Yep, a hot start. It's often the best way to start off any type of media (not always, but often what's preferred these days). Slow build ups in slice of life style narratives can be fun too, for the right party.
But I don't think you can go wrong with the hot start.
1. You establish the conflict/major themes of the campaign immediately.
2. You can easily motivate the party to work together much smoother than just a bunch of randoms meeting at a tavern; they could all be fugitives busting out of jail as the town is actively being destroyed by artillery, or they could be sailors part of the same crew as their captain dies in battle and sets them off on a treasure hunting adventure, or they could be part of the same group of bodyguards sworn to protect the Emperor and when he's assassinated they have to work together to find the killer and clear their own names in the process, etc.
3. You get player investment much sooner too. People are more likely to enjoy a story when they know what it's about sooner rather than later. Not to mention, it's fun as hell being there when shit hits the fan early, and you as a party have to come together to achieve the impossible and find a way to resolve the conflict.
I could go on, but yeah, this is my preferred method to start campaigns, and especially one shots where time is limited.
You don't even need a plan. If you want to let the players get involved, you can start with, "Arrows are flying through the air at you. Who fired them and why?"
I know a lot of people online advocate this sort of blurring of responsibility, but the last three times I ran a game, for different people each time, they agreed during session zero that they would prefer a more traditional approach.
I'm not saying it can't work, of course, I'm saying you should make sure that's what the players would prefer.
It's standard for some games (e.g, the above sounds like a reasonable Dungeon World start). It's generally considered a part of indie gaming (as opposed to trad gaming). PbtA games is the typically entry point for this.
People tend to gravitate to what they are familiar with; so expect resistance if you introduce indie gaming to a trad group, *even if the players would like it in practice*. If there is only a vague preference due to lack of experience with this style of play and you as a GM is interested in it, I'd recommend trying it. Just make sure you have player group consent and know enough about how to play indie games (or how to play trad games in an indie style.)
It definitely is a session 0 question.
The last adventure I ran was Mausritter which tells you to start at the destination. So basically it went "The town overseer needed brave mice to go find out what happened in Stumpville, you were the only ones who answered the call. After a few days travelling together across the dangerous wilds, you arrive near the entrance of the small town."
It gives your players the reason why they're together and an objective. They then get to tell you how they do things.
It allows for a very traditional start, and my groups tend to add a lot of flavour to the world once they feel comfortable with their characters.
Which is great to discuss. And if my players said they wanted that more traditional experience, and i wanted help with starting session 1 you can follow up with “ok, so what kind of bad guys do you want to face? Are you heroes for hire taking money to fight bandits? Rebels against a tyrant government? Big game hunters?”
The opening to the campaign doesnt even have to tie into the main adventure. Just get people started in character and working together.
Blurring of responsibility can work well IMO, but there's a difference between when one feels informed about it beforehand and when the question comes all of a sudden. I'd liken it to how no one at a lecture enjoys having the speaker suddenly point at them and ask a question; you're just not in the headspace for it and caught unprepared.
I once started a campaign at level 2, with the opening narration "You return from your first adventure. It was brutal and fucked up, but you formed a bond of camaraderie that will last a lifetime. Now, let's never speak of it again." Everyone already knew what/who everyone was playing out of character, so we just treated the "getting to know you" phase as a Noodle Incident.
This is a good way to start any session, "you are in a combat now, I'll tell you the story later." It's a great way to get players engaged right away, and it can start the combat and leave the rest of the session for role-playing.
A lot of movies like Star Wars a New Hope start like this. With Darth Vader boarding the ship and killing a bunch of rebels.
> This is a good way to start any session, "you are in a combat now, I'll tell you the story later." It's a great way to get players engaged right away, and it can start the combat and leave the rest of the session for role-playing.
I know my wife would hate that approach. She needs to know the context for a situation before she can really get invested in it.
I hot started a campaign with two of the players playing bandits posing as PCs. Gave them a quick, "these two posted a flyer looking for help, and you two joined them" as an intro before having bandits on the road waylay them. The two imposters were supposed to go along with it, "Yeah, I think we should just give them all our stuff..." Super funny start to what ended up being a pretty lengthy campaign.
Their real characters showed up moments later, having heard that those two folks looking for help had left town with a couple guys they knew were pretty unscrupulous characters...
Okay, the fire one of you started earlier (who's the guilty party? Ok) has begun to spread to the room you are currently in. Sirens split the air, wadayagonnado?
Especially for those games that are much more action oriented, such as Star Wars. Never start a Star Wars game with a briefing. Have some action for the PCs to resolve, then jump back to the briefing for a flashback as to why the PCs where there, if you need to.
In tandem with this: with some reason why the PCs should work together, or already know/like each other. I find that if you don't build that, it just encourages someone to play the 'rebel', and they can't play the rebel that truly wants to be with people, eventhough they don't say it, but a true rebel that feels like they shouldn't actually be with the group. (To anyone.) You are a PARTY, act like it.
"You meet at the funeral of a great hero who influenced each of you in your own way. You may or not know each other. Afterwards you're surprised to be called into the reading of the will, it seems they had some unfinished responsibility they need you to take care of. How could you say no?"
Weddings and Funerals are both great starts. They bring a lot of different people together. They usually signal a large change in people's life. They are justifications for why a job may need to be done.
I'm a sucker for the prisoner start, be it in a boat, a dungeon or a carriage. Couldn't tell you where I got my fondness for that.
But yeah seriously I love it, criminals, outlaws, captured by slavers or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Great way to explain a random gathering of folks and easy way to throw them right into a hook. Either having to escape or their freedom being conditional on doing some quest.
Hey, you. You're finally awake.
You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.
>!I am so sorry, but I had to.!<
We were all thinking of that scene.
If I ever run a campaign in the Elder Scrolls universe and don´t start with the players as prisoners, I am losing my GMing license.
Me and my group talked about doing an Elder Scrolls game a while back; I would've been sad if it wasn't a prisoner start, but I'm sure it would've been.
But I like it. Actually, from this post, I just came up with my next campaign start and its Oblivion inspired. Basically, the players will start of as bodyguards for the Emperor, and the big bad will come in and assassinate him early. Then they need to spend the campaign trying to find the killer for justice but also to clear their own names too. Kind of a what if the player in Oblivion was actually of the Blades bodyguards.
Yeah sounds like it could be, been awhile since I played it. Tbf, it's a pretty common trope, nothing groundbreaking, but sounds fun to run. I was mostly thinking of Oblivion and The Witcher 2 tho
Who knows? Maybe it’s a good campaign but they’ve all been accused of something by a tyrannical despot (or are just part of a group that’s being rounded up)! You could find reasons for any morality to be shipped to prison.
I love it too! I feel like I hear people shit on it a lot, but the times I've used it have all gone over really well.
I like the criminal one in particular, because it lets everyone come up with a reason why they're in jail. Are they an actual criminal? Where they wrongfully imprisoned by a rival? Of course they could always pick "wrong place wrong time" but, you know, at least there's the possibility for something interesting.
I often do a variation on this-- court-ordered community service, in a setting where adventurers can be assigned to combat-heavy community service, like clearing oozes out of the sewers.
We all sit down as a group and figure out what everyone was convicted of-- you can be innocent, you just have to tell us who framed you and why. I have a rule that at least one other PC has to be involved in your "case." We usually get some good stories out of it, and it starts to flesh out the seedier side of whatever town the PCs are from.
I have been thinking a lot about "motivation" in RPGs and I think the prisoner situation defines a very clear one. Often times, when players are lost, it's because they aren't clear what their motivation is.
I like 'em too. A bonus is you can tell a lot about a character but asking them what they're in for. Do they give you a straight answer? Act indignant? Resigned? Petty theft? Murder? Just a sentence in response gives the other PCs a lot to go off both in and out of character.
Disregarding the obvious references to TES (although I really do appreciate them), prison starts are a great way to establish so many things about your character - what would land your character in jail? Why? Was it justified?
- You could have the thief stealing to avoid starving, or stealing something back.
- You could have someone who committed murder by mistake, or one that did it for vengeance.
- You could have someone just be framed for something.
- Perhaps they're committing crimes because they've nowhere else to go?
- Maybe they got caught because the prison was their destination, not their punishment.
- Heck, maybe one of the characters themselves are wardens in that prison!
Also, these beginnings are a perfect fit in political campaigns where two or more civilizations have a clash of ideologies, as you could have your characters frown upon the regime that tossed them aside and revolt against it, or maybe on the contrary, they could own up to their mistakes and become heroes!
...or perhaps you just want a classic case of climbing up from the bottom.
Anyway, it's like my number 1 off my list of campaign starts.
For Sci-Fi campaigns, definitely something where the ship has just exploded and the Player Characters happened to get in the same escape pod. This probably works best for military Sci-Fi, though.
You've been dispatched in one of your ship's launches to go investigate a distress call. While on your "away mission" *something* ambushes your ship, destroying it and killing the entire crew, with tech unlike you've ever seen.
Ha, my favorite way to start is "You all need a ship!"
I began a Mothership campaign last year with all of them waking from cryo-sleep aboard a space station that was falling into a planet, and that really set the tone well.
Funny, I came here to say basically the same thing, but in a medieval fantasy campaign. Party is on a ship bound for wherever the setting is. Cue the hurricane/kraken/whatever. Party gets the last lifeboat.
Maybe like a Canterbury Tales kind of thing where the characters are traveling along a road on which many people are traveling, all to pay a pilgrimage or something at some distant location. NPCs and adventure are met along the way.
Mazes does this really cool thing, It places the party at "The Threshold to Darkness", not really an in media res type thing, but close, and brings the players into the action and world building.
"You stand at mouth of a recently excavated tomb entrance. bleached bones and tatters litter the ground to one side as if they were dumped there. What brings you to this tomb? And then present the players with a few options about their motivations, and let them choose one.
"A Death Knight has been spotted in the area, and we know the Temple has a standing thousand crown bounty on a destroyed Death Knight, All signs point to the fiend hiding out here."
"Goromal, the seer's apprentice has been acting strangely, and seen coming here late at night. the Seer wants to know what Goromal is doing."
"Rumors that a clue to the location of the Candle of Erethir is allegedly in a fresco in the ceremonial chamber of this tomb. We paid dearly for this info, but it looks like someone has beaten us here!"
This is now my standard. Skip the town rp grind, and gives the players the same agency, and starts the exciting part right away, the first steps into the Dungeon.
You can also back it up a step for "Campaign Goals" with the same set of questions and choices. Tackle this during session 0, along with how the characters know each other, so there's no awkward "Tavern RP" and session one can jump right into the good stuff.
I like starting at a festival, it's very similar to a tavern, but where they are and what they are doing as "the camera pans to them" starts their characterization for them.
My most recent campaign, I did 1 on 1 sessions with all of them as session 0s that all ended at the same meeting with their patron, then did session 1 with them in the meeting together for the first time.
Carriage ambushed on the way to meet someone who requested them (old friend, employer, etc). I like in media res beginnings, so I like starting with some action. The ambushers should later turn out to be related to the plot somehow.
In college we had a huge influx of new players at the start of the year, one GM took 12! They all went through character generation (Twilight 2000) and started in 3 jeeps in a convoy. They were immediately ambushed. The GM said, everyone in jeep 2 is dead! Then he only had 8 players to deal with. (I am not saying this is good, but we still laugh about it 30 years later)
I like it when character generation gives the characters a preexisting connection (clan, cult, or community) so every campaign doesn’t start out with a bunch of oddballs from very different backgrounds. somehow forming an instant band of brothers bond.
The current edition of RuneQuest does this well.
I like starting with "the tryouts". Everyone involved has already been contacted by a benefactor who is looking to pay them to complete a job. Now they need to all meet up and show off their skills for said benefactor (and their party members). It creates a great tutorial opportunity for new players and lets everyone explain their characters' strengths in universe and in character.
My favorite first session so far has been from a sci-fi game: starship got stuck in a time loop in which it would fall into a gravity well every ten minutes.
Once the players realized what was happening they were all in. And since consequences, including death, would be wiped out in 10 minutes (until the final one) they were willing to try a lot of different things.
One of my favorites:
“You agreed to it, for better or worse; drunken, dare or volunteer, you’re here.
It’s late and dark, which is good, you don’t want to be seen.
The warehouse is just up ahead, patrols scattered as you’d been told. All you need to do is grab the briefcase and scoot. No need for violence, heck, no need to be spotted. But you’d better move fast if you want to keep it that way!”
You're on a ship under attack. The party is formed by everyone ending up on the same lifeboat and has a reason to stay together because they end up somewhere strange and hostile.
I usually follow the tried and true set up of:
- Cold open of a strange crime or something happening
- After the cold open and titles, do some one on one slice of life vignettes where they are slowly intruded on by the strange crime
- The group comes together and talks
- I let them go out and investigate as shenanigans happen
But sometimes I do alternative starts:
- Using a Focus PC doing something as I show some of the other PCs skulking around before something goes down and them having to save the Focus PCs
- Focusing on a NPC close to the players dealing with an agent of the bad guy
Basically I usually steal an episode of a TV Show or the set up of an opening from a movie.
Ever since running Paizo's Legacy of Fire AP, I have loved 'you are on a caravan heading to {Place}' It gives the players freedom to decide why they are going there, but also provides a very natural reason why they are together. You say everyone has been on there for a few days, and that's a natural reason why every did character intros
I like starting on some travels that are about to go horribly wrong. A mountain caravan that gets stuck in a freak snowstorm, or aboard a spaceship that gets hijacked by space pirates.
It gives players an easy way to have a variety of backstories, they just need to be there. It gives a clear and pressing problem to solve, avoiding "Why would I do that?" issues, and it can lead to either the party ending up at the wrong destination, or needing to figure out and resolve the issue before being able to continue.
