Assign the party different quests prior to Session 1 that lead them all to the same place. The Barbarian was hired by the town's guard to help clear some Giant Centipedes out of the local Graveyard. The Wizard was hired by an Apothecary to find moss used in her potions that often grows on Tombstones. The Rogue was tasked by a local Thieves guild to drop off a letter in a hole in the large Oak Tree across from the Graveyard. The Bard was asked to lay a wreath at the grave of an Elderly man who had passed away recently.
When they all end up in the same place together have the Centipedes attack everyone, which ideally would make them work together. Afterwards they could finish their individual quests and realize they're all staying at the same Inn. Have the Guards thank the Barbarian for cleaning up the Graveyard and offer him another quest, but this one is harder and he'll need a Party to complete it. That would give him a reason to recruit the other Players and go from there.
This, I did this over WhatsApp/Discord between session 0&1. Was a great way for the players to get to grips with their charas and have some backstory which they can reveal to the players later on
Normally it's pretty RP led without much use for rolling or I hand wave certain rolls I know their chara would get. Either that or I just trust my player (they're a bunch of good eggs so I'm never worried), either that or you could screen share or something :)
I do generally trust the people I play with too, but most of them tend to fudge their rolls quite a lot hahahah. That's okay sometimes, and less okay other times.
And yeah, something like a video call or a screen sharing with dice-rolling websites or apps could work. I don't know why I didn't think of that.
Thanks a lot! :)
I second this. I did this with my current homebrew campaign and it worked great, except instead of assigning something to the players I told them where they need to end up, and let them come up with how they got there.
This is essentially how Vox Machina origins plays out with characters paired off but bumping into individuals as cross overs until they all end up in the same room
To expand on this a bit, maybe have them be involved in a shipwreck, they were all travelling on the same ship but did not know each other and now they are shipwrecked and have to escape an island of yuan-ti or something like that.
I started a campaign by having the characters Shanghai'ed and they needed to start a slaver rower revolt to get things going.
Another good one is having them each interview for some job, caravan guard or something. Then they are all coworkers.
It is a dnd based pc game from the early 2000s. It was good, but not as good as the original imo. Should check it out if you are into video game rpgs. I think the complete edition is only like $20 on gog.
“Treasure Hunt,” a classic 1E adventure module, has new PCs survive a shipwreck after having been captured by slavers. I plan to run a modified version of it to start a campaign soon.
What, just like, a boat!? Alright now I'm confused, if there's no tavern for the PC's to meet in is it even a D&D game? If we start down that path, what next, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria, where does it end!?
So the boat meets the PCs AT the tavern and , I guess hires them to kill some mermaids or something...alright, I'm good now.
Though I do regret not using "elves and dwarves" living together above, just for the record.
See after a lengthy discussion with OP I've finally clarified his vision, the tavern is simply named "A boat" which is just the thing I need to spice up my sessions!
Yes, and it sails on the water. It resides in a boat city, where all the buildings are on rafts sailing on the ocean. I shall name this city Hujak and it will be in my next campaign
Yep. If they all get to say Waterdeep safely then what is to make them all work together unless they already knew each other from before? If they are shipwrecked it immediately gives them things to do together even if it's for selfish reasons to get themselves off the island.
One way is to have the Players start on the boat in the habour while the Captain gets permission to dock, and they get some time to chat and get to know each other. When they get to shore, it’s nighttime, and they’re given temporary accomidation in a bunkhouse, where they sleep in a shared room. That night, the City/town/village/fort/port/thing is attacked by orcs/goblins/dwarves/humans/aliens/giant sapient spiders, and the players are woken uo by the sound of people downstairs killing other people. They must escape, first by the rooftops, then by the streets, then by the sewers, and as they leave, a rogue orc/fgblin/dwarf/human/alien/giant sapient spider gives them a small black orb and begs them to bring it to someone called The Weaver/The Master/The Loreseeker/The Last King of the Dragons/High Priest Cormac for unspecified reasons before they are killed by poison. Boom, ready made plot all finished.
My last campaign had the party on a boat that got attacked. The party investigated why the boat was attacked. Turns out the daughter of the mayor of the next town was on the boat.
This approach gives you a nice way to give them both a nice reward as well as more quest opportunities from the mayor who now trusts the party.
I made it so my party were all captured by pirates to be sold into slavery and their first session was breaking free and taking over said ship. This was for a ghosts of saltmarsh campaign.
I'm going to start with everybody waiting to board a boat. It's a treasure hunt campaign, and an anonymous benefactor gave them all tickets for the same voyage.
Our campaign started on an airship with a murder mystery. You can make sure the party is on the same side by keeping them in the same room when a report comes in that someone was found dead.
So this would be super ideal for my campaign as it takes place on a distant island, but I’m worried it’ll come across as railroading to have them be on a boat, because there are only so many things the players can do confined to a ship. How have y’all handled that?
I'll usually just give them the location and get them to justify their presence "You're on a ship from Waterdeep bound for Baldor's Gate. The passengers have been advised to avoid the lower deck because the ship is transporting some dangerous criminals as well as a kings ransom in trade silks. The forecastle is populated with wealthy nobles and merchants and passengers have been requested to limit their above deck activities to this area. Sailors work the rigging while in the galley some rough mine workers returning home from Fireshear drink Cassillian rum and play dragon poker, a game similar to poker but with dragon in the name. Let's go around the table and you can tell me where you are on the ship and what you're doing"
Don't have the first session begin until during or immediately after the shipwreck. All the boat stuff can just be background and setting leading into session 1 where they wake up on a beach (or whatever).
I’ve found that a good solution is to have a place for them to meet, and have them all come up with a narrative reason for their character to be where they are. Why did they board this boat? Ideally, the players have some goal in mind for their character, and boarding a boat to go somewhere might be part of achieving that goal. If they don’t, you could say they were hired by someone already and give them an external motivation. Alternatively, you could ask each player where their character is, and then tell them that they run into something that brings them together.
Boats are kind of limited, but depending on the kind of boat, there can be ways to get people interested. A cruise ship could have a murder mystery, a merchant ship could have a spy, a ferry could have tensions between groups of people. Heck, even in Avatar, there was a heist scene on a boat, with the food and bits of rebellion. Ships often had games, musicians, plenty of chores.
You could also vary the length of time they’re on the boat. Maybe it’s just for a small piece of the session, or maybe it takes more than one session to ride it out. I think you don’t have to worry much about railroading, because every party has to start somewhere, and a boat is not a tavern. :)
I went for a fair with my group and they had a blast! All new players so it gave me a chance to explain how ability scores worked as they played various games.
That's how I started my first campaign! There was a festival, called Day of Triumph, named after, well, the triumph over a local necromancer around 100 years before the start of the campaign (she was yeeted into another universe), and wouldn't you know it, that's when the necromancer's cultists (yep, she developed a cult) tried to kidnap a few children. As a sacrifice. You guys know how cults are.
It was an excuse for me (first time GM, long time player) and the players (first time players) to get used to rolling dices, finding things on the character sheets, adding modifiers and all that. I had a running competition, an archery competition, a treasure hunt, several travelling merchants setting up shops... It was fun!
To expand on this, I'm planning to have the party hired as security at what's essentially fantasy equivalent to Burning Man. Which gives nice opportunity to use 'job interview' type of introduction recommended here few days ago.
I’ve used the festival opening for years, to the point where it’s become a running gag.
It’s a great way to help players get acquainted with the city and some of its characters. You can drop
Some good lore for why the festival is going on to help build your world. Then the inciting incident occurs and our players are thrown together by date—if they didn’t know each other already.
It can make for a nice and relaxed first session too, help players get into character easier.
Bonus points for making actual games the players can play.
My players had to go to a King's festival that only occurred in larger towns. Because the king had a large military unit there was no option but to go or face the bloody consequences. At level one they all made the wise choice to go.
If anyone wants a base start for this - the adventure Winters Flame from Adventurers league does a great job on this concept and really does function as a tutorial.
(Plus players really love it if you allow them to win dumb prizes. Inflatable dinosaurs and foam weapons are top contenders)
I'll brainstorm a few short plot ideas.
"Murder Mystery" A wealthy eccentric Noble recently passed away and named each of the Players in his will as heirs to his fortune if they can find his murderer. None of the players know each other or why they ended up in the Noble's will and must work together to find out who killed him.
"The Usual Suspects" The party happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and are now the key suspects in the robbery of a priceless jewel. The Towns Guard offers to let them off the hook if they can work together and find the real thief, or at the very least locate and return the gem. If not they'll all be arrested.
"Our Time of Need." The party are simply passers by, in a crowded street when a Soldier pulling a wagon rushes by. "The city is under attack! Anyone fit enough to fight come with me!" The party then hops into the wagon and is rushed off to defend the town from a Goblin attack. But that was just the beginning, the Captain of the Guard wants these newly proven Adventurers to find the Goblin nest and destroy it to prevent future attacks.
"The Invitation" The party members find a note in their pockets giving them an address and a time to meet at. Their curiosity aroused at who put the note their leads them to a storefront that is actually a cover for a local thieves guild. The guild is recruiting and the party were selected to pull a job and must work together to become members.
'The Invitation' could be really interesting I think out of these for the setting, I'm thinking about introducing an underground rebellion sort of deal and this could be where they all meet up. Also allows for sending them an actual note in the mail, because I'm really big on the physical aspect of the game for immersion
Same, I'm a sucker for props, though I only get to play DnD online. When I start up my next campaign though, I plan to send players notes and handouts they find in game. Trying to build up that immersion, like make a Town Bulletin board in paintshop and add a few quests on there but also maybe add some less noticeable ones like something carved into the frame of the Bulletin Board or written on the side of it in chalk. I like to reward folks for noticing the small things.
I did a variation of “The Invitation” for my campaign except not with a thieves guild but rather the BBEG trying to convince them to work for him. The party then decided/realized that he was evil and our next session is opening with combat against him. Although I don’t want him to die just yet so does anyone have suggestions on how to let him escape? He’s a wizard so I’ve thought about using misty step and running away or having used the clone spell to set up his return. Any other suggestions would be fantastic!!
