Let’s Party!! - Reasons to Cooperate

Thanks to the author, Aggran
 

Reasons to Cooperate in an Adventuring Party.

As a player, it is your job to create in-depth, interesting characters. Let’s say that you’ve created your new character “Megania”, and fleshed out her detailed history, personality quirks, and her complex desires and goals. You’ve spent a great deal of time creating family trees, lists of town friends, and diagrams outlining her innermost motivations.

All of this is great, except for one small thing: You have to play Megania in a cooperative game with other characters.

Suddenly, your are having a hard time figuring out why Megania would hang out with all these scummy warrior characters, and why she wouldn’t run off and do her own thing. You look to the GM for the answer before having Megania leave the group and explore the Maze Islands on her own. The GM looks frustrated, and comes up with some quick reason that doesn’t seem that satisfying. “Megania wouldn’t buy that,” you think to yourself. You send Megania paddling her way to the Maze Islands, leaving the party far behind.

Instead of getting stuck into this common trap, try to figure out why Megania would travel with a party, before the first game. It is your job as a player to create great characters, but make sure that you do it with other characters in mind. You will not be playing in a vacuum, and you must be willing to occasionally compromise with the other characters, or the game will really suffer. If Megania isn’t going to be a solo character, don’t build her that way.

Here is a simple list of character motivations and reasons to play as a party:

• The game is more fun when the Party works together..
• Every character needs friends. (The more friends, the better.)
• My character’s goals are actually achievable in a group setting.
• We are playing a game. The game is more fun if the characters get along most of the time.
• Suspicion, intimidation, & conflict are all too common in the real world. Why “play it out” in Larethon?
• The gamemaster has plenty of villains for the characters to conflict with. Don’t be a villain, be a hero.
• Squabbling ruins the flow of the game.
• A character in the group is my PC's friend.
• I need to have a character in the group to play.
• Endless arguing ruins the flow of the game.
• It is a dangerous world out there and a group might be the only way to survive.
• A character in the group needs me.
• My character needs help to reach her goals.
• No cooperation = no story.
• My PC can’t achieve her goals alone.
• The adventuring Party are my character's friends.
• The group has saved my life.
• The party is of a similar background, homeland, or general occupation.
• Alone, my character could easily be killed by monsters/villains/traps/?
• The party has joint goals.
• The story needs heroes.
• We’re stuck here together anyway so why not cooperate?
• The GM has spent many hours preparing for this adventure. Fun gaming makes this time worthwhile.

If none of these are reasons enough, perhaps it is time to adjust your character’s motivations to be more accessible to a group setting. Remember, your character is not set in stone, and it is up to you to help make the game more fun. When you make your new character, talk to some of the other players and find out what they are playing. Figure out how your character can fit in, and think about how your PC can fill in some of the party's weaknesses.

We'll have a better game if you do.