Hello, i need help with my new character which is in the Zhentarim and is shady. Party members have a problem with accepting him it seems like they doesn't want to accept him. I'm new to this kind of roleplaying and can't find some tips & tricks to help me with it.
It’s probably too late, but the easiest way to integrate a shady operative into a goody two shoes party is to pretend not to be a shady operative. Assuming your party already knows, you’ll need to prove yourself somehow, such as showing your loyalty to them or betraying/ignoring the Zhentarim.
A good way to think of it is in terms of which team the character is on. Team Zhentarim opposes team good aligned people. Your party are assuming--justifiably--that being on team Zhentarim means the character isn't on team the party. Complicated allegiances abound in stories, so there's no reason characters can't also have them... Yet you've made a choice that has implications out of character so the onus is really on you to show how being on team Zhentarim doesn't prevent you from being on team the party. Try to play up the role the character's class fills. It's hard to stay upset with a tank who does a good job defending the party. It's hard to mistrust a rogue who saves your character from trap damage.
To go at it from a different direction. Maybe don’t be from the zhentarium. It’s perfectly reasonable for the other characters to not trust your character, and to always be looking out for a knife in the back. In character, it would actually be silly for them not to. If the party is mostly good characters, make one of those. If the party is going to be part of an evil organization, that’s the kind of thing everyone needs to agree upon during session 0, not something you drop into an existing campaign.
I think it depends on the adventure your players are on... I've actually been DM'ing my friends though a campaign that involves the Zhentarim, and the players are willingly working with them.
I'm DM'ing them through the Tyranny of Dragons adventure, which has Cultists of Tiamat stealing treasure from across the land and eventually planning to summon Tiamat, who is powerful enough to potentially destroy the whole planet. The Zhentarim, for as shady as they are, are more like the Mafia than just a group of violent thugs. The Mafia wants to own businesses and make money, which isn't something that can happen if the planet is enslaved by an ancient dragon god. So the Zhentarim are willing to work with the authority figures, both to prevent the world from descending into chaos but also to get a few favors and potentially learn some secrets about the other groups. It's even established that several of the groups have contacts within the Zhentarim already... it's not something done lightly, but the "Good" groups will still occasionally work with the Zhentarim when trying to take on something worse.
If you and the party share a common goal, you should be able to form at least a temporary alliance to make it work.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach ... so if you have a valid commitment for taking out the Big Bad Guy, or protecting the village or whatever the campaign is about, you would need to lean into this approach and convince them. "Listen, I know we may not agree on everything, but at least on this thing, you can count on me to see it through." If that's your approach, you need to be consistent and actually hold up your end of the deal, even if it costs you with your faction. You came here with the right intent, but as suggested, take the opportunity and risk to be valuable to the party.
If they reject your character, that's fine too. They are not rejecting you. Take the lesson and try the same class/subclass with a background that fits the group/goals with a little less friction.
Try to focus on the positives your character would bring to the party and really upsell those things. I wouldn't really play into aspects that would cause for distrust or alarm among them because why would a group stick around someone they distrust? Shady characters need to sell themselves more as well so really my advice would be locate what they're missing in terms of roles and show them that you are invaluable at filling that role for them.
Is your membership in the Zhentarim in-character knowledge for the other players? Most shady dudes in the mob don’t go around advertising that they’re shady mobsters. Has your character given the other characters reason to suspect or ostracize him? If it is only the players that know simply because your character sheet says something they find objectionable, they are metagaming, which can really only be addressed out-of-character.
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Hello, i need help with my new character which is in the Zhentarim and is shady. Party members have a problem with accepting him it seems like they doesn't want to accept him. I'm new to this kind of roleplaying and can't find some tips & tricks to help me with it.
It’s probably too late, but the easiest way to integrate a shady operative into a goody two shoes party is to pretend not to be a shady operative. Assuming your party already knows, you’ll need to prove yourself somehow, such as showing your loyalty to them or betraying/ignoring the Zhentarim.
A good way to think of it is in terms of which team the character is on. Team Zhentarim opposes team good aligned people. Your party are assuming--justifiably--that being on team Zhentarim means the character isn't on team the party. Complicated allegiances abound in stories, so there's no reason characters can't also have them... Yet you've made a choice that has implications out of character so the onus is really on you to show how being on team Zhentarim doesn't prevent you from being on team the party. Try to play up the role the character's class fills. It's hard to stay upset with a tank who does a good job defending the party. It's hard to mistrust a rogue who saves your character from trap damage.
To go at it from a different direction. Maybe don’t be from the zhentarium. It’s perfectly reasonable for the other characters to not trust your character, and to always be looking out for a knife in the back. In character, it would actually be silly for them not to.
If the party is mostly good characters, make one of those. If the party is going to be part of an evil organization, that’s the kind of thing everyone needs to agree upon during session 0, not something you drop into an existing campaign.
I think it depends on the adventure your players are on... I've actually been DM'ing my friends though a campaign that involves the Zhentarim, and the players are willingly working with them.
I'm DM'ing them through the Tyranny of Dragons adventure, which has Cultists of Tiamat stealing treasure from across the land and eventually planning to summon Tiamat, who is powerful enough to potentially destroy the whole planet. The Zhentarim, for as shady as they are, are more like the Mafia than just a group of violent thugs. The Mafia wants to own businesses and make money, which isn't something that can happen if the planet is enslaved by an ancient dragon god. So the Zhentarim are willing to work with the authority figures, both to prevent the world from descending into chaos but also to get a few favors and potentially learn some secrets about the other groups. It's even established that several of the groups have contacts within the Zhentarim already... it's not something done lightly, but the "Good" groups will still occasionally work with the Zhentarim when trying to take on something worse.
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If you and the party share a common goal, you should be able to form at least a temporary alliance to make it work.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach ... so if you have a valid commitment for taking out the Big Bad Guy, or protecting the village or whatever the campaign is about, you would need to lean into this approach and convince them. "Listen, I know we may not agree on everything, but at least on this thing, you can count on me to see it through." If that's your approach, you need to be consistent and actually hold up your end of the deal, even if it costs you with your faction. You came here with the right intent, but as suggested, take the opportunity and risk to be valuable to the party.
If they reject your character, that's fine too. They are not rejecting you. Take the lesson and try the same class/subclass with a background that fits the group/goals with a little less friction.
Try to focus on the positives your character would bring to the party and really upsell those things. I wouldn't really play into aspects that would cause for distrust or alarm among them because why would a group stick around someone they distrust? Shady characters need to sell themselves more as well so really my advice would be locate what they're missing in terms of roles and show them that you are invaluable at filling that role for them.
Is your membership in the Zhentarim in-character knowledge for the other players? Most shady dudes in the mob don’t go around advertising that they’re shady mobsters. Has your character given the other characters reason to suspect or ostracize him? If it is only the players that know simply because your character sheet says something they find objectionable, they are metagaming, which can really only be addressed out-of-character.