What geographical location/climate etc do you like to start your party in?

[Olfgar]

What the title says. Where do you like to start your lower level campaigns in, the standard Tolkien/European styled area, or perhaps maybe you are more of a Port city in the desert kind of guy. Maybe something more exotic like a tropical area, or up in some rough tundra.

[Malimar]

I start most of my campaigns these days in a major metropolis, but historically I've done "you're all crew and/or passengers on a ship" several times, too.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Temperate, forested areas are classic. 'Something something something in the Woods' is a great opening adventure.

But practically, I enjoy major population centers. Either a town on the cross section of major trade routes or a major metropolis.

[Gnorman]

Rough and tumble frontier towns, seedy ports, and the slummier parts of bustling metropoles. Something where a bunch of heavily-armed murderhobos won't look too out of place. Generally prefer deserts, steaming swamps, and tropical archipelagos to your standard temperate climes.

[erok0809]

Mostly temperate weather, in small-ish towns. Most of my games have had the party start out as a new adventuring guild in a town that hadn't had one, and they get a job that starts the campaign off. I want to do stuck on a ship though...maybe next time.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I like starting in a temperate zone at a settlement of at least town size unless I'm doing a one-off that requires something different; i.e. an ultra low level (1-3) survival adventure centered around the rules in sandstorm or frostburn or an adventure where the PC's are courtiers that won't see much combat or something like that.

[BWR]

It depends on where I'm going to set my campaign and what I want out of it. All of the locations and climes listed here have been used at one point. I don't think there is much by the way of a favored starting zone.

[Rangô]

Usually tempered forests, as it was said 'something in the forest' is a great openning, small town where obscure rumors have been spread along generations... but, I really enjoy with geographical location/climate books SandStorm, FrostBurn, StormWrack, Cityscape, Dungeonscape and Drows of Underdark.

[fishyfishyfishy]

I always tie the PCs into the story I have planned in some fashion, and have them collaboratively write each other into their background stories, so that the introduction of the game is smooth. The geographic location is always dependant on these details and it changes from game to game.

[Flickerdart]

It varies depending on the setting, but I tend to go for ships - a session or two in an enclosed space helps the PCs get used to one another before the sandbox opens up before them.

[Olfgar]

I like your ideas, and Im now starting a new campaign at level 3 (by player request) so I figure since they would have been doing something itd be easier for me to throw them somewhere that they dont normally play, such as ship wrecked on an island, arriving in a desert port town or something, or anything else that would be due to events that happened over the first couple levels that we will just be writing in.