How would you handle latecomers in a group?
I got two possible groups, but for both not all players who could play would be available for the first story. So if later (in session 2 or 3) another player joins the team, should we do another “When the team first met” round of questions? What about the Relationships (which would probably be already filled at session 0/1)?
Anyone already had this problem?
Well, the obvious and best answer is to just wait a week so that everyone can be there for session zero. Collaborative character and setting creation is super important and in depth, and if you only have to delay by one session so that everyone can participate, then you know: do that.
Failing that, just follow the rules for making a new character on page 119. They work just as well for incoming players as they do for extant players making new characters, and it makes the process go very smoothly.
What James Etheridge said. If you can wait without too much delay, I’d recommend it.
That being said if it’s only one person out of 4 or 5, it’ll be okay and just add them in later according to the rules. If there’s only 2 or so and you don’t want to wait because you just gotta play, you could delay the When We First Came Together story until the next session when everyone is there. Instead, you could play your first session as a kind of Team Up preview. The 2 or 3 people may have reamed up before the full team came together. Have them each so their back story and play out a mini adventure. I haven’t tested this, but it’s a theory I’ve had for a while.
But ultimately starting with the full group is preferable.
Depends what works best for the group. Ive had some new characters Introduced during sessions (ie Outsider crashing down, Newborn being found, Transformed doing so in story event). That normally worked well to join them to the group, ignoring the how we came together and assume relationships are done during time passing after the session etc.
One of the great things about most PBTA games is how clean character creation is and how the systems tend to bake in great hooks for getting new characters right into the thick of the story.
Masks is no exception. Go for it! Character creation really isn’t as big a deal here as it is in a lot of game systems. That is, it’s just as important, but it’s nowhere near as involved. Collaboration is always more fun, which is why we’re here in the first place … but it’s not like you can’t collaborate later.
I had this happen with all my campaigns. Usually i have them meet the new hero with a clear instruction that they will join the team and be accepted. You could also have them be a contact of another character that they pull into the team for some reason – maybe a specific threat they couldn’t handle otherwise.
The latest newcomer (a Transformed) was introduced last week when the former hobby spelunker was just at the exact same time in the exact same space the Outsider’s “cousin” tried to check on the “little lost lamb” (read: runaway from home) and their bodies combined in a strange and probably somewhat permanent way while momentarily disrupting the telepathic powers (which are the main communication of our Outsider’s race).