How do you like to start a campaign?

[Sir cryosin]

Now everyone knows the old trope. We're you all meet in a tavern. So what are some of y'all's favorite ways to start a campaign.

[Laurefindel]

In media res, with flashbacks or montage scenes to explain how the players got there.

[Fishyninja]

My fave one so far has to have been escaping a tyrannical empire (as we were mercs hired by a rebellion) ambushed in our sleep because our gnome (Stupid Mimi) fell asleep to us waking up naked in a dungeon.

[Steel Mirror]

Yeah, starting the game with a crisis is a great way to get people involved and interested right off the bat. Give them something to react to, a clear goal which they will fail or succeed at by the end of the first scene, and the chance to approach things a few different ways so that, as they are playing, they are also determining what their character's personality will be. By their actions they decide whether their character prefers negotiation to intimidation, if they react to threats with fear or by throwing even bigger threats or with snark, and so on.

Since I prefer pulpier, high heroics in my game I also usually make plenty of opportunities for the players to feel like big cool awesome heroes in the first scene, and have the NPCs respond accordingly, though in an upcoming war game I'm planning the tone is a lot grimmer so the opening scene will probably be pretty bleak and involve lots of pointless death of friendlies as a result. The opening of the game can be huge in establishing the tone of the rest of what follows, so taking advantage of that first impression can be good.

Also keep it short and sweet. A 20 minute combat/social conflict/Indiana Jones temple sequence encounter followed by a breather to get some backstory, have the characters interact with each other (and introduce themselves if needed), and get their bearings is probably my sweet spot.

[Fishyninja]

I also believe this is why a 'Session 0' is a necessity for all campaigns, it gives the players the background, tone and base rules of a world.

[JellyPooga]

With Beer and Pizza.


I also believe this is why a 'Session 0' is a necessity for all campaigns, it gives the players the background, tone and base rules of a world.

Absolutely this. Getting everyone sat down and discussing what they want or expect out of a campaign, character ideas and so forth is a great way to start.

Beer and Pizza is optional, I guess, but what kind of social event would it be without them? Besides, everyone likes drinks and nibbles at the gaming table, might as well inaugurate everyones character sheets with some greasy, beery stains (it's not a real character sheet unless it has a minimum of four separate stains, to include; one cup-ring (beverage of your choice), two see-through greasy spots (from chip mayo, pizza and/or crisps) and one curry (Korma doesn't count) stain that obscures an item on your equipment list you swear is something important, but no-one can remember or make out what it was...you get 1-5 bonus points for a repaired tear, depending on the extent of the damage and 10 bonus points if you manage to salvage a sheet from a full-on drink-spill).

[Fishyninja]

(Korma doesn't count)

You and I can be friends now.
Normally mine is a stout so dark stains and lots and lots of cheese. God I love cheese, hell even when we play Roll20 we all start off by snack comparing

[MrStabby]

You and I can be friends now.
Normally mine is a stout so dark stains and lots and lots of cheese. God I love cheese, hell even when we play Roll20 we all start off by snack comparing

Oh yes. Stout in session zero. Stout and steak, ale and Stilton pie with creamy mashed potato.

Curry is good as well though.

[Fishyninja]

Oh yes. Stout in session zero. Stout and steak, ale and Stilton pie with creamy mashed potato.

Curry is good as well though.

YES MORE FOODIE FRIENDS. LET THE FOOD CONSUME YOU......Wrong way round.

[JobsforFun]

You and I can be friends now.
Normally mine is a stout so dark stains and lots and lots of cheese. God I love cheese, hell even when we play Roll20 we all start off by snack comparing

A fellow cheese lover! (Have you had Irish Cream Cheese?) I'm not an experienced DM but I wanted to start my campaign out in a festival letting my players describe their characters and why they are at the festival perhaps. Obviously in the session I would describe the world to my players etc

Quick question I am a new DM has anyone done a campaign where they had a more experienced DM kind of help them along the way? The other DM isn't apart of the campaign necessarily but he helps the un-experienced DM along the way with questions etc?

[JellyPooga]

Oh yes. Stout in session zero. Stout and steak, ale and Stilton pie with creamy mashed potato.

Ooo...gourmet gaming grub. I like like it!

