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View Full Version : DMs have a Drinking problem much? =P



Dean Fellithor
2007-06-30, 01:29 PM
I was playing a Campaign last night and realised that 75(ish)% of campaigns I've played in have started in Pubs, I'd like to try and supply statistic to this so I can persuade my DM not to start it in a pub as often. please help!:biggrin:

Dausuul
2007-06-30, 01:33 PM
I was playing a Campaign last night and realised that 75(ish)% of campaigns I've played in have started in Pubs, I'd like to try and supply statistic to this so I can persuade my DM not to start it in a pub as often. please help!:biggrin:

I'm afraid I can't help you. In all my 20 years of gaming, I don't think I've ever played in a drinking establishment...

...oh, you mean the characters start in a pub. :smallbiggrin:

Well, it is kind of traditional. There's a sig floating around these forums claiming "78% of DMs started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, add this to your sig."

There's another that says "78% of DMs started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, stop lying."

Talya
2007-06-30, 01:43 PM
My campaign started on a battlefield. A big battlefield. The player party was part of one of the armies...

ndragonsbane
2007-06-30, 01:55 PM
About 90% of the campaigns I've played in have started in a tavern or inn of some sort.

0% of my campaigns have; although I did once have a pair of dwarf PC's that carried around no fewer than 2 full kegs at a time. If I put my PC's in a tavern to start out where they had to meet each other for the first time they'd screw around and waste about 3 hours of the first session (and probably would end up arguing and splitting into smaller groups).

Granted, I've never once had a campaign where the PC's didn't start at least one adventure in a tavern at some later point (and with the dwarves just about every adventure began and ended in one).

Tallis
2007-06-30, 03:07 PM
Ive never had a campaign start in a tavern. I've also never had one that didn't have a tavern somewhere in the plot. I'm usually more inclined to use officials to start the first quest.

TheAlmightyOne
2007-06-30, 03:30 PM
We didnt start our campaign in a tavern. we started at hero school. I was aloud to pick our backstory cos everyone else couldnt be bothered. also my upcoming campaign where i Dm starts on a ship. my alchoholism has nothing to do with it

SurlySeraph
2007-06-30, 03:42 PM
It's just that tavern are really convenient for lazy people. You don't have to come up with a complicated explanation for why your character would end up in a tavern. It's hard to explain a head-banging barbarian meeting future party members in any kind of governmental or civic institution, and it's hard to explain a studious wizard spending more time than necessary on a battlefield. But everybody likes to drink from time to time.

Shoyliguad
2007-06-30, 03:48 PM
I prefer to start my adventures with a bang or if I dare start in a tavern I let everyone a bit of time, barely introduce themselves before something HUGE happens, like an earthquake or a werewolf charging in. Its a good hook I find.

Mr the Geoff
2007-06-30, 05:00 PM
My DM used to run his games in his dad's pub, no that's the proper way to do it, if the players are in the tavern, who cares where the characters start?

JellyPooga
2007-06-30, 05:05 PM
You've got to start stereotypical campaigns in taverns because it's the law (or something).

Oh sure, there's plenty of better ways to introduce the characters, but think of all the fantasy literature you've read...I'll be willing to bet that at least one main character in 70% of those books was introduced in a tavern, pub or inn.

Oh yeah, it's also the law that every tavern/inn/pubs main drinking room have at least 5 shady corners (despite being square) with single tables in for the Rogue/Moody/Mysterious characters to sit in and drink quietly (still wearing their hooded cloaks despite being inside) whilst watching the other characters/patrons....

...There must also be some rowdy Barbarians/Fighters/Dwarves drinking loudly whilst headbutting each other and other such non-sense...I think the landlords hire them specially for campaign beginnings (they have a sixth sense about when a new plot-line is going to start in their pub)...

...and new plot-lines aren't real plot-lines unless their given to the 'heroes' by an old man of some description, whther he be a king or noble of some description or a blind old beggar or a pilgrim or whatever; just as long as he's old and possibly crazy/distraught...it's the rules.