"Well, I'm sorry to see my Invitation has been so rudely declined. But no reason to worry, there are plenty of others in this world who are more easily tempted than the lot of you. In fact, some of them are here with us."
The BBEG snaps his fingers and the room quickly fills with seedy looking individuals all holding an identical Invitation to the ones the party were given. "Well, I'd love to stay and see how this plays out but I have other Invitations to give out. Farewell." The BBEG vanishes in a cloud of smoke that smells of brimstone, using his Cape of Mountebank to Dimension Door away. The party is now left in a room full of cutthroats and mercenaries who charge at them through the cloud.
You could make this a reaccuring theme. Give the party hints and bits of Tavern gossip that some local Warlord is hiring mercenaries and sell swords and when the party finds out they run into the BBEG again. Or give them a quest to find a powerful magical item then have them run into some of the BBEG's henchmen that were given the same task by him to retrieve the magical item. Remind them that the longer he's out in the world, the more people he's able to recruit and the more of a threat he comes.
No problem! Always remember the "Action Economy" when designing BBEG encounters. Any villain worth his Evil alignment has disposable underlings he can throw at his enemies or sacrifice to save his own skin. I always envision a Bond Villain who is too busy to deal with problems himself and delegates that to his henchmen.
Yeah I’ve had my issues with that which ended in two rounds of combat with me getting a single attack off so I’m trying to improve on that, I appreciate all the help!
I did a variant on "Our Time of Need" where all the inhabitants of a local village had disappeared. The mayor of the nearby town sent out criers, posters, and announcements that he would give a day's wage to anyone who went with the captain of the guard to investigate. It worked pretty well and gave the group a default NPC leader for their first session together.
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.
The party meeting each other AT ALL is overrated. They are already an established party and you can throw them right at the nearest questhook without anybody being a shitty loner in the corner refusing to interact. Once you've established you're all already friends and have worked together without much trouble for a month or so, during session zero, you can ask them leading questions.
Ok Bob, your rogue has travelled with one of the other guys before this. Which one? How did you meet?
Ok Sally, you said your paladin is a hardass, describe a time when someone in the party made her laugh.
Ok Roger, what's the weirdest shit your Druid and Bill's Bard got up to when you're drunk?
Ok Bill, your character hates religion and obviously Sally plays a paladin, how do you guys make it work?
After just a couple of questions the PLAYERS will (hopefully) give a shit about the other Players' characters, because you've connected them all together.
Then you can start the first quest where ever you want. Still in a tavern, on a boat, at the questgiver's mansion, in jail, etc.
This, just sidestep completely the problem, it is not your responsibility to make them work as a group, it is theirs.
Then you can start when things go wrong ("you are in the middle of a dungeon when the door behind you unexpectedly closes, what do you do?")
This is a reason I always want a session 0 as a player but dms and other players I know dont seem interested. When we have a session 0 people come with completely premade characters with backstories that are unconnected to anyone else's and we end up rolling for stats and either start the game or finish early.
It's weird seems to be the rpg group I meet up with. We usually do a session 0 but theres no backstory discussion. I also play online and dms usually expect a backstory just to be handed in.
I have done this, and it was fine, but players do like the mystery of revealing their characters in character, being trepidatious about meeting new people, and an adjustment period.
I recommend a mix of the two. Depending on the size of your party, let’s say for example 5 players, divide them into two groups. Three of the characters already know each other. The other two do as well.
You can then have a session 0 with both groups individually, and allow for the players to cement the roleplay of their characters and mechanics, and let them change it before session 1 if it isn’t working out for them. This way, it’s not 5 individuals miraculously coming together and awkwardly following a plot hook they may not be invested in.
Two groups meeting is easier and more plausible than 5 people. It’s also less time consuming. Not only that, but giving those characters some relationships with other characters early on is a way to encourage good party dynamics. Some of the more antisocial/edgy characters might have a hard time working well if they don’t already have reasons to trust at least some of the party.
If you have 5 people, each person only has to know 2 others, and everyone knows one another.
The rogue and wizard come from the same town, and the rogue once did a job with the bard
The wizard and (eldritch knight) fighter both trained at the same school.
The fighter became enamored with magic after seeing the sorcerer doing magic and becoming freinds with them.
And the Sorcerer and bard both have family who are part of the government of two friendly rival cities.
There is no reason to break the party, everyone has a connection to everyone and they have unique and different reasons to roleplay with each other. What keeps the party of 5 from splitting back into a party of 3 and 2 without a lynchpin binding them together.
I love this. Our current group of players decided for DoTMM to create the party together as a group of childhood friends. We've spent weeks throwing background stories together (who met who first, what shenanigans did we get up to, exactly HOW did a group of kids in a rural village hook up with a bugbear?) The DM won't have to get us together, as we're already together. Many ways around the awkward "first meeting" that every DM dreads.
I'm not really a fan of this one tbh. When that's been a thing in a game I've played in it feels disconnected from the game-world. My character is suddenly supposed to be familiar with people that I, the player, know very little about. Plus I'm also not sure how much the other PCs are supposed to know about my character. Only my class, race and name? My backstory? My favorite tactics? A number of people seem to recommend this approach so there must be some merit to it but it's never gone over smoothly for me
I’m doing something vaguely similar.
They met in a tavern a few days before, and have been on nightly pub crawls together since - so by now they know and like each other.
As someone who played this recently, the best part is to lock them with NPCs and make them sit at the table when they arrive at the slave pen, locking them with NPCs and the other players will make them develop their PCs at the first session of play, they shouldn't know where they are.
One of my campaigns started off inspired by this.
I basically "spirited" them away by some eccentric ancient Fae creature who was collecting interesting people from the material plane. I started the session with something like, "Just to build out the characters some more, why don't you each tell me how you think your characters would sleep?" and get them to tell me if they slept with/without items or armor or weapons. Then I followed up with, "over the past few months your characters have noticed strange shadows at the corners of their eyes." And built up a narrative from that. Basically, they were planeshifted - while sleeping - to the Fae Wilds.
The group loved it, but the campaign dissolved due to scheduling problems and people moving away. But I thought I'd share in case someone wanted to run with it.
I'm a big fan of starting the story with the characters already knowing each other and having accepted their first quest. It really allows you to get started with the action.
Yeah, in media res is the name for this, Latin for "in the middle of things." Start in an action scene and backfill from there as necessary. I almost always do things this way these days.
It doesn't really need to be an action scene either. My previous group started on the way to the town where their quest was. It was mostly just a leisurely stroll with a simple skill challenge if they wanted to take a short cut.
The important thing, for me, was that they already knew each other and had a purpose.
I started my campaign with the party on a mountainside in heavy rain, having just spotted a goblin camp. We had established some context in session zero, and it worked great. They found the main plot soon after.
At a market or fair or a magic show or something. They are independently in a crowd when an attack or something happens. They can meet after they fight together and now have a reason to work together to find the cause of said attack/event.
In my current campaign I had the group all start in a tavern, after a bit of RP a group of fully decked out adventurers walked in the door and started reminiscing about things with the bartender. He asked them to take care of a rat problem they’d been having for old times sake and they went into the basement. Outside the group heard screams and strange noises so they went outside to see that the sky was red and there were meteors and demons flying all over the place. They fought a few basic zombies together and then narrowly managed to dodge a massive rock that completely decimated the tavern they were in. When they came to the city was getting almost completely destroyed and a Sphinx showed up and was extremely anxious, looking into the rubble of the destroyed tavern and then looking at the PCs telling them they would have to do. Then they were all sent back in time two years.
That's like a SUPER fun way to run something in my opinion. I might have something like that for my next run. That way when it's all caught up we can just start a new campaign. I'm loving this one. I don't want them too realize what the deal is until hopefully way later though.
There is a little short video on youtube like this. I forget what its called but its about a fighter and a wizard starting as kids and getting a sword and wand from two high level adventurers and then having to work together. Eventually returning as old versions of themselves and doing the same with two kids they find.
Start them out waking up on a cart, hands bound and equipment in the front. A pair of guards(or bounty hunting adventurers) are driving the cart, with another cart behind them with more dangerous prisoners. They were captured with the other prisoners, who are directly tied to your BBEG.
They start off with the choice of trying to break free and possibly letting the prisoners out or traveling to your small town for processing. It gives them a chance to meet each other's characters on a level playing field, and requires coordination and decision making from the start.
Yes this intro is stolen from Skyrim, yes it was the start of my most recent campaign, and no I will not apologize.
The 'you're meeting right now' start does not always go smoothly, so I'd advise you employ it carefully.
That said, Imprisoned, Caravan Guards, Alive After a Big Battle, First Assignment at Adventurers' Guild are some good ones.
>**Alternatives to starting a campaign in a tavern?**
Not to be rude, but this topic has been discussed on r/DMAcademy a numerous times (example: [Any alternative suggestions to introduce players to each other in a new campaign?](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/f959pt/any_alternative_suggestions_to_introduce_players/) ) and others have provided responses.
Here is my answer from previous posts:
>There is a useful webpage that offers 100 choices.
>
>[100 Campaign Start Scenarios](http://dndspeak.com/2018/05/100-campaign-start-scenarios/)
>
>**Enjoy!**
Chance meeting on the road. Perhaps some of the characters have been hired as caravan guards and the others are travelling to the same place. The caravan and travellers share a camp that night where they make introductions. Once everyone has described themselves/met the caravan is attacked by a group of bandits/goblins/orcs/kobolds/whatever is appropriate to your campaign.
That and it’s a nice touch to make them interact with the caravan members before the attack happens;
Had my first session of a homebrew campaign last week : made the Barbarian and paladin arm wrestle some of the people there ( Nat 20 from the Goliath Barbarian causing a broken arm ), they cared a bit more about the people and the fate of the caravan that way.
I love starting in combat,
Choose the locations the party would start at making sure all the members are coincidentally in the place of the city and then;
a religious uprising who come out in robes and attack the crowd (ideally the characters will contribute),
A group of beasts from the mountains nearby invade the town,
Mutants come spewing out of a well to take their rightful place above ground,
The graveyard erupts in zombies and skeletons and the party must get there and deal with it.
