focus on being the one with the healer’s kit, the food, will ask if anyone needs a rest, will take watch, and…lol this is my favorite to do, be a relentless feral combatant if provoked.
This is a video ive been needing!!! I have a group of 7 and theyve clumped up as duos and stuff and very rarely do things as a full party 💀 thats on me
Offer and experience multiplier when they work together as a team, conversely an experience penalty when they don't. I have had this work well as long as they have clear expectations of what I require.
easiest way is just to talk to your players. "Oh you don't think your character would work with the others? then make a new character or fall in line. It's a team-oriented game and 'it's what my character would do' is not a valid excuse to be a dick."
REALLY good topic! Please feel free to do follow ups
Neat ideas. If I can get my players to agree to an actual campaign instead of one-shots, I'll give these a spin.
Throw a one-shot at them that is not really a one-shot. Make it too long for one session, then end on a cliffhanger.
Great video!
I'm realising the game I'm currently playing in doesn't have much for party cohesion from our DM, but each battle my squishy rogue makes a plan with a different character. Letting your players create squishy characters is an idea...😂
Yeah, I began using shared history to keep my players invested in each other's characters.
15:56 Hey Guy, I always love to see your videos. What do you think of a campaign in which different factions of Giants or Dragons run cities or regions and are at war with each other? I think it would make a cool video idea to explore different governing types of regions and how to add variety to governance.
A timely video!
I just started a campaign and a new player decided a fun background element for his dwarf would be a hatred of elves.
Two other players have elf characters and the whole game the player just kept shouting insults at the other player because it was "in character."
The rivalry between characters (which is fine with me) turned quickly into rivalry between players (which is not OK).
I've been thinking all week how to resolve this. Why would these Elves willingly spend 2 seconds with this abusive dwarf?
Any suggestions out there?
Thank you for the guidance!!!
As long as the dwarf keeps insulting the elfes, they really shouldn't want to work with him. Is there anything that the elfes have, that the dwarf needs really badly, so that he has to play nice? Prefrably something like knowledge, or skill, or connections that the dwarf can't just steal.
It might actually be a fun story arc for the dwarf to over come his hatered. I mean Legolas and Gimli hated each other in the beginning aswell. A quick dicussion above table might also be helpful to make sure that that's something the players would like to play out. And make it clear that the dwarf needs to tone down his abuse, or he is going to write himself out of the story.
Common goal or enemy, exchange of a good/service/etc, being forced together, battle brother principle etc
I have that much confidence in you & your videos that I hit the like button at the very start and only remove the like if you do something really displeasing (like when you stole my girlfriend that time).
I had the you’re a prisoner start where they where drugged to be kept docile but on the day they where meant to be sacrificed by the cult the guy who was responsible for the drugs forgets giving them the ability to escape but with enough ppl dying in the escape the ritual works anyways and now they’re on the run from an aberration that’s trying to eat them but the kidnapping horrible treatment and attempted murder from the cult makes it easy for them to want to work for a guy they meet who’s goal is to end the cult before they can end the world
You might also use a sacrofies: someone who is very exstremly not a team player and is killed because of it or get punish very hard for butchering a social gathering. So that the party can go, ow kept doing what we are doing and we will die, let try something else. Leading by failer
In my last campaign I had the PCs start the campaign as being brainwashed and working for a villain group. I had a way for them to accidentally break the mind control, and that gave them common pain and common enemies. It also let them have some things happen where NPCs that know them from their time as villains create some interesting roleplaying moments.
I learned this the hard way. There are players who can do this on their own, and that building of cohesion and the ensuing tension CAN be fun if that’s what everyone is into (my first player experience was like that and it was really neat) but for my own sanity I will always, going forward, start the campaign with characters that already have some sort of bond unless I trust the players and they EXPLICITLY want that tension to be part of the game.
It was interesting that this came up now, because it's been a discussion among the DMs at my local open table campaign. One thing we're starting to look into is the system of guilds, to give characters a sense of belonging and home, giving them a sense of ownership over Waterdeep, where the campaign takes place.
One players character in our group seems to actively hate the others and it's very tiring. I dunno how to not take it a little personally sometimes.
This is a point of contention in our current campaign so this video is just in time! Thanks Guy!
You could make video about any topic, yet you choosed a problem that happens to me since 2 weeks now. How did you know i need an advice in this matter, what magic is this?
These videos are really helping me! I accidentally have a group that is way large for a typical d&d table. I have eight players. Your videos are really helping me come up with ideas to help manage a table like that. Lots of conversations and different ideas of how to go about accomplishing things really drag the game out. My party actually opted to elect a party leader to make the final decisions and speed up the game.
I'm subscribed to the channel yet for some reason UA-cam didn't notify me of the new video. I don't understand why they keep doing this. Anyway thanks for the great video, I'm currently GMing a very political campaign and it's been tricky not making my pcs turn on eachother since they all have alternative motivations.