Quietus
2007-06-30, 08:06 PM
Oh yeah, it's also the law that every tavern/inn/pubs main drinking room have at least 5 shady corners (despite being square) with single tables in for the Rogue/Moody/Mysterious characters to sit in and drink quietly (still wearing their hooded cloaks despite being inside) whilst watching the other characters/patrons....

Have you done a lot of freeform roleplay, by chance?

*Remembers the old Yahoo glory days fondly*

psychoticbarber
2007-06-30, 08:08 PM
Taverns and the Starts of Campaigns often have one major thing in common:

They're both places/times when people congregate.

I think that's usually it. :smallsmile:

SpiderBrigade
2007-06-30, 08:19 PM
Yeah, as others have explored in detail, the tavern is a mechanically appealing location. If you have a disparate group, it gives the party a chance to meet up without having to create a "group backstory," and without straining verisimilitude too much. It's plausible that all these characters would be in the local inn/tavern/alehall what have you.

Also, and this is a bit out on a limb, it establishes all the characters as in some fashion sociable people. Either they like to hang out and drink, and make friends with new and exciting people (which is good for party-forming!) or they at least prefer to do their lonely enigmatic brooding in public where other people can see. What that says about the players, I won't venture to guess :smallbiggrin:

Talya
2007-06-30, 08:32 PM
There are other ways, but they are few and far between.

In my "Not-so-nice" swashbuckling campaign*, the characters mostly started off as mercenaries in an army invading a mostly good nation. It made for an easy beginning, their army was defeated, they escaped with their lives, they take to the sea.



* The characters are not quite evil enough. They're semi-evil. They're quasi-evil. They're the margarine of evil. They're the Diet Coke of evil, just one calorie, not evil enough.

SadisticFishing
2007-06-30, 08:35 PM
Adventurers meet in inns. Period.

Recursive
2007-06-30, 08:45 PM
It was a metagamer drove me to drink...and I never had the courtesy to thank him for it.

TheOOB
2007-06-30, 08:57 PM
It's classic, and its efficient. D&D games usually work best if you get right to the action, and one of the quickest ways to do that is the simple "You all meet in the bar, and go on the mission" Sure there could be more elaborate methods of introducing characters, but your players are likely to get distracted before you get too far.

Miles Invictus
2007-07-01, 12:58 AM
I DM'ed my first campaign about a year ago. It began with the PCs defending a caravan against a gaggle of mercenaries. In the midst of the battle, the mercenaries managed to beat down and abduct a VIP who was traveling with the caravan. The PCs managed to track them to a nearby cave, whereupon they knocked out a few guards, snuck into a defaced crypt, and defeated a crusader about to sacrifice the kidnapped VIP to a long-forgotten god of physical corruption.

I didn't do it out of any real desire to be unique or different; I'd only started my first campaign, as a player, a few weeks earlier, so the tavern experience was still new and exciting. Mainly, I did it because I'm a bit too self-conscious for RP-heavy gaming. Also, it was their first game of D&D, too, so I figured I'd keep them a bit more interested with some kick-in-the-door action to start things off. Plus, I had about twenty minutes to work with.

When I started as a player (yes, also about a year ago), we began the campaign in a tavern, formed a mercenary band, and quickly found a job. This last May, my DM ran a one-shot of Warhammer, in his own personal campaign setting. That one began with...oddly enough...an attack on the caravan we were a part of.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the tavern is popular because it provides a plausible way for people of vastly disparate races, personalities, and cultures to meet and spontaneously decide to "team up". Especially as your stereotypical taverns are part of the rumor mill on which your average adventurer thrives.

Raltar
2007-07-01, 01:11 AM
I've DMed once and it started in an icy pass. Players were part of a caravan. First game I actually played, I started in the middle of a forest, solo. I was the protecter of that particular forest and I stumbled across a strangly dressed man and accused him of being a poacher. I was about to lay the smack down, but the dm slowly shook his head as if to tell me it would have been a bad idea. I can think of 2 different games where we started off in a tavern, but both games got to the action very quickly.

Gaelbert
2007-07-01, 01:16 AM
I've had adventures that started in the ashes of a tavern the PCs have destroyed. Does that count?

Dhavaer
2007-07-01, 01:16 AM
I started my first ever campaign in a graveyard. It didn't go too well; starting to play D&D in a vacuum isn't a good idea.

