I'm staring a 5e games soon where the players are going to be Lvl 0 slaves with only racial traits at the start of the game. I'm doing this as a way to help party cohesion as my players like to play a variety of alignments and viewpoints. I feel being brothers and sisters in chains is a good way to make the characters have some attachment to each other. The characters won't be gladiatorial slaves. They will be more like day laborers, at least at the start,they might be transferred depending on behavior. I highly doubt that it will be more than two sessions before they try to escape. Have you ever tried a Lvl 0 game? Have you ever had your players play slaves in a game, if so how did the game go?
>>46508997
>Have you ever tried a Lvl 0 game?
Yup. Here's one for 2E.
>>46508997
>doing this as a way to help party cohesion
You may have already talked about starting this way with them, but have you considered having the party make characters as a group?
Most recently I made a few that were distinctive but connected as a GM, then told the players to choose from the pile.
Though it had mixed results at first reception, optimism is high, and the group can definitely work together if they play their characters right while still having those fun points of disagreement. This as well as other points of experience have led me to believe the group all designing characters together is a MUST, not a maybe.
>>46509138
I really like this and will be using some of it's ideas.
>>46509323
I usually have them all sit down at a kind of micro session for character creation, they make charterers that complement each other mechanically. Most of the encounters I put against them have to be tougher than they should do to the players being great at working together against a common enemy. More often than not the biggest threat to a player is another player.
>>46509323
If I ever joined a game that wasn't a oneshot where the GM tried to make me play a premade character, I would be so out.
>>46509767
>I'm not playing unless I get to play as my OC donut steel snowflake
Honestly, when someone won't even consider playing a premade character, that's a pretty big warning flag.
>>46509817
Why would I want to play someone else's character? I play RPGs to build and play something I'd find fun, not what someone else builds.
>>46509817
I have an entire party doing that right now. Started out as a solo game with a bunch of NPC's working with the player now and then. Brought in some other people to play the NPCs for a one shot, they stayed as they liked the characters.
It didn't hurt that I made the characters with them (the players personalities) in mind and what I thought they would like to play.
>>46508997
Yeah, we did this once.
Motherfuckers scaped and the kingdom that enslaved them doesn't exist anymore.
>>46509480
Mechanically has its place, but I'm talking about thematically. OP talked about putting everyone in the same place with the same background, in this case slaves, to give the PCs a point of common ground. I'm talking about fluff-wise making it so that even if you have individuals somehow opposed to each other, the party doesn't dissolve into
>biggest threat to another player is another player
An example might be making the LG and CN characters brothers, with the LG having a drive to look after his younger brother, and the CN wanting to impress his brother with good behavior despite believing otherwise. These two PCs fighting could certainly happen, but the bond is there to prevent the CN from stealing from the party or give the LG an excuse to overlook other theft. Isolating the characters in creation and motivation leads to inter-party conflict and I'd much rather run a game for a more cohesive party.
>>46509767
The idea isn't to shoehorn someone into playing MY character, it is to provide a fun group experience. As always seems the case, communication helps. Why not work with the GM to make a character you BOTH would like to see played?
