It’s safe to say that the majority of roleplaying games assume that the group is made up of characters that get along reasonably enough and share at least a few cooperative goals.  For our group I like everyone at the table (myself included) to have a solid understanding as to why this group works together, stays together, and trusts each other in a variety of situations where death may be lurking around any corner.  Most good fiction goes to great lengths building, and portraying the relationships between the story’s primary characters, and roleplaying games should be no exception.

The reason I like to have the players in my game create their characters as a group is to help establish background and connections between them from the very beginning.  It usually works like a great brainstorming session, with each player feeding off the others as we all sit around throwing out ideas and offering up suggestions.  It also allows me, as DM, to suggest tie-ins to the setting and its NPC’s early on.  Ideally by the time we finish creating characters we have already established a great deal about who they are in relationship with each other and the world around them.

In order to create these interesting social dynamics and realistic internal relationships, have each of the characters do the following:

Describe how you are connected to one other character in the party.

By having each player pick a character, other than the one that selected their character, you will automatically start with two relationships per character (the one he wrote about and the one written about him).  For the first one have the players focus on how they are connected to and how they know (or at least know of) the other character, suggestions might include:

• A family relationship.  Perhaps the characters are siblings, cousins, parents, children, or any other type of relative you can think of.  Of course, these don’t have to be blood relations they could be step-siblings, adopted family members, or even characters that grew up in the same foster home or at the same orphanage together.  If there is a large age difference between the characters maybe one of the characters raised the other.  This could even be a distant connection such as both characters being part of the same noble house or extended clan. 
• Part of an organization.  Your characters may have been part of the same temple (even if they worshiped different deities).  They might have attended the same school, college, or training academy.  Instead of a vocation or educational link, perhaps the characters are part of the same house, like the Dragonmarked houses of Eberron or a merchant’s guild, or any other kind of tradesmen’s guild.  Characters of a more “shady” bent might have been in a criminal organization together or, on the opposite side of the gold piece, part of a town guard together.  Speaking of town guardsmen the military often brings people together from all walks of life; maybe you met in the service. 
• Mutual NPC relationship.  Your character may know another character through a friend-of-a-friend kind of setup or even a mutual enemy-of-my-enemy situation.  Maybe both of your characters worked for the same person or they might have even had a romantic relationship with the same person (hopefully at different times!).  These relationships are great because they not only link the two characters together but also instantly suggest a good NPC.  The gamemaster may have a one in mind or may use the opportunity to create a new NPC for the campaign.
• A situational relationship.  The characters may have gone through some defining experience together such as fighting in a war.  Maybe they were slaves to the same group or prisoners in the same jail.  Perhaps they were the sole survivors of some horrific event such as a plane crash or devastating battle.
• Childhood friends.  To some it may be a bit of a cliché but it can easily work.  If your character was simply the childhood friend of another character take a minutes to jot down one or two things that happened to the two of you together while you where young.  Maybe you had an adventure together, or got in trouble together.  Have you always been around one another or have you been apart for sometime and only recently reunited? 

When each player has described how their character knows, or is connected to, one other character, you can then reverse the process to further detail each of the relationships.

In regard to the connection created above, describe how your character views it.

This will help further develop the connection already described by having the second player continue to flesh-out the relationship.  Of course it also might turn the first part of the exercise completely on its ear.  Getting a second viewpoint on the relationship brings the link further into focus and may help define the nature of the connection. 

• Both characters may have similar opinions of each other but this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.  Perhaps the characters know of each other by reputation only.  Or maybe one of them is a great admirer of the other who has never heard of the first character.  Two characters could be professional rivals of each other.  Perhaps they were competing bounty hunters, or gladiators.  Now fate has brought them together.
• If your characters interacted in the past was the experience the same for both, or was it very different for them?  Perhaps the characters dated in the past and broke up.  One of them looks back on the relationship with fond memories but the other still feels hurt and betrayed.  Or maybe one of the players may have described a situation where he feels he owes the other his life for having once saved him.  However the second player reveals the “truth” of the situation; he didn’t save him, he was too busy saving himself and the first player’s character only thinks he saved him. 

Finally have the players take a minute to think about trust and how they might affect the way they view the rest of the party by answering the following questions:

In regard to the party and its members, do you trust all of them?  Or just some of them?  Why, or why not?

This question can really set the tone for the entire party as well as establish for each player their individual relationship with the group as a whole.  Each player’s answers will probably cover a spectrum of trust.  A character might trust the other party members with his life while in combat, but not with his personal secrets.  Another character may trust the party leader’s judgment but not the rogue’s definition of “equal shares”.  And still a third character may trust the rest of the group to “do the right thing”, but not trust that they are completely honest with him. 

The nature of trust is such that it may also suggest even more complex relationships.  Perhaps a character feels he has no choice but to trust the party because they all know his embarrassing secret.  Another character may trust the party completely but not himself because he once led a group to their deaths.  The possibilities are as endless as they are complex.  The key in this is to come up with at least a few more reasons for the party to be together and work together than to split up and have nothing to do with each other. 

In the Dungeons & Dragons campaign I’m currently running there are a variety of relationships and connections amongst the party.  Each helps to tell not only the character’s own story, but the others’ as well.  Here’s a brief summary of the characters’ relationships as an example of how this can play out in a campaign.

• Dayereth (eladrin warlord) rescued Ember’s (dragonborn paladin) egg from a destroyed village prior to her birth.  He left the newly hatched dragonborn with the priests of the House of the Sun in Cornerstone.
• Verick (dwarf fighter) serves as part of the house guard of Lady Eveningstar who is both a Cornerstone councilwoman and Dayereth’s mom.
• Jhorgrim (dwarf cleric) spent time in the Cornerstone jail (before his conversion) where he met Verick, one of the guards, and Ember, a young acolyte ministering to the incarcerated.
• Cini (eladrin wizard) is one of Dayereth’s cousins and was sent by his uncle (Dayereth’s father) to keep an eye on the brash warlord.
• Crux-tel (shadar-kai swordmage) is a recent addition to the party.  The heroes saved his village in the Shadowfell and now Crux-tel travels with them to repay his life-debt. 

These are just the primary connections between the PC’s.  Each has several more connections and relationships with various other NPC’s throughout the campaign. 

Hopefully taking the time to build connections can help answer for everyone the three big adventuring party questions:

• Why is the party together?
• Why do they stay together?
• And why do they trust each other enough to risk their lives together on a routine basis?

These are just a few suggestions designed to help each player have a better understanding of their own character and a clearer picture of their relationship with the rest of the group.  Building realistic party relationships works hand in hand with creating interesting character backgrounds, and both serve to add layers of verisimilitude to the campaign.  Not only that, but the players’ efforts offer up a host of campaign hooks that any gamemaster will appreciate.  All of which can lead to a more compelling, exciting, and fun gaming experience.