Stout is indeed a good gaming drink; nice and heavy so you don't get tempted to drink too much (which never ends well)!

[Fishyninja]

Have you had Irish Cream Cheese?

No, but now I must. I've had red wine cheese before.


Ooo...gourmet gaming grub. I like like it!

Stout is indeed a good gaming drink; nice and heavy so you don't get tempted to drink too much (which never ends well)!

*looks around nervously*

[Jamgretter]

Verical Slice, baby! Throw 'em right into the action! Let the rest of the session slowly mellow out. (Of course there should be a session zero before hand)

[LaserFace]

I like the idea of starting mid-transit to some location of interest, with things a bit open-ended.

My current campaign began with the party together along a road, journeying to a place rumored to be filled with all sorts of adventure. I gave them a hook to go to a major city, but it would be a while before they reached it, giving a few sessions to get a feel for the land, and understand the themes that would be present in social and combat encounters.

I had previously discussed with them what I had in mind for the game, but I think witnessing how things actually run is important. I feel like it gave them a stronger opportunity to grab the reins and decide what the game should be about, which I think turned out really well.

[CaptainSarathai]

Quick question I am a new DM has anyone done a campaign where they had a more experienced DM kind of help them along the way? The other DM isn't apart of the campaign necessarily but he helps the un-experienced DM along the way with questions etc?
There are lots of palaces to get tips online, including here. Do that first, think about your group, figure out as much as you can in advance, and then start DMing. Having someone on hand or even at the table who has DMed before is nice, but can also be tricky if they start hijacking your campaign. I have a personal theory that the secret dream of all DMs is to be able to play at their own table, while they DM. There's a chance of your "help" giving you nudges toward that.
----

As for starting, I usually pre-write as little as possible. This is my normal go-to, and includes the session zero. Well, really, I usually do the campaign 'start' at the end of session zero.

"The Elder Scrolls Start"
1. Read the World Overview
This introduces the setting, factions, major leaders, and basically just "the world" to your players. It is, at this point, 100% a sandbox to them.

2. Introduce them to an event. They are being chased, or are standing at the mouth of a cave, or are locked in prison. Basically, immediate action. Alduin attacks! etc
If they are being chased, for example, ask them:
Who (faction) is chasing you?
Why are they chasing you?
Where are you going?
Are you working for someone?
--Note that this should try to replicate the over all feel of your campaign. So, if you want a dungeon-crawler, start them at a dungeon. If it's a social campaign, start them somewhere social (a foreign dignitary has just been murdered in the palace, etc). This is literally their first impression of your campaign - this is where you get to add your 2 cents on what you want to do.

3. Ask them who they are.
At this point, they create characters. They already know that they're about to start using this character immediately. This is cool, because it means that if you want a social campaign, and you dropped them into a social setting, the guy who makes a Barbarian knows he's going to be "Act1, Scene1 Useless" and will maybe reconsider. Likewise, if you're playing a "Noble Savages" campaign, the guy playing a Sage Wizard might realize that he's going to have a tough time steering a longship through a horrific storm.

The players also know by this point what's brought them together, maybe even have a sort of background in mind. They're being chased because they're a Robin Hood type outfit, helping the poor by robbing their tyrannical king. So it makes sense that at least one of them is probably a Folk Hero, that they all come from a similar area and all feel charitable and so forth. It makes the party tighter.

4. Play Scene 1 until the end of the session, then go home and write the campaign.
- Many newer DMs fall into the trap of writing a whole campaign, or making a huge sandbox world, and never considering what the players want, or who the main characters (PCs) of their story will even be. You might write a grim, hardcore war setting, with factional intrigue and huge set-piece battles and expect this sweeping epic with martial characters coming to the fore - only to find that your players decided to make a whole party of Halfling Bards. Now your plot is ruined, your setting a shambles, or you're forcing them to do what you want, and ignoring that they're bards.
With my method, you're less likely to fall into that trap. You give them an overview of a war-torn world before they makes their characters, so maybe they don't even go with Bards. But if they do anyway, they've at least told you what they want to do, and you might even have enough material for a first adventure while you drop hooks and try to work out how the campaign will feel and go.

