By Nathan Stone 

When sitting down to a brand-new role playing campaign, nothing deflates my enthusiasm as quickly as the Game Master (GM) uttering the tired phrase, “You meet in a tavern.”  

While it might not send shivers down your spine in the same way it does for me, strangers meeting in a tavern is a lazy way to begin a game, so overdone that it is nearly the expectation (at least in fantasy settings), and it speaks to a real problem in the way GMs plan adventures. 

Starting a game where five random strangers come together for an adventure is hard. No matter the setting, it’s tough to align all the player characters in the same direction, even if the players themselves know that they will eventually need to get with the party to advance the plot.  

It’s easy for a GM to get bogged down trying to get the party’s resident “lone wolf” character to join the rest of the crew, or to deal with diametrically opposed characters coming into conflict at once (Rogue and Paladin anyone?). Early struggles can destroy a game’s momentum and ultimately cause a group to abandon it.  

Fortunately, there is a straightforward way to save your games from opening with a bunch of strangers, who probably hate each other, meeting in the dimly lit corner of the local bar. Enter Collaborative Character Creation (CCC)! 

The purpose of CCC is to start your games smoothly with a group that knows (or knows of) each other and are all working toward the same goal. Let’s explore some of the best ways to do this.  

The first and most important ‘C’ in our CCC is collaborative. Characters must be created together. This means everyone together in person or online for a dedicated character creation session. Use this gathering to hold a proper Session Zero and supercharge your game! 

Players should be encouraged to prepare nothing more than character concepts beforehand. The GM should ensure that each of the players has a good grasp of the game and its themes prior to meeting up.  

Before anyone starts filling out a character sheet, the players will figure out their character’s backgrounds. The GM should make it clear that these characters have some knowledge of each other beforehand.  

As an example, in the last game I ran, the players were all FBI agents investigating a murder. Though they had never met before, each of the players had at least heard of one another. I had each player fill out their notes with rumors they had heard about the other characters, then I let them secretly choose if the rumors about their characters were true or false.  

The exercise helped both the players and me. It put them on the same team and gave them a reason to work together, it aided them in fleshing out their characters as they thought of how to incorporate the rumors into their backstories, and it set up future plot points and dramatic revelations to be used later in the game.  

In game relationships can be created in layers and are often better for it. In a game where the characters were all part of a group of professional video game streamers, a friend and I once decided that our characters would be brother and sister. That second layer of relationship immediately opened a world of possibilities and completely changed our interactions.  

We ran with the sibling theme, further deciding that we were twins, but that the female twin had a life-threatening illness. It was the recipe for hours of incredible roleplaying in addition to what our GM had planned.  

Familial relationships will instantly add an interesting dynamic to any group. In another game I ran, all the players were siblings returning to their ancestral home for their father’s funeral. During character creation I asked them to write down memorable moments they had with each other during childhood. This informed much of their thoughts and feelings towards each other.  

Creating questions for your players to answer together is one of the greatest ways I’ve found to get them to think of their characters as part of a larger party rather than a collection of individuals.  

Don’t forget to make suggestions to the players throughout the process of crafting backgrounds. No one knows better than the GM what kind of characters will best fit the story. 

Once you’re happy with the character’s backgrounds, it’s time to move on to filling out the character sheets. Even here there is room for CCC. Have everyone go through the sheet at the same time and pace. Encourage them to talk out the choices that they’re making. The goal here is to turn the character sheet into a conversation.  

During this time, players can draw inspiration from one another by discussing their choices of stats and abilities, while you can ensure that they are making characters in line with their backgrounds and appropriate the setting.  

By the end of character creation, players should have a clear understanding of who all the characters are, and how they fit into the game world.  

It’s the GM’s job to take the newly created character info and fold it into the plot of the adventure. Players will have likely provided the hooks for all sorts of delicious story lines, side quests, or even changed your ideas on the overall direction of the game.  

Embrace merging your ideas with those your players have provided and you’ll end up with a game that is more engaging and fun for everyone at the table.  

No longer will you need a dingy tavern to force a disparate band of adventurers together. You’ll have a coherent group that you can drop straight into much more interesting situations from the get-go.  

The ultimate advantage of CCC is that it prepares you and the players to hit the ground running when the adventure starts. Spend the time before the game setting yourself up with a great foundation and you’ll find that your campaign runs smoothly and enjoyably for everyone at the table.