Perhaps you could have some sort of tourney/trial with the promise of a prize. Have the participants divided in groups, one of them being the PCs obviously. When they win reveal it was a ploy to gather capable warriors for the task at hand.

>>44482868
Details on the soul? Maybe he's a relation of the King bound to the armor, the wizard is hired as a necromatic advisor, the pirate to keep an eye on the necromancer

>>44482897
I was thinking along those lines. Perhaps making it a small dungeon for all of the groups to fun through or something

>>44482868
What if you all could start at some sort of establishment that, among other things, serves alcoholic beverages? Such as a tavern, or the like.

>>44482868
The pirate and the wizard could possibly be arrested and upon seeing how capable they are, be offered a chance at being pardoned and a boon of their choice if they complete this task. To keep them on track the king assigns one of his knights and one of his spies to both watch over them and keep them on track (not running away).

The suit of armor... I would have to know a bit more about it's history to help you there.

>>44482868

>not creating characters together.

Normally, mutual enemies.
>We are here to take out this dude
>Wow, Im after his bounty as well
>I need his spell book, so im in.

Sometimes guilt by association.
>Angry townsfolk: Look! the heathens compatriots!
>PC's: What? we were just in the same room and he asked us our name.
>PC's branded as enemies of the state and must redeem themselves.

Sometimes by coercion
>All got caught up in a raid by enemy empire (no matter how edgy you are, 40 soldiers vs. 1 will take you down)
>Shackled together
>We work together or we all die.
>party rescued by the kings men who noticed their bravery and now wants to collect on the life debt, with bonuses of course.


Any of these reasons could happen. I think what you need to do to get believable connections is really look into character back stories. Weave them into each other. One guy after someone on an isalnd? Hell, hire the pirate. Undead wizard? Maybe the soul in armor is fadeing and the wizard knows just the spell, but needs the book of a guy whos on an island.

Think ahead for the characters, but not for the path. Build mutual benefit, and the rest plays itself.

>>44482953
The group usually does, but I had told them to run with whatever concept they wanted for the new setting we were going into. Originally I had a plan to get them all together, but that sorta fell through.

>>44482935
>>44482919
The soul belonged to the heir of a house. He was going to go around acting like he was some big deal Prince, but in reality no one remembers the house he came from.

>>44482868

Either they have different reasons to want the same thing or they all need something different but that they must go through an obstacle in common to get.

>>44482868

You're going to have to negotiate this with the players. There's no plot reason that can bring players together if they are intent on making it hard for you. Coming up with it collaboratively with them gets them on your side.

>>44482932
"My PC doesn't drink alcohol."

You know what I love? When shit DMs homebrew a shit sandbox world because that's how they think campaigns should work, and then realize "Fuck, I don't know how to make my players care about this place or themselves" and then they ask for advice on how to start their shit campaign.

Next time, try writing a setting where the players actually have some stake in what they're supposed to be doing that is built into their characters at creation. Otherwise you end up with a clusterfuck of faggots with different priorities and allegiances who don't care about eachother.

Oh wait who am I kidding that would require effort.

>>44482868
Pull off the "The Hangover" scenario and have the PCs woke up amnesiac in a room.

>>44486827
That's really specific. Something you'd like to share?

>>44482868
They were hired separately, for their skills in any given area.

>>44489032

Not that guy, but I tend to imply all the classes naturally work together because they fulfill their roles.

>Bastards (fighters) need to kill bigger and bigger creatures, they are glory hounds.
>Crooks (theif) have special skills like lockpicking and decoding runes but need muscle to back then up
>Debasers (wizards) want to research magical shit but aren't very strong at mundane matters
>Zealots (paladins) are all about suffering and proving themselves. Also religious artifacts.
>Cultists (healer/summoners) can heal the dying and perform blood sacrifice, adventures produce captives and injuries both
>Sabetours (gunner/bomber) are mercenaries from the start, few need firepower like this except adventurers.

Also money is always a factor, but it's not perfect.
Like this >>44491333

They met in a tavern.

No GM story will work as well as asking your players to decide how they know each other.