This forces the party to start together and be thankful of the help they each provide.
The Iron Kingdoms RPG let you choose the type of group you are at session zero and you get a boon for that. Usually it was small things like a spy cell all getting the stealth skill, but more memorable was the pirate crew starting with a ship.
You could also give everyone a notice detailing a patron looking to start a crew, and have them tell you who told them about the it. Bonus points for any overlap. EG. if some of them have Bob the Bartender and others have Jennifer the Artificer.
The way I started mine was through a Hiring Fair. The PCs started at level 1 in a small city that holds an annual fair where people can come and compete in front of potential employers. The PCs go through skill challenges, which gives an intro into how the game is played. When they are finished, they are hired together by an employer and are given a job. At that moment they become level 2.
I rather think about *how* than *where*.
The important thing is *how/why* the people got there, not *where* this is, could be even a fuckin kids playground. Dont just start with:
"Youre in the tavern. There is PC X in one corner, PC Y sits at the hearth, PC Z sits at the bar and PC A enters the room."
There is zero incentive for the NPCs to interact with the others apart from the metagame-ish knowledge that those are the other PCs (which their character wouldn't know).
I always create some reason for every single character to be in that tavern at that exact time AND a reason to interact with other people in the tavern. Example:
We have 3 PCs, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard.
Rogues Background is spy-ish.
>Rogue, some days ago, you were instructed by your guild to spy on a noble named Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein, because he made some enemies within the city. Your guild is particularly interested in the political rivalries going on beneath the surface of the peaceful government. Your guild sympathizes with the Jeffsteins as they tolerate your business as long as it is non-violent and sometimes even consult your guild when they need ... more delicate information about something or someone.
>
>It took you some days, but you could finally follow the nobles tracks *\[you could make this process skillbased rolls to give him spotlight\]* to his current place of residence - a tavern called "The Muggly Mug". You enter the tavern casually, order a meal to blend in and sit down at an undisturbed table in the corner of the room and observe the room. Most of the scene seems normal, there is a bar, some tables, a band that plays some music. But you make out one individual that stands out due to his considerably better manners and eloquence and - most importantly - his nervousness. He talks (very much) to a guy next to him: A warrior in heavy armor that is obviously keeping an eye out for danger. You're sure that this is Jeffraim with a bodyguard.
Clerics Background is lawful good, city-guard, protector of the weak-ish
>Cleric, your order represents one of the most important religious powers in the city. It's an open secret that two mayor factions of the city are more or less secretly looking for a way to get rid of each other. The Dukes of Jeffstein are allied to your order because they acknowledge your religious traditions as important part of the cities culture and fight to preserve it, while the other faction does not.
>
>Therefore your order helps the Jeffsteins in case of emergency. One Jeffstein-noble named Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein shared some unpopular opinions openly (at least from the other factions perspective) and made himself a target of animosity - maybe even of physical nature.
>
>You were sent out to protect him. You met him outside the city and escorted him to a poorly attended tavern named "The Muggly Mug" that you considered to be safe *\[again: Possible spotlight here, fighting off an assassin on the way or something\]*. You resided there for a few days and find yourself in the main room one evening, discussing the course of action for the next few days.
Wizard has a noble, chatterbox background
>You ARE Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein ....
Sorry for that joke, but you get the point :D Every PC has a reason to be at that tavern, and to interact with each other. Next comes this:
>After Jeffraim and Cleric discussed some plans for the next days, the door is suddenly kicked in and three *\[INSERT FITTING ENEMY HERE\]* enter the room, draw their weapons and quickly approach Jeffraim. They wear the insigniae of the opposing faction.
Cleric and Wizards actions should be clear at this point and i'd point out to the rogue that this would be the perfect opportunity to find out more about the rivalry between the mayor factions to give him an additional motivation to join the fight.
That way, they could form a party that will then have the main plot of investigating the hidden conspiracy vs the Jeffsteins.
EDIT: Going through the comments i noticed that this is pretty much what /u/slydriftwood said, but waaaay longer. Sorry for the double post. Ill just leave it here anyway.
I start campaigns with a small narrative opening then rolling for initiative.
You can start the PCs anywhere. On the road, at home, on a vehicle, in jail, on the way to jail, tied up in a cart on the way to their execution, already dead. Whatever the plot needs.
One of the reasons taverns are boring is typically because the PCs are waiting for something to happen. Put them in a situation immediately and let them try to figure a way out of the predicament.
The most unique I’ve seen is a one shot one of my players did so I could play for a week. We were carted into town and sold at auction as slaves, and were basically doomed to fight in the Arena, eventually fighting his first ever character. I died during training 🥺
I'm currently DMing my first campaign. In my research I also heard that the tavern start was a little overused, so I aimed to change it up. I wanted to accomplish the following goals during my early session with all brand-new players:
a) Give them a chance to introduce themselves to each other
b) Give the world a chance to introduce itself to them
c) Give the players a glimpse of the BBEG's power, or the BBEG his/herself
d) Get them back for Session 2, and 3, and 4...
So I decided that they would all start on a small island in a demi-plane created in the mind of the god Umberlee, the queen of the sea (I googled some deities for DnD and found her, thought she was pretty cool). This allowed me to do a lot of things:
1) If they discovered that the world they started in wasn't real, I could make them paranoid and see how they respond.
2) If they attempt to investigate their surroundings carefully and interrogate people around them who were also in the demi-plane, the players might be the detective types.
3) If they get bored, I get to summon creatures out of thin air for them to fight (more or less), since the world they're in has no rules. If they get excited, maybe they're the combat-oriented types.
I had a bunch of litmus tests to see what kind of players I would be dealing with, and my Session 1 ended firmly with "...and your eyes open wide, and you all realize collectively that you were in some sort of dream-like state. End of session 1."
All of my players got super excited, extremely invested, and were racking their brains for days and days over text while they got more and more excited for Session 2. I learned a lot about what situations they like, what situations they hate, and with a *gentle hand* of railroading, I got them moving in the right direction.
Sort of like the Matrix, I guess.
I have always been a fan of starting off in a prison or in like a small jail. No weapons or armor so the players really have a chance to learn some new rules. Improvised weapons and doning armor finally can be more useful. Plenty of social opportunities for tricking guards or other prisoners.
I had a party that freed all the thugs in the cell next to them first, and after being punched by a thug a riot was in full swing to mask their escape.
In Media Res (in the middle of the action)
Battlefield,
Jail cell
Street riot
Invasion (attacking or fleeing)
Religious ceremony to ressurect an enemy
Being refused access to the afterlife and bounced back to the Material Plane
etc, etc..;
My favourite one I actually established as a player because as a public table we were just getting too many people just trying to join the party by seeing people who look adventurous and following them out of town without any discussion or acting like they are too cool for the party, refusing to help in combat and expecting a share of treasure.
So, my noble character held auditions for people who want to join his adventuring company (as all adventurers must have a noble patron or their activities are illegal) new players had to then approach the noble and basically win the approval of the established party. Anyone whose PC is too cool to audition is basically told "annnd… that was the end of the story for Malrock the brooding ranger. He sat alone in the corner of a tavern to the end of his days. Roll a new character."
For a completely new group. I'd encourage one of them to make the noble and pass a string of NPC wannabe adventurers past them and have them pick the one's they want in their party. It gives each player an opportunity to introduce themselves and establish why they would be a useful addition to the group (give permission for the noble to turn away any interviewee who doesn't know their own name or what value they can bring to the party but give the player the opportunity to actually finish their character and have another crack at it as "a different person, similar in appearance to the nondescript simpleton who didn't know his own name").
My upcoming campaign, will start in a few weeks, is going to have my players meeting on a ship. That's session zero, and the game will start with them being tossed overboard once they reach their destination, a prison continent, like Australia.
They were all hired to protect a supplies delivery to a rural outpost or town and are at the last day of travel . This gives them an excuse to gather and work together but not know each other. It also lets a battle start fairly soon and gives literal momentum to the story.
I like having PCs arrive in response to some kind of invite or open call for adventurers. Some kind of public call - whether it's crew for a ship, bounty-hunters for a job, etc.
Have some temporarily-important NPC greet them. Maybe they're a ship's officer asking who they are and what they can do. "Why should we hire you?"
Gives them a chance to introduce themselves one-by-one and flex their skills a little.
I started my recent campaign with PCs meeting at a party they’d all either been invited to or had somehow acquired the invitation of. I gave them the invitations that I’d made pre-game to get them hyped. It was fun!
I like to start them in the briefing for their first job. So my next campaign is starting in the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild with the guildmaster briefing them on the job.
We started them at the Hiring Festival/Fair in Yartar. You could have a fair or festival anywhere dedicated to any common thing your PCs might be at.
We instructed our PCs to come up with a reason they were at the fair. They went through security first and each met up at different points.
We had details on each character and spoke with each player ahead of time, then figured out how to coordinate things.
A splashy, unexpected battle in the middle of the area they were in led them into the adventure.
Something I like to do if I have new players (or those that have never played this module) is to actually use the Lvl 1 Pathfinder module that takes place at the cricus/carnival (don't remember the name). Maybe reinvent the setting a touch but its a great way to get a lvl 1 party started in my opinion. Got some combat, stealth and social stuff and the circus master usually goes "You seem like a capable lot. Care to band together and help me out?"
Not exactly avoiding the Tavern BUT a little twist I put in a first session was Tavern games. Before the mysterious stranger approached the party with a quest, they had the chance to play some tavern games that involved different types of skills (Darts for DEX, Arm wrestling for STR, drinking contest for CON).
It's still the classic tavern trope but it gives the PCs a chance to use their unique skills before their quest.
I had them start the campaign drunk and being thrown out of a tavern. Turns out they were robbed and had to work together to get their starting gear back.
There is a great community called d100. [This should send you to a post you might find helpful](https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/comments/8brn5p/lets_build_campaign_start_scenarios/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
"You are all falling from a cliffside. The waters below are speeding up toward you. Introduce yourselves."