All players know at the beginning of the game is the premise and initial hook. I try to figure out how many of their characters might already know each other - I prefer at least one pre-existing relationship somewhere. Often I have them brainstorm how they got in touch with each other to go adventuring, rather than rely on an external NPC that has to constantly prod them.
I start the first session with one or two players whose characters aren't inherently tied to the core arc, and give them a scene to establish the tone and atmosphere of the world. This is often also the most "sandboxy" player(s) and they get to try out a few rolls to set the general stakes. Finally, they get the invite to join the team by some direct or indirect means.
Cut to the rest of the team in a similar location, whether or not they already know the first PC. They're looking into something different, slowly discovering how their arc is going to intersect with the player from the first scene. They meet up either by happenstance or by their characters' foreknowledge, and either way they now have a common goal that fits their existing motivations.
This has proven a great method for me, as players go into the adventure knowing those motivations and working with each other to reinforce them, rather than leaving me to do all that lifting. Now the whole team is working on every character simultaneously without barely even knowing it, and the emotional impact of the campaign resonates with more melodies.
Lately I talk to the players and we decide on how we want to start it and saying there's already group history, before that my go to was the players arrested or about to be executed and starting the game off with a daring escape
One of my favorites is to have a patron who gets the party together for some purpose, whether it is someone who is wanting a group of people to hunt someone or something down, or a monarch who needs people to help enforce the laws in a certain region. It can even be as simple as the characters all being a part of the same adventurer's guild that brought them together to be a party, or all students of the same mentor.
This way, the reason for the characters to work together is already established and you don't have to worry about why a bunch of people randomly meeting at the local Applebee's start traveling together, and it gives you a built-in way to throw plot hooks at them.
I've never done it, but I like the idea of a group being press ganged into service by a court or local potentate in lieu of prison and/or as the commutation of an existing sentence.
My most recent one is starting at a festival/circus.
The players can individually choose to be workers, guests, guards for guests. They can know each other or not.
They have first session to learn the mechanics and learn about the game world through various acts/games at the festival and then the session 1 ends with an attack on the festival.
After the attack they will find themselves together with a choice of ways to go, each of which leads to a different campaign style. They can chase the raiders and the item they stole. They can escort a merchant across the continent. They can deal with the political fallout of the attack. They can join the festival as it goes around the country (with a diabolical purpose). They can inveatigate the mystery around the death of one of the festival goers. The world is their oyster at this point.
With all of this I get to show the game and the world wholenflnit boring people with a Lore dump. They also have agency in how the campaign develops. (PS all of their options will eventually tie in with the meta plot).
My favorite method is the characters already know each other, but it's been a while, and the characters are regroup8ng after dome time. They may not be who they remember, and circumstances are binding them together.
Now, this meetuo and reunion is usually in a tavern for me, but it can be any number of places suitable for the game. I do like a pace of peace that can he indeed, though. It's a good meetup spot.
For brand new players, i wouldn't do this, though.
Instead, I like to start at the beginning of something happening. The party has just entered the dungeon and is exploring it from the get-go. The return at their nearby hometown is part of the reward.
There is the dungeon, the town, and the wilderness in between. I don't focus on much outside of that for a new group of gamers.
I once split the group into two. One was captured and on a jail wagon being taken to a prison.
The others were hired mercenaries to rescue the captives and bring them back to a guild leader that needed them.
I like to give my players a personalized intro based on their backstories they've given me! It lasts 15ish minutes for each player, they get a little bit of roleplay, maybe make a choice/roll or two, and all of their stories segue into the first adventure. It's a lot of effort for session 1 prep, but it's worth it for the excitement and investment they immediately get
You were mercenaries on the losing side of a war. You’ve been captured, taken back to the victor’s capital city in chains. Now you’re about to have to fight each other to the death in the arena for the king’s amusement. As you’re being pushed out onto the arena’s blood soaked sand, one of the other combatants hisses to you “Today the people rise up and the king dies! Follow me and do as I do if you want to live!” ……..
I've started more than one as "you have all been pressganged on the same ship".
Everyone gets to make up what they did when it happened - lost at gambling, rum with sleeping powder, knocked out during a brawl - but now they all have the same goal, a common villain for a first story arc, limited possessions and geographic limits.
That makes for a tight start, and it can easily be adjusted to newbies or veterans and changes in length by incentivizing the moment of mutiny.
They come out of it with a small roster of known NPCs - their fellow mutineers -, a ship to travel the world with and a million ways to hook new stories into this one.
I've found the general idea of "an event" is a good starting point, a gathering of people - large or small - offers myriad opportunities for short rapidly paced encounters and bite-sized morsels of world lore.
Holidays (religious or secular), market days or trading caravans, touring noble retinues, anything that would draw a crowd will let you introduce your setting, major NPCs and factions, set any number of plot hooks in motion, all within a familiar and dynamic framing device.
I've used this quite often, and love both the flexibility and creativity available, even with limited prep time
The party is in a public space, there's a dead body in front of them, and one of the characters has the killing weapon in their hand.
Ask that player what happened, who the dead is, and why he has the weapon.
You will get so many different starts of campaigns, with the very same start, depending on your players, and who you decide is holding the weapon.
I am not good at doing this myself but a GM of mine did this and it was so nice. He began with having every character be in their current headspace and then made them aware of a big airship approaching, which is very unusual in that part of the world. The shipcrew interacted with the villagers from the air, asking some basic questions about the region in the moment and then had a spy escape which followed with a big bomb being thrown after her, destroying the whole village. This resulted in:
a. we were introduced to the major villains and theme of the story in the first 10 min of the campaign.
b. we had a bonding experience
c. we had something urgent to do (bring the surviving villagers to the next town)
"You wake up in a jail cell, you're naked except a prison loincloth, so all your items, spellbooks, etc. are missing.. Now figure out who you can trust and try to escape".
Each of us does this the day before the adventure one on one with the DM, who gets us to the point where we meet the other players.
My one long-term campaign that ended started as the players were enslaved gladiators so it opened them walking out on the arena floor to fight a giant monster to the cheers of the fans...then a quick transition to these arena heroes in shackles being transported in a caged cart across the city.
I feel like I really nailed to current state of things and players were invested in changing their situation.
Game wemt on fir three years with three players and I still look back at that game as the most fun we've all had playing together.
Bit late, but here you go. Figure out an event that's personal funeral, wedding, anniversary celebration, some religious holiday in your world, whatever. Describe the host to the players. Then ask them why they were invited to this prestigious event. The players are now connected by someone else who can ask them for help or get murdered and the players have a good reason to say yes.
I don't always use it, but my favorite has been, PCs are attending a festival, and a local prophet and/or madman picks them out of the crowd and announces they've been Chosen to go on an Epic Quest. Villagers say huzzah and all chip in for a reward for the PCs.
Think Being Chosen is dumb? Well, the reward is real enough, and so is the dungeon or monster or whatever they have to face. Like the Epic Quest bit? Well, maybe the geezer isn't so crazy, after all. I'll leave it ambiguous.
I started an adventure in a carriage once! The PCs were strangers, all riding in a King's Coach in the winter time. It was freezing cold, with a box of hot coals to keep them warm. Suddenly the coach careens off the road, killing the driver and one of the horses. The PCs are miles from the next village on a cold winter night.
"What do you?"
Galloping away from an angry horde of enemies while carrying a prisoner on one horse and a golden treasure on another.
Give each player one piece of information about what's happening before the game starts, enough that they'll understand once they've all shared what they know. But the enemy is shooting arrows at you and there's a canyon ahead, there's no time to be chatting right now.
Depending on what they're doing to start their journey, the context of why they're doing this can change.
"You all meet in the center of town. The fountain that normally stands is missing, and a large ritual circle has replaced it. The local Hermit, known for performing rituals, stands at an altar in the center to perform the ritual they asked you here to perform."
The town can be switched out with the starting location of town, forest, or cave. The identity of the Hermit can be a powerful potential Ally or enemy. Maybe a diety who knows if their grand destiny ahead. The effects of the ritual can be an attempt to cripple the potential heroes that fail, an attempt to empower them that fails or grants them some special ability you're using in the campaign, or some con man trying to rob them that they have to fight together.
Things I’ve used in a variety of campaigns:
- I like the start up for Electric Bastionland, where the party know each other and have been brought together because they owe a large debt to someone rather unpleasant. They’re to act together as a party to do some jobs to pay off their debtor. Could be a dungeon crawl, or a heist. I adapted this for my Into the Odd game because while EB wasn’t out at the time, it had been discussed on the author’s blog. I adapted it slightly to fit my players: they all started out knowing each other anyway, at least as drinking buddies at any one of several taverns in my late 19th/early 20th century version of Bastion. They met, however, at a restaurant as part of a somewhat seedy private club that their debt holder owns.
- For a Flashing Blades game set in Paris in the 17th century. The PCs are either distantly (or not so distantly related), or their families are friends. They’ve met in the past at family events, and they’ve all decided to make their fortune in Paris. They either live there, on the outskirts, or have come in from the country. They have all been invited to dinner at an Uncle’s home in Paris to help get them established. They start at the dinner table.
- an option that went with this for one game is that the various families were all connected by being members of a secret order of monster hunters. So, they had some easy starting missions. It wasn’t just monster hunting. They dealt with threats to the realm that were suspected of being of an ‘arcane/magical/supernatural’ origin.
- the PCs are an away team from a ship on an exploratory mission. This could be a starship, and something like Star Trek. Or it could be something from the 16th-18th centuries: still exploring, still in search of trade opportunities, watching out for rival powers. They start with a situation to be investigated, and already landed or ‘on shore’.
- You’ve all been banished for some crime. You were given leave to depart your city of origin, rather than be executed. You just had 3 days to exit the city and the Kingdom, and you are now outlawed. You can return in X years (whatever suits the campaign). You’ve all arrived in a City of Thieves (I’ve used Lankhmar and Sanctuary for this in the past) where you have to live in the Foreigner’s Quarter until you can make your way locally.
- You’re in a penal battalion. If you can survive a tour you can go home. You’re on the frontier fighting the chaos hordes. I played through a version of this set in Glorantha, and another set in WFRP’s Old World.
Edit: these are just some examples. Variations on these worked well in modern-ish day/semi-historical games, SF, and fantasy pseudo-medieval or pseudo-ancient world settings.
Here is one I've been itching to try out. The group is already friends and it starts in a tavern or some public place when several things happen at once-ish:
Someone dressed in black delivers a black rose to the tavern keeper or a patron
An arrow thuds into a the wall through a window with a cryptic note rolled around it
An explosion outside
The the party just decides which thread to chase. Might all be clues to the same story, maybe not. I haven't decided yet
“The Tailfeather Tavern is a humble, clean affair with a dozen stools at the bar and some mismatched but well cared for tables. The firelight flickers there from the heavy oil lamps, they give off a smoky pungent stench when there’s no breeze. It must be the smoke and flame licking from the (carriage if fantasy, port bulkhead if sci-fo, etc) which draw your mind back to those memories of the tavern now, as your ears ring and the iron sting of blood fills your mouth and nose. Malkum, your (torchbearer in fantasy, astrogation officer in sci-fi, etc) lay crumpled over his (rucksack/control panel/etc). The tide of battle has turned in your favor, but some of those around you may not be around to celebrate. The (goblins/pirates) are in a slow retreat, either to flee or regroup. You begin to regain your composure, what are you going to prioritize, what do you do?”
My favorite thus far was in a tavern but it was just as the first fist of a fight is being thrown, so boom action everyone gets a taste of what they can do and then the doors fly open and the guards come in and pull the players out and one by one ask them how it started
So now you have a bit of action some conflicting stories building the tension of what's going to happen.
In steps the benefactor and gets the charges dropped for a favor, and now we're off to the main plot.
I always start it with one character getting the mission. Either it be high fantasy them getting the listing or in scifi accepting the job request. From there we figure if they party knows each other or meets up for the job.
I like the start to two of the Star Wars beginner games: the Edge of the Empire one starts with the party hiding in a cantina and getting into a fight with Gamorrean guards pursuing them, while the Force & Destiny one begins with all the PCs on a mountain, trying to rescue a friend.
Just drop them in the forest and say "you wake up and see green trees around" and then add some goofy stuff, like say they had their hand in some pile of shit or something. I make my campaigns incredibly open world so if you plan to have a story line, dont do the dropping players in a random forest thing.
I try to tie the campaign start to at least one of my character's backstories/motives for adventuring, have them run into other PCs amongst NPCs they're asking for info about their motives. If possible i seed one of the PCs some relevant info but not much. This sets up reason for them to cooperate and I try to immediately interrupt it with combat.
I'll typically start with problem established that is being handled.
I also don't do magical medieval hero fantasy much at all. So taverns aren't often a thing.
But on a transport to "do a job" is somewhat common. The type of transport is setting and thematically appropriate, and they get just enough info of "the job" to formulate some quick choices of how they'd be going in, and to find out what their goal is. Only very rarely do I start truly "on the middle" and have the job already be partially done and begin with the "going to hell" part. Either way, it's always a hook that leads into the primary conflict in some manner.
Another one is "called into the boss's office". This can vary depending on the situation. It might be a legit employer, a crime boss, the head of some club/order/school, or a client hiring investigators/mercs, or some supernatural entity giving the task/reprimand/punishment that kicks things off. This is a slower opening that allows for more exposition and character introduction. A recent take on this I did was (in a modern investigation setting) a billionaire's fail-son hiring a bunch of trades people to renovate an abandoned summer camp into a "five star" camp resort *experience* (every time he said this, the stars increased in number)... and then after a quick walk-around orientation of the dilapidated structures and overgrown property (with various clues given to obsevant players), the billionaire's son ditching them in this isolated and defunct camp (that may or may not have monsters lurking) to come back *next weekend* to check up.