[thorr-kan]

Dunno. Only ever started one campaign, and it's still ongoing. That started with a bunch of kids in a slavers' caravan, some interaction with sympathetic NPCs, a raid by opposition forces, and a breakout.

Next session started several years later with the teenagers being first level and ready to go out and Cause Trouble^H^H^H Make A Difference.

[Ruslan]

"The Elder Scrolls Start"
1. Read the World Overview
This introduces the setting, factions, major leaders, and basically just "the world" to your players. It is, at this point, 100% a sandbox to them.
If your players remain awake for Step 2, I genuinely envy you.

[Hrugner]

I tell them where they are and a few things that are happening in the area, and let them tell me how they got there. I prefer to start them already traveling somewhere, in a caravan, in a prison train, on a boat, **** like that. That way in their description of how they got to where they are, they also need to provide a motivation for why they're going where they're going.

[MrStabby]

No, but now I must. I've had red wine cheese before.



*looks around nervously*

Hmm. I have a Brie on the shelf that has begun to go a bit runny. Sounds like a good way to kick off a campaign.

Also - my favourite: https://www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk/shop/uncategorized/buy-criffel-cheese/
Sadly harder to get now.

[Zakhara]

I've run a lot of campaigns, and making a compelling intro is always the hardest part. Working with new players, a Session Zero is practically essential to best get on the same page, and gauge what sort of story you think you can tell. As for groups more comfortable with one another (like mine), you can get more adventurous.

My favourite opening was in an AD&D2e Al-Qadim game I ran, set in Halwa.
On a night under three shooting stars, I used the neo-classic: they all met in prison. One was there for drunkenly "liberating" a brothel (the Pragmatist), another for vigilantism on the hunt for his daughter (the Corsair), and the last as a case of mistaken identity (the Holy Slayer). The Sha'ir met them while visiting to extract the last man there--a fearful elder who insisted on turning himself in.

Why he would do such a thing was a mystery until the prison walls were blasted open by magic, and assassins descended into the rubble. The guards were killed in the blast, leaving the startled prisoners to retrieve their weapons and defend themselves. The old man was Disintegrated in his attempt to escape the melee, but the assassins wouldn't leave any witnesses behind.

Once the dust settled, the prisoners were left wondering "why?"--a question that the Sha'ir could answer, as he discovered the old man sneakily handed off a map to him before his destruction. It was addressed to a stranger. With little to go on but smoke and corpses, they escaped together into the night, hoping the Sha'ir's thieve's guild connections could help them unravel the mystery of their predicament.

I typically like intros that open on action (to stir interest immediately), involve a bit of mystery (to give direction once the scuffle's over), and don't involve secure settings like taverns (to sell the dangers of the setting). Having characters meet by happenstance in a dangerous scenario (like my current game), or by spotlighting one character at a time and building up (if the party is patient enough to go for that) can be memorable and compelling.

[JellyPooga]

*looks around nervously*

I took a bottle of single malt to a game night one time. One of the guys brought a few beers. Another brought a keg. By the end of the night, the bottles and the keg were empty and the campaign was in ruins :smalleek:. We all had a good laugh though...:smallbiggrin:

[MrStabby]

I took a bottle of single malt to a game night one time. One of the guys brought a few beers. Another brought a keg. By the end of the night, the bottles and the keg were empty and the campaign was in ruins :smalleek:. We all had a good laugh though...:smallbiggrin:

Er... I guess I know you. Sorry about that.

[thorr-kan]

I've run a lot of campaigns, and making a compelling intro is always the hardest part.
<SNIP!>
My favourite opening was in an AD&D2e Al-Qadim game I ran, set in Halwa.

Al-Qadim, baby. Al-Qadim.

My example above is also a 2nd Ed AQ came. The players were kids in the hill barbarian village above Muluk. Their rescuers were the Everlasting, and the priest NPC who found them and whose mosque raised them was a Korite pragmatist.

They're name level now, and boy, howdy, people know their names. There are story hooks from that intro section that are still paying off.

[CaptainSarathai]

If your players remain awake for Step 2, I genuinely envy you.

This is the difference between me, and soany other DMs though: I'm really lazy.
I used to write out huge, sprawling, campaign worlds. Gigantic sandboxes with complex politics and room to set an entire series of campaigns in to.
Then I realized how little of that I used.