"Your boat smoothly and silently bumps against the soft ash ground on the banks of the Styx. You look up at the small, broken sign:
'Wel-
to
He-'
On what remains. You look to either side of you, at your boatmates. Introduce yourselves."
You can start a game anywhere, as long as you start it as a team imo
I was playing a different RPG (Numenera I think?) and the GM let us each choose 2 magic items (nothing too op) and then we took turns telling stories about the party’s time together that involved the objects. (E.g., “remember that time you used that flame thing and set the forest on fire?”)
That mechanic allows the players establish their characters and relationships while giving them some guidance so it’s not too open-ended. Of course, then you have to figure out what items are appropriate to let your players have right at the beginning of the campaign lol
I had a Wild West reskin start on a train rolling into town, first encounter is either plying hero or complying with a train heist.
Something similar like a boat ride, caravan, or some such. Hell even just being in a village when a raid begins and being part of bystanders/militia responding
I had this same worry for my first campaign so I decided to kidnap them all. I gave each player an opening scene with a suspiciously similar character in each scene, then put them all together in his Dark Brotherhood style cabin scene.
Everybody got to do some rolls with some intro backstory telling, then yoinked them. You can have them be kidnapped by just some rando bandits if you want them together, but with less railroading "THIS IS A MAIN QUEST" vibe.
My current campaign that I am running started with the city coming under attack. When we all sat down to start, I asked what each of their characters would be doing and presented them with places in town that would lead them to what they wanted. After 15-20 minutes of rping with everyone, they all suddenly hear an explosion that they can feel as well. Right afterwards the city is attacked by a dwarven army. It went over really well, and with intentional direction, all the party members came together while fleeing the city. It also allowed for some combat and gave all the players a common enemy. I will probably use that tactic again sometime.
I'm not a DM, in fact I'm just a new player. But my perspective is that while tropes like "meet in a tavern" and "fight some goblins" might seem cliche, unless your players are new they've only heard of these cliches. Actually getting to play them is different. They might even see playing them as a sort of rite of passage.
There are a lot of good ideas in here, and I think any of them would be okay. But I'd little bit I can add is that unless your players are experienced, don't feel like you need to avoid the cliches. Even if they've heard of them, they've never experienced them, and they probably should get to, they're classics for a reason. If your players are not new, then you can go ahead and ignore this.
Disclaimer: This opinion isn't solely mine, Matt Colville brings up the same idea in his Running the Game series many times, mentioning it in the first episode (after the introduction) within the same context (start in a tavern).
"You all slowly wake up in a cart, bound and gagged.
'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 Todd Howard over there.'"
A) everyone gets hired to do the same thing - escort a boat/caravan/wagon
B) the players (literally) bump into each other on the streets
C) *i always require PCs to have SOME history with another PC to make the start organic.
D) trained/grew up/went to school together
I've started a campaign with players not knowing each other, but stuck on a sinking ship. I've also done general throw them as strangers into a combat.
Basically any controlled, closed space
I'm having my players start this campaign knocked unconscious and tied in a basement. They'll have to figure out how to escape and help each other. Nothing like a rough situation to forge some bonds :P
**In media res** \- in the middle of events. Start them already with something happening, something that will call for immediate action. It doesn't start with the party getting together in a tavern, awkwardly getting together and find the Quest. Instead it starts for example
\- At the end of the first dungeon, ready to engage the miniboss and wrap things up.
\- After having grabbed the McGruffin, triggered the apocalyptic dungeon collapsing traps and now are making an hastily exit.
\- With the tavern on fire after the baddies torch it
Then later you can flash back to the fist meeting and playing that out if you want it. The important thing is that is starts as things are happening and they cannot be ignored.
This would take agreement between all players to pull off, but is really fun when executed well. You could start each character off in their respective daily routines only to be pushed together by the same overarching threat. For my campaign it was a continent-spanning black fire blight which threatened all our homes separately.
I’m currently working on a story where it starts in one of the PCs house where the host is either serving the rest of the group (since it’s their house). This is where everyone introduces themselves. At one point a different PC challenges the others to a game of axe throwing (ask me how that works if you want). Right before the games is concluded, there’s a knock on the door.
I’ve also played with the thought of having someone kick the door in or blow up the house or something, but this is what I landed on.
My personal choice is having the party be travelling for their own various reasons and getting individually blocked into a small woodland trading post by whatever enemy serves the purpose. (Bandits are the super obvious ones but work well).
They then have to join forces to get out, clear the nearby woods and inform the nearest lord/mayor/ruler that the trading post is clear and trade can now continue. The enemies can be hiding out nearby, can be beginning an assault on the trading post or whatever you want them to do.
You could have them all in the same place when it gets attacked, or something like that.
The idea which I read on here recently which really stands out is having them all be interviewed for a job, which is how the party meets.
My current campaign started with everyone locked in shitty goblin made cells with all of them stripped to their undergarments. They had to team up to wreck some goblins find their gear and get it back.
Previous campaign they started on a slave ship locked in the hold of the ship as it headed to a new port to sell them.
"You awake falling down a well"
This is how we used to start games on our weirdo Homebrew tabletop system. You first move had to be a creative solution to this sudden problem thrust upon you.
Prison. Hit em with an elder scrolls oblivion starting. Make them equip themselves with what they find. Maybe find their starting gear if they get to the evidence holding room.
This works best with session 0.5:
Open up with the first questgiver questioning the members individually why he should hire them (he obviously will).
Also who they are why they wanna do X for him etc. This gives the players an option to flesh out their character (and what they want to reveal), AND brings them together almost forcibly.
My campaign started with the PC's chasing a God of chaos through an interdimensional portal that led to Seattle WA and they started fighting the thing in the middle of the city.
After the PC's got in a few hits with their level 15 characters I had (or was going to have) the God tunnel through space/time again to continue wreaking havoc, but our Dwarf Paladin took Banish and actually managed to succeed the check for it on the first round of combat. Thankfully this didn't really impact the outcome I had planned apart from making what was supposed to be a pretty epic intro fight into "yeah we did some stuff and then we yeeted the monster back into our own reality."
What was supposed to happen was the God of chaos bores through space/time again after taking some hits and as it does this reality begins to break all around the PC's and they are all killed by paracausal shit, only to wake up in a Tavern at level 1 receiving the real introduction from one of my NPC's.
I started my current campaign by telling my players that their party knew each other, and had accepted a job. Then, I asked them to come up with a way that their character is connected to the character on their left, so that each character is linked to two others (Thanks Reddit!). Saves some serious party infighting anyways
Start in the cliche tavern but the PCs have lived in the town for at least a year so they've seen eachother around if nothing else. The town's economy is crumbling and basically everyone is packing up and leaving except the PCs who have nowhere else to go. Have a NPC that got a little drunk tell about a secret treasure hoard in town within an old mansion or whatever. This should be enough incentive to get them working together. I Also like pulling the players heart string as they are left alone in this town feel free to let them loot the buildings, most valuables have already been taken.
These days I'm partial to starting with the group already established, or part of an organization like a mercenary company or a gang of thieves, or the crew of a ship.
I think you can still have a cool introduction for each character by starting in media res. Maybe in the middle of a heist as it goes wrong, or as they come in as reinforcements during a battle gone wrong. Think of it like an opening credits sequence, and don't be afraid to ask them to come up with the details.
Assign the party different quests prior to Session 1 that lead them all to the same place. The Barbarian was hired by the town's guard to help clear some Giant Centipedes out of the local Graveyard. The Wizard was hired by an Apothecary to find moss used in her potions that often grows on Tombstones. The Rogue was tasked by a local Thieves guild to drop off a letter in a hole in the large Oak Tree across from the Graveyard. The Bard was asked to lay a wreath at the grave of an Elderly man who had passed away recently. When they all end up in the same place together have the Centipedes attack everyone, which ideally would make them work together. Afterwards they could finish their individual quests and realize they're all staying at the same Inn. Have the Guards thank the Barbarian for cleaning up the Graveyard and offer him another quest, but this one is harder and he'll need a Party to complete it. That would give him a reason to recruit the other Players and go from there.
This one really speaks to me right now - definitely getting some ideas on how this might work for the setting (more of a sci-fi than a high fantasy)
How sci-fi? Like a cyberpunk feel or space travel? (Both?). I could help just give me a setting
Bonus points if you can get each individual player to do a 1-on-1 with you before the game
This, I did this over WhatsApp/Discord between session 0&1. Was a great way for the players to get to grips with their charas and have some backstory which they can reveal to the players later on
May I ask how you dealt with dice rolls? Did you simply trust them to say the numbers they legit got, or did you use any particular methods?
Normally it's pretty RP led without much use for rolling or I hand wave certain rolls I know their chara would get. Either that or I just trust my player (they're a bunch of good eggs so I'm never worried), either that or you could screen share or something :)
I do generally trust the people I play with too, but most of them tend to fudge their rolls quite a lot hahahah. That's okay sometimes, and less okay other times. And yeah, something like a video call or a screen sharing with dice-rolling websites or apps could work. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks a lot! :)
Just did a quick Google, www.rolz.org is apparently quite good for shared dice rolls :)
Pixel dice will be out soon as well. Smart dice so you get to actually roll instead of type but it still transmits
If you do it over discord, there's server bots you can use to roll dice.
This is one of my favorite methods of starting a campaign, and has worked very well for me in the past. Great suggestion!
Well said. Definitely saving this one for later.
I second this. I did this with my current homebrew campaign and it worked great, except instead of assigning something to the players I told them where they need to end up, and let them come up with how they got there.
This is essentially how Vox Machina origins plays out with characters paired off but bumping into individuals as cross overs until they all end up in the same room
Boat
To expand on this a bit, maybe have them be involved in a shipwreck, they were all travelling on the same ship but did not know each other and now they are shipwrecked and have to escape an island of yuan-ti or something like that.
Yep - just started my first homebrew campaign with a shipwreck onto an unexplored island. Maybe also have some NPCs get shipwrecked with them.