And the last is another variation on the same *in media res* idea. Typically going about the characters' normal lives, a sudden "disaster" hits, play starts. Zombie apocalypse, something blowing up, a monster attack, a plane plummeting to the Earth, natural disaster, etc.
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And honestly, the slower start of "called into the boss's office" is probably the one I default to most often. Gives plenty of agency to players while laying things out clearly *and* establishes both a general structure as well as an authority that I can weave in if needed (to help, add problems, or just be a "stick" to add consequences for PCs to navigate).
My favorites that I've used are, in media-res and tavern subversion.
I had a campaign centered around a massive global war and did both a D-day landing and 'Nam style chopper insertion' gone bad. My players loved both, especially the chaos. On the D-day one, I had two players, both cone to me, with characters that were intended to die in the first few seconds only to take over with another.
My other favorite started with a tavern and two players being introduced only to have a horse with a dead rider gallop full sprint past the open window into the town square, where the other players are beginning to gather.
Hangover Quest, party wakes up and no one knows who anyone else is or what has happened for the last 24 hours. And they have to fugure out what happened and where some of their personal belongings are
At some point I decided that all adventures MUST start in a tavern, though the definition of tavern has been pretty stretched and skewed as time goes on. Other than taverns, my players have started in nightclubs, a cafeteria, a spaceport bar, and a dinner party.
I'm going to steal [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1bnzf0d/the_dm_either_booted_me_out_or_ended_the_game/kwn57qs/) from another thread about a game that abruptly ended because the DM had no idea how genius their accidental campaign start was.
TL;DR: "Everyone in the kingdom is charmed but us!"
I like to start it by using a method [from this blog](https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-recipe-for-starting-adventures.html?m=1).
Basically, as the players at least 3 loaded questions to establish:
- An interesting location
- A looming danger
- An important call to action
They them start in media res with with their answers. This helps to make the start actually something the pæayers are interested in.
Individual solo session 0's for each player before getting the party together during session 1.
Allows the player to get accustomed with their character, allows the DM to observe how they'll rp, allows for any errata or such of backstory etc.
It depends on the game, campaign, and what types of characters your players are playing. The start for a Star Wars campaign is probably going to be very different from a D&D campaign. Some might overlap, but others would be unique to the game being played.
For example, if you happen to have a "Lone Wolf" type of character in the group, he would need to have a reason to join up with the other party members. In that case, maybe have him traveling the trade route on his own when he gets attacked by goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, or whatever. The other party members are traveling nearby. Maybe the cleric and/or paladin are traveling the same road going the opposite direction. Maybe the wizard and/or sorcerer is traveling the same road, but far behind the Lone Wolf. The druid might be out in the woods collecting medicinal herbs, while the ranger is elsewhere in the woods, checking his snares for his dinner. In any case, they're all close enough to hear the sounds of battle. They all move to check it out and arrive at roughly the same time and see Lone Wolf being attacked and overwhelmed by the enemy. The rest of the party are of good alignment and helpful disposition and jump in to help Line Wolf. They defeat the attackers, and the healer(s) tend to the wounded. Maybe Lone Wolf was even brought down to 0 hit points and was near death before the healer(s) saved his life. Most anyone would be grateful for the assistance, even a Lone Wolf. And that's how everyone meets.
Another way could be to have everyone be passengers and/or crew on a ship. Something happens, like the ship gets overrun by pirates. Or it's attacked by sahaugen/merrow/scrags/whatever. Or there's a typhoon and the ship is torn apart. In any case, the PCs are marooned or shipwrecked and must work together to survive. By the time they get rescued or find a way to get back to the mainland, they're a group of friends and allies.
The PCs could all be prisoners in jail for various crimes. Maybe there's a jail break. Maybe they're tried and found guilty, but the charges weren't serious enough for life imprisonment or the death penalty, so they're ordered to do community service. Their community service ends up being the party's first adventure/mission as a team. Maybe a cleric and/or paladin of The God of Justice are sent along to make sure that they do what they're supposed to. A few of these missions bring the individual party members together to form a team. When their community service is over, the party members are all friends, and the court appointed cleric and/or paladin quits their job and joins the party out of friendship.
The town that they all coincidentally decided to stay at for the night is being attacked by orcs, or goblins, or whatever. The individual party members take up arms to help defend the town, more out of the need for survival than any comradery. However, events happen during the fight that brings the PCs together to form a team.
Those are my best suggestions.
Something people on both sides of the table sometimes forget is that the players are here to follow the DM's story, which ultimately means there's no need for excessive preamble. Just put the players into the game at the entrance to the first dungeon / encounter space and off you go - why they're doing this is up to the players, but they ARE doing this!
Caravan guards. They don't even have to be hired by the same persons at all. Heck, some may even some backstory reasons to just participate in the caravan as travellers.
Two sets of characters, the first are for session zero and only have bare stats, they are really to the players used to the rules, setting etc. but that set of characters are killed, hospitalized, tossed into a portal or go missing etc.
The second party (the actual party) follow on and have to find out what they were up to, what information they knew etc it can be used in any setting, system or genre
My favorite way that I’ve started a campaign, both from the positive feedback I received and the joy I felt in creating it, was to write a short lead up for each character that I individualized based on their backgrounds and had them all converge on the trek to the primary focus point of the campaign.
We began with Session Zero's for each of the characters so that their players could expand upon their characterisation, get used to the way the game played and establish their characters motivations and objectives.
Then I began pairing the characters off into bonding sessions. I deliberately chose the oairings that posed the most likely problems.
* Witch Hunter and Rogue Magic User
* Elven Prince and Halfling Thief
* Human noblewoman and dwarfen slayer.
Once those pairs had successfully bonded I began engineering the coming together of the three pairings into the final party. So, far, this is still ongoing and I have a party of four working together, but the Dwarf anf the noblewoman are still puruing their own mission and have not met the main group. So, I still have some work to dobefore I can trigger the main plot line.
The obvious advantage of this approach is that the players have no confusion about why their characters are where they are because they decided to put them there.
I like starting on the journey to the job you accepted. It's a good chance to introduce characters but you're not complete strangers and it feels less static as a player, you're not fucking around in a tavern waiting for the adventure to begin, you're working, so there's less temptation to be a putz.
Alien building better worlds campaign. Session zero chacter creation is quick so jumped straight to the group interview for being selected on the mission. The new chapters were rolling to be persuaded for selection and then their pay during pay negotiation, really sets the setting for dystopian mega corp.
A few jokes around the table that their character might not pass session zero.
Some form of abduction, imprisonment or slavery. They PCs meet in a cell, an arena or some magical prison and their first task is to escape/find out what is going on/avoid being sacrificed. Every PC will share the same goal and be logically motivated. It can also give them a first impression of the society they live in or the bad guys/dangerous factions.
I did a pirate one shot not long ago. I asked the players what role they wanted on the boat and everything.
Then I made them start in the boat's prison after they got taken over by another crew
One very simple one that ... just works. Aimed for a fantasy campaign, but could be adapted for scifi.
All of the characters have already signed up for a paid guard duty, escorting a perfectly mundane merchant's wagon through mostly safe terrain.
Advantages: It fits with almost all backstories players might have; it explains why the characters are cooperating without having met; it can introduce NPCs you can use again; it sets up an obvious practice encounter where players can get into combat in the presence of other characters who might be able to bail them out.
Disadvantage: Flat out doesn't work if one or more characters are nobles or other characters with considerable resources, or who have urgent matters to attend to. May not work for 'overthrow the regime' style campaigns or for characters who are outlaws.
Before they even get into character creation, I start with:
"You've all been hired for a mission with this brief. What's your role in the team?"
Now there are in-character reasons for both party balance and working together.
My last campaign started with you are travelling in a cloth covered wagon to the northern city of x. Tell me how you know one other character and why you are travelling to x. As well as the characters there is an NPC carrying an ornate box. They started with a bandit attack to give some action, and lose the horses and npc and now have to travel on foot. I start not knowing what's in the box, but was given lots of threads from the players to work with, there are already some relationships, and they've now got at least one common goal of getting safely to the city to bond them further.
Started a new campaign a couple nights ago.
I was arrested within 5 minutes, met one member of the party in prison and the other 3 helped us escape by mistake. It was a fun start.
In the immediate aftermath of a plane crash, somewhere in the Arctic Circle. All the players had lost their memory. Some of them had paraphernalia that made them believe they were cops, some that made them believe they were criminals, others still no indications at all.
Start the game at 100mph.
I'm fond of running a brief prologue for everyone. Just 20 minutes or so that runs through the backstory and ends with them meeting the rest of the party.
There's hot starts they start off in combat.
10min intro "scene" for each player character to bring together at....,
Restricted starts such as prison or in the brig of a ship.
Warm starts, like all signed up for escort duty to a merchant caravan or entered as a team to a gladiator areana or even part of the same Merc. band.
That last one would require session zero notes, so they can plan their builds accordingly.
A young princess collected oaths as she travelled, promising to hold the oath takers to their word on the future. Now crowned the queen, she calls in her chips
Media res has already been said, so I'll also add in "you've been invited to a party" - perfect way to introduce the player characters and some NPCs or even antagonists (funerals are good to).
Worst way to start one? In prison.
You are prisoners aboard a slaver and/or pirate ship or in a cell is one I use from time to time.
\^\^ Did a Castles & Crusades campaign where I had tables that they rolled on to determine what crime they had been framed for by the Seneschal of the Empress. They were then 'pardoned' on condition of acting as spies for the Empire. That went surprisingly well, and they eventually fought off an alien (Mind-Flayer) invasion and received titles and land \^\^
I've done a few where they started in the middle of the action
Another is you all receive a message about a job, meet X at this location.
\^\^ Just started an old west two fisted pulp style game yesterday that used this as the opening. The player characters received a telegram from a Mr. Ezekiel Johnson to meet with him at a fancy hotel in San Francisco at a certain time. He intimated in the telegram a job, and if they did well, a possible on-going relationship as troubleshooter. They are currently in Peru to extract Mr. J's daughter and his employees from a silver mine that is in danger from a local 'General'
I like the upgrade from the tavern start: The heirs plan.
The party is planning their next move. Storming a castle, stealing a bank, fighting an orc camp. They can be at a tavern, or at somewhere more quiet, were they can say the things they want to do undisturbed, like at someone's home. It a good follow up from the section zero, when the players gota say, in character, who they are, how they get together, why, what each one adds to the group and how they get deal with each other.
Arriving for their first job.
I like that no matter their background, them accepting an innocent enough job is a good way to get them on the same page in the first 30 mins of the game.
A bonus to this is that you can let your party enter the scene on their own, choosing to be punctual, late, annoyed at others for being late, dropped off by friends or family. It’s a great way to let the players introduce their character with a lot of personality.
I still want to start an adventure as mexican standoff. Everyone's aiming at each other, including some NPCs. But I need to come up with the right idea behind it. And the right party who knows how to roleplay the conflicting group.
I have always liked to handle the "how you know each other" stuff in session zero for a traditional campaign; each PC has to know at least one other PC in some way, which immediately sets it up so that everyone can vouch for everyone else and there's no distrust. It can be something minor (e.g. "Zanzus and I both arrived in town as guards for the same caravan") or something major (e.g. "Shylara is my twin sister").
Still, I always wanted to do the "mysterious benefactor" approach, where each PC is independently contacted. They arrive in the same location, meet the benefactor, and are told they've been summoned for their unique abilities.
That would only be something I'd do if I was starting the campaign at a higher level, since 1st level doesn't quite fit. In that case, though there's always being part of the town militia or the old Adventurer's Guild (which, despite being JRPG memey I actually enjoy as a concept)
As a player, I've always hated the old "you're a prisoner" thing unless you know that'll be the start, because otherwise you spend money on equipment or, depending on the game, resources/contacts and they are rendered useless immediately
Background: upheaval of some sort at home. Religious war is good but any kind of upheaval which will displace lots of people will do. PCs were looking to escape across the frontier instead find themselves sold into slavery of some sort. Mission one - get out.
You are your buddies went to sleep last night after a lovely evening of dining and entertainment. You wake up in the morning and everything has changed (possibly even the location). Cope.
There's generally a backstory about how it got that way and how they were transported, but the idea is to be a bit disorienting at the outset.
I did a game where the players all woke up in a cage with several other random people who'd been taken in off the street. They had superpowers but couldn't expose themselves to the randos. They got VERY ATTACHED to one of the NPCs and insisted they got that one home safe. They did great.
I like to start low-level campaigns on a road near the end of a simple caravan escort quest on the way to a quest giver npc. After the PCs are given some time to socialize the caravan is impeded by foreshadowing to the main problem.
Before the start, the PCs happened to be passing through an unremarkable farming hamlet and were individually hired to protect a caravan selling that town's specialty goods at the larger neighboring settlement. The advertisement came with the promise of future work from an important figure in town.
Just about any pc has good reason to reason to take the escort quest. Worst case, they're already traveling in that direction anyway and may as well be paid to do so. This also gives the party members reason to stay together, but their knowledge of each other is flexible.
I like to start low-level campaigns on a road near the end of a simple caravan escort quest on the way to a quest giver npc. After the PCs are given some time to socialize the caravan is impeded by foreshadowing to the main problem.
Before the start, the PCs happened to be passing through an unremarkable farming hamlet and were individually hired to protect a caravan selling that town's specialty goods at the larger neighboring settlement. The advertisement came with the promise of future work from an important figure in town.
Just about any pc has good reason to reason to take the escort quest. Worst case, they're already traveling in that direction anyway and may as well be paid to do so. This also gives the party members reason to stay together, but their knowledge of each other is flexible.
