I’m currently in the early sessions of what I hope will be a long-term Sprawl campaign. I’m facing a challenge that is a classic one in party-based RPGs: how to get the PCs together for a mission without it feeling contrived.
It’s made somewhat more awkward given the context of The Sprawl, where we’re encouraged to regard the PCs as competent professionals and to view them as replaceable “by the next mouthy punk with too much raw talent and bloody ambition and not enough smarts.”
The PCs haven’t taken any steps to form a sort of gang or A-team (they’re actually somewhat suspicious and hostile towards each other sometimes, which is cool), so once a mission ends, and it’s time for another mission, there’s no great fictional reason for them to work together as the same team. I don’t want to always just have them show up at the same “inn.” Furthermore, I really want to avoid the sort of unbelievable fiction where the employer wants this specific team because why would they? Again, they don’t need you, much less you all.
So, I’m looking for some good ideas about how others keep these loner pros working together across multiple missions other than the obvious fact that it would be hard to run a session otherwise.
Remember that a good way to unite people is to give them a common enemy. Have a corporation busting the doors of their respective hangouts searching through their belongings asking questions about their known associate. If the enemy think they are working together, they will most likely end up working together.
I mean, we could give you ideas, but the best route is to just ask the players why they consistently work together. Let them come up with the reason instead of trying to hammer one together yourself, it’ll feel a lot more organic with everyone onboard.
Part of forming their initial links is establishing that some of them have worked together before. If anyone is left hanging by the initial links with no connection make them fix it.
You could start them out by establishing that they know a common fixer and that’s who brings them together. After that it’s on them to stick together. Maybe one of them gets wind of an opportunity and calls the others to take the job together. If somebody got killed then their replacement is the new guy that this experienced team is giving a shot.
If any of the players decides their character won’t come back for the next job to work with these guys then hand them a new character sheet. Eventually they’ll realize they want to earn some XP and advance and one of their characters will come back for another mission.
They showed up to play The Sprawl. They should make characters to play The Sprawl. In this world you don’t make the big cred on your own. The loners keep bullets in their guns and usually have rent for their apartment, but they’re not likely to retire comfortably.
Be frank with the players that it’s a team-based game so they should crumple up their loners and make new characters. If they’ve every played any other tabletop RPG before their response should be, “Yeah, you’re right.”
Don’t take the burden of figuring out how to make the PCs want to stick together. That’s the biggest GM trap in any RPG and there’s way too much over complicated advice about how to “keep the PCs together.” You have X number of players who should be wanting that X times more than you do. Put it on them, then work with what they come up with.
Ask them. Johnny, why do you like to work with Nath and why do you keep her close when things go south?
Good suggestions here. To echo everyone else, ask the players why their characters continue to work together.