From memory, I've started a campaign outdoors (twice), in a car (at least twice), in a hospital, in a cafe (done twice, closest to a tavern I've gotten) and exiting a theatre.

Jack Mann
2007-07-01, 01:18 AM
Of course, D20 Modern has a slightly different aesthetic than D&D.

Zel
2007-07-01, 01:19 AM
Well, to date I've started all my campaigns at a distinctively non-tavern location.

On the other hand, I usually do so with a beer or mixed drink of some type in my hand. Wheeeeee roleplaying juice!

Dhavaer
2007-07-01, 01:22 AM
Of course, D20 Modern has a slightly different aesthetic than D&D.

The outdoors and graveyard ones were actually D&D, amazing as that may seem. Urban Arcana does have the 'Prancing Pony' medival themed takeaway restaurants, though. They look exactly like taverns, and the description even says that a lot of adventures start in them.

Binary Stars
2007-07-01, 03:35 AM
I always figured the best beginings were the James Bond-esq "Roll initiative!"-type beginings. You may want to try and start your next campaign with your players attention focused on characters other then the ones they created without them knowing, only to have their characters explode on to the scene and kill then kill off the ones they thought they were playing immediately after. That'll liven up the action factor. When everything's dead, have them get aquainted in a totally new and random place, preparing for their next mission. :smallwink:
As for a setting, possible every day places good to meet are, inexplicably, any place you would find somebody selling fish. Don't ask. You could also try a twist on the standard amnesia (If you don't find it too cliche, I do.) and have them make a will save V. some kind of memory altering spell of your choice, first thing, followed by them waking up in an alleyway or dungeon with several other people (the other party members) who stumbled onto the same spooooky stuff the BBEG is up to as you did.

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-01, 03:35 AM
I'm going to be gearing up for my first game shortly. I'm going to do some stuff with each of the characters before they all meet up together. (It's going to be over IM, or some kind of turbo charged client I end up programming) Not sure where that will be. But to avoid cliche it'll almost certainly be anything but a bar, tavern, or inn.


I'm planning a Farce campaign some time in the future as well. (How is it a farce? Well, people notice all the strange things about their world, like "there's all these people who want to destroy the Universe for some Vague reason" and "these adventurers keep breaking in and smashing all my pots! Why do they smash all my pots?!". It may well start with, "You are all in a tavern, largely because you all decided that as adventurers, this is where you should start. You assume that is what most of the people in here are doing because only one quarter of them are drinking, and they are heavily armed. This is all being tolerated because of the one dwarf in full platemail drinking enough to cover everyone at least twice.")

Corolinth
2007-07-01, 04:56 AM
Starting in a pub isn't unoriginal. Or rather, starting someplace other than a pub isn't any more original (those sigs - not impressing anybody but yourself).

The reason most campaigns start in pubs is because of what the pub represents. The pub is the number one major social hub of society all the way up until the early 1900s. Church is historically a distant second. The pub is where you go to get the talk of the town because the whole town is in there. The pub is the first place a traveler stops when they hit town, so it's the best place to go to hire adventurers. The pub just works. It's natural. It's where people go for everything in any setting.

Callix
2007-07-01, 05:16 AM
I've only run the one campaign, and it's a bit rocky, but I just said: "You all live in Sharn (Eberron) and you get a letter asking your aid from the city watch". They were then asked to break up a goblin crime ring (with lvl1 goblin mooks). They were paid 50gp per live goblin. Thought it might mix it up a bit... but 3 of my 4 players were new to D&D... should've thought of that earlier...

TomTheRat
2007-07-01, 08:45 AM
I drink because of the dumb things my players do.

Alleine
2007-07-02, 12:37 AM
Seeing as I'm new to DnD, I haven't had the chance to start in a pub yet. However, the few games I have been in, we at least go to a tavern and drink. This new campaign we started was in an alley and pretty much was "roll initiative" and our fighter nearly died.

It is my belief that if you at no point during a campaign set foot in a tavern/pub/place to get alchoholic drinks, you aren't playing DnD right. Which odd since I've never even smelled beer.

Dairun Cates
2007-07-02, 01:19 AM
Hmm... Of the Campaigns I've done...