That's a huge problem in how established settings are presented; it sets up this expectation for DMs that they need to write an entire series of novels to explain their world. But think about campaigns in Faerun; how often do you explore even a fraction of what's provided?

I write my own worlds because the official ones are too big, too detailed. I don't want a player to ever
"Well, actually..."
something I say, based on some footnote that they read way back in 2e or found on a Wiki. So if we play steampunk, we don't play 'Eberron.'

When I introduce players to a campaign setting, I usually show them the map, with 2-3 large kingdoms on it, and some smaller ones, and give a 30 second overview of the large ones, and a couple seconds for the small ones. Example:

- The Kingdom of Altaire is the oldest in the world, founded and ruled by Elves, but now representing an almost equal mix of all races.
The Elves in smaller Mournveil are a small fraction who resent this, and wish to reclaim Altaire exclusively for Elves.
- To the South are the Principalities of Rhikestadt, a loose federation of small human kingdoms unified by a singular religion, with the Church holding the most power. Halflings and Gnomes are found here, as well as a few Dwarfish kingdoms who enjoy the trade. The Rhikestadt has been steadily more unified, and are pushing to expand their borders.
-To the East is the Shattered Basin. In pre-history, this mineral rich land was territory of the Dragonborn. Their civilization was lost in a great cataclysm, and now the only large cities are Kharab-Tur, of the Hobgoblin Khans at the North, and the fortresses and kingdom of StoneWeald, of the Dwarfs along the south-east. The rest of the space is filled with feral tribes of orcs and humans. The king of the StoneWeald is very old, and has no clear successor - his kingdom is all that holds Kharab-Tur at bay.

That is literally all that I wrote for one of my last campaigns.
We started with the "running for your life" intro, and the players said that they were being chased because they had a document that stated who the rightful heir to the StoneWeald was. They were working for a Dwarf kingdom within the Principalities, and had made an enemy of the church, who wanted to use the instability of StoneWeald to invade and spread their borders.

[Potato_Priest]

I have a personal theory that the secret dream of all DMs is to be able to play at their own table, while they DM.


This is so true! I think I'd love playing in one of my games, despite my general ineptness at DMing for anything other than a wilderness campaign. Maybe those "terror DMs" don't share this dream however.

I like to start campaigns in different ways. The most recent one I started began with almost everyone the PCs knew dying, and their eventual goal being to get revenge. I feel like I didn't establish desire for revenge well enough though, as my players are currently avoiding those who killed their families, in favor of going out murderhoboing. They are doing this despite their high level. (Higher than I expected to even happen in this campaign).

[Joe the Rat]

And here I thought "lightly buzzed" would be the minority response.

A session zero (or pregame discussion) to set world, characters, and tone and behavior expectations is a smart start.

To avoid stalling out at the Inn, I used a One Job approach. You are a group, you are working together, this is your task. Get them to the first encounter, then turn them loose. That first bit of play also lets the players get a taste for how they can work together.

Something I want to do next time is to have each character have some connection with at least one other - a web of associations to help explain why this bunch of weirdos is together.

[Poppyseed45]

In general, I usually start with a bit of "roleplay", in that I set a scene of normal life in media res; PCs at their home, or walking into a temple on some business. I usually turn to the players and ask "Why is your character here?" We do then a bit of description and roleplay, and then, as Raymond Chandler recommends, I have "a guy walk in with a gun." In other words, something happens! Worshippers at the temple turn out to be goblins covered in rags as a disguise, or someone knocks at the PC's door and pushes through when the door opens, running into the room as if they're looking for something.

After the PCs deal with it, like someone above said, now they have a mystery to solve (Why did whatever happen? What did they want?) and they had a chance to show off a little, get a few die rolls and mechanics under their belts, etc. This also gives me a chance to know what they want out of the game (we've discussed in Session 0 of course, but some people change their minds pretty fast once the game starts). And then we go from there.

In other ways, I'm a very lazy GM. I sketch barebones "plots", with certain scenes I leave loosely defined so I can jam them into whatever the PCs are doing. The rest of the campaign is whatever the players do, barring the plot we agreed on loosely in Session 0.

[SillyPopeNachos]

A cross-faction alliance is formed to deal with a large enough threat to force them to work together.

