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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.
A few months ago my wife and I were on vacation in Peru and we got kicked off our flight through no fault of our own, along with 5 other strangers. We spent hours in the airport working out logistics of getting home, getting reimbursed, getting hotels/meals, etc. At one point, they suggested to one of the women to take an uber to the hotel (this was around 3 am) and she said "I'm not going out into the city without anyone I know, you're going to send me with someone I can trust." We had only met hours ago, but our shared predicament gave us unity.
A D&D party trauma bonding over some initial catastrophe is honestly realistic. So, if you meet up for a job and it goes badly enough, you're essentially family!
The last game I played started with one party member‘s birthday party. Everyone gave a little speech reminiscing about past experiences they had together.
The adventure began, when the party was interrupted by the bad guys.
I think the best game I've done started as "it's a DND world and you're a band on tour".
It started with a simple "the bridge is out on the way to your next show", then there was a battle of the bands, a sketchy record label, and then the players organized a recall of the mayor that was in bed with the capitalists. That game went great places.
Oooo! Reading recommendation for you, if you're not aware of the title: Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. The author said that he envisioned the various roles musicians tend to take in a band, and he mapped those stereotypes onto an adventuring party. So, the hot-headed character wielding an enchanted axe is the lead guitarist, the sword and board tank is a bassist, the rogue dual-wielding daggers is a drummer, the mage is a keyboard/synth player, and so on. The conceit is moreso for flavor and world-building than actual plot motivation, so these analogies aren't necessarily explicit, but it's still a fun set of character dynamics to hang an adventure story on.
This is part of the reason I love Monster of the Week. Unlike in many TTRPGs, the default expectation is that you all have a common backstory.