1 started in a pub as a joke during a zombie attack.
2 started in high schools (1 of which was in space)
1 in the Netherworld
1 started in a field
1 at the Unseen University
1 being attacked by Bandits
1 at the hall of Justice
1 in an Insurance Company lobby
1 in every location of the world simultaneously
1 in a fun fair... of doom
1 in a pokemon tournament
1 at a fighting tournament that was all a disguise for Doctor Wily, but it's okay, because it turned out to be the Christmas episode.

... and too many to count started in Alpha Complex

I'm not much for standards.

Triggerhappy938
2007-07-02, 01:32 AM
I do not have a drinking problem. I drink. I get drunk. I kill PCs. No problem.

I can see the logic in the importance of the tavern to the life of an adventurer. It is the one establishment where a thuggish barbarian, noble knight, sneak thief, holy man, and mad mage can all meet and be greeted. Adventurers at low level can rarely afford to keep a static residence, especially with all the traveling your average party does, so the tavern offers a refuge from the wilderness. Heck, it would probably be safe to bet that most adventurers were both born and conceived in taverns.

Though, I personally have my own methods. My first campaign brought the adventurers together as being individually approached and contracted for an escort mission that ended up leading the party into the main story arch. I find that starting the game with the party having the same goal in mind gives them less chances to go on random tangents of "I don't really care about this mission, I'm gonna go kill a puppy now".

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-02, 01:51 AM
Meanwhile... at the hall of justice!

"Holy Cow batman! It's the Tarrasque!"

"Now where in my utility belt was I keeping that +5 vorpal long sword..."

"Look. Why don't I just use my heat vision on it or something?"

"Not everything can be solved by your heat vision!"

"Oh right, and what are you going to do. Tell one of your fish friends to make friends with it?"

"Shut up! It's not my fault I don't have cool super powers like you all do!" *cries* *runs away*

"Great. The rest of you go fight the Tarrasque. Batman here can play at being Auqaman's therapist."

"Why do I have to do it? I'm just shy of being a total sociopath!"

"That's exactly why, it's funny."

"Good point. Superfriends transform and roll out!"

"That's Transformers Batman."

"... Dang it."

Bender
2007-07-02, 04:23 AM
The odd thing is that the illiterate, aggressive barbarian, the intellectual, cultivated wizard, the ascetic monk that lives on bread and water, and the druid with his bear all go to the same tavern, while most villages have several bars, with the wizard in the clean discussion bar of the library, the barbarian in the darkest, dampest fighting bar around, the druid in the local druids grove and the monk...
the monk would probably go to the cheapest bar and beg for some garbage, just to have a reason to be there when the adventure starts...

banjo1985
2007-07-02, 05:58 AM
I've started a few of my campaigns in a tavern, it's definitely an unwritten rule that this should be so! However my next campaign is starting outside the mayors house, so that will break the mould a bit!

I think it's just that a tavern is a very easy way to get disparate characters together quickly so that a campaign can start, yes its contrived to an extent. but its really just an easy way to get the whole thing moving.

Capt'n Ironbrow
2007-07-02, 10:23 AM
The tavern is also a place where the heroes have the best chance of hearing rumours of lost treasures and scary places where monsters dwell who are a threat to the settlement...

With 2 characters per player and switching GM's (and we GM in pairs), most adventures of my WFRP group can start anywhere, and very often in the quite unconventional location of the characters own dwelling, be it their own castle, a chariot workshop or just a hired room somewhere. At first, the tavern was the place to start, for about 3 or 4 adventures... then we mostly started in the home towns whenever possible, or on the road.
Bringing all characters (3-5) together is a bit of a pain sometimes as everyone sees each other as just an acqaintance rather than close friend in most situations (though the characters that survived since the first few sessions have a closer bond), while the insanities begin to accumulate in such a way that certain characters now try to avoid each other's presence, have begun to strongly dislike each other or have become each other's nemesis... 2 GM's does come in handy now, because the party is usually split in multiple fragments for a few episodes before events finally bring them together.

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-02, 11:08 PM
the thing is: WHY the hell would they all coincedently meet in a Tavern and suddenly be best friends?

something fishy seems to be going on...