[DragonSorcererX]

In the road, kicking bandits asses!

[Ninja_Prawn]

For a slightly different perspective...

I almost exclusively do play-by-post, so I a) have practically unlimited time to get my stuff in order, b) can disseminate setting information separately, in the OOC thread and c) need to avoid in medias res because going into initiative order too soon kills PbP games dead. Therefore, I tend to begin with small, spoilered vignettes telling each player how their character arrived at the scene, and then some kind of intro/speech/quest from a prominent NPC that gives them something to act on immediately. For example (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?434838-A-Faerie-Affair-IC&p=19688494&viewfull=1#post19688494). It may not be cool or flashy, but it makes sure no one is left out, suits the medium and gives me an NPC in the room so I can either kick them into action or answer IC questions as need be.

[Scripten]

I absolutely always start out with a Session 0, which lays out the themes of the campaign and any special circumstances while simultaneously getting characters at least started. As the players are introduced to the world, they are also building more and more complex backstories. Plus, if they come in with something they already want to play, it's easy to integrate them into the world.

My most recent campaign, which is about five sessions in so far, is the most complete homebrew campaign I've run. I have a slightly modified 5e magic system where players are required to use spendable currency to cast spells. (Gold and Platinum pieces are mostly replaced with the alternate magical currencies, which plays two roles: wealth and spell components.) The interplay between wealth and magic in the world encouraged the players to go with a party that is almost all casters with different plot hooks and character-based opinions on the magical economy. Without a session 0, I don't think we could have accomplished such an elegantly campaign-appropriate party without DM fiat/requests.

[goatmeal]

I've always liked the idea of campaign events guiding the reasons for PCs joining together. Never really liked the clichéd you all meet in a tavern unless there's something particularly interesting about the tavern itself.

[MrStabby]

I've always liked the idea of campaign events guiding the reasons for PCs joining together. Never really liked the clichéd you all meet in a tavern unless there's something particularly interesting about the tavern itself.

Anyone who doesn't think taverns are awesome hasn't spent enough time in them.:smallsmile:

[JellyPooga]

Never really liked the clichéd you all meet in a tavern unless there's something particularly interesting about the tavern itself.

Eh, it's as good a place to start as any. There's functionally very little difference between;

"You're all in the tavern; a man bursts in the door, an arrow in his back and a bloody scroll clutched in a hand"

and

"You're all caravan guards; suddenly you're attacked!" [fight fight fight] "One of the bandits has a note"

and

"You're all contacted by [insert NPC of choice] and told to meet at [insert appropriate location]; when you get there, there's a bunch of strangers" [cue introductions]

If you're doing the "PC's don't know each other and have to make introductions somehow, while simultaneously introducing plot" thing, then the actual location and circumstances of that introductory event are largely irrelevant.

I prefer a game to start with the Players deciding how they know each other themselves; it tends to make throwing those plot hooks out there a little easier. There's no "forced parties" for a start ("I'm a Paladin, why am I working with this openly obvious Cleric of [Evil Deity] again?").

[Scripten]

"You're all caravan guards; suddenly you're attacked!" [fight fight fight] "One of the bandits has a note"


Monstrous races (Volo's Guide) make this really fun. If, say, two of your players are goblins, then having them start as part of a goblin troupe that is attacking the other players' caravan can make some interesting party dynamics right out of the gate. Of course, you have to read your players well for this. A particularly combative player with a rigid monster-killer vibe needs to start on the same side as a monstrous PC or they can destroy your campaign within the first session.

[goatmeal]

Eh, it's as good a place to start as any. There's functionally very little difference between;

"You're all in the tavern; a man bursts in the door, an arrow in his back and a bloody scroll clutched in a hand"

and

"You're all caravan guards; suddenly you're attacked!" [fight fight fight] "One of the bandits has a note"

and

"You're all contacted by [insert NPC of choice] and told to meet at [insert appropriate location]; when you get there, there's a bunch of strangers" [cue introductions]

If you're doing the "PC's don't know each other and have to make introductions somehow, while simultaneously introducing plot" thing, then the actual location and circumstances of that introductory event are largely irrelevant.

I prefer a game to start with the Players deciding how they know each other themselves; it tends to make throwing those plot hooks out there a little easier. There's no "forced parties" for a start ("I'm a Paladin, why am I working with this openly obvious Cleric of [Evil Deity] again?").

