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this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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I love playing in a group where the characters have a common backstory. It enables so many opportunities for role playing and storytelling. A married couple with in-laws or other relatives, family connections have great dynamics. A group of former slaves, who bought their freedom. A troupe of artists on tour. Delegation of athletes. All from the same village. Fans of the same football team.
Yeah I don't think I would happily play another "and then you all meet for the first time and work together" game unless it was like intentionally subverting the trope. It adds so many problems and suspension of disbelief problems.
I think it depends on why you all meet for the first time.
You've all seen an "adventurers wanted" poster, gone to the listed address, passed the interview, and been hired? Fine.
You all randomly meet in a tavern, hear a rumor from one of the locals, and decide to work together with complete strangers? Stupid.
You're all agents of the authoritarian wizard king "Friend Wizard", assigned to enforce their authority. You're also all members of different prohibited secret societies with secret missions to steal from & sabotage Friend Wizard. If you die Friend Wizard will resurrect you, the first 6 resurrections are free and more 6-packs can be purchased. Your DM is running Paranoia in D&D, wacky hijinks will ensue. Silly.
No disagreement here.
I realized when reading one of the other comments that my similarly sized complaint is it creates a lot of potential for problems at the game level as well as narrative when people make their characters in isolation. I kind of assumed that comes packaged with "and you all meet in a tavern".
Like, everyone makes a fighter and shows up to session 1. The dm's going to have a head scratcher thinking about balance, and some players might be annoyed they don't really have a niche of their own. A weird party like that can work, but it'll be a happier experience if folks talk about it ahead of time.