Bender
2007-07-03, 01:25 AM
the thing is: WHY the hell would they all coincedently meet in a Tavern and suddenly be best friends?

something fishy seems to be going on...

"Ka" (for those that have read The Dark Tower, and I recommend it, "Fate" for the others)

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-03, 02:35 AM
the thing is: WHY the hell would they all coincedently meet in a Tavern and suddenly be best friends?

something fishy seems to be going on...

IT'S A CONSPIRACY! Obviously the taverns are all part of an elaborate secret society that controls the world! They have adventurers 'conveniently' meet together and 'magically' become friends to 'save the day'.

But it's a trick! Don't fall for it!

Triggerhappy938
2007-07-03, 02:46 AM
On a side note, if I was an evil overlord in a medival fantasy setting, I would begin by destroying every tavern in the land.

Charity
2007-07-03, 02:59 AM
yup that sounds pretty evil ^

Quick and dirty - taverns KISS.

Kurald Galain
2007-07-03, 04:18 AM
I was playing a Campaign last night and realised that 75(ish)% of campaigns I've played in have started in Pubs

My campaign used to have a famous tea house as a meeting place...

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-03, 04:50 AM
On a side note, if I was an evil overlord in a medival fantasy setting, I would begin by destroying every tavern in the land.

That is SO making it into my Farce campaign.

"Only a group of adventurers can stop me now. I will destroy all the taverns so they can never meet! Bwa ha ha!"

You have heard word of a man dressed in black destroying local taverns laughing. You quickly deduce that he is trying to stop a band of adventurers from meeting together and defeating him. You begin to construct your own tavern in secret so as to meet up, however you hear rumors of <insert number of other players here> doing the same as well. You each decide to meet in the center. How those of you without good math skills managed this is a mystery that no attempt will be made to explain. You hear that? NO ATTEMPT.

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-03, 08:26 AM
Make taverns inside a huge Demon Trap, just like that area that the Demons were converging on in the last episode of the 2nd season of SuperNatural, obviously all Evil people are Demons.

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-03, 08:45 AM
Make taverns inside a huge Demon Trap, just like that area that the Demons were converging on in the last episode of the 2nd season of SuperNatural, obviously all Evil people are Demons.

What's that in reference too? How to stop the BBEG? Really this is more of an after thought because BBEG never win. All it takes to topple the Baldyxrg lord of worms, patron of cannibals, eater of suns, devourer of all cakes is some hapless farm hand with heart and a can do attitude!

Really, they should just change their titles. "Easily Defeated." "Dark God of Vague Evil" "The not particularly threatening one."

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-03, 10:27 AM
What's that in reference too? How to stop the BBEG? Really this is more of an after thought because BBEG never win. All it takes to topple the Baldyxrg lord of worms, patron of cannibals, eater of suns, devourer of all cakes is some hapless farm hand with heart and a can do attitude!

Really, they should just change their titles. "Easily Defeated." "Dark God of Vague Evil" "The not particularly threatening one."
yes, how to stop BBEGs from destroying your Tavern.:tongue: :biggrin:

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-03, 11:48 AM
yes, how to stop BBEGs from destroying your Tavern.:tongue: :biggrin:

You can only stop the BBEG from destroying your tavern if you are an adventurer. Thus say the rules of plot.

Yes adventurers can own taverns.

Ditto
2007-07-03, 01:08 PM
I've DMed two campaigns - well, modules - and started both of them at the mouth of the dungeon. I'll waste no time!

In the two games I've played in that stuck around and became campaigns, they started with a bit of action, but once we were back to 'civilization', there really wasn't any reason for us to be adventuring together. Finding that common ground has always been a pain... I just never brought up the issue and followed the group around without explanation, cuz I didn't want to be difficult. It's sort of fun to just declare that 'You're a party!' and see what develops. In the one I'm DMing now, there's a Tiny halfling cloistered cleric (a professor) and a Drow assassin. After a little retconning, it turns out the Professor works at an adventuring college, and was the only teacher who thought they should actually require the Drow to document his time adventuring. (It's being logged as an independent study.) All of the other profs were happy to let him send in a note asking for whatever credit he thought was fair. ("I'm not going to tell the assassin he's not graduating!")



