Character Backgrounds

Today I sent my players the backgrounds for each character in the group. I gave them an assignment worth campaign fun points from a house rule I am borrowing from In the Eye of the Beholder This is what I asked them.

Take be background information for your character and come up with some names for NPC's and their relation to you.

Take the background information and come up with a quest idea for your character. One is fine any more would be great.

Any rivals? nemesis?

Halfling Thief:

Occupation - Thief

Human Knight:

Defender of the Oppressed

Human Cavalier:

Redemption Seeker

Eladrin Mage (pyromancer):

Oathbound Fellow

Drow Hunter:

Pivotal Event - Escape

Human Slayer

Berserker - Follower of Kord

Half-Elf War-priest: Sun Domain

Occupation - Military

Longtooth Shifter Swordmage

Occupation - Military

Now I built the party as I usually do since all but one owns any D&D 4e books, let alone essentials. They have two weeks to come up with background information based on what I gave them, (The background txt from the compendium, and how they benefited from that background) we will then sit down at the beginning of the session and hash out how that will effect the campaign

I also think I will come out with a social contract for the group to work with, more loose nit than anything. It will state certain things about how the game will run, meal break, tribute to the DM, how we will handle missing players or those who need to leave early.

As I mull this over a bit I think I will end up with a more cohesive group. I see the Swordmage and War-Priest being good friends in the game, the Swordmage has already shown some leadership skills. I think the Cavalier will step to the forefront of the group as the true leader, while the swordmage will be the motivation of the group.

The Slayer is brand-new to roleplaying Pen and Paper games. He is 12 years-old and when we get together in a week and a half this will be his third game, 2nd as the slayer, he played the war-priest in the first session to cover for his uncle who left for work. I am real interested in seeing how he develops this character.

We will see how the rest of this turns out and I will post on the results after the session.