Promoting Fun Party Conflict

Character interaction, a mythic beast in many games today. most often interaction occurs between the players and NPCs. Interaction between PCs usually occurs only when a conflict of interest arises. Some might argue that PC interaction also occurs during planning conversations, however I have found that these conversations are more OOC since they talk not as their characters but as players trying to overcome an obstacle, weighing their assets and skills objectively.

The problem becomes facilitating party conflict that helps the story and entertains the party. Players create backstory and most of them expect it to come up. If they hate a certain country, they want to encounter soldiers of that country. They want the opportunity to show who their character is. A lot of the time, my own games included, I set events in motion that I know will create party conflict and have been burned by the results. The game grinds to a halt because I underestimated how important certain aspects of the character were to the player and/or it just now becomes apparent that two or more characters have irreconcilable differences. The players stop having fun and turn into politicians in British parliament.

The seeds of this problem start in character creation but ultimately rest with the storyteller. You as the storyteller need to communicate with your players about their characters both as they are created and as they grow during the game. In order to have resolvable and fun conflicts you need two things:


1. Characters who have enough differences to make the game fun but not enough that they can't adventure with the rest of the party.

2. an overarching goal that appeals on some level to all of the players. That way they have a vested interest in moving the plot forward and will be more willing to compromise or let something go. (example: if you have a rogue that only cares about money, even if they are getting paid they will be much more stubborn. The character has no vested interest in achieving the goal since other quests give money just as well. To combat this make the quest have a challenge or item affiliated with it that the rogue would be interested in. He could become as famous as the prince of thieves or get X item that is UNIQUE)

Steer a player ever so gently towards a more appropriate character. If you know the rest of the party is lawful good and they want to play a social Darwinist assassin you might need to haggle the player down. makes sure the skeletons in his/her closet are not things that the rest of the party would shun/kill/arrest them for. If you have an uber do gooder, ask the player to temper the character with a more realistic view of situations and the importance of the spirit of the law. That having been said if a character is dead set on playing a difficult character, make sure they are comfortable with the consequences of their character. If a player is willing to risk death or imprisonment at the hands of the party to play out that moment of revelation, so be it. I can guarantee that event will be memorable in the campaign. It is a fine line that must be walked between to much conflict and not enough.

Conflict is ultimately the source of action for any campaign. Most of the time it is external conflict with NPCs because both players and storytellers fear interparty conflict. I think with a good group of players and well thought out characters party conflict can be an incredible source of fun.