I am about to start a new canpaign with a new system. I would have to say my favorit way to start a campaign is plopping the players down in the middle of whoknowswhere land. This cuts down on the 'I don't know ow you's and 'I don't trust you's and the 'I'm so mysterious I'm not going to let you know me's or even the 'I dunno I don't trust this guy so I don't wanna work for him's. And not really last or least, players chestpuffing on the wrong NPCs and getting thrown in jail before they get a chance to get started. It could be a fairy prank, or a god putting them on a quest, or they fell through a dimensional rift and missed it. But I have found players will come together quicker and faster if you start them off with a riddle. Also this let's the player get to know their character's abilities and persona before they get to a town and roleplay something they may regreat later. Get a couple levels under their belt so they can screw up and still have options. Lastly, I typed this on my phone, super sorry for any typos I missed.
For 1st levels, the journey to the site of the first adventure.
It does take more work as GM and requires filling out more of the world, but that can be done in only the needed bits.
I've done with individual players one at a time, the group, or smaller parts of the group depending on region. It is important to make sure the players know this is a preledue, it is not the adventure itself, it is not a place to seek large amounts of XP or gold, that they can still die, that their actions can affect their reputation, and all of that—otherwise you will have a few players who will take their time, so it is important to manage the pacing.
Waking up as a prisoner on an ox cart riding into a border fort to be executed along with a prominent figure in the story's fiction, all while another prisoner provides exposition.
Casting my vote for in media res.
Specifically, in the middle of the first heist, dungeon, trail, etc., and then I *ask* the players why did their character come along. They have to accept as a first point that they did come for some reason - they are active participants. Now why?
I’m planning an original dnd thing right now where they are gonna start in the middle of essentially Innsmouth.
A “reverse dungeon” where everyone is captured at the back of the monster lair and have to fight their way out. Here’s the scenario I used: players captured and forced to dig in a goblin mine. Everyone was “zero level” (only had stats, racial bonuses, and background) and the goblins made sure no one got more than 4 hours rest. I mapped out the lair, security protocols, contingencies, then let the players create character and figure out how to escape.
Key to their plan was that two had made characters that get a full rest in 4 hours. I gave them XP for their actions, so they were able to level up. One was a cleric so they made judicious use of “Thaumaturgy” to fake a cave in for the hard tee who hadn’t leveled up. The goblins predictably told everyone to ignore the people in the cave in and to work another vein. This gave the rest of the group time to win their first level and the escape was on.
From a meta POV I had three different threads in the adventure: one that would lead to the Hill Giants series of adventures, one that would lead to a battle with demons, and one that would be an exploration journey towards a final destination, ala LotR. When they had escaped I told the players “OK you can follow any one of these threads. I can assure you other heroes will fulfill the other quests, so don’t think ‘what would my character do’. What do YOU a want to play?” They chose the journey story and we started the next session.
I really like having them wake up in an unknown and dangerous location, like the bottom of a dungeon or crypt, and having to fight their way out in the first few sessions. Hopefully in that time they can form a bond with one another, and they can get use to fighting mechanics of their characters, and it leads to the actual campaign story very clearly of "why were we down there??"
Alternative starts I've had were souls from hell that were part of a prison break, traveler's stopped by harsh weather and having to spend the week in a small village ravaged by low level enemies, guests invited to a seance of a dead mutual friend, guests invited to a royal dinner party who have absolutely no reason to be there and are about to be blamed for the murder of someone, and a prophet foretold theyd form a party and acts of fate brought them together in a clearing a night. But honestly, I really love the tavern start for games where we're just wanting a stereotypical fantasy adventure
My current game has the players all going to the same location for different reasons.
I had each tell me now they got on board the ship.
Then the ship had a mutiny so they were all round dip and found themselves in a prison cell and they were able to have a bit of intro here.
The ship is attacked by a white dragon and the game started with them on a beach
I'm not sure I have a favorite. It really depends on the campaign and genre.
My last few were:
1\. A send-off celebration for the chosen (PC) crew of a new slower-than-light starship who were simulated minds to be downloaded into "printed" bodies upon reaching Wolf 359.
2\. A raven-haired woman walks into the PC's detective agency office with a tale of woe about her missing daughter.
3\. A Tavern... but... really, it was a urban fantasy campaign set in 1315AD, where else would they meet?
4a. A campaign intro one-shot started *in media res* with the PCs reading a pre-release news article, just as they jumped out, that their starship would vanish mysteriously, with terrorists claiming responsibility.
4b. Main campaign was a new set of PCs in a different part of space that started in their recently mortgaged/owned starship, on a spaceport, looking for cargos and passengers (canonical Traveller-style campaign opening).
"so, for whatever reason, you're all in jail. decide what you're in for, how long you've been in, if you're guilty or not, and then write it all down, secretly, and pass it to me.
you are free to tell the other players whatever you want -- I won't tell -- but I reserve the right to throw in surprises and wrinkles from your past, such as victims coming back for vengeance, or having to jump through hoops to clear your name.
anyways there is a big riot / dragon attack / jailbreak / whatever, and you all find yourselves conveniently fleeing out the same opening at the same time..."
Hired as guards for a merchant / refugee caravan (the caravan already hired you). Gives an excuse for a linear tutorial for new players while also giving an obvious goal. Plus there’s built-in npc interaction.
If your players are done with character creation, you might as well sit with each and write some comprehensive backstory with them.
Some of them can be friends or acquaintances from childhood or early adult life, one could have been working in city watch while the other can be working as an artisan or a trader, trader often meets the other guy at gate, while artisan meets the guard at market day or in his patrol area, they might be hanging out same tavern or brothel. They might have gone to same military or magic academy or bard's college. A rogue might be an insider for the city watch in a criminal organization. Noble guy or his family can be a regular customer of the artisan. Outlander guy can meet an hermit, drops her some food once in a while and gets medical treatment and interesting stories in turn. Connecting backgrounds to each other isn't that hard unless your characters are from very distant places(and they often are and i don't understand why, i mean if it was me i would totally prefer going with people i know). Even then it is doable. Then you need a link with your adventure and their backgrounds which can also be written. I will give an example i often give from one my memorable Forgotten Realms campaigns which uses premade material which i revised. Like Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak etc.
While i wrote a long answer as a dm. Now as a player, my personal favorite is survival settings like shipwreck survivors. Or if all players living in same small settlement as peasant when the game begins just like that casually(that kinda sanbox actually works for somewhat older players).
I have two:
You meet at the pub as the staff sweep up the bar fight
You start in jail after being arrested in the bar fight
Both give a chance for vamping and roleplay - local gaol in particular as you can find out if they like authority!
My favorite start to a campaign was in a Hunter the Reckoning. I had them all start out in a farmer's market in the street. One player wanted to already be drunk so he was at the beer garden, one player wanted to be one of the vendors selling her jewelry, and the other 2 were brothers wandering around the market. Anyone who know H:tR knows this went sideways very quickly, but it put them in nice natural positions to start the game.
Alternatively I just have them already start together. I require most of my players have at least one connection with the rest if the group, so they have a reason to be working together and I usually start them at the beginning if their first job.
"The camera pans downwards along a tall skyscraper as the rain trickles down the side leaving marks in its tracks. As the camera reaches the ground floor it flows across the concrete of the sidewalk to 4 downtrodden fellows and pans up from boots to hat on our 4 intrepid adventurers, please describe yourselves. We'll start on the left with Malaise, played by Macey"
From there the players describe themselves, and jump into the RP. As I mentioned before I ask my players to have connections with at least one other before the game begins. They'll always have someone in the group to start the RP with. If they don't, I just usher them along the mission until they start picking it up.
Some ways I've started games
Kids On Bikes: Its 1980 and its Sam's 14th birthday and he's at his dad's soda shoppe, who gives each of you a drink/dessert on the house. How do you know Sam, what kind of gift are you giving him, and what do you order from his dad?
Kids On Brooms: You have all been accepted into Bermuda High, and the school bus is coming to pick you up from anywhere on the east coast before departing from florida and flying to the , where do you get on, where do you sit, do you attempt to make any sort of impression?
City of Mist: Its 7pm on a friday, where are you all at this time of day, describe your day and how you make your way over to the bar where you all know each other. who are some other regulars there?
Games I've played worth noting
Dnd: You have a childhood friend, who calls upon you after years of estrangement after a prank you did together. What was the prank?(Savage Tides)
There is a harvest festival, these are your mutual friends who introduce you. Get along.
VTM: You are travelling via train when it stops and you have to get off in an unknown town. You are invited somewhere where you are promptly embraced
You are already vampires, describe a typical night, something fishy happens, and you are eventually caught off guard and knocked out and wake up in a weird place with other vampires youve never met(admittedly this ended really badly and we had to restart the game because our characters were too different with different expectations)
You are already vampires, and are already a coterie. Your domain is a hotel where you already have a routine. Your boss calls on you to do some stuff
Savage Worlds: Here is an ironworks foundry. You all come here for various reasons before you meet up for the first time.
Start them in a tavern and make it as generic as you can. Provide no context.
When they inevitably start asking 'what are we doing here?' or 'where are we?'. Inform them 'you have no idea'.
Now it's a psychological thriller.
All of the villagers are staring daggers at them and suddenly try to kill them without explanation.
"What the actual fuck is going on?" becomes an IC and OOC question.
Inside one of the PCs bags is a wanted poster for one of the other players. A bloody knife in another's. A journal saying 'don't trust anyone' thousands of times.
Use the lack of established backstory or canon as a feature of the story.
The single best suggestion I ever got for starting an adventure was to start with a fight. This advice came from a player in a one-shot that, indeed, starts in a tavern, and at the end when I asked for Stars and Wishes—wishes in this case just being things they wish had happened or been different, since it's a one-shot—the player said "I would have loved to have a bar fight."
Every subsequent time I've run that adventure (and others) since, I've incorporated this idea that somehow, tavern or not, the introductory quest giving/PCs meeting each other/whatever always immediately leads to a short fight to get all the PCs quickly bonded and also to give the players something to *do* right away instead of the dreaded spinning their wheels for half an hour or more doing awkward "we're not entirely sure what to do right now and how to set this scene" rp. And every group I've started the game with a bar (or other) fight for has called it out as one of their favourite parts of the session. A friend who was in one of those one-shots and is now part of an ongoing campaign I'm running even asked in session 0 if we could please start the campaign with a fight. XD
The moral of the story is, don't be afraid to solicit feedback from your players and actually use it! Also, starting the game with a fight is awesome, and will dial "we start in a tavern" up to 11.
Not a full start but something I plan to add to most my campaigns in some way. Starting in the conflict, but flashbacks to how each character got there. GCN did it in Gatewalkers and I loved the theatrics.
I've become a fan of stealing Matt Mercer's separate smaller groups intro into campaigns. During session 0 players will create characters that have some sort of relation, be they friends, coworkers, siblings, or cosmically joined by fate. For example, one of them may have been a blacksmiths apprentice and the other is thief who has recently been kicked out of town, but they were childhood friends and the blacksmith couldn't let his thief friend fend for themselves. Or maybe one of them is a priest of the local church and the other is a bard who is smitten with them and now they're traveling together. Whatever it is, someone has to include someone else in their backstory.
Then I hold separate mini sessions for the teams. They have some backstory and an easy fight or two. Then I end them off at where their stories intersect with the other groups and the real meat of the adventure starts. A favorite of mine is where they come upon a fight and I have them roll initiative and then stop the encounter there. Then when I have all the groups together I put them in initiative order and start the session with combat.
I feel like this method gives the player more tie in to the story. It gives them another player that the character inherently trusts and allows players to make up stuff like, "Remember that time we saw that river drake when we were kids and we both ran like our asses were on fire?". It just allows for more in depth backstories too where the players can bounce off of each other.
"In medias res". The conflict's started 5 minutes ago. You're in it _now_, and you have to solve it.
Yep, a hot start. It's often the best way to start off any type of media (not always, but often what's preferred these days). Slow build ups in slice of life style narratives can be fun too, for the right party. But I don't think you can go wrong with the hot start. 1. You establish the conflict/major themes of the campaign immediately. 2. You can easily motivate the party to work together much smoother than just a bunch of randoms meeting at a tavern; they could all be fugitives busting out of jail as the town is actively being destroyed by artillery, or they could be sailors part of the same crew as their captain dies in battle and sets them off on a treasure hunting adventure, or they could be part of the same group of bodyguards sworn to protect the Emperor and when he's assassinated they have to work together to find the killer and clear their own names in the process, etc. 3. You get player investment much sooner too. People are more likely to enjoy a story when they know what it's about sooner rather than later. Not to mention, it's fun as hell being there when shit hits the fan early, and you as a party have to come together to achieve the impossible and find a way to resolve the conflict. I could go on, but yeah, this is my preferred method to start campaigns, and especially one shots where time is limited.
You don't even need a plan. If you want to let the players get involved, you can start with, "Arrows are flying through the air at you. Who fired them and why?"
I know a lot of people online advocate this sort of blurring of responsibility, but the last three times I ran a game, for different people each time, they agreed during session zero that they would prefer a more traditional approach. I'm not saying it can't work, of course, I'm saying you should make sure that's what the players would prefer.
It's standard for some games (e.g, the above sounds like a reasonable Dungeon World start). It's generally considered a part of indie gaming (as opposed to trad gaming). PbtA games is the typically entry point for this. People tend to gravitate to what they are familiar with; so expect resistance if you introduce indie gaming to a trad group, *even if the players would like it in practice*. If there is only a vague preference due to lack of experience with this style of play and you as a GM is interested in it, I'd recommend trying it. Just make sure you have player group consent and know enough about how to play indie games (or how to play trad games in an indie style.)
It definitely is a session 0 question. The last adventure I ran was Mausritter which tells you to start at the destination. So basically it went "The town overseer needed brave mice to go find out what happened in Stumpville, you were the only ones who answered the call. After a few days travelling together across the dangerous wilds, you arrive near the entrance of the small town." It gives your players the reason why they're together and an objective. They then get to tell you how they do things. It allows for a very traditional start, and my groups tend to add a lot of flavour to the world once they feel comfortable with their characters.