Thank you ggm this was very helpful, as i am trying to get my players to work together, which is really important since I'm a new dm
I had a PC die once and the party had been losing their sanity, being drawn into Silent Hill-esque nightmare versions of the world. They ended up doing a fair amount of pillaging, whether sane or not, so my new character's (evil orc fighter) purpose was to join the party because he was a fan of their history in the city.
It should be noted that this party got what was coming, several died, and we created a new party afterwards of people who were wronged by them and hunting them down.
That sounds amazing!!
A bad guy can capture, injure or kill a NPC all the PCs care about. Another NPC can ask them to revenge, save, free the first NPC if the PCs at first don't jump at the chance to work together.
Love your content! You're the best! This is my obligatory content to improve your results in the UA-cam algorithm. :)
In my old group it was an unspoken rule, that every first session of a campaign, or everytime a new character joined, your character motivations didn't matter. Your motivation in that moment became forming a cohesive group. If you broke that rule you got a talk about teamwork and how you can only play together if your characters worked together. Though no one ever stated that rule explicitly. I often thought that felt very unnatural and meta gamey.
I recently started a new group and I am gming for the first time. I currently have three players. One just wants his character to get embroiled in other people's problems, another one is running from the bbeg and has extensive knowledge about his organisation and the third had his family kidnapped by the bbeg. So I set up a situation where the characters could just organically get to know each other and realize that they actually made a pretty good team. Yet that thrid player found every way to wiggle out of that situation. It was a bit frustrating for me as a new gm and I almost felt like the player wanted to play a solo mission, if he didn't offer suggestions for running into the group again. Last session I hopefully found a way to show his character that he is in over his head and needs help. The second player's character already caught on, that he can provide said help. And then I stranded the players in the wilderness, where they will have to work together and they are going to have a lot of time to talk to each other. We'll see if that gets them to work together.
I read and hearded a lot of people say that you should throw the party into combat right from the get go, so that they have to fight for their lives together and form a bond that way. But that's not the tone I want to set for our campaign. We are not a group that enjoys combat.
Is there video about giving loot to players? My problem it that enemies that fits for my party should have lots of valuable items, but if I'll give them to my munchkin party, they sell them and buy even more enormously effective equipment, and to make good challenge for them I will had to use another bunch of expensively equiped enemies. I like to make quests in the cities, based on rivalry with some other townfolks, like aristokrats for example, so to put monsters in it is difficult. How do I reward my players without breaking balance or being a miser GM that saying that this epic master mercenary which party just killed has only few gold coins and dead rat in his posession.
Please help me, sir Guy.
A couple ideas: make it so the most popular shopkeepers recognize the loot and won't buy it for fear of retaliation. Maybe they have to sell it to someone underground that won't pay as much. Not every items magic has to be combat focused, it can have like once a day charges to create light. Maybe arrows that fly silently. Make it so players have to attune to items so they can't have 50 overpowered magic swords to switch out lol. Make some of the items cursed so nobody will buy them and they have to be strategic when using it. My player has a cape that gives advantage on stealth checks if the hood is up. I could've added disadvantage on perception checks because it blocks her peripherals. Also, you can make op weapons/armor and say they got damaged in the battle. So they would have to commission someone to fix it or put magic back into it. That could at least buy some time. Ive had players dedinitely forget to pick stuff up lol. Same for loot of treasure. Sorry, your fireball set the treasure box on fire and the cheaper metals melted ruining the quality of the other items.
Oh in one game I played, character donated a lot of loot to orphanages and fixing places up we had messed up during our very marvel-esque superheroes destroy the city battles lol. So maybe try to give then something else to spend money on if they come into a lot. Yah, you could by a +3 sword with lightning, but wouldn't it be nice to buy a joint home for the party? Wouldn't it be nice to have your own horse and carriage for long travel? A tent that gives back extra hit dice? Maybe the city guard is asking for bribes to not arrest them for the numerous laws they've likely broken lol
@@jordynbrown5549 This is really good advices but there are couple of nuances that I forgot to mention :D. They are evil. Conceptually evil. Which means they not burn and pillage every village they met, but their base is in the hidden temple of evil god and they ok with making quests for him. Long time to tell but we change with other master from time to time...anyway, what I'm trying to say is that orphanage is not an option :D And it is in general difficult to get extra coin from them. And last guard which tried to get a bribe from the ended up his days very sudden and violent.
But your advice gave me some ideas, thank you :D
@Ghar Undefeated oh yah that changes things for sure 😂 sounds fun though! Happy helped some. Good luck!
Amen!
The fairy over your left shoulder completely upstages you starting around the 3 minute mark.
After several Adventurers groups that where not really coherrent I had to change something. Around that time I had started to implement a Session Zero first, and now i let the Players discuss which kind of group they want to be even before making characters. I pitch several Ideas like "declining noble family", "Pirate ship's crew" or "Street gang in a city". They can choose one or come up with their own idea. However, thinking about and discussing thos first leads to the players building characters who contribute to the theme of the campaign and form backstories that fit together. Works like a charm.