"Not everything can be solved by your heat vision!"


Not everything can be solved by your utility belt! (http://howitshouldhaveended.com/Divx%20links/Superman.html)

Dairun Cates
2007-07-03, 01:39 PM
Meanwhile... at the hall of justice!

"Holy Cow batman! It's the Tarrasque!"

"Now where in my utility belt was I keeping that +5 vorpal long sword..."

"Look. Why don't I just use my heat vision on it or something?"

"Not everything can be solved by your heat vision!"

"Oh right, and what are you going to do. Tell one of your fish friends to make friends with it?"

"Shut up! It's not my fault I don't have cool super powers like you all do!" *cries* *runs away*

"Great. The rest of you go fight the Tarrasque. Batman here can play at being Auqaman's therapist."

"Why do I have to do it? I'm just shy of being a total sociopath!"

"That's exactly why, it's funny."

"Good point. Superfriends transform and roll out!"

"That's Transformers Batman."

"... Dang it."

I DM a lot of different systems, but point made about the hilarity of the Tarrasque fighting the Justice League. Although, funny enough, the above was actually a game that didn't involve the Justice League at all. I just never named the hall and needed a comparison.

Webtron
2007-07-04, 08:32 PM
my dm wont start in taverns anymore, since ireminded him that all i prepare are fire spell, and booze is highly flammable... when combined with my phrases "BY FIRE BE PURGED!" and everyones favorite, "when in doubt set something on fire" he decided that he didnt want towns exploding again:smalleek:

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-04, 10:44 PM
my dm wont start in taverns anymore, since ireminded him that all i prepare are fire spell, and booze is highly flammable... when combined with my phrases "BY FIRE BE PURGED!" and everyones favorite, "when in doubt set something on fire" he decided that he didnt want towns exploding again:smalleek:

... Isn't the whole point of Taverns setting them on fire?

horseboy
2007-07-05, 12:21 AM
Yeah, I don't remember where my first "campaign" started. Way too long ago.

I'll never start a campaign in a tavern for one reason:

Wee Willies

We ran an entire WoD campaign in a night club. My players are WAY to easily side tracked at the bar.

HotSake
2007-07-05, 02:31 PM
Level 7 Rouge, level 2 Fighter, First level Favored soul
- I'm more powerful then you, so don't try anything!
Not more powerful than spelling!


Rouge = Rogue
then = than

Deepblue706
2007-07-05, 02:36 PM
The very first campaign I ever started was SUPPOSED to begin outside a royal palace, where the one PC who was there at the time was supposed to help guide the King's caravan through some dangerous woods.

He asked "Can I kill the king, instead? This sounds boring."

I hesitated for a moment, weighed what the player would most enjoy, and turned it into an assassination mission: He began in the same spot, only at night, ready to break in.

I haven't DM'd too many games, but they generally begin in places like a Town Hall or a Castle of some type. The one game I am currently running on these forums actually started in a tavern - a first for me in about 7 years of playing the game.

Rob Knotts
2007-07-05, 03:57 PM
I've used the tavern once or twice, by I've also seen (and been in) situations where players choose to make thier characters utterly oblivous NPC behavior and discussion around them, essentially waiting for someone to approach them and say "here's the job I need done and here's how much I'm willing to pay for".

The main reason always seemed to be that they wanted to be a superior bargaining position when it came to pay, rather than the perceived "inferior" arguing position created by approaching someone and asking for a job.

One particularly bad "tavern" beginning actually came in a Cyberpunk 2020 game. The PCs were a bunch of newbie street mercenaries (and newbie players) with no reputation yet, and I started them out in a bar that featured want-ads for mercenaries.

It literally came down to the "Fixer" (conman, faceman) of the group verbally turning down every offer with statements like "we don't have the guns for this, we don't have the hardware for that, would need an aero (hovercar) for this one..."

The player, a control-freak when it came to roleplaying games, was none-to-subtly suggesting that I was being an unfair GM by not providing his team of beginning characters access to equipment on par with major metropolitan SWAT teams.