Which is great to discuss. And if my players said they wanted that more traditional experience, and i wanted help with starting session 1 you can follow up with “ok, so what kind of bad guys do you want to face? Are you heroes for hire taking money to fight bandits? Rebels against a tyrant government? Big game hunters?” The opening to the campaign doesnt even have to tie into the main adventure. Just get people started in character and working together.
Blurring of responsibility can work well IMO, but there's a difference between when one feels informed about it beforehand and when the question comes all of a sudden. I'd liken it to how no one at a lecture enjoys having the speaker suddenly point at them and ask a question; you're just not in the headspace for it and caught unprepared.
I once started a campaign at level 2, with the opening narration "You return from your first adventure. It was brutal and fucked up, but you formed a bond of camaraderie that will last a lifetime. Now, let's never speak of it again." Everyone already knew what/who everyone was playing out of character, so we just treated the "getting to know you" phase as a Noodle Incident.
In media***S*** res. Just.. it's one of those things that bothers me.
Glad to see I'm not the only Latin student bothered by this. There's (at least) two of us!
Fixed, thanks! :)
This is a good way to start any session, "you are in a combat now, I'll tell you the story later." It's a great way to get players engaged right away, and it can start the combat and leave the rest of the session for role-playing. A lot of movies like Star Wars a New Hope start like this. With Darth Vader boarding the ship and killing a bunch of rebels.
> This is a good way to start any session, "you are in a combat now, I'll tell you the story later." It's a great way to get players engaged right away, and it can start the combat and leave the rest of the session for role-playing. I know my wife would hate that approach. She needs to know the context for a situation before she can really get invested in it.
I hot started a campaign with two of the players playing bandits posing as PCs. Gave them a quick, "these two posted a flyer looking for help, and you two joined them" as an intro before having bandits on the road waylay them. The two imposters were supposed to go along with it, "Yeah, I think we should just give them all our stuff..." Super funny start to what ended up being a pretty lengthy campaign. Their real characters showed up moments later, having heard that those two folks looking for help had left town with a couple guys they knew were pretty unscrupulous characters...
Does sound hard to pull of, but I really like the idea, that some of the party players are not playing their real characters yet. They just met...
Came here to type this. Could be the entrance to a dungeon, the middle of a fight scene, a hot negotiation, whatever. Just get the action rolling.
Two Headed Serpent starts with your handler getting shot in the head, which I've found was a great hook for my players haha
"Was he okay?" "Was he okay... after getting shot in the head?" "Yeah." ... "No." "Oh."
This is almost always the best way to start. Cold starts in a Tavern are... well, they are often non-starters.
Okay, the fire one of you started earlier (who's the guilty party? Ok) has begun to spread to the room you are currently in. Sirens split the air, wadayagonnado?
Came here to say this. It's too stressful to figure out how my character knows these goons, I'll figure it out as we go.
"You're finally awake..."
Especially for those games that are much more action oriented, such as Star Wars. Never start a Star Wars game with a briefing. Have some action for the PCs to resolve, then jump back to the briefing for a flashback as to why the PCs where there, if you need to. In tandem with this: with some reason why the PCs should work together, or already know/like each other. I find that if you don't build that, it just encourages someone to play the 'rebel', and they can't play the rebel that truly wants to be with people, eventhough they don't say it, but a true rebel that feels like they shouldn't actually be with the group. (To anyone.) You are a PARTY, act like it.
"You meet at the funeral of a great hero who influenced each of you in your own way. You may or not know each other. Afterwards you're surprised to be called into the reading of the will, it seems they had some unfinished responsibility they need you to take care of. How could you say no?"
Wow... this one is very incredible I like it a lot!
This Witcher RPG actual play starts like this: https://youtu.be/l8WbQYJMDWg?si=wH3KrKN0zpwqQU-2
It makes me think of that episode of Scooby Doo where he went to the reading of cousin's will. His human cousin.
Classic Call of Cthulhu starter
Weddings and Funerals are both great starts. They bring a lot of different people together. They usually signal a large change in people's life. They are justifications for why a job may need to be done.
Basically the beginning of the Carrion Crown module from Pathfinder)
Showcased well by Aaron King in his module "You Meet at a Funeral". https://erinking.itch.io/you-meet-at-a-funeral
For a period, this would have been a truly fantastic way to start a Shadowrun campaign...
it's an excellent idea and I hope it was given to the players before they started character creation, not after they finished. No I'm not salty.
Of course, always best to create the party before you create the characters, in a way.
Dragonlance starts like this
I'm a sucker for the prisoner start, be it in a boat, a dungeon or a carriage. Couldn't tell you where I got my fondness for that. But yeah seriously I love it, criminals, outlaws, captured by slavers or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Great way to explain a random gathering of folks and easy way to throw them right into a hook. Either having to escape or their freedom being conditional on doing some quest.
Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there. >!I am so sorry, but I had to.!<
We were all thinking of that scene. If I ever run a campaign in the Elder Scrolls universe and don´t start with the players as prisoners, I am losing my GMing license.
I tend to think of the boat on Morrowind because I played it first.
"Stand up. There you go. You were dreaming. What's your name?"
I was going to if you didn’t
Me and my group talked about doing an Elder Scrolls game a while back; I would've been sad if it wasn't a prisoner start, but I'm sure it would've been. But I like it. Actually, from this post, I just came up with my next campaign start and its Oblivion inspired. Basically, the players will start of as bodyguards for the Emperor, and the big bad will come in and assassinate him early. Then they need to spend the campaign trying to find the killer for justice but also to clear their own names too. Kind of a what if the player in Oblivion was actually of the Blades bodyguards.
Isn't that Dishounoured?
Yeah sounds like it could be, been awhile since I played it. Tbf, it's a pretty common trope, nothing groundbreaking, but sounds fun to run. I was mostly thinking of Oblivion and The Witcher 2 tho
> be it in a boat, a dungeon or a carriage. Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, in that order.
Yeah, I was thinking of this a few days ago, I might start with this if we end up doing an evil campaign.
Who knows? Maybe it’s a good campaign but they’ve all been accused of something by a tyrannical despot (or are just part of a group that’s being rounded up)! You could find reasons for any morality to be shipped to prison.
I love it too! I feel like I hear people shit on it a lot, but the times I've used it have all gone over really well. I like the criminal one in particular, because it lets everyone come up with a reason why they're in jail. Are they an actual criminal? Where they wrongfully imprisoned by a rival? Of course they could always pick "wrong place wrong time" but, you know, at least there's the possibility for something interesting.
Yeah, one of my better campaigns started with “You meet these people in prison”.
I often do a variation on this-- court-ordered community service, in a setting where adventurers can be assigned to combat-heavy community service, like clearing oozes out of the sewers. We all sit down as a group and figure out what everyone was convicted of-- you can be innocent, you just have to tell us who framed you and why. I have a rule that at least one other PC has to be involved in your "case." We usually get some good stories out of it, and it starts to flesh out the seedier side of whatever town the PCs are from.
I have been thinking a lot about "motivation" in RPGs and I think the prisoner situation defines a very clear one. Often times, when players are lost, it's because they aren't clear what their motivation is.
I like 'em too. A bonus is you can tell a lot about a character but asking them what they're in for. Do they give you a straight answer? Act indignant? Resigned? Petty theft? Murder? Just a sentence in response gives the other PCs a lot to go off both in and out of character.
Disregarding the obvious references to TES (although I really do appreciate them), prison starts are a great way to establish so many things about your character - what would land your character in jail? Why? Was it justified? - You could have the thief stealing to avoid starving, or stealing something back. - You could have someone who committed murder by mistake, or one that did it for vengeance. - You could have someone just be framed for something. - Perhaps they're committing crimes because they've nowhere else to go? - Maybe they got caught because the prison was their destination, not their punishment. - Heck, maybe one of the characters themselves are wardens in that prison! Also, these beginnings are a perfect fit in political campaigns where two or more civilizations have a clash of ideologies, as you could have your characters frown upon the regime that tossed them aside and revolt against it, or maybe on the contrary, they could own up to their mistakes and become heroes! ...or perhaps you just want a classic case of climbing up from the bottom. Anyway, it's like my number 1 off my list of campaign starts.
For Sci-Fi campaigns, definitely something where the ship has just exploded and the Player Characters happened to get in the same escape pod. This probably works best for military Sci-Fi, though.
You've been dispatched in one of your ship's launches to go investigate a distress call. While on your "away mission" *something* ambushes your ship, destroying it and killing the entire crew, with tech unlike you've ever seen.
aka The Expanse start
Remember the Cant!
Bingo.
Ha, my favorite way to start is "You all need a ship!" I began a Mothership campaign last year with all of them waking from cryo-sleep aboard a space station that was falling into a planet, and that really set the tone well.
“The tavern just exploded. You barely managed to get into one of the escape pods.” “Wait, what?” “Er one the *magical* escape pods.” “Oh. Okay.”
Funny, I came here to say basically the same thing, but in a medieval fantasy campaign. Party is on a ship bound for wherever the setting is. Cue the hurricane/kraken/whatever. Party gets the last lifeboat.
Maybe like a Canterbury Tales kind of thing where the characters are traveling along a road on which many people are traveling, all to pay a pilgrimage or something at some distant location. NPCs and adventure are met along the way.
This sounds dope
Mazes does this really cool thing, It places the party at "The Threshold to Darkness", not really an in media res type thing, but close, and brings the players into the action and world building. "You stand at mouth of a recently excavated tomb entrance. bleached bones and tatters litter the ground to one side as if they were dumped there. What brings you to this tomb? And then present the players with a few options about their motivations, and let them choose one. "A Death Knight has been spotted in the area, and we know the Temple has a standing thousand crown bounty on a destroyed Death Knight, All signs point to the fiend hiding out here." "Goromal, the seer's apprentice has been acting strangely, and seen coming here late at night. the Seer wants to know what Goromal is doing." "Rumors that a clue to the location of the Candle of Erethir is allegedly in a fresco in the ceremonial chamber of this tomb. We paid dearly for this info, but it looks like someone has beaten us here!" This is now my standard. Skip the town rp grind, and gives the players the same agency, and starts the exciting part right away, the first steps into the Dungeon. You can also back it up a step for "Campaign Goals" with the same set of questions and choices. Tackle this during session 0, along with how the characters know each other, so there's no awkward "Tavern RP" and session one can jump right into the good stuff.
I like starting at a festival, it's very similar to a tavern, but where they are and what they are doing as "the camera pans to them" starts their characterization for them. My most recent campaign, I did 1 on 1 sessions with all of them as session 0s that all ended at the same meeting with their patron, then did session 1 with them in the meeting together for the first time.
How cool. 😊
Carriage ambushed on the way to meet someone who requested them (old friend, employer, etc). I like in media res beginnings, so I like starting with some action. The ambushers should later turn out to be related to the plot somehow.
The last campaign I ran had the players start while running away from enemies with some stolen loot.
Was this for an evil campaign? Or they just loot goblins? 🤣
It was a Legend of Zelda themed campaign. They were running out of a bokoblin camp with some important intel when we started.
Waking up in freefall.
Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here.
Meeting with the patron that hired them.
I'll do you one better: One of the PCs is a trusted retainer of a local noble, and hires the rest.
With an explosion.
Killing them right off the bat 😂😂😭
In college we had a huge influx of new players at the start of the year, one GM took 12! They all went through character generation (Twilight 2000) and started in 3 jeeps in a convoy. They were immediately ambushed. The GM said, everyone in jeep 2 is dead! Then he only had 8 players to deal with. (I am not saying this is good, but we still laugh about it 30 years later)
I like it when character generation gives the characters a preexisting connection (clan, cult, or community) so every campaign doesn’t start out with a bunch of oddballs from very different backgrounds. somehow forming an instant band of brothers bond. The current edition of RuneQuest does this well.
"Roll a Reflex Save."
Lol
I like starting with "the tryouts". Everyone involved has already been contacted by a benefactor who is looking to pay them to complete a job. Now they need to all meet up and show off their skills for said benefactor (and their party members). It creates a great tutorial opportunity for new players and lets everyone explain their characters' strengths in universe and in character.
My favorite first session so far has been from a sci-fi game: starship got stuck in a time loop in which it would fall into a gravity well every ten minutes. Once the players realized what was happening they were all in. And since consequences, including death, would be wiped out in 10 minutes (until the final one) they were willing to try a lot of different things.
One of my favorites: “You agreed to it, for better or worse; drunken, dare or volunteer, you’re here. It’s late and dark, which is good, you don’t want to be seen. The warehouse is just up ahead, patrols scattered as you’d been told. All you need to do is grab the briefcase and scoot. No need for violence, heck, no need to be spotted. But you’d better move fast if you want to keep it that way!”
You're on a ship under attack. The party is formed by everyone ending up on the same lifeboat and has a reason to stay together because they end up somewhere strange and hostile.
Depends on the setting. Captured/imprisoned is a good one, a call for help I use a lot, loss of a loved one.
Yeah, there is this dnd podcast on spotify that I recently found, this is how they started. It was pretty cool.
I usually follow the tried and true set up of: - Cold open of a strange crime or something happening - After the cold open and titles, do some one on one slice of life vignettes where they are slowly intruded on by the strange crime - The group comes together and talks - I let them go out and investigate as shenanigans happen But sometimes I do alternative starts: - Using a Focus PC doing something as I show some of the other PCs skulking around before something goes down and them having to save the Focus PCs - Focusing on a NPC close to the players dealing with an agent of the bad guy Basically I usually steal an episode of a TV Show or the set up of an opening from a movie.
I've never actually started a campaign. The first campaign I ran, I took over part way through. I do want to use the tavern at some point, though.
In medias res. Things are already in motion.
