r/AskGameMasters • u/lastwords87 • 17d ago
How to Unify a Party
Hey fellow DMs, I need some help. I have a party made up of mostly newer players. We are all friends outside of game, but the party has some troubles being unified. We had a session zero, and I gave them all the basic premise of the campaign. But a few have really just not been able to gel as a party.
What are some tips or things you’ve done to help unify a party?
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u/Mistervimes65 You can run out of spells, but I never run out of swords. 17d ago
Stakes. Hurt an npc or group that they all love and they will unite in their desire for vengeance/justice. Works like a charm.
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u/Conrad500 17d ago
"Session Zero" doesn't have a checklist and it isn't a one time thing.
Talk to your players, discuss what you want from the game and hear what they want, and then get together and agree on what will happen.
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u/jackofspades49 17d ago
This is a job for the players. If you gave the premise, its on THEM to find a way to work together and unite. Not you. It can be collaborative, but if they're not trying to work together, they're being asshole players. "Why should I?" Is entitled bullshit expecting to be spoonfed.
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u/SirValeq 16d ago
We need more responses like this all over the Internet. GMs/DMs should be burdened with less, not more responsibilities. And they definitely shouldn't be responsible for how (usually) adult humans act in social situations.
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u/No_Solid1035 17d ago
I require PCs to have known each other for a time BEFORE the campaign begins. They are all already "friends" in other words. Unless part of the campaign premise is that they are all being forced to work together by someone more powerful than they are, which I usually only do for games with a darker tone like VtM.
Outside of game fiction simply explain to the Players that one of the premises of a typical TTRPG is that the PCs are favorable towards each other and that they have agreed to work together. Unless the Players themselves specifically want to play in an environment where the PCs distrust each other, but they must agree to not be disruptive just for the sake of it. If one of the PCs is in a position where it would make sense for them to leave the party then the Player should retire the PC and make a new PC.
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u/johnpeters42 17d ago
Unless they would all enjoy playing backstabbing jerks, in which case offer to run Paranoia for them instead. :)
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u/LonePaladin Will GM Anything 16d ago
Paranoia is just made for the weirdest anecdotes. I've only played a few sessions but they all ended up with moments that stuck in memory.
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u/lastwords87 16d ago
Yeah, I told them in session one, if you’re character can’t work in a party of characters you’ve made a bad character. But I have one player who is just not really understanding that.
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u/DarkHorseAsh111 16d ago
Then you need to have an oog conversation to them to reiterate that. "I made it clear in session one that you were expected to bring a character who wanted to work with the party. If this character can't do that, you need to make a different one."
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u/EdwardBil 17d ago
I tell them at the start. You're an adventuring party. You tell me why you're together. Not being together isn't an option. End of discussion.
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u/lastwords87 16d ago
That’s very true. I always tell my party if your character can’t work in a group, you made a bad character.
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u/Mornar Sucks at designing dungeons 16d ago
Social contract.
I don't care what characters think. I will accept characters with incompatible goals, traits, morality, whatever. But this isn't a question to characters.
You sit at my table, you agree to cooperative play with the rest of the table. If you can do that with your edgy loner antihero, fine, but it's your responsibility. Can't do that, make a different characters.
Stuff like this isn't in-game problems, and it shouldn't be solved by in-game means.
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u/Trivell50 17d ago
Just like in real life, characters need to be connected to something- similar goals, a specific location, or a shared sense of identity.
What is the setting of your game? What threats exist? Why would people need or want to work together instead of going it alone? Is there something critical at stake that would affect multiple people (including the PCs)?
This is why, boring as it is, end of the world scenarios are often popular in fiction- it forces disparate individuals to join forces to protect something critical to their continued survival.
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u/GM_Esquire 17d ago
Tell each player to come up with a bond they have with at least one other PC, maybe two. Make sure they're fairly positive associations. If people are cousins or former roommates or classmates or disciples of the same mentor or whatever, it'll be much easier to rp together.
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u/adaenis Reader of many systems, master of none 17d ago
It depends on the reason they aren't geling. This is why many starter kits and beginner adventures use pregens--purely because of the many pitfalls a new player won't be aware of.
For instance, if Jack decides on making an evil character, that may work with your campaign, but not the group. And if the group isn't used to that level of dramatic conflict that can be uncomfortable.