I might not have been clear enough earlier. The cliche is the handwaving that goes along with it, not the location itself. Why would my PC care to spend time with the specific other PCs in the party, especially when there are often minor tensions in the party to RP? Why not meet someone else more agreeable instead?

One of my favorite adventure starters was Owen Stephens "A Dark and Stormy Knight." It brought all the PCs together in a dangerous spot and provided IC reasons for cooperation and RP. I still use it sometimes even though it's around 10 years old now.

[Fishyninja]

Anyone who doesn't think taverns are awesome hasn't spent enough time in them.:smallsmile:

When I first played pathfinder our meeting Tavern was called The Slippery Nipple and we had a secret password given to each of us by the DM.

[DarthPenance]

Right in the plot, starting right into the action/roleplay and explaining the story of the world later in the first session, like most RPG games.

[goatmeal]

For a slightly different perspective...

I almost exclusively do play-by-post, so I a) have practically unlimited time to get my stuff in order, b) can disseminate setting information separately, in the OOC thread and c) need to avoid in medias res because going into initiative order too soon kills PbP games dead. Therefore, I tend to begin with small, spoilered vignettes telling each player how their character arrived at the scene, and then some kind of intro/speech/quest from a prominent NPC that gives them something to act on immediately. For example (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?434838-A-Faerie-Affair-IC&p=19688494&viewfull=1#post19688494). It may not be cool or flashy, but it makes sure no one is left out, suits the medium and gives me an NPC in the room so I can either kick them into action or answer IC questions as need be.

I also play most PbP, and I think it presents many ways of getting around this issue. You can start with solo games for each player before merging them. You can have concurrently occurring prelude games for each character (ie- a chance for them to discuss how they ended up where they are). I've found the in medias res can go over differently for different types of games. I've never literally started with players in the middle of combat, but I have started them in a jail cell they need to break out of. I know of games (though this has never been something I've done) that are literally nothing other than gladiator combat. I've been in other games where there is no combat for six months and everyone is fine with that. It's a very different beast, and allows for lots of possibilities that aren't present in more conventional gaming methods.

[Specter]

I like a straight-in-your-face kind of deal. Something like:

- The king has called you to solve a mystery regarding missing children. You're in his chambers waiting to meet him.

- A volcano just erupted in your town and you're the only survivors. A nasty trail of lava follows a specific direction.

- You're all locked in a goliath prison after the whole village was raided. An invisible hand throws some keys inside the cell in your direction.

Making the openings too subtle and full of choices can make players reject the concept altogether and ruin the DM and the players' plans.

[The Shadowdove]

I like to have an event somewhere that they've all come to partake in.

Then have that event turn out to be something entirely different.

Amazing festival that only takes place every thirty years? Surprise, every tenth guest who drinks the holy water in the participation ceremony is going to die one day apart beginning a week after the festival ends. What's that? One or more of you drank it and you're being paid if you can find a cure?

[EvilAnagram]

I adjust it according to the back stories my characters have. Sometimes they'll start in different parts of a city and happen upon an event that draws them together, sometimes they are in the middle of a job they had agreed on earlier, and sometimes I simply start them in the middle of the most horrifying situation I can concoct.

If they all pick soldier or mercenary backgrounds again, I'm going to start them in the middle of a battle.

[Tawmis]

With the current campaign I am running... my players are fairly new to D&D (and not that big into fantasy, but enjoy getting together, interacting in my plot lines and stories, and rolling dice)... So I had them create their characters, but none of them wanted to come up with a background (due to lack of familiarity, even though I have a site for the world and everything). So that gave me the opportunity to come up with origins for each of their characters, and how they came together.

[Potato_Priest]

I've always liked the idea of campaign events guiding the reasons for PCs joining together.

I like it too. However, unless you instruct certain players to only show up to certain meetings, it works better to put it into the backstory. (I'm assuming that by saying "campaign event" you mean an event taking place during the campaign.)

[mr-mercer]

I'm not particularly fussy about the specific way it's done, but I like beginning with introducing each character individually, in a way that establishes the kind of character they are (whether mechanically or personality-wise, I'm happy either way).