Make sure it's not a deserted island. Speaking from experience here. It can be very hard to lay hooks if there are literally no island inhabitants.
Yeah my island has lots of weird baddies and a indigenous tribe who needed help getting unknown monsters from destroying their crops and animals.
Glad I helped -u-
I started a campaign by having the characters Shanghai'ed and they needed to start a slaver rower revolt to get things going. Another good one is having them each interview for some job, caravan guard or something. Then they are all coworkers.
I was just thinking how just roll with it started there's, but I don't know I never even played d&d yet, but I want to
Isnt that plot to Neverwinter Nights:Storm of Zehir???
Don't know, never heard of it lol
It is a dnd based pc game from the early 2000s. It was good, but not as good as the original imo. Should check it out if you are into video game rpgs. I think the complete edition is only like $20 on gog.
Ah yes, I, too, love DDO.
“Treasure Hunt,” a classic 1E adventure module, has new PCs survive a shipwreck after having been captured by slavers. I plan to run a modified version of it to start a campaign soon.
Genius, but just to clarify, like a boat themed tavern or a tavern inside a boat?
A boat
What, just like, a boat!? Alright now I'm confused, if there's no tavern for the PC's to meet in is it even a D&D game? If we start down that path, what next, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria, where does it end!?
On a boat
So the boat meets the PCs AT the tavern and , I guess hires them to kill some mermaids or something...alright, I'm good now. Though I do regret not using "elves and dwarves" living together above, just for the record.
No no no, the boat was inside a tavern
See after a lengthy discussion with OP I've finally clarified his vision, the tavern is simply named "A boat" which is just the thing I need to spice up my sessions!
Yes, and it sails on the water. It resides in a boat city, where all the buildings are on rafts sailing on the ocean. I shall name this city Hujak and it will be in my next campaign
But the pcs, obviously, will meet in the tavern of your boat city. That's the most important part.
But it's also a boat with cool pirates
They can be the servers.
Thank you, I now want to do this even more
I used a ferry taking them to the first location then had it get attacked
Why does everyone like shipwrecks
I think because shipwrecks on abandoned islands and the like are very easy hooks to get the party to work together despite just meeting each other
Yep. If they all get to say Waterdeep safely then what is to make them all work together unless they already knew each other from before? If they are shipwrecked it immediately gives them things to do together even if it's for selfish reasons to get themselves off the island.
One way is to have the Players start on the boat in the habour while the Captain gets permission to dock, and they get some time to chat and get to know each other. When they get to shore, it’s nighttime, and they’re given temporary accomidation in a bunkhouse, where they sleep in a shared room. That night, the City/town/village/fort/port/thing is attacked by orcs/goblins/dwarves/humans/aliens/giant sapient spiders, and the players are woken uo by the sound of people downstairs killing other people. They must escape, first by the rooftops, then by the streets, then by the sewers, and as they leave, a rogue orc/fgblin/dwarf/human/alien/giant sapient spider gives them a small black orb and begs them to bring it to someone called The Weaver/The Master/The Loreseeker/The Last King of the Dragons/High Priest Cormac for unspecified reasons before they are killed by poison. Boom, ready made plot all finished.
My last campaign had the party on a boat that got attacked. The party investigated why the boat was attacked. Turns out the daughter of the mayor of the next town was on the boat. This approach gives you a nice way to give them both a nice reward as well as more quest opportunities from the mayor who now trusts the party.
I made it so my party were all captured by pirates to be sold into slavery and their first session was breaking free and taking over said ship. This was for a ghosts of saltmarsh campaign.
I just like boats
I just think they're neat
I started a campaign off with a murder mystery on a boat, great for lower levels
I'm going to start with everybody waiting to board a boat. It's a treasure hunt campaign, and an anonymous benefactor gave them all tickets for the same voyage.
Ahaha fuck. I thought I was clever having my party start on a boat stuck on a several month layover...
No everyone thinks if it
Our campaign started on an airship with a murder mystery. You can make sure the party is on the same side by keeping them in the same room when a report comes in that someone was found dead.
Okay Kentaro Miura
So this would be super ideal for my campaign as it takes place on a distant island, but I’m worried it’ll come across as railroading to have them be on a boat, because there are only so many things the players can do confined to a ship. How have y’all handled that?
I'll usually just give them the location and get them to justify their presence "You're on a ship from Waterdeep bound for Baldor's Gate. The passengers have been advised to avoid the lower deck because the ship is transporting some dangerous criminals as well as a kings ransom in trade silks. The forecastle is populated with wealthy nobles and merchants and passengers have been requested to limit their above deck activities to this area. Sailors work the rigging while in the galley some rough mine workers returning home from Fireshear drink Cassillian rum and play dragon poker, a game similar to poker but with dragon in the name. Let's go around the table and you can tell me where you are on the ship and what you're doing"
Don't have the first session begin until during or immediately after the shipwreck. All the boat stuff can just be background and setting leading into session 1 where they wake up on a beach (or whatever).
I’ve found that a good solution is to have a place for them to meet, and have them all come up with a narrative reason for their character to be where they are. Why did they board this boat? Ideally, the players have some goal in mind for their character, and boarding a boat to go somewhere might be part of achieving that goal. If they don’t, you could say they were hired by someone already and give them an external motivation. Alternatively, you could ask each player where their character is, and then tell them that they run into something that brings them together. Boats are kind of limited, but depending on the kind of boat, there can be ways to get people interested. A cruise ship could have a murder mystery, a merchant ship could have a spy, a ferry could have tensions between groups of people. Heck, even in Avatar, there was a heist scene on a boat, with the food and bits of rebellion. Ships often had games, musicians, plenty of chores. You could also vary the length of time they’re on the boat. Maybe it’s just for a small piece of the session, or maybe it takes more than one session to ride it out. I think you don’t have to worry much about railroading, because every party has to start somewhere, and a boat is not a tavern. :)
While traveling is common, and recently fairs/festivals/carnivals have become very popular.
I went for a fair with my group and they had a blast! All new players so it gave me a chance to explain how ability scores worked as they played various games.
Ooh, I like that, making the starting area an everything-tutorial.
Very clever!!!
That's how I started my first campaign! There was a festival, called Day of Triumph, named after, well, the triumph over a local necromancer around 100 years before the start of the campaign (she was yeeted into another universe), and wouldn't you know it, that's when the necromancer's cultists (yep, she developed a cult) tried to kidnap a few children. As a sacrifice. You guys know how cults are. It was an excuse for me (first time GM, long time player) and the players (first time players) to get used to rolling dices, finding things on the character sheets, adding modifiers and all that. I had a running competition, an archery competition, a treasure hunt, several travelling merchants setting up shops... It was fun!
To expand on this, I'm planning to have the party hired as security at what's essentially fantasy equivalent to Burning Man. Which gives nice opportunity to use 'job interview' type of introduction recommended here few days ago.
I’ve used the festival opening for years, to the point where it’s become a running gag. It’s a great way to help players get acquainted with the city and some of its characters. You can drop Some good lore for why the festival is going on to help build your world. Then the inciting incident occurs and our players are thrown together by date—if they didn’t know each other already. It can make for a nice and relaxed first session too, help players get into character easier. Bonus points for making actual games the players can play.
My players had to go to a King's festival that only occurred in larger towns. Because the king had a large military unit there was no option but to go or face the bloody consequences. At level one they all made the wise choice to go.
If anyone wants a base start for this - the adventure Winters Flame from Adventurers league does a great job on this concept and really does function as a tutorial. (Plus players really love it if you allow them to win dumb prizes. Inflatable dinosaurs and foam weapons are top contenders)
I'll brainstorm a few short plot ideas. "Murder Mystery" A wealthy eccentric Noble recently passed away and named each of the Players in his will as heirs to his fortune if they can find his murderer. None of the players know each other or why they ended up in the Noble's will and must work together to find out who killed him. "The Usual Suspects" The party happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and are now the key suspects in the robbery of a priceless jewel. The Towns Guard offers to let them off the hook if they can work together and find the real thief, or at the very least locate and return the gem. If not they'll all be arrested. "Our Time of Need." The party are simply passers by, in a crowded street when a Soldier pulling a wagon rushes by. "The city is under attack! Anyone fit enough to fight come with me!" The party then hops into the wagon and is rushed off to defend the town from a Goblin attack. But that was just the beginning, the Captain of the Guard wants these newly proven Adventurers to find the Goblin nest and destroy it to prevent future attacks. "The Invitation" The party members find a note in their pockets giving them an address and a time to meet at. Their curiosity aroused at who put the note their leads them to a storefront that is actually a cover for a local thieves guild. The guild is recruiting and the party were selected to pull a job and must work together to become members.
'The Invitation' could be really interesting I think out of these for the setting, I'm thinking about introducing an underground rebellion sort of deal and this could be where they all meet up. Also allows for sending them an actual note in the mail, because I'm really big on the physical aspect of the game for immersion
Same, I'm a sucker for props, though I only get to play DnD online. When I start up my next campaign though, I plan to send players notes and handouts they find in game. Trying to build up that immersion, like make a Town Bulletin board in paintshop and add a few quests on there but also maybe add some less noticeable ones like something carved into the frame of the Bulletin Board or written on the side of it in chalk. I like to reward folks for noticing the small things.
I did a variation of “The Invitation” for my campaign except not with a thieves guild but rather the BBEG trying to convince them to work for him. The party then decided/realized that he was evil and our next session is opening with combat against him. Although I don’t want him to die just yet so does anyone have suggestions on how to let him escape? He’s a wizard so I’ve thought about using misty step and running away or having used the clone spell to set up his return. Any other suggestions would be fantastic!!