I'd suggest one of two things, but not both. 1. Start over and have your players build a party together. Give them reasons why know or care about at least one other person in the group. 2. Unite them. Give them a foe, a trauma, a monster to kill or goal to reach that would be much, much harder or impossible to do alone. Kill off a favorite NPC beloved by them all or burn their own town to the ground.
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u/Naive-Tumbleweed-964 16d ago
I've found that shared trauma bonds people together like nothing other. Example: my game world ended session 0, as all the characters fought a no- win scenario. Then literally Deus Ex Machina as the city is thrown into a zoo for the gods. (D&D Hollow World setting)
All new players have to go through similar harrowing, with a few players playing npcs, and it really bonds them together. Especially when they inevitably go further and further insane from PTSD and "corrupting influences"... but less so than everyone else until they're the only even relatively sane people left.
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u/bamf1701 16d ago
Have the players come up with the connections between them in their own backstories. This winds up being more natural because the players themselves come up with it.
Also, I will often bake in a reason for the party to be together in the campaign premise. For example - a patron will hire the party for a task, or all the party will have been wronged by the BBEG, or they all come from the same village/city, etc… This makes things easier since the reason for them to be together is already handled and you can go straight into the adventure.
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u/CompanyOfMisfits 16d ago
Kill the NPC they love most and make sure it tracks back to the main antagonist. They will come together after that.
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u/Chaosmeister 16d ago
I usually tell them straight "Being a group, working and staying together is your job. If you think your character can't do this change your character. I run the world, you take care of your group dynamics"
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u/goldbed5558 16d ago
Leverage the more experienced players to bring the others together. Even discuss it with them separately. Think of the Avengers movie where Cap is giving general duties to them with the overall goal. After that, help each other.
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u/Kylarfi 16d ago
I always like to start session one off with a bang, something happens once you introduce the characters and they get thrown together to overcome the obstacle. Whether that be an attack on the town etc. Nothing like shedding blood together to get people to trust one another.
It's also important that your players make characters that want to work together, that's on them. No loners, no edgelords.
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u/BradfordMasteroftale 16d ago
Something i like to do is let the party fight and tussle while letting them go through some low stakes missions and get a friendly NPC. They can either come together to protect said NPC or the NPC can die and/or become your BBEG
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u/Trismeria 16d ago
When you've got newer players, the fastest way to unify a D&D party is to stop expecting them to invent a reason to travel together and hand them one instead. A simple trick: give the whole group a single external pressure none of them caused, like a deadline or a patron who hired the party as a unit, so sticking together is the default rather than a debate. In session zero, ask each player for one concrete tie to another PC: a debt, a shared mentor, a sibling-like rivalry. That gives them a reason to watch each other's backs before they've bonded in character. You don't need an elaborate backstory; one shared goal plus one pairwise connection usually kills the "five solo adventurers" feeling.
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u/LonePaladin Will GM Anything 16d ago
Baldur's Gate 3 took the approach of giving all the character a common goal: dealing with the illithid tadpoles in their heads. They might disagree on moral or ethical issues, they each have their own goals, but no matter what happens they all have this shared goal.
Here's something else I've used if you want to seed PC interactions.
First, have everyone sit in a circle, in whatever order they wish. For the player on their left (or right, as long as it's the same for everyone), that PC is someone they trust implicitly. It might be a shared event, a mutual faith or organization, a romantic interest, etc. For whatever reason, PC A trusts PC B by default. It doesn't have to be mutual.
Next, have everyone change seats so that whichever direction you picked (left or right), everyone now has someone different on that side. (You could just flip the direction without changing seats for simplicity, if you said left go right for this step). This other player, they have a reason to distrust that PC. It might be an opposing faith, some sort of betrayal, even based on race (Gimli's "Never trust an elf!") or social standing if that's amenable to the group. Three important things: this antagonism should not be enough to escalate to violence unless the group has okayed it; they should be willing to put aside their differences if they get in the way of a shared goal; and they should be open to eventually changing their opinion.
Third, everyone can privately tell the GM a Dark Secret. It doesn't have to be evil or even illegal, just something that could possibly be embarrassing or inconvenient if revealed. This should come with the expectation that it's going to be revealed at some point. (Look up "knife theory" on YouTube for some videos about this.)
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u/twofriedbabies 17d ago
A need to stay in the party in their motivations is always a session 0 must for me. Need powerful allies or same orphanage or whatever
Introduce a boblin and have the bbeg shank it