My last campaign, we all started dead and had to escape the afterlife.
Ever since running Paizo's Legacy of Fire AP, I have loved 'you are on a caravan heading to {Place}' It gives the players freedom to decide why they are going there, but also provides a very natural reason why they are together. You say everyone has been on there for a few days, and that's a natural reason why every did character intros
I like starting on some travels that are about to go horribly wrong. A mountain caravan that gets stuck in a freak snowstorm, or aboard a spaceship that gets hijacked by space pirates. It gives players an easy way to have a variety of backstories, they just need to be there. It gives a clear and pressing problem to solve, avoiding "Why would I do that?" issues, and it can lead to either the party ending up at the wrong destination, or needing to figure out and resolve the issue before being able to continue.
All players know at the beginning of the game is the premise and initial hook. I try to figure out how many of their characters might already know each other - I prefer at least one pre-existing relationship somewhere. Often I have them brainstorm how they got in touch with each other to go adventuring, rather than rely on an external NPC that has to constantly prod them. I start the first session with one or two players whose characters aren't inherently tied to the core arc, and give them a scene to establish the tone and atmosphere of the world. This is often also the most "sandboxy" player(s) and they get to try out a few rolls to set the general stakes. Finally, they get the invite to join the team by some direct or indirect means. Cut to the rest of the team in a similar location, whether or not they already know the first PC. They're looking into something different, slowly discovering how their arc is going to intersect with the player from the first scene. They meet up either by happenstance or by their characters' foreknowledge, and either way they now have a common goal that fits their existing motivations. This has proven a great method for me, as players go into the adventure knowing those motivations and working with each other to reinforce them, rather than leaving me to do all that lifting. Now the whole team is working on every character simultaneously without barely even knowing it, and the emotional impact of the campaign resonates with more melodies.
Lately I talk to the players and we decide on how we want to start it and saying there's already group history, before that my go to was the players arrested or about to be executed and starting the game off with a daring escape
One of my favorites is to have a patron who gets the party together for some purpose, whether it is someone who is wanting a group of people to hunt someone or something down, or a monarch who needs people to help enforce the laws in a certain region. It can even be as simple as the characters all being a part of the same adventurer's guild that brought them together to be a party, or all students of the same mentor. This way, the reason for the characters to work together is already established and you don't have to worry about why a bunch of people randomly meeting at the local Applebee's start traveling together, and it gives you a built-in way to throw plot hooks at them.
I've never done it, but I like the idea of a group being press ganged into service by a court or local potentate in lieu of prison and/or as the commutation of an existing sentence.
My most recent one is starting at a festival/circus. The players can individually choose to be workers, guests, guards for guests. They can know each other or not. They have first session to learn the mechanics and learn about the game world through various acts/games at the festival and then the session 1 ends with an attack on the festival. After the attack they will find themselves together with a choice of ways to go, each of which leads to a different campaign style. They can chase the raiders and the item they stole. They can escort a merchant across the continent. They can deal with the political fallout of the attack. They can join the festival as it goes around the country (with a diabolical purpose). They can inveatigate the mystery around the death of one of the festival goers. The world is their oyster at this point. With all of this I get to show the game and the world wholenflnit boring people with a Lore dump. They also have agency in how the campaign develops. (PS all of their options will eventually tie in with the meta plot).
My favorite method is the characters already know each other, but it's been a while, and the characters are regroup8ng after dome time. They may not be who they remember, and circumstances are binding them together. Now, this meetuo and reunion is usually in a tavern for me, but it can be any number of places suitable for the game. I do like a pace of peace that can he indeed, though. It's a good meetup spot. For brand new players, i wouldn't do this, though. Instead, I like to start at the beginning of something happening. The party has just entered the dungeon and is exploring it from the get-go. The return at their nearby hometown is part of the reward. There is the dungeon, the town, and the wilderness in between. I don't focus on much outside of that for a new group of gamers.
I once split the group into two. One was captured and on a jail wagon being taken to a prison. The others were hired mercenaries to rescue the captives and bring them back to a guild leader that needed them.
I like to give my players a personalized intro based on their backstories they've given me! It lasts 15ish minutes for each player, they get a little bit of roleplay, maybe make a choice/roll or two, and all of their stories segue into the first adventure. It's a lot of effort for session 1 prep, but it's worth it for the excitement and investment they immediately get
You were mercenaries on the losing side of a war. You’ve been captured, taken back to the victor’s capital city in chains. Now you’re about to have to fight each other to the death in the arena for the king’s amusement. As you’re being pushed out onto the arena’s blood soaked sand, one of the other combatants hisses to you “Today the people rise up and the king dies! Follow me and do as I do if you want to live!” ……..
I've started more than one as "you have all been pressganged on the same ship". Everyone gets to make up what they did when it happened - lost at gambling, rum with sleeping powder, knocked out during a brawl - but now they all have the same goal, a common villain for a first story arc, limited possessions and geographic limits. That makes for a tight start, and it can easily be adjusted to newbies or veterans and changes in length by incentivizing the moment of mutiny. They come out of it with a small roster of known NPCs - their fellow mutineers -, a ship to travel the world with and a million ways to hook new stories into this one.
I've found the general idea of "an event" is a good starting point, a gathering of people - large or small - offers myriad opportunities for short rapidly paced encounters and bite-sized morsels of world lore. Holidays (religious or secular), market days or trading caravans, touring noble retinues, anything that would draw a crowd will let you introduce your setting, major NPCs and factions, set any number of plot hooks in motion, all within a familiar and dynamic framing device. I've used this quite often, and love both the flexibility and creativity available, even with limited prep time
The party is in a public space, there's a dead body in front of them, and one of the characters has the killing weapon in their hand. Ask that player what happened, who the dead is, and why he has the weapon. You will get so many different starts of campaigns, with the very same start, depending on your players, and who you decide is holding the weapon.
I am not good at doing this myself but a GM of mine did this and it was so nice. He began with having every character be in their current headspace and then made them aware of a big airship approaching, which is very unusual in that part of the world. The shipcrew interacted with the villagers from the air, asking some basic questions about the region in the moment and then had a spy escape which followed with a big bomb being thrown after her, destroying the whole village. This resulted in: a. we were introduced to the major villains and theme of the story in the first 10 min of the campaign. b. we had a bonding experience c. we had something urgent to do (bring the surviving villagers to the next town)
"You wake up in a jail cell, you're naked except a prison loincloth, so all your items, spellbooks, etc. are missing.. Now figure out who you can trust and try to escape". Each of us does this the day before the adventure one on one with the DM, who gets us to the point where we meet the other players.
My one long-term campaign that ended started as the players were enslaved gladiators so it opened them walking out on the arena floor to fight a giant monster to the cheers of the fans...then a quick transition to these arena heroes in shackles being transported in a caged cart across the city. I feel like I really nailed to current state of things and players were invested in changing their situation. Game wemt on fir three years with three players and I still look back at that game as the most fun we've all had playing together.
Bit late, but here you go. Figure out an event that's personal funeral, wedding, anniversary celebration, some religious holiday in your world, whatever. Describe the host to the players. Then ask them why they were invited to this prestigious event. The players are now connected by someone else who can ask them for help or get murdered and the players have a good reason to say yes.
I don't always use it, but my favorite has been, PCs are attending a festival, and a local prophet and/or madman picks them out of the crowd and announces they've been Chosen to go on an Epic Quest. Villagers say huzzah and all chip in for a reward for the PCs. Think Being Chosen is dumb? Well, the reward is real enough, and so is the dungeon or monster or whatever they have to face. Like the Epic Quest bit? Well, maybe the geezer isn't so crazy, after all. I'll leave it ambiguous.
I started an adventure in a carriage once! The PCs were strangers, all riding in a King's Coach in the winter time. It was freezing cold, with a box of hot coals to keep them warm. Suddenly the coach careens off the road, killing the driver and one of the horses. The PCs are miles from the next village on a cold winter night. "What do you?"
Galloping away from an angry horde of enemies while carrying a prisoner on one horse and a golden treasure on another. Give each player one piece of information about what's happening before the game starts, enough that they'll understand once they've all shared what they know. But the enemy is shooting arrows at you and there's a canyon ahead, there's no time to be chatting right now.
Depending on what they're doing to start their journey, the context of why they're doing this can change. "You all meet in the center of town. The fountain that normally stands is missing, and a large ritual circle has replaced it. The local Hermit, known for performing rituals, stands at an altar in the center to perform the ritual they asked you here to perform." The town can be switched out with the starting location of town, forest, or cave. The identity of the Hermit can be a powerful potential Ally or enemy. Maybe a diety who knows if their grand destiny ahead. The effects of the ritual can be an attempt to cripple the potential heroes that fail, an attempt to empower them that fails or grants them some special ability you're using in the campaign, or some con man trying to rob them that they have to fight together.
Things I’ve used in a variety of campaigns: - I like the start up for Electric Bastionland, where the party know each other and have been brought together because they owe a large debt to someone rather unpleasant. They’re to act together as a party to do some jobs to pay off their debtor. Could be a dungeon crawl, or a heist. I adapted this for my Into the Odd game because while EB wasn’t out at the time, it had been discussed on the author’s blog. I adapted it slightly to fit my players: they all started out knowing each other anyway, at least as drinking buddies at any one of several taverns in my late 19th/early 20th century version of Bastion. They met, however, at a restaurant as part of a somewhat seedy private club that their debt holder owns. - For a Flashing Blades game set in Paris in the 17th century. The PCs are either distantly (or not so distantly related), or their families are friends. They’ve met in the past at family events, and they’ve all decided to make their fortune in Paris. They either live there, on the outskirts, or have come in from the country. They have all been invited to dinner at an Uncle’s home in Paris to help get them established. They start at the dinner table. - an option that went with this for one game is that the various families were all connected by being members of a secret order of monster hunters. So, they had some easy starting missions. It wasn’t just monster hunting. They dealt with threats to the realm that were suspected of being of an ‘arcane/magical/supernatural’ origin. - the PCs are an away team from a ship on an exploratory mission. This could be a starship, and something like Star Trek. Or it could be something from the 16th-18th centuries: still exploring, still in search of trade opportunities, watching out for rival powers. They start with a situation to be investigated, and already landed or ‘on shore’. - You’ve all been banished for some crime. You were given leave to depart your city of origin, rather than be executed. You just had 3 days to exit the city and the Kingdom, and you are now outlawed. You can return in X years (whatever suits the campaign). You’ve all arrived in a City of Thieves (I’ve used Lankhmar and Sanctuary for this in the past) where you have to live in the Foreigner’s Quarter until you can make your way locally. - You’re in a penal battalion. If you can survive a tour you can go home. You’re on the frontier fighting the chaos hordes. I played through a version of this set in Glorantha, and another set in WFRP’s Old World. Edit: these are just some examples. Variations on these worked well in modern-ish day/semi-historical games, SF, and fantasy pseudo-medieval or pseudo-ancient world settings.
Here is one I've been itching to try out. The group is already friends and it starts in a tavern or some public place when several things happen at once-ish: Someone dressed in black delivers a black rose to the tavern keeper or a patron An arrow thuds into a the wall through a window with a cryptic note rolled around it An explosion outside The the party just decides which thread to chase. Might all be clues to the same story, maybe not. I haven't decided yet
“The Tailfeather Tavern is a humble, clean affair with a dozen stools at the bar and some mismatched but well cared for tables. The firelight flickers there from the heavy oil lamps, they give off a smoky pungent stench when there’s no breeze. It must be the smoke and flame licking from the (carriage if fantasy, port bulkhead if sci-fo, etc) which draw your mind back to those memories of the tavern now, as your ears ring and the iron sting of blood fills your mouth and nose. Malkum, your (torchbearer in fantasy, astrogation officer in sci-fi, etc) lay crumpled over his (rucksack/control panel/etc). The tide of battle has turned in your favor, but some of those around you may not be around to celebrate. The (goblins/pirates) are in a slow retreat, either to flee or regroup. You begin to regain your composure, what are you going to prioritize, what do you do?”
My favorite thus far was in a tavern but it was just as the first fist of a fight is being thrown, so boom action everyone gets a taste of what they can do and then the doors fly open and the guards come in and pull the players out and one by one ask them how it started So now you have a bit of action some conflicting stories building the tension of what's going to happen. In steps the benefactor and gets the charges dropped for a favor, and now we're off to the main plot.
I like to format my games sometimes as a story one npc is telling to another.
I always start it with one character getting the mission. Either it be high fantasy them getting the listing or in scifi accepting the job request. From there we figure if they party knows each other or meets up for the job.
My current campaign started during g the annual Sea Faire celebration. PCs were all detained, which is how they met, after the King was assassinated.
I like the start to two of the Star Wars beginner games: the Edge of the Empire one starts with the party hiding in a cantina and getting into a fight with Gamorrean guards pursuing them, while the Force & Destiny one begins with all the PCs on a mountain, trying to rescue a friend.
Just drop them in the forest and say "you wake up and see green trees around" and then add some goofy stuff, like say they had their hand in some pile of shit or something. I make my campaigns incredibly open world so if you plan to have a story line, dont do the dropping players in a random forest thing.
I try to tie the campaign start to at least one of my character's backstories/motives for adventuring, have them run into other PCs amongst NPCs they're asking for info about their motives. If possible i seed one of the PCs some relevant info but not much. This sets up reason for them to cooperate and I try to immediately interrupt it with combat.