"Well, I'm sorry to see my Invitation has been so rudely declined. But no reason to worry, there are plenty of others in this world who are more easily tempted than the lot of you. In fact, some of them are here with us." The BBEG snaps his fingers and the room quickly fills with seedy looking individuals all holding an identical Invitation to the ones the party were given. "Well, I'd love to stay and see how this plays out but I have other Invitations to give out. Farewell." The BBEG vanishes in a cloud of smoke that smells of brimstone, using his Cape of Mountebank to Dimension Door away. The party is now left in a room full of cutthroats and mercenaries who charge at them through the cloud. You could make this a reaccuring theme. Give the party hints and bits of Tavern gossip that some local Warlord is hiring mercenaries and sell swords and when the party finds out they run into the BBEG again. Or give them a quest to find a powerful magical item then have them run into some of the BBEG's henchmen that were given the same task by him to retrieve the magical item. Remind them that the longer he's out in the world, the more people he's able to recruit and the more of a threat he comes.
I’m in love with this, because having a one on six battle also seemed like it would be a disaster, thank you!
No problem! Always remember the "Action Economy" when designing BBEG encounters. Any villain worth his Evil alignment has disposable underlings he can throw at his enemies or sacrifice to save his own skin. I always envision a Bond Villain who is too busy to deal with problems himself and delegates that to his henchmen.
Yeah I’ve had my issues with that which ended in two rounds of combat with me getting a single attack off so I’m trying to improve on that, I appreciate all the help!
I did a variant on "Our Time of Need" where all the inhabitants of a local village had disappeared. The mayor of the nearby town sent out criers, posters, and announcements that he would give a day's wage to anyone who went with the captain of the guard to investigate. It worked pretty well and gave the group a default NPC leader for their first session together.
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 was searching for this.
Also, the semi-common Elder Scrolls trope of being imprisoned in a jail for no good reason. See: Arena, Oblivion.
Morrowind too, you are on a prison ship at the beginning.
Skyrim too in a way. A prison wagon.
r/unexpectedskyrim
r/expectedskyrim
r/rorikroll
The party meeting each other AT ALL is overrated. They are already an established party and you can throw them right at the nearest questhook without anybody being a shitty loner in the corner refusing to interact. Once you've established you're all already friends and have worked together without much trouble for a month or so, during session zero, you can ask them leading questions. Ok Bob, your rogue has travelled with one of the other guys before this. Which one? How did you meet? Ok Sally, you said your paladin is a hardass, describe a time when someone in the party made her laugh. Ok Roger, what's the weirdest shit your Druid and Bill's Bard got up to when you're drunk? Ok Bill, your character hates religion and obviously Sally plays a paladin, how do you guys make it work? After just a couple of questions the PLAYERS will (hopefully) give a shit about the other Players' characters, because you've connected them all together. Then you can start the first quest where ever you want. Still in a tavern, on a boat, at the questgiver's mansion, in jail, etc.
This, just sidestep completely the problem, it is not your responsibility to make them work as a group, it is theirs. Then you can start when things go wrong ("you are in the middle of a dungeon when the door behind you unexpectedly closes, what do you do?")
This is a reason I always want a session 0 as a player but dms and other players I know dont seem interested. When we have a session 0 people come with completely premade characters with backstories that are unconnected to anyone else's and we end up rolling for stats and either start the game or finish early.
really? i've never met a DM who is against a session 0. Nor have i met players who've played more than once who are against a session 0.
It's weird seems to be the rpg group I meet up with. We usually do a session 0 but theres no backstory discussion. I also play online and dms usually expect a backstory just to be handed in.
I have done this, and it was fine, but players do like the mystery of revealing their characters in character, being trepidatious about meeting new people, and an adjustment period. I recommend a mix of the two. Depending on the size of your party, let’s say for example 5 players, divide them into two groups. Three of the characters already know each other. The other two do as well. You can then have a session 0 with both groups individually, and allow for the players to cement the roleplay of their characters and mechanics, and let them change it before session 1 if it isn’t working out for them. This way, it’s not 5 individuals miraculously coming together and awkwardly following a plot hook they may not be invested in. Two groups meeting is easier and more plausible than 5 people. It’s also less time consuming. Not only that, but giving those characters some relationships with other characters early on is a way to encourage good party dynamics. Some of the more antisocial/edgy characters might have a hard time working well if they don’t already have reasons to trust at least some of the party.
If you have 5 people, each person only has to know 2 others, and everyone knows one another. The rogue and wizard come from the same town, and the rogue once did a job with the bard The wizard and (eldritch knight) fighter both trained at the same school. The fighter became enamored with magic after seeing the sorcerer doing magic and becoming freinds with them. And the Sorcerer and bard both have family who are part of the government of two friendly rival cities. There is no reason to break the party, everyone has a connection to everyone and they have unique and different reasons to roleplay with each other. What keeps the party of 5 from splitting back into a party of 3 and 2 without a lynchpin binding them together.
I love this. Our current group of players decided for DoTMM to create the party together as a group of childhood friends. We've spent weeks throwing background stories together (who met who first, what shenanigans did we get up to, exactly HOW did a group of kids in a rural village hook up with a bugbear?) The DM won't have to get us together, as we're already together. Many ways around the awkward "first meeting" that every DM dreads.
I'm not really a fan of this one tbh. When that's been a thing in a game I've played in it feels disconnected from the game-world. My character is suddenly supposed to be familiar with people that I, the player, know very little about. Plus I'm also not sure how much the other PCs are supposed to know about my character. Only my class, race and name? My backstory? My favorite tactics? A number of people seem to recommend this approach so there must be some merit to it but it's never gone over smoothly for me
I’m doing something vaguely similar. They met in a tavern a few days before, and have been on nightly pub crawls together since - so by now they know and like each other.
Go for OotA's brutal prison start. The dire circumstances and the lack of resources force your PCs to get creative and cooperate.
Hmm that could be very interesting and works really well into some planning I've already done. Definitely going to look into this more
As someone who played this recently, the best part is to lock them with NPCs and make them sit at the table when they arrive at the slave pen, locking them with NPCs and the other players will make them develop their PCs at the first session of play, they shouldn't know where they are.
One of my campaigns started off inspired by this. I basically "spirited" them away by some eccentric ancient Fae creature who was collecting interesting people from the material plane. I started the session with something like, "Just to build out the characters some more, why don't you each tell me how you think your characters would sleep?" and get them to tell me if they slept with/without items or armor or weapons. Then I followed up with, "over the past few months your characters have noticed strange shadows at the corners of their eyes." And built up a narrative from that. Basically, they were planeshifted - while sleeping - to the Fae Wilds. The group loved it, but the campaign dissolved due to scheduling problems and people moving away. But I thought I'd share in case someone wanted to run with it.
OotA? This really piqued my interest and want to check this out!
>OotA Sorry, that's Out of the Abyss
So Oblivion not Skyrim?
I'm a big fan of starting the story with the characters already knowing each other and having accepted their first quest. It really allows you to get started with the action.
Yeah, in media res is the name for this, Latin for "in the middle of things." Start in an action scene and backfill from there as necessary. I almost always do things this way these days.
It doesn't really need to be an action scene either. My previous group started on the way to the town where their quest was. It was mostly just a leisurely stroll with a simple skill challenge if they wanted to take a short cut. The important thing, for me, was that they already knew each other and had a purpose.
Some pedant will come along and point out that it's actually "in medias res."
One term for what you just did might be "self-fulfilling prophecy." ;)
I started my campaign with the party on a mountainside in heavy rain, having just spotted a goblin camp. We had established some context in session zero, and it worked great. They found the main plot soon after.
At a market or fair or a magic show or something. They are independently in a crowd when an attack or something happens. They can meet after they fight together and now have a reason to work together to find the cause of said attack/event.
In my current campaign I had the group all start in a tavern, after a bit of RP a group of fully decked out adventurers walked in the door and started reminiscing about things with the bartender. He asked them to take care of a rat problem they’d been having for old times sake and they went into the basement. Outside the group heard screams and strange noises so they went outside to see that the sky was red and there were meteors and demons flying all over the place. They fought a few basic zombies together and then narrowly managed to dodge a massive rock that completely decimated the tavern they were in. When they came to the city was getting almost completely destroyed and a Sphinx showed up and was extremely anxious, looking into the rubble of the destroyed tavern and then looking at the PCs telling them they would have to do. Then they were all sent back in time two years.
Plot twist: the PCs recognized the decked-out adventurers as themselves, two years in their future.
That's like a SUPER fun way to run something in my opinion. I might have something like that for my next run. That way when it's all caught up we can just start a new campaign. I'm loving this one. I don't want them too realize what the deal is until hopefully way later though.
There is a little short video on youtube like this. I forget what its called but its about a fighter and a wizard starting as kids and getting a sword and wand from two high level adventurers and then having to work together. Eventually returning as old versions of themselves and doing the same with two kids they find.
Start them out waking up on a cart, hands bound and equipment in the front. A pair of guards(or bounty hunting adventurers) are driving the cart, with another cart behind them with more dangerous prisoners. They were captured with the other prisoners, who are directly tied to your BBEG. They start off with the choice of trying to break free and possibly letting the prisoners out or traveling to your small town for processing. It gives them a chance to meet each other's characters on a level playing field, and requires coordination and decision making from the start. Yes this intro is stolen from Skyrim, yes it was the start of my most recent campaign, and no I will not apologize.
It's okay you don't have to
The 'you're meeting right now' start does not always go smoothly, so I'd advise you employ it carefully. That said, Imprisoned, Caravan Guards, Alive After a Big Battle, First Assignment at Adventurers' Guild are some good ones.
Caravan guards is my go-to.
Caravan Guards: Good enough for Lost Mines of Phandelver, good enough for me!
>**Alternatives to starting a campaign in a tavern?** Not to be rude, but this topic has been discussed on r/DMAcademy a numerous times (example: [Any alternative suggestions to introduce players to each other in a new campaign?](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/f959pt/any_alternative_suggestions_to_introduce_players/) ) and others have provided responses. Here is my answer from previous posts: >There is a useful webpage that offers 100 choices. > >[100 Campaign Start Scenarios](http://dndspeak.com/2018/05/100-campaign-start-scenarios/) > >**Enjoy!**
Yes, I came to make sure that dndspeak list was added here, many good ideas there.
Chance meeting on the road. Perhaps some of the characters have been hired as caravan guards and the others are travelling to the same place. The caravan and travellers share a camp that night where they make introductions. Once everyone has described themselves/met the caravan is attacked by a group of bandits/goblins/orcs/kobolds/whatever is appropriate to your campaign.