Nowadays I always try to avoid passive starting points like taverns and try to throw characters right into the fray. Starting them as prisoners who need somebody to get them out is still good, but in general I'd just as soon start them out in the middle of a riot, disaster, or battle. Starting out in a town under assault from a dragon or a wave of ghouls can do WONDERS for PC motivation:smallbiggrin:

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-05, 04:59 PM
Not more powerful than spelling!


Rouge = Rogue
then = than


pls for your sake and mine: DON'T BE A GRAMMAR NAZI

Piccamo
2007-07-05, 05:16 PM
pls for your sake and mine: DON'T BE A GRAMMAR NAZI

I just shot the Grammar Nazi.:biggrin:

And yet you changed your sig? I applaud your efforts on self-improvement, but you can't claim victory if there is none to be had.

Pet_Flumph
2007-07-05, 08:45 PM
Mine never start in taverns.

They just start with the PCs heading for a Tavern...

BRC
2007-07-05, 08:49 PM
... and too many to count started in Alpha Complex




Did they take place in TAV sector, subsector ERN?

Blinkbear
2007-07-05, 08:58 PM
Actually, imo, it's pretty simple:

a) A dungeon master needs a place for characters to meet each other and group up. Most players I met and dm'ed are okay with this, since they would like to start the adventure.

b) A tavern makes a good place, because it is a place where rumours are spread. Whenever I was at the countryside on holidays I realized it: People are talking about their neighbours, colleages and whatnot in taverns. They speak about their problems, why life is so hard, and they do so in a louder way the more alcohol they had. Many adventurers who are searching for a job/quest/whatever need someone to give it to them. So why not go to a tavern if you want to hear the newest rumours "I heard that neighbour Sean is acting strangely since the day he came back from the forest after staying there for a week..." - "Yeah, Brian always says he has never been the same again since this time. " - "Yeah and I heard that he does sorcery now...!" Or simply: "Times are tough since the sherrif from nottingham puts a up the taxes all the times." So this is some kind of synergy: Adventurers come to taverns to hear about rumours, to know what's going on, to have a nice tavern fight. And employers go to taverns to find adventurers there because they know, adventurers will be there. It's that easy.

SilverClawShift
2007-07-05, 10:02 PM
Taverns are the universal common ground. Most small towns will only have one, and it doesn't matter WHY you're at the tavern, the tavern is where people go when they don't have other places to be.

Want a drink after a day of standing around and guarding a door? Tavern
Wandering through town and looking for a group of drunk people to give you a standing ovation for strumming a lute? Tavern
Looking for a fight cause you got a bad attitude? Tavern
Place to sack out? Tavern's usually got an inn attached.
Bored? Tavern.
Almost everyone has a reason to go the the tavern for one reason or another.

Then comes point two. "Why are they all in a tavern at the same time?!" or "The city is huge and has tons of taverns, why are they all in the same one?!"

Well duh. it's because you're the PLAYERS in this game. The wizard who's sitting in a tower and reading a book isn't going on this adventure. You're not him. You're the wizard who's at the tavern. If you weren't at the tavern, you'd be someone else who WAS at the tavern.

It reminds me of something my DM did when my current group first started playing together. One of our early campaigns started when a rampaging two-tone dragon (it was black and green, if that matters :smallyuk:) utterly destroyed a small town, because it's a dragon and it felt like it.

Only a tiny handful of people escaped the carnage, 2 townsfolk and our player group. One of the players said "Oh, yeah, and all of us just HAPPENED to be the ones that survived".
And my DM said "Okay, the dragon tore your in half and decorated the town square with your blood, make a new character and that one can join the group later".
When he bitched about being killed for calling the DM out, the DM said "You didn't call me out, you called yourself out. You all survived because you're the ones playing the game. Anyone who wasn't a survivor couldn't really be a player, could they? I retroactively killed you cause I thought that would make it sink in, but it didn't. Don't worry, I'll kill you harder until you learn".

Of course, the rest of us couldn't keep from laughing. It really did set the tone for us as a group though, and really illustrated that some things are storytelling stock because the alternative is ridiculous.
Of course the protagonist escaped the burning building. If they died at the start of the story, then the story wouldn't really be about them, would it?
Same deal with the tavern. You all happened to meet up in that tavern because you're the main characters. If you weren't in the tavern, then the story wasn't about you.