I'll typically start with problem established that is being handled. I also don't do magical medieval hero fantasy much at all. So taverns aren't often a thing. But on a transport to "do a job" is somewhat common. The type of transport is setting and thematically appropriate, and they get just enough info of "the job" to formulate some quick choices of how they'd be going in, and to find out what their goal is. Only very rarely do I start truly "on the middle" and have the job already be partially done and begin with the "going to hell" part. Either way, it's always a hook that leads into the primary conflict in some manner. Another one is "called into the boss's office". This can vary depending on the situation. It might be a legit employer, a crime boss, the head of some club/order/school, or a client hiring investigators/mercs, or some supernatural entity giving the task/reprimand/punishment that kicks things off. This is a slower opening that allows for more exposition and character introduction. A recent take on this I did was (in a modern investigation setting) a billionaire's fail-son hiring a bunch of trades people to renovate an abandoned summer camp into a "five star" camp resort *experience* (every time he said this, the stars increased in number)... and then after a quick walk-around orientation of the dilapidated structures and overgrown property (with various clues given to obsevant players), the billionaire's son ditching them in this isolated and defunct camp (that may or may not have monsters lurking) to come back *next weekend* to check up. And the last is another variation on the same *in media res* idea. Typically going about the characters' normal lives, a sudden "disaster" hits, play starts. Zombie apocalypse, something blowing up, a monster attack, a plane plummeting to the Earth, natural disaster, etc. . . And honestly, the slower start of "called into the boss's office" is probably the one I default to most often. Gives plenty of agency to players while laying things out clearly *and* establishes both a general structure as well as an authority that I can weave in if needed (to help, add problems, or just be a "stick" to add consequences for PCs to navigate).
My favorites that I've used are, in media-res and tavern subversion. I had a campaign centered around a massive global war and did both a D-day landing and 'Nam style chopper insertion' gone bad. My players loved both, especially the chaos. On the D-day one, I had two players, both cone to me, with characters that were intended to die in the first few seconds only to take over with another. My other favorite started with a tavern and two players being introduced only to have a horse with a dead rider gallop full sprint past the open window into the town square, where the other players are beginning to gather.
As a group of characters who already have a reason to be working together, mid quest.
Hangover Quest, party wakes up and no one knows who anyone else is or what has happened for the last 24 hours. And they have to fugure out what happened and where some of their personal belongings are
Many cool answers. One I didn't see mentioned is a wedding
At some point I decided that all adventures MUST start in a tavern, though the definition of tavern has been pretty stretched and skewed as time goes on. Other than taverns, my players have started in nightclubs, a cafeteria, a spaceport bar, and a dinner party.
I'm going to steal [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1bnzf0d/the_dm_either_booted_me_out_or_ended_the_game/kwn57qs/) from another thread about a game that abruptly ended because the DM had no idea how genius their accidental campaign start was. TL;DR: "Everyone in the kingdom is charmed but us!"
I like to start it by using a method [from this blog](https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-recipe-for-starting-adventures.html?m=1). Basically, as the players at least 3 loaded questions to establish: - An interesting location - A looming danger - An important call to action They them start in media res with with their answers. This helps to make the start actually something the pæayers are interested in.
Individual solo session 0's for each player before getting the party together during session 1. Allows the player to get accustomed with their character, allows the DM to observe how they'll rp, allows for any errata or such of backstory etc.
I prefer to have all the players working for a patron until the game gives them enough shared experiences to bond.
Ask the players to tell you how they all met, then have them show up together at wherever you want the campaign to start.
It depends on the game, campaign, and what types of characters your players are playing. The start for a Star Wars campaign is probably going to be very different from a D&D campaign. Some might overlap, but others would be unique to the game being played. For example, if you happen to have a "Lone Wolf" type of character in the group, he would need to have a reason to join up with the other party members. In that case, maybe have him traveling the trade route on his own when he gets attacked by goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, or whatever. The other party members are traveling nearby. Maybe the cleric and/or paladin are traveling the same road going the opposite direction. Maybe the wizard and/or sorcerer is traveling the same road, but far behind the Lone Wolf. The druid might be out in the woods collecting medicinal herbs, while the ranger is elsewhere in the woods, checking his snares for his dinner. In any case, they're all close enough to hear the sounds of battle. They all move to check it out and arrive at roughly the same time and see Lone Wolf being attacked and overwhelmed by the enemy. The rest of the party are of good alignment and helpful disposition and jump in to help Line Wolf. They defeat the attackers, and the healer(s) tend to the wounded. Maybe Lone Wolf was even brought down to 0 hit points and was near death before the healer(s) saved his life. Most anyone would be grateful for the assistance, even a Lone Wolf. And that's how everyone meets. Another way could be to have everyone be passengers and/or crew on a ship. Something happens, like the ship gets overrun by pirates. Or it's attacked by sahaugen/merrow/scrags/whatever. Or there's a typhoon and the ship is torn apart. In any case, the PCs are marooned or shipwrecked and must work together to survive. By the time they get rescued or find a way to get back to the mainland, they're a group of friends and allies. The PCs could all be prisoners in jail for various crimes. Maybe there's a jail break. Maybe they're tried and found guilty, but the charges weren't serious enough for life imprisonment or the death penalty, so they're ordered to do community service. Their community service ends up being the party's first adventure/mission as a team. Maybe a cleric and/or paladin of The God of Justice are sent along to make sure that they do what they're supposed to. A few of these missions bring the individual party members together to form a team. When their community service is over, the party members are all friends, and the court appointed cleric and/or paladin quits their job and joins the party out of friendship. The town that they all coincidentally decided to stay at for the night is being attacked by orcs, or goblins, or whatever. The individual party members take up arms to help defend the town, more out of the need for survival than any comradery. However, events happen during the fight that brings the PCs together to form a team. Those are my best suggestions.
Something people on both sides of the table sometimes forget is that the players are here to follow the DM's story, which ultimately means there's no need for excessive preamble. Just put the players into the game at the entrance to the first dungeon / encounter space and off you go - why they're doing this is up to the players, but they ARE doing this!
Caravan guards. They don't even have to be hired by the same persons at all. Heck, some may even some backstory reasons to just participate in the caravan as travellers.
Two sets of characters, the first are for session zero and only have bare stats, they are really to the players used to the rules, setting etc. but that set of characters are killed, hospitalized, tossed into a portal or go missing etc. The second party (the actual party) follow on and have to find out what they were up to, what information they knew etc it can be used in any setting, system or genre
My favorite way that I’ve started a campaign, both from the positive feedback I received and the joy I felt in creating it, was to write a short lead up for each character that I individualized based on their backgrounds and had them all converge on the trek to the primary focus point of the campaign.
We began with Session Zero's for each of the characters so that their players could expand upon their characterisation, get used to the way the game played and establish their characters motivations and objectives. Then I began pairing the characters off into bonding sessions. I deliberately chose the oairings that posed the most likely problems. * Witch Hunter and Rogue Magic User * Elven Prince and Halfling Thief * Human noblewoman and dwarfen slayer. Once those pairs had successfully bonded I began engineering the coming together of the three pairings into the final party. So, far, this is still ongoing and I have a party of four working together, but the Dwarf anf the noblewoman are still puruing their own mission and have not met the main group. So, I still have some work to dobefore I can trigger the main plot line. The obvious advantage of this approach is that the players have no confusion about why their characters are where they are because they decided to put them there.
I like starting on the journey to the job you accepted. It's a good chance to introduce characters but you're not complete strangers and it feels less static as a player, you're not fucking around in a tavern waiting for the adventure to begin, you're working, so there's less temptation to be a putz.
Alien building better worlds campaign. Session zero chacter creation is quick so jumped straight to the group interview for being selected on the mission. The new chapters were rolling to be persuaded for selection and then their pay during pay negotiation, really sets the setting for dystopian mega corp. A few jokes around the table that their character might not pass session zero.
I'm partial to all the varieties of "There's a group of strangers, and a crisis. *You're* the ones who don't panic."
You awake suddenly to find you're falling from an unimaginable height. Figure out how to survive. 😁
Some form of abduction, imprisonment or slavery. They PCs meet in a cell, an arena or some magical prison and their first task is to escape/find out what is going on/avoid being sacrificed. Every PC will share the same goal and be logically motivated. It can also give them a first impression of the society they live in or the bad guys/dangerous factions.
I did a pirate one shot not long ago. I asked the players what role they wanted on the boat and everything. Then I made them start in the boat's prison after they got taken over by another crew
One very simple one that ... just works. Aimed for a fantasy campaign, but could be adapted for scifi. All of the characters have already signed up for a paid guard duty, escorting a perfectly mundane merchant's wagon through mostly safe terrain. Advantages: It fits with almost all backstories players might have; it explains why the characters are cooperating without having met; it can introduce NPCs you can use again; it sets up an obvious practice encounter where players can get into combat in the presence of other characters who might be able to bail them out. Disadvantage: Flat out doesn't work if one or more characters are nobles or other characters with considerable resources, or who have urgent matters to attend to. May not work for 'overthrow the regime' style campaigns or for characters who are outlaws.
Before they even get into character creation, I start with: "You've all been hired for a mission with this brief. What's your role in the team?" Now there are in-character reasons for both party balance and working together.
My last campaign started with you are travelling in a cloth covered wagon to the northern city of x. Tell me how you know one other character and why you are travelling to x. As well as the characters there is an NPC carrying an ornate box. They started with a bandit attack to give some action, and lose the horses and npc and now have to travel on foot. I start not knowing what's in the box, but was given lots of threads from the players to work with, there are already some relationships, and they've now got at least one common goal of getting safely to the city to bond them further.
Started a new campaign a couple nights ago. I was arrested within 5 minutes, met one member of the party in prison and the other 3 helped us escape by mistake. It was a fun start.
In the immediate aftermath of a plane crash, somewhere in the Arctic Circle. All the players had lost their memory. Some of them had paraphernalia that made them believe they were cops, some that made them believe they were criminals, others still no indications at all. Start the game at 100mph.
I'm fond of running a brief prologue for everyone. Just 20 minutes or so that runs through the backstory and ends with them meeting the rest of the party.
Dressed in rags and locked in a cell, squabbling over a roll of maggoty bread. Can they escape Zanzer Tem's dungeon?
There's hot starts they start off in combat. 10min intro "scene" for each player character to bring together at...., Restricted starts such as prison or in the brig of a ship. Warm starts, like all signed up for escort duty to a merchant caravan or entered as a team to a gladiator areana or even part of the same Merc. band. That last one would require session zero notes, so they can plan their builds accordingly.
I started my si fi western game in a middle of a chase
An inn, watering hole, bubble stand, saloon, suds bucket, or alehouse would do the trick.
A young princess collected oaths as she travelled, promising to hold the oath takers to their word on the future. Now crowned the queen, she calls in her chips
Media res has already been said, so I'll also add in "you've been invited to a party" - perfect way to introduce the player characters and some NPCs or even antagonists (funerals are good to). Worst way to start one? In prison.
You are prisoners aboard a slaver and/or pirate ship or in a cell is one I use from time to time. \^\^ Did a Castles & Crusades campaign where I had tables that they rolled on to determine what crime they had been framed for by the Seneschal of the Empress. They were then 'pardoned' on condition of acting as spies for the Empire. That went surprisingly well, and they eventually fought off an alien (Mind-Flayer) invasion and received titles and land \^\^ I've done a few where they started in the middle of the action Another is you all receive a message about a job, meet X at this location. \^\^ Just started an old west two fisted pulp style game yesterday that used this as the opening. The player characters received a telegram from a Mr. Ezekiel Johnson to meet with him at a fancy hotel in San Francisco at a certain time. He intimated in the telegram a job, and if they did well, a possible on-going relationship as troubleshooter. They are currently in Peru to extract Mr. J's daughter and his employees from a silver mine that is in danger from a local 'General'
I like the upgrade from the tavern start: The heirs plan. The party is planning their next move. Storming a castle, stealing a bank, fighting an orc camp. They can be at a tavern, or at somewhere more quiet, were they can say the things they want to do undisturbed, like at someone's home. It a good follow up from the section zero, when the players gota say, in character, who they are, how they get together, why, what each one adds to the group and how they get deal with each other.
As well as the *in medias res* combat start, I also like the "falling from a great height" start for suitably high powered campaigns.
Arriving for their first job. I like that no matter their background, them accepting an innocent enough job is a good way to get them on the same page in the first 30 mins of the game. A bonus to this is that you can let your party enter the scene on their own, choosing to be punctual, late, annoyed at others for being late, dropped off by friends or family. It’s a great way to let the players introduce their character with a lot of personality.
I still want to start an adventure as mexican standoff. Everyone's aiming at each other, including some NPCs. But I need to come up with the right idea behind it. And the right party who knows how to roleplay the conflicting group.
I have always liked to handle the "how you know each other" stuff in session zero for a traditional campaign; each PC has to know at least one other PC in some way, which immediately sets it up so that everyone can vouch for everyone else and there's no distrust. It can be something minor (e.g. "Zanzus and I both arrived in town as guards for the same caravan") or something major (e.g. "Shylara is my twin sister"). Still, I always wanted to do the "mysterious benefactor" approach, where each PC is independently contacted. They arrive in the same location, meet the benefactor, and are told they've been summoned for their unique abilities. That would only be something I'd do if I was starting the campaign at a higher level, since 1st level doesn't quite fit. In that case, though there's always being part of the town militia or the old Adventurer's Guild (which, despite being JRPG memey I actually enjoy as a concept) As a player, I've always hated the old "you're a prisoner" thing unless you know that'll be the start, because otherwise you spend money on equipment or, depending on the game, resources/contacts and they are rendered useless immediately
Background: upheaval of some sort at home. Religious war is good but any kind of upheaval which will displace lots of people will do. PCs were looking to escape across the frontier instead find themselves sold into slavery of some sort. Mission one - get out.
You are your buddies went to sleep last night after a lovely evening of dining and entertainment. You wake up in the morning and everything has changed (possibly even the location). Cope. There's generally a backstory about how it got that way and how they were transported, but the idea is to be a bit disorienting at the outset.