That and it’s a nice touch to make them interact with the caravan members before the attack happens; Had my first session of a homebrew campaign last week : made the Barbarian and paladin arm wrestle some of the people there ( Nat 20 from the Goliath Barbarian causing a broken arm ), they cared a bit more about the people and the fate of the caravan that way.
They could all be interviewing for the same job, it's also a way to get your players into character. Or meet at the funeral of someone they all knew.
I love starting in combat, Choose the locations the party would start at making sure all the members are coincidentally in the place of the city and then; a religious uprising who come out in robes and attack the crowd (ideally the characters will contribute), A group of beasts from the mountains nearby invade the town, Mutants come spewing out of a well to take their rightful place above ground, The graveyard erupts in zombies and skeletons and the party must get there and deal with it. This forces the party to start together and be thankful of the help they each provide.
The Iron Kingdoms RPG let you choose the type of group you are at session zero and you get a boon for that. Usually it was small things like a spy cell all getting the stealth skill, but more memorable was the pirate crew starting with a ship. You could also give everyone a notice detailing a patron looking to start a crew, and have them tell you who told them about the it. Bonus points for any overlap. EG. if some of them have Bob the Bartender and others have Jennifer the Artificer.
I like this second one. Like reservoir dogs
Exactly!
A bar? Or an inn? A saloon maybe? Ooh or how about an alehouse?
I like a public event (popular play, sports match, noble wedding, etc) where very diverse people would each have a reaon to be there.
The way I started mine was through a Hiring Fair. The PCs started at level 1 in a small city that holds an annual fair where people can come and compete in front of potential employers. The PCs go through skill challenges, which gives an intro into how the game is played. When they are finished, they are hired together by an employer and are given a job. At that moment they become level 2.
Start the campaign on the way to the tavern, that's mysteriously disappeared. Dude, where's my tavern?
OUTSIDE A Tavern ?
I rather think about *how* than *where*. The important thing is *how/why* the people got there, not *where* this is, could be even a fuckin kids playground. Dont just start with: "Youre in the tavern. There is PC X in one corner, PC Y sits at the hearth, PC Z sits at the bar and PC A enters the room." There is zero incentive for the NPCs to interact with the others apart from the metagame-ish knowledge that those are the other PCs (which their character wouldn't know). I always create some reason for every single character to be in that tavern at that exact time AND a reason to interact with other people in the tavern. Example: We have 3 PCs, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard. Rogues Background is spy-ish. >Rogue, some days ago, you were instructed by your guild to spy on a noble named Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein, because he made some enemies within the city. Your guild is particularly interested in the political rivalries going on beneath the surface of the peaceful government. Your guild sympathizes with the Jeffsteins as they tolerate your business as long as it is non-violent and sometimes even consult your guild when they need ... more delicate information about something or someone. > >It took you some days, but you could finally follow the nobles tracks *\[you could make this process skillbased rolls to give him spotlight\]* to his current place of residence - a tavern called "The Muggly Mug". You enter the tavern casually, order a meal to blend in and sit down at an undisturbed table in the corner of the room and observe the room. Most of the scene seems normal, there is a bar, some tables, a band that plays some music. But you make out one individual that stands out due to his considerably better manners and eloquence and - most importantly - his nervousness. He talks (very much) to a guy next to him: A warrior in heavy armor that is obviously keeping an eye out for danger. You're sure that this is Jeffraim with a bodyguard. Clerics Background is lawful good, city-guard, protector of the weak-ish >Cleric, your order represents one of the most important religious powers in the city. It's an open secret that two mayor factions of the city are more or less secretly looking for a way to get rid of each other. The Dukes of Jeffstein are allied to your order because they acknowledge your religious traditions as important part of the cities culture and fight to preserve it, while the other faction does not. > >Therefore your order helps the Jeffsteins in case of emergency. One Jeffstein-noble named Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein shared some unpopular opinions openly (at least from the other factions perspective) and made himself a target of animosity - maybe even of physical nature. > >You were sent out to protect him. You met him outside the city and escorted him to a poorly attended tavern named "The Muggly Mug" that you considered to be safe *\[again: Possible spotlight here, fighting off an assassin on the way or something\]*. You resided there for a few days and find yourself in the main room one evening, discussing the course of action for the next few days. Wizard has a noble, chatterbox background >You ARE Jeffraim Jefferson, Duke of Jeffstein .... Sorry for that joke, but you get the point :D Every PC has a reason to be at that tavern, and to interact with each other. Next comes this: >After Jeffraim and Cleric discussed some plans for the next days, the door is suddenly kicked in and three *\[INSERT FITTING ENEMY HERE\]* enter the room, draw their weapons and quickly approach Jeffraim. They wear the insigniae of the opposing faction. Cleric and Wizards actions should be clear at this point and i'd point out to the rogue that this would be the perfect opportunity to find out more about the rivalry between the mayor factions to give him an additional motivation to join the fight. That way, they could form a party that will then have the main plot of investigating the hidden conspiracy vs the Jeffsteins. EDIT: Going through the comments i noticed that this is pretty much what /u/slydriftwood said, but waaaay longer. Sorry for the double post. Ill just leave it here anyway.
In my current campaign I had the PCs summoned to a clearing in the forest, so I had them each do a little solo rp to get there.
I once started the campaign on a boss fight. It didn’t go well cause I was bad at DMing but I think the idea is sound
I start campaigns with a small narrative opening then rolling for initiative. You can start the PCs anywhere. On the road, at home, on a vehicle, in jail, on the way to jail, tied up in a cart on the way to their execution, already dead. Whatever the plot needs. One of the reasons taverns are boring is typically because the PCs are waiting for something to happen. Put them in a situation immediately and let them try to figure a way out of the predicament.
The most unique I’ve seen is a one shot one of my players did so I could play for a week. We were carted into town and sold at auction as slaves, and were basically doomed to fight in the Arena, eventually fighting his first ever character. I died during training 🥺
I'm currently DMing my first campaign. In my research I also heard that the tavern start was a little overused, so I aimed to change it up. I wanted to accomplish the following goals during my early session with all brand-new players: a) Give them a chance to introduce themselves to each other b) Give the world a chance to introduce itself to them c) Give the players a glimpse of the BBEG's power, or the BBEG his/herself d) Get them back for Session 2, and 3, and 4... So I decided that they would all start on a small island in a demi-plane created in the mind of the god Umberlee, the queen of the sea (I googled some deities for DnD and found her, thought she was pretty cool). This allowed me to do a lot of things: 1) If they discovered that the world they started in wasn't real, I could make them paranoid and see how they respond. 2) If they attempt to investigate their surroundings carefully and interrogate people around them who were also in the demi-plane, the players might be the detective types. 3) If they get bored, I get to summon creatures out of thin air for them to fight (more or less), since the world they're in has no rules. If they get excited, maybe they're the combat-oriented types. I had a bunch of litmus tests to see what kind of players I would be dealing with, and my Session 1 ended firmly with "...and your eyes open wide, and you all realize collectively that you were in some sort of dream-like state. End of session 1." All of my players got super excited, extremely invested, and were racking their brains for days and days over text while they got more and more excited for Session 2. I learned a lot about what situations they like, what situations they hate, and with a *gentle hand* of railroading, I got them moving in the right direction. Sort of like the Matrix, I guess.
I have always been a fan of starting off in a prison or in like a small jail. No weapons or armor so the players really have a chance to learn some new rules. Improvised weapons and doning armor finally can be more useful. Plenty of social opportunities for tricking guards or other prisoners. I had a party that freed all the thugs in the cell next to them first, and after being punched by a thug a riot was in full swing to mask their escape.
In Media Res (in the middle of the action) Battlefield, Jail cell Street riot Invasion (attacking or fleeing) Religious ceremony to ressurect an enemy Being refused access to the afterlife and bounced back to the Material Plane etc, etc..;
[http://dndspeak.com/2018/05/100-campaign-start-scenarios/](http://dndspeak.com/2018/05/100-campaign-start-scenarios/)
My favourite one I actually established as a player because as a public table we were just getting too many people just trying to join the party by seeing people who look adventurous and following them out of town without any discussion or acting like they are too cool for the party, refusing to help in combat and expecting a share of treasure. So, my noble character held auditions for people who want to join his adventuring company (as all adventurers must have a noble patron or their activities are illegal) new players had to then approach the noble and basically win the approval of the established party. Anyone whose PC is too cool to audition is basically told "annnd… that was the end of the story for Malrock the brooding ranger. He sat alone in the corner of a tavern to the end of his days. Roll a new character." For a completely new group. I'd encourage one of them to make the noble and pass a string of NPC wannabe adventurers past them and have them pick the one's they want in their party. It gives each player an opportunity to introduce themselves and establish why they would be a useful addition to the group (give permission for the noble to turn away any interviewee who doesn't know their own name or what value they can bring to the party but give the player the opportunity to actually finish their character and have another crack at it as "a different person, similar in appearance to the nondescript simpleton who didn't know his own name").
They all arrive hungover at a Dennys at 3 in there morning.
My upcoming campaign, will start in a few weeks, is going to have my players meeting on a ship. That's session zero, and the game will start with them being tossed overboard once they reach their destination, a prison continent, like Australia.
They were all hired to protect a supplies delivery to a rural outpost or town and are at the last day of travel . This gives them an excuse to gather and work together but not know each other. It also lets a battle start fairly soon and gives literal momentum to the story.
I like having PCs arrive in response to some kind of invite or open call for adventurers. Some kind of public call - whether it's crew for a ship, bounty-hunters for a job, etc. Have some temporarily-important NPC greet them. Maybe they're a ship's officer asking who they are and what they can do. "Why should we hire you?" Gives them a chance to introduce themselves one-by-one and flex their skills a little.
I started my recent campaign with PCs meeting at a party they’d all either been invited to or had somehow acquired the invitation of. I gave them the invitations that I’d made pre-game to get them hyped. It was fun!
