Working together as a party is essential in any RPG because that’s the only way you’re actually going to survive. Not only can having the wrong party kill your characters, it can also kill your chances of having fun because you’ll most likely end up falling apart and failing.
Whether you are playing with close friends or with people you just met, use these tips for forming a solid party to succeed in your quest and have a good time.
First Things First: Know Yourself
In forming a party, the biggest thing I always try to stress for players is it’s a good idea to establish what role you want to play from the get go. Consider how and who you want to play. Do you tactically like to be sneakier? Are you more aggressive? Are you more forthcoming?
Know your characters point of view. What inspires them? What scares them? What do they hate? You character’s point of view will inform the way they act and the decisions they will make in the game.
Also, what is your character good at? It’s important to know your character’s strengths so you can utilize them at the appropriate times in the campaign.
Knowing how you want to play will help you put together a complete character that can be a benefit to any party.
Find a Balance
Once the players know the types of roles they want to play, try to devise a party to complement each characters’ roles and abilities.
Say you have a party of three people. It’s a good idea to have one strong, one sneaky, one magic. A balanced group is usually the best way to go. That way you have all the bases covered.
…Or Find Common Ground
That’s not to say you couldn’t have three fighters or three rogues or three wizards in your party.
Even if you are all playing similar characters, you could have different specialties within your class, different strategies for what will be your strongest stats, or different styles of game play that will make your character unique and make you of value to your party.
Know Your Party
Get to know the other players’ characters quickly. If you have low charisma, it will be very good to know who the charismatic one is in the group. You may have to rely on them to persuade an NPC to give you what you need.
That doesn’t mean they have to do all the talking. If one party member is super strong, persuasion with an iron fist could come in handy.
The point is, you need to know who has what strengths and how those strengths can be used to work together as a team.
If it’s a bunch of strangers going in to play together for a one-shot — nobody even knows the DM; everyone is a total blank slate – everyone makes their character before they know the party they’re in. In those cases, it’s VERY important in the first couple of moments of gameplay to get to know who you’re playing with.
The better you can get to know your party, the better idea you’ll get of what your partner’s going to do next.
Work Together
In the end, no matter who is in your party, it’s all about becoming a solid team. Your characters may have differences. If you’re lawful good and another character is chaotic evil, you’re going to want to find a way to work together. Camaraderie is the best path to survival and success in a game.