I played a character as a dm npc in an exalted game I ran. The crew were solar exalted for the most part and all pirates. The ship was named "the guilty virgin". I played an artificer style character. The crew wanted to try their hand at one of the dungeon crawls made by the company. They found the location with little trouble.... I knew they'd need my character to get through the traps so this was one campaign I couldn't have him sit out on. The first trap we came across that I needed to disarm was a door trap designed to crush the victim between two large stone slabs. I rolled and critically failed and my character was the one that was literally "disarmed". They had to stabilize my npc and then try to get through the rest of the dungeon without me. It was the best occurrence that could have happened because it made them use all their skills and abilities to think outside of their normal comfort level. I have never been more proud and jealous of that crew of players.
In my most recent campaign I solved it immediately by shipwrecking and cursing all 3 of them and they have 6 months to break the curse or they all die 😁 it's a short game though so after this campaign if they decide to explore the world further I'm going to give them the option to carry on with their current characters or roll a new character for a new campaign in another part of the world.
I got to say, my players nowadays just say :" yeah, we've all been friends for years and had many adventures, yadda yadda" a bit boring maybe but makes my job easier. I do remember a couple of players in my teens doing the " lone wolf " character, never ended well and always cringeworthy: " I sit apart from the others, thinking about what happened [insert anime backstory], i still carry the scars from that day. I then go out into the night to train my blade in the forest..."
You managed to get David Attenborough to feature! Incredible.
the portraits 😁😁😁
Babo Fitt is missing, though.
Nice vid Guy. ChatGPT says this...
"Creating party cohesion in roleplaying games (RPGs) is important for an enjoyable and successful game experience for all players. Here are some tips to help create party cohesion in an RPG:
Establish clear goals and motivations for each character: Encourage players to create characters with distinct goals and motivations. This gives the players a clear direction for their characters and helps them to form alliances and conflicts within the group.
Encourage open communication: Encourage players to talk to each other outside of the game to build relationships and understanding. This can also help resolve any issues that arise during the game.
Foster teamwork: Encourage players to work together and support each other. This can be achieved by giving each player a role that complements the strengths and weaknesses of the other players.
Encourage roleplaying: Encourage players to fully embody their characters and act out their motivations, goals, and reactions to events in the game. This can help build empathy and understanding between players.
Set clear rules and expectations: Make sure that all players understand the rules and expectations of the game and are on the same page. This can help prevent misunderstandings and conflicts.
Reward cooperation: Give incentives for players to work together and support each other. This can be achieved through in-game rewards, such as experience points or treasure, for successfully completing challenges as a team.
Celebrate successes: Celebrate the successes of the group and the individual players. This can help build a positive and supportive atmosphere and increase the sense of party cohesion.
By following these tips, you can create a supportive and enjoyable RPG experience for all players, where everyone feels like they are part of a tight-knit group working towards a common goal."
ChatGPT is not God. Don't let a robot tell you what to do.
Thanks for great advice that applies to any system and genre.
Thanks for this. This was a really great video.
Very interesting thank you
I'm gonna add one to the list : Unity of play.
I think having a list of things to make a group stick together is great. But the intro seems to suggest the default is "they don't". Hence my addition, because the default should be, "they do". We all come to the table to play a game together, but if the characters can't work together, then neither can the players. If you look hard enough, you will always find a reason why your character wouldn't be with the group (or adventuring at all). But this isn't what you should be looking for in the first place. The party sticks together because if they don't, there is no game and the story ends there. As long as there is a game, you can always come up with a reason for the party sticking together later.
I have a player that had a “arrogant old guy that everyone loves a little” archetype but the party ended up hating that pc, the player does things against the party’s alignment/goals and sabotages them every once I a while. I honestly don’t know what to do at this point. Help
There are times when characters are going to go in different directions. In one game, the PCs were united by a common goal (survival) in the first adventure, but the second adventure basically forced them to choose sides in a bigger conflict. One character chose a different side from the rest of the group. So the player created a new character, one that would make the same choice as the rest of the group.
But that assumes that it's the character that doesn't fit with the other characters, and not the player who doesn't fit with the other players.
Talk to them. Say “hey, this doesn’t seem to be working. Is there a way you all can make it work? If not, we’ll need to figure out a different PC(s)”
@@johnathanrhoades7751 Exactly. It seems that SO MANY of these folks don't want to just TALK TO EACH OTHER and would rather bully them or be abusive. If you can't communicate, don't play this game please.
Step 1: Don't have me in the party. IRL I am chaotic good. In game I play chaotic evil. Emphasis in life and in game on chaos.
Not sure why you would brag about ruining games, but whatever fiddles your fancy I guess.
@@ThatBigRedBear The same kinds of people that tortured insects as a kid. Like that bully in Toy Story.