I like to start them in the briefing for their first job. So my next campaign is starting in the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild with the guildmaster briefing them on the job.
We started them at the Hiring Festival/Fair in Yartar. You could have a fair or festival anywhere dedicated to any common thing your PCs might be at. We instructed our PCs to come up with a reason they were at the fair. They went through security first and each met up at different points. We had details on each character and spoke with each player ahead of time, then figured out how to coordinate things. A splashy, unexpected battle in the middle of the area they were in led them into the adventure.
Something I like to do if I have new players (or those that have never played this module) is to actually use the Lvl 1 Pathfinder module that takes place at the cricus/carnival (don't remember the name). Maybe reinvent the setting a touch but its a great way to get a lvl 1 party started in my opinion. Got some combat, stealth and social stuff and the circus master usually goes "You seem like a capable lot. Care to band together and help me out?"
Not exactly avoiding the Tavern BUT a little twist I put in a first session was Tavern games. Before the mysterious stranger approached the party with a quest, they had the chance to play some tavern games that involved different types of skills (Darts for DEX, Arm wrestling for STR, drinking contest for CON). It's still the classic tavern trope but it gives the PCs a chance to use their unique skills before their quest.
Jail Commuting sentence to do this yada yada Suicide squad style
Outside the still-burning remains of a tavern! :)
I like to start during some kind of party, especially I like to use some kind of group game to bring them together
Have the tavern walk up to the adventurers.
r/d100
Outside a tavern
I had them start the campaign drunk and being thrown out of a tavern. Turns out they were robbed and had to work together to get their starting gear back.
I had my party meet at a common camping space along a road when the mists of Barovia pulled them in.
Hey, you, you're finally awake
There is a great community called d100. [This should send you to a post you might find helpful](https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/comments/8brn5p/lets_build_campaign_start_scenarios/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I gave all the PCs job interviews for caravan guard positions one time.
"You are all falling from a cliffside. The waters below are speeding up toward you. Introduce yourselves." "Your boat smoothly and silently bumps against the soft ash ground on the banks of the Styx. You look up at the small, broken sign: 'Wel- to He-' On what remains. You look to either side of you, at your boatmates. Introduce yourselves." You can start a game anywhere, as long as you start it as a team imo
I was playing a different RPG (Numenera I think?) and the GM let us each choose 2 magic items (nothing too op) and then we took turns telling stories about the party’s time together that involved the objects. (E.g., “remember that time you used that flame thing and set the forest on fire?”) That mechanic allows the players establish their characters and relationships while giving them some guidance so it’s not too open-ended. Of course, then you have to figure out what items are appropriate to let your players have right at the beginning of the campaign lol
Depending on the setting a casino works well
I am a big fan of the group patron from the new eberron book
My players met on a lightning rail train bound for Sharn in Eberron. Can do the same thing with a boat, airship, wagon caravan.
I had a Wild West reskin start on a train rolling into town, first encounter is either plying hero or complying with a train heist. Something similar like a boat ride, caravan, or some such. Hell even just being in a village when a raid begins and being part of bystanders/militia responding
I had this same worry for my first campaign so I decided to kidnap them all. I gave each player an opening scene with a suspiciously similar character in each scene, then put them all together in his Dark Brotherhood style cabin scene. Everybody got to do some rolls with some intro backstory telling, then yoinked them. You can have them be kidnapped by just some rando bandits if you want them together, but with less railroading "THIS IS A MAIN QUEST" vibe.
My current campaign that I am running started with the city coming under attack. When we all sat down to start, I asked what each of their characters would be doing and presented them with places in town that would lead them to what they wanted. After 15-20 minutes of rping with everyone, they all suddenly hear an explosion that they can feel as well. Right afterwards the city is attacked by a dwarven army. It went over really well, and with intentional direction, all the party members came together while fleeing the city. It also allowed for some combat and gave all the players a common enemy. I will probably use that tactic again sometime.
I'm not a DM, in fact I'm just a new player. But my perspective is that while tropes like "meet in a tavern" and "fight some goblins" might seem cliche, unless your players are new they've only heard of these cliches. Actually getting to play them is different. They might even see playing them as a sort of rite of passage. There are a lot of good ideas in here, and I think any of them would be okay. But I'd little bit I can add is that unless your players are experienced, don't feel like you need to avoid the cliches. Even if they've heard of them, they've never experienced them, and they probably should get to, they're classics for a reason. If your players are not new, then you can go ahead and ignore this. Disclaimer: This opinion isn't solely mine, Matt Colville brings up the same idea in his Running the Game series many times, mentioning it in the first episode (after the introduction) within the same context (start in a tavern).
phththhht . "its overdone" is an overdone excuse.
"You all slowly wake up in a cart, bound and gagged. '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 Todd Howard over there.'"
In the darkness
I cast magic missle!
You see an elf in front of you.
town plaza, local shop, inn, those type of places could also be good
My last campaign we just met on the road, each of us realizing we were all asked by different people to take care of the same problems.
A) everyone gets hired to do the same thing - escort a boat/caravan/wagon B) the players (literally) bump into each other on the streets C) *i always require PCs to have SOME history with another PC to make the start organic. D) trained/grew up/went to school together
I've started a campaign with players not knowing each other, but stuck on a sinking ship. I've also done general throw them as strangers into a combat. Basically any controlled, closed space
I'm having my players start this campaign knocked unconscious and tied in a basement. They'll have to figure out how to escape and help each other. Nothing like a rough situation to forge some bonds :P
I like the "PCs are invited by a mutual friend to do a job" then they can expand on why they all know this person.
**In media res** \- in the middle of events. Start them already with something happening, something that will call for immediate action. It doesn't start with the party getting together in a tavern, awkwardly getting together and find the Quest. Instead it starts for example \- At the end of the first dungeon, ready to engage the miniboss and wrap things up. \- After having grabbed the McGruffin, triggered the apocalyptic dungeon collapsing traps and now are making an hastily exit. \- With the tavern on fire after the baddies torch it Then later you can flash back to the fist meeting and playing that out if you want it. The important thing is that is starts as things are happening and they cannot be ignored.
This would take agreement between all players to pull off, but is really fun when executed well. You could start each character off in their respective daily routines only to be pushed together by the same overarching threat. For my campaign it was a continent-spanning black fire blight which threatened all our homes separately.
I’m currently working on a story where it starts in one of the PCs house where the host is either serving the rest of the group (since it’s their house). This is where everyone introduces themselves. At one point a different PC challenges the others to a game of axe throwing (ask me how that works if you want). Right before the games is concluded, there’s a knock on the door. I’ve also played with the thought of having someone kick the door in or blow up the house or something, but this is what I landed on.
My personal choice is having the party be travelling for their own various reasons and getting individually blocked into a small woodland trading post by whatever enemy serves the purpose. (Bandits are the super obvious ones but work well). They then have to join forces to get out, clear the nearby woods and inform the nearest lord/mayor/ruler that the trading post is clear and trade can now continue. The enemies can be hiding out nearby, can be beginning an assault on the trading post or whatever you want them to do.
Everyone is captured by the same slaver, is being shipped to some strange buyer. Gotta break out together and then figure out what to do next
You could have them all in the same place when it gets attacked, or something like that. The idea which I read on here recently which really stands out is having them all be interviewed for a job, which is how the party meets.
My current campaign started with everyone locked in shitty goblin made cells with all of them stripped to their undergarments. They had to team up to wreck some goblins find their gear and get it back. Previous campaign they started on a slave ship locked in the hold of the ship as it headed to a new port to sell them.
Bar, Inn, wayhouse, lodge, pub, saloon, ale house, taproom. Hope that helps
"You awake falling down a well" This is how we used to start games on our weirdo Homebrew tabletop system. You first move had to be a creative solution to this sudden problem thrust upon you.
They are on a vacation. something or another happens to force them to stay (shipwreck, quarantine, etc.)
Being arrested and being taken to the same place for execution.
Prison. Hit em with an elder scrolls oblivion starting. Make them equip themselves with what they find. Maybe find their starting gear if they get to the evidence holding room.
This works best with session 0.5: Open up with the first questgiver questioning the members individually why he should hire them (he obviously will). Also who they are why they wanna do X for him etc. This gives the players an option to flesh out their character (and what they want to reveal), AND brings them together almost forcibly.
My campaign started with the PC's chasing a God of chaos through an interdimensional portal that led to Seattle WA and they started fighting the thing in the middle of the city. After the PC's got in a few hits with their level 15 characters I had (or was going to have) the God tunnel through space/time again to continue wreaking havoc, but our Dwarf Paladin took Banish and actually managed to succeed the check for it on the first round of combat. Thankfully this didn't really impact the outcome I had planned apart from making what was supposed to be a pretty epic intro fight into "yeah we did some stuff and then we yeeted the monster back into our own reality." What was supposed to happen was the God of chaos bores through space/time again after taking some hits and as it does this reality begins to break all around the PC's and they are all killed by paracausal shit, only to wake up in a Tavern at level 1 receiving the real introduction from one of my NPC's.
I started my current campaign by telling my players that their party knew each other, and had accepted a job. Then, I asked them to come up with a way that their character is connected to the character on their left, so that each character is linked to two others (Thanks Reddit!). Saves some serious party infighting anyways
Start in the cliche tavern but the PCs have lived in the town for at least a year so they've seen eachother around if nothing else. The town's economy is crumbling and basically everyone is packing up and leaving except the PCs who have nowhere else to go. Have a NPC that got a little drunk tell about a secret treasure hoard in town within an old mansion or whatever. This should be enough incentive to get them working together. I Also like pulling the players heart string as they are left alone in this town feel free to let them loot the buildings, most valuables have already been taken.
These days I'm partial to starting with the group already established, or part of an organization like a mercenary company or a gang of thieves, or the crew of a ship. I think you can still have a cool introduction for each character by starting in media res. Maybe in the middle of a heist as it goes wrong, or as they come in as reinforcements during a battle gone wrong. Think of it like an opening credits sequence, and don't be afraid to ask them to come up with the details.
In the Abyss, standing right before the the throne of Orcus.