Essentially their dnd-esque world is being conquored by a BBEG of unchallengable might who is killing off all living sentients and raising them for his undead army.

The players will all be magic users (mages, paladins, priests and druids) from orders that essentially run society.

The BBEG leads his armies against the last free city in the world where the PCs are defenders. At the last moment and as the walls begin to fall, the cities archmages throw the PCs and about 1000 civilians through the planes to a new world. BBEG then finishes conquering the city.

Hence the PCs are now in charge of what is left of civilization. The civilians look to them to lead them in founding a new society, exploring their new world etc. Given that all four orders are pretty much dedicated to serving the people (in one form or another) they all have motivation to work together.

Should be fun seeing how it turns out.

Let me add that you should NEVER start a game where two PC’s are undercover and two PCs are not. Just DO NOT do this, unless circumstances will allow for the covers to be abandoned fairly early in the campaign.

It may sound cool and fun, and it was, but trying to manage the need to maintain cover identities can pose a real problem for game development over the long-term, particularly when the two who aren’t undercover are part of a well-known organization that usually operates in the open.

Developing a second level of ties goes a long way to making a group stick. I do prefer to hash that out– or at least bring it up– in advance, but it sounds like you’ve had success arranging it on the fly.

@Barvo Delancy – Sounds like your DM had a great trick. Did you ever get a chance at Sir Shaun, or did he avoid that because Sir Shaun was the only glue holding you together?

I applaud your work twining your group together– I know that I’ve had a few bad experiences, but the extra freedom in character can be heady!

Personally, I tend to use “on GM’s shoulders” thoguh a little less crude. I wait until the PCs write their backgrounds and THEN write the plot for my game. This way everyone gets to feel loved and involved, rather than an audience for my story.Involves a hell of a lot of work though, especially when there’s a big split in terms of morals in the party. When it does work, it works well.

As for the evil campaign collapse, the weaker players surprised me on the ‘when’ and took action before they were strong enough. Everything was going fine when one of the weaker players decided to take the high moral road out of the blue. Plus, once the Pandora Box was opened, trust could not be regained and everyone knew it. Because of the unexpected timing and the personalities of the characters, I don’t think anything could be done. (There was also a bad issue of the GM hitting burn out at the same time).

For other games, as a player you can do things that help quite a bit in making the game better. An example (using one of the most “organic” group creations I’ve ever been in): our game started in a city. All PCs had worked out details of why were there individually prior to the game, and we all had a pretty clear idea of who our own character was (that’s tip one: know your character). What brought the group together was the performance of a “miracle” that many of us witnessed first hand. This, however, only formed a very cursory connection, essentially providing a reason for us to talk. What sealed it is how the players were true to their characters. On player, a priest, reacted with religious passion, wanting to make sure everyone knew what a miracle had just transpired and so on. He said something to the effect of “I should find a stone carver to make a plaque to commemorate this event.” As it happened, my character actually was a stone carver (although the other player did not know this), and this instantly provided a “second level” reason for us to connect, beyond the common event. So, tip two: it often pays to give your characters skills that would be practical in the game world, even if they are not practical in the game. Tip three: as a player in this kind of situation, look for that “second level” connection with the other players, especially if you are a gaming veteran and they are not. It can make a very long-reaching difference to the tone of the campaign.

@Timon – If you’re willing (or forced) to do the work of making the PC backgrounds, there are a lot of great things you can work in. I like your links– in a con game, putting characters at odds, in rivalries, in romances, and the like, all add depth to “party” play.

@LesInk – Did the first group make it to earning their freedom? If so, did they splinter when the tattoos were deactivated, or did it work out right and they had enough bond to stick with each other afterwards?

Your evil campaign’s collapse is the thing I’d try hardest to prevent. In retrospect, was there anything you could have done to keep the evil vibe and not have them swarm like sharks at the first sign of weakness?

@Kurt “Telas” Schneider – I prefer to have the players work out bonds, especially creative bonds like your examples, themselves. Group character creation can be a great time to develop that unifying cause.

Have you had any problem keeping PCs together if they were just brought together by chance– like when they solve the immediate thrust of “wrong place, wrong time”? Or is it pretty easy to sustain their relationships even after the intrigue or mystery is accomplished?

Some reasons will lead to a lasting bond, while others may be short lived (and possibly replaced by the bonding that a shared intense event can engender).

For instance:
You all grew up together, went to college together, served in the military together, worked together, attend the same church, volunteer at the same charity, etc.

You’re caught up in some kind of intrigue or mystery.

You share some common (overt or covert) aspect, secret, history, background, genetic material, etc.

You share a common value, like the willingness to stand between your lands and the BBEG, or a hatred of a common enemy.

Nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When the call for heroes came, you were all that showed up.

You each represent a larger organization or region who have common interests.

FWIW, my next campaign will ask for background if it’s available, but the group will find themselves bound by something external (namely iron chains).

In one campaign, all the players were prisoners given the opportunity to get out and work for the Lord, but they would be given a magical tattoo that could be used to track them down if they ran. After they repaid their debt, they were to be then freed. The Lord then picked players he thought that would make a good tactical group to deal with another neighbor.

In another (evil) campaign, I experimented with the idea that 2 of the players would be high level characters given control with the rest of the party who were low level characters. The high level characters were given instructions to train the lower level characters and create a powerful team. Very interesting, but the inevitable happened (interparty fight when some of the low level characters saw an opportunity). That basically ended the campaign.

We sat down for group character creation and everyone tossed ideas around. From that night, only one character went through a major change; the rest held fairly true to their initial concepts. Two PCs are partnered detectives, one of those detectives plays poker in a club owned by the other, and the final PC had light contact with all three others in the past.

Interlinked backgrounds is obviously the hook for the detectives, but attaching the other two happened mostly prelude via GM’s Shoulders. I ran it round-robin style, with each PC (the detectives were always paired) usually getting their own scene before we switched, but many of those scenes brought in the others. The cops had to talk to the club owner, etc/

The nice thing about Ghouls is that it completely justifies the “Group Geas” concept. You’re all slaves to vampire masters, and those vampires are working together, so you all work together. The players aren’t artificially bonded to each other, so there’s plenty of room for inter-party dynamics, but they are bound to a common (if unknown) purpose.

I would also suggest pairing them up: PCs A and C know one another and/or are traveling companions for this particular venture. PCs B and D… the same. If there’s a fifth, let him or her be solo. This eliminates the chances of A getting along well with B, C and D… but not E.

Regardless, make sure there’s a good solid “bang” for the party to come together around/against.