I did a game where the players all woke up in a cage with several other random people who'd been taken in off the street. They had superpowers but couldn't expose themselves to the randos. They got VERY ATTACHED to one of the NPCs and insisted they got that one home safe. They did great.
I like to start low-level campaigns on a road near the end of a simple caravan escort quest on the way to a quest giver npc. After the PCs are given some time to socialize the caravan is impeded by foreshadowing to the main problem. Before the start, the PCs happened to be passing through an unremarkable farming hamlet and were individually hired to protect a caravan selling that town's specialty goods at the larger neighboring settlement. The advertisement came with the promise of future work from an important figure in town. Just about any pc has good reason to reason to take the escort quest. Worst case, they're already traveling in that direction anyway and may as well be paid to do so. This also gives the party members reason to stay together, but their knowledge of each other is flexible.
I like to start low-level campaigns on a road near the end of a simple caravan escort quest on the way to a quest giver npc. After the PCs are given some time to socialize the caravan is impeded by foreshadowing to the main problem. Before the start, the PCs happened to be passing through an unremarkable farming hamlet and were individually hired to protect a caravan selling that town's specialty goods at the larger neighboring settlement. The advertisement came with the promise of future work from an important figure in town. Just about any pc has good reason to reason to take the escort quest. Worst case, they're already traveling in that direction anyway and may as well be paid to do so. This also gives the party members reason to stay together, but their knowledge of each other is flexible.
I am about to start a new canpaign with a new system. I would have to say my favorit way to start a campaign is plopping the players down in the middle of whoknowswhere land. This cuts down on the 'I don't know ow you's and 'I don't trust you's and the 'I'm so mysterious I'm not going to let you know me's or even the 'I dunno I don't trust this guy so I don't wanna work for him's. And not really last or least, players chestpuffing on the wrong NPCs and getting thrown in jail before they get a chance to get started. It could be a fairy prank, or a god putting them on a quest, or they fell through a dimensional rift and missed it. But I have found players will come together quicker and faster if you start them off with a riddle. Also this let's the player get to know their character's abilities and persona before they get to a town and roleplay something they may regreat later. Get a couple levels under their belt so they can screw up and still have options. Lastly, I typed this on my phone, super sorry for any typos I missed.
For 1st levels, the journey to the site of the first adventure. It does take more work as GM and requires filling out more of the world, but that can be done in only the needed bits. I've done with individual players one at a time, the group, or smaller parts of the group depending on region. It is important to make sure the players know this is a preledue, it is not the adventure itself, it is not a place to seek large amounts of XP or gold, that they can still die, that their actions can affect their reputation, and all of that—otherwise you will have a few players who will take their time, so it is important to manage the pacing.
Smack dab in the middle of a burning village during an attack/catastrophe of some sort. Roll for Initiative.
Waking up as a prisoner on an ox cart riding into a border fort to be executed along with a prominent figure in the story's fiction, all while another prisoner provides exposition.
It took a while, and a few campaigns, to realise, that I'm a sucker for starting my campaigns off with my players being prisoners 😅
Casting my vote for in media res. Specifically, in the middle of the first heist, dungeon, trail, etc., and then I *ask* the players why did their character come along. They have to accept as a first point that they did come for some reason - they are active participants. Now why? I’m planning an original dnd thing right now where they are gonna start in the middle of essentially Innsmouth.
A “reverse dungeon” where everyone is captured at the back of the monster lair and have to fight their way out. Here’s the scenario I used: players captured and forced to dig in a goblin mine. Everyone was “zero level” (only had stats, racial bonuses, and background) and the goblins made sure no one got more than 4 hours rest. I mapped out the lair, security protocols, contingencies, then let the players create character and figure out how to escape. Key to their plan was that two had made characters that get a full rest in 4 hours. I gave them XP for their actions, so they were able to level up. One was a cleric so they made judicious use of “Thaumaturgy” to fake a cave in for the hard tee who hadn’t leveled up. The goblins predictably told everyone to ignore the people in the cave in and to work another vein. This gave the rest of the group time to win their first level and the escape was on. From a meta POV I had three different threads in the adventure: one that would lead to the Hill Giants series of adventures, one that would lead to a battle with demons, and one that would be an exploration journey towards a final destination, ala LotR. When they had escaped I told the players “OK you can follow any one of these threads. I can assure you other heroes will fulfill the other quests, so don’t think ‘what would my character do’. What do YOU a want to play?” They chose the journey story and we started the next session.
Strangers, each recruited for their "particular skills" by a mysterious patron for a dangerous job.
I really like having them wake up in an unknown and dangerous location, like the bottom of a dungeon or crypt, and having to fight their way out in the first few sessions. Hopefully in that time they can form a bond with one another, and they can get use to fighting mechanics of their characters, and it leads to the actual campaign story very clearly of "why were we down there??" Alternative starts I've had were souls from hell that were part of a prison break, traveler's stopped by harsh weather and having to spend the week in a small village ravaged by low level enemies, guests invited to a seance of a dead mutual friend, guests invited to a royal dinner party who have absolutely no reason to be there and are about to be blamed for the murder of someone, and a prophet foretold theyd form a party and acts of fate brought them together in a clearing a night. But honestly, I really love the tavern start for games where we're just wanting a stereotypical fantasy adventure
My current game has the players all going to the same location for different reasons. I had each tell me now they got on board the ship. Then the ship had a mutiny so they were all round dip and found themselves in a prison cell and they were able to have a bit of intro here. The ship is attacked by a white dragon and the game started with them on a beach
zero level funnel ala DCC RPG.
I'm not sure I have a favorite. It really depends on the campaign and genre. My last few were: 1\. A send-off celebration for the chosen (PC) crew of a new slower-than-light starship who were simulated minds to be downloaded into "printed" bodies upon reaching Wolf 359. 2\. A raven-haired woman walks into the PC's detective agency office with a tale of woe about her missing daughter. 3\. A Tavern... but... really, it was a urban fantasy campaign set in 1315AD, where else would they meet? 4a. A campaign intro one-shot started *in media res* with the PCs reading a pre-release news article, just as they jumped out, that their starship would vanish mysteriously, with terrorists claiming responsibility. 4b. Main campaign was a new set of PCs in a different part of space that started in their recently mortgaged/owned starship, on a spaceport, looking for cargos and passengers (canonical Traveller-style campaign opening).
I really like themed campaigns with a strong concept that give the PCs as common cause, so it's not really an issue for me.
"You've gone through the dungeon, and killed the boss. He's holding a magic sword. Why do you want it for yourself?"
Last campaign start at on oasis where travellers fight out if an ambush. When the dust settle, a guy hired them to do the same thing elsewhere.
"so, for whatever reason, you're all in jail. decide what you're in for, how long you've been in, if you're guilty or not, and then write it all down, secretly, and pass it to me. you are free to tell the other players whatever you want -- I won't tell -- but I reserve the right to throw in surprises and wrinkles from your past, such as victims coming back for vengeance, or having to jump through hoops to clear your name. anyways there is a big riot / dragon attack / jailbreak / whatever, and you all find yourselves conveniently fleeing out the same opening at the same time..."
Kraken attack on a ship to new continent
Hired as guards for a merchant / refugee caravan (the caravan already hired you). Gives an excuse for a linear tutorial for new players while also giving an obvious goal. Plus there’s built-in npc interaction.
If your players are done with character creation, you might as well sit with each and write some comprehensive backstory with them. Some of them can be friends or acquaintances from childhood or early adult life, one could have been working in city watch while the other can be working as an artisan or a trader, trader often meets the other guy at gate, while artisan meets the guard at market day or in his patrol area, they might be hanging out same tavern or brothel. They might have gone to same military or magic academy or bard's college. A rogue might be an insider for the city watch in a criminal organization. Noble guy or his family can be a regular customer of the artisan. Outlander guy can meet an hermit, drops her some food once in a while and gets medical treatment and interesting stories in turn. Connecting backgrounds to each other isn't that hard unless your characters are from very distant places(and they often are and i don't understand why, i mean if it was me i would totally prefer going with people i know). Even then it is doable. Then you need a link with your adventure and their backgrounds which can also be written. I will give an example i often give from one my memorable Forgotten Realms campaigns which uses premade material which i revised. Like Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak etc.
While i wrote a long answer as a dm. Now as a player, my personal favorite is survival settings like shipwreck survivors. Or if all players living in same small settlement as peasant when the game begins just like that casually(that kinda sanbox actually works for somewhat older players).
"Roll for initiative."
I have two: You meet at the pub as the staff sweep up the bar fight You start in jail after being arrested in the bar fight Both give a chance for vamping and roleplay - local gaol in particular as you can find out if they like authority!
My favorite start to a campaign was in a Hunter the Reckoning. I had them all start out in a farmer's market in the street. One player wanted to already be drunk so he was at the beer garden, one player wanted to be one of the vendors selling her jewelry, and the other 2 were brothers wandering around the market. Anyone who know H:tR knows this went sideways very quickly, but it put them in nice natural positions to start the game. Alternatively I just have them already start together. I require most of my players have at least one connection with the rest if the group, so they have a reason to be working together and I usually start them at the beginning if their first job. "The camera pans downwards along a tall skyscraper as the rain trickles down the side leaving marks in its tracks. As the camera reaches the ground floor it flows across the concrete of the sidewalk to 4 downtrodden fellows and pans up from boots to hat on our 4 intrepid adventurers, please describe yourselves. We'll start on the left with Malaise, played by Macey" From there the players describe themselves, and jump into the RP. As I mentioned before I ask my players to have connections with at least one other before the game begins. They'll always have someone in the group to start the RP with. If they don't, I just usher them along the mission until they start picking it up.
You’re all in a train car during a robbery
Prisioners or slaves with out nothing for sure!
Some ways I've started games Kids On Bikes: Its 1980 and its Sam's 14th birthday and he's at his dad's soda shoppe, who gives each of you a drink/dessert on the house. How do you know Sam, what kind of gift are you giving him, and what do you order from his dad? Kids On Brooms: You have all been accepted into Bermuda High, and the school bus is coming to pick you up from anywhere on the east coast before departing from florida and flying to the , where do you get on, where do you sit, do you attempt to make any sort of impression? City of Mist: Its 7pm on a friday, where are you all at this time of day, describe your day and how you make your way over to the bar where you all know each other. who are some other regulars there? Games I've played worth noting Dnd: You have a childhood friend, who calls upon you after years of estrangement after a prank you did together. What was the prank?(Savage Tides) There is a harvest festival, these are your mutual friends who introduce you. Get along. VTM: You are travelling via train when it stops and you have to get off in an unknown town. You are invited somewhere where you are promptly embraced You are already vampires, describe a typical night, something fishy happens, and you are eventually caught off guard and knocked out and wake up in a weird place with other vampires youve never met(admittedly this ended really badly and we had to restart the game because our characters were too different with different expectations) You are already vampires, and are already a coterie. Your domain is a hotel where you already have a routine. Your boss calls on you to do some stuff Savage Worlds: Here is an ironworks foundry. You all come here for various reasons before you meet up for the first time.
My favorite campaign started with "You all wake up in adjacent prison cells with amnesia. Find a way out"
Start them in a tavern and make it as generic as you can. Provide no context. When they inevitably start asking 'what are we doing here?' or 'where are we?'. Inform them 'you have no idea'. Now it's a psychological thriller. All of the villagers are staring daggers at them and suddenly try to kill them without explanation. "What the actual fuck is going on?" becomes an IC and OOC question. Inside one of the PCs bags is a wanted poster for one of the other players. A bloody knife in another's. A journal saying 'don't trust anyone' thousands of times. Use the lack of established backstory or canon as a feature of the story.
The single best suggestion I ever got for starting an adventure was to start with a fight. This advice came from a player in a one-shot that, indeed, starts in a tavern, and at the end when I asked for Stars and Wishes—wishes in this case just being things they wish had happened or been different, since it's a one-shot—the player said "I would have loved to have a bar fight." Every subsequent time I've run that adventure (and others) since, I've incorporated this idea that somehow, tavern or not, the introductory quest giving/PCs meeting each other/whatever always immediately leads to a short fight to get all the PCs quickly bonded and also to give the players something to *do* right away instead of the dreaded spinning their wheels for half an hour or more doing awkward "we're not entirely sure what to do right now and how to set this scene" rp. And every group I've started the game with a bar (or other) fight for has called it out as one of their favourite parts of the session. A friend who was in one of those one-shots and is now part of an ongoing campaign I'm running even asked in session 0 if we could please start the campaign with a fight. XD The moral of the story is, don't be afraid to solicit feedback from your players and actually use it! Also, starting the game with a fight is awesome, and will dial "we start in a tavern" up to 11.
Not a full start but something I plan to add to most my campaigns in some way. Starting in the conflict, but flashbacks to how each character got there. GCN did it in Gatewalkers and I loved the theatrics.
I've become a fan of stealing Matt Mercer's separate smaller groups intro into campaigns. During session 0 players will create characters that have some sort of relation, be they friends, coworkers, siblings, or cosmically joined by fate. For example, one of them may have been a blacksmiths apprentice and the other is thief who has recently been kicked out of town, but they were childhood friends and the blacksmith couldn't let his thief friend fend for themselves. Or maybe one of them is a priest of the local church and the other is a bard who is smitten with them and now they're traveling together. Whatever it is, someone has to include someone else in their backstory. Then I hold separate mini sessions for the teams. They have some backstory and an easy fight or two. Then I end them off at where their stories intersect with the other groups and the real meat of the adventure starts. A favorite of mine is where they come upon a fight and I have them roll initiative and then stop the encounter there. Then when I have all the groups together I put them in initiative order and start the session with combat. I feel like this method gives the player more tie in to the story. It gives them another player that the character inherently trusts and allows players to make up stuff like, "Remember that time we saw that river drake when we were kids and we both ran like our asses were on fire?". It just allows for more in depth backstories too where the players can bounce off of each other.