**************

Uh, that all said, our gaming group has since evolved to a new way of beginning our storys. Once the Dm has established where we are and what's going down, and we all have our characters ready to go, and we've all agreed on what the game's going to be about and what it's going to be like playing it, we start the ball rolling on pre-existing relationships.

We'll all give a quickie description of our character, class, personality quirks, who they are. Then the DM starts prodding us on wether we allready know each other or not.
"Wizard, Barbarian, ever met before"
Wizard: Uh *pause* Yeah. We're childhood friends? And he used to beat up the kids who picked on me cause I was always reading, I wouldn't have ever had the time and concentration to become a full-fledged wizard if he hadn't been sticking up for me.
Barbarian: Awesome. Yeah that works for me.

"Favored Soul, Rogue, ever met"
Favored Soul: I've never seen that shady little sneak before in my life

"Kay"

and then the DM starts weaving the threads we gave him and we all wind up meeting as the adventure rolls out.

It works for us.

Rob Knotts
2007-07-05, 11:03 PM
Let's also not forget that until the characters are engaged in a story, getting them to stay together, let alone work together, is a lot like herding cats. Taverns are certainly overused, but most of the DMs end up starting all the characters off in some sort of central, confined area.

HotSake
2007-07-06, 04:36 AM
pls for your sake and mine: DON'T BE A GRAMMAR NAZI
You spelled "please" wrong. Also, I was being a spelling nazi. If I wanted to be a grammar nazi, I'd talk about your inappropriate use of the hyphen and failure to end that sentence with any kind of punctuation.

Then again, you've had a lot of karate and fencing. Wouldn't want to anger you, now would I?

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-06, 09:51 AM
You spelled "please" wrong. Also, I was being a spelling nazi. If I wanted to be a grammar nazi, I'd talk about your inappropriate use of the hyphen and failure to end that sentence with any kind of punctuation.

Then again, you've had a lot of karate and fencing. Wouldn't want to anger you, now would I?

nope.:biggrin: <Hulk talk> DEAN SMASH YOU GOOD!</Hulk talk>:furious:

Piccamo
2007-07-06, 09:55 AM
If you're Dread Dean, shouldn't you be talking like some sort of pirate or swashbuckler?

"Dean Smash" is never a good response.

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-06, 10:30 AM
If you're Dread Dean, shouldn't you be talking like some sort of pirate or swashbuckler?

"Dean Smash" is never a good response.

yes... true... crap!

The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-06, 05:55 PM
One of my campaigns started at each of the player's home towns, they having to adventure alone (or in pairs if from the same place) and then coming together somewhere on the road.

In another campaign they all met at a wizard's tower.

The third started in an inn/tavern... but the entire game took place there. Kind of like a medieval fantasy version of 1408 (and I swear I knew nothing of it at the time).

Lavin
2007-07-06, 10:13 PM
Well, I started my first campaign at a large festival. One of my players bumped into a frantic druid in search of help defending his home against raiding hobgoblins. The player gathered the attention of the other PC's from there. One of the PC's, however, ran into the others after he had been...imbibing a few too many. That was his own choice, though, not mine.

PhallicWarrior
2007-07-07, 01:21 PM
I started my (SW D20) campaign in a cantina, does that count?

Inyssius Tor
2007-07-07, 01:22 PM
Yes. Yes it does.

Dean Fellithor
2007-07-07, 03:35 PM
I started my (SW D20) campaign in a cantina, does that count?

Any where that serves Drink-ables (Tea, wine or Powerade, ect...) counts.

Deme
2007-07-07, 06:58 PM
let's see.... one campaign started in a tavern... it ended up involving some baby white dragons, and ended not too long after...sad.

my first campaign didn't technically start in a tavern. This being said, there was a session of "pre-campaign adventure" for 2 of the players, and that started with their characters in a tavern. They, out of their own interists, fought some tiefling gangsters and then went their seperate ways because they hated each other. The actual campaign started with three of the characters (2 others showed up the next session) being dragged into a thrown room of a king who had been turned into a little dog.

most of my campaigns started in other ways...this campaign will begin with them all in this violence-based festival.