What’s the best campaign beginning you’ve ever run or played?

[Wampyr]

Definitely not looking for ideas to steal...

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

The best campaigns I've run all have one thing in common: they're all different.

The thing they have in common is that the meta-plot exists only in the service of a good time. As the the players make decisions that lead to unexpected consequences, I improvise to refocus the campaign around the results of those decisions.

In a Dragonlance campaign, the cleric player brazenly violated his alignment in front of the avatar of his god; he had a paladin-style fall from grace and the campaign refocused around a powerless cleric working his way back into favor and atoning for his mistake. Generally I wouldn't recommend something like that, but it worked very well in this game. The player knew he'd put himself in that position, and the group was excited about the chance to deal with the consequences. In another game, a PC went on a killing spree, and his character became the Big Bad of what turned into an almost CSI-style game.

[Pex]

I run Night of the Living Dead.

Players start in a graveyard on the anniversary of the death of a PC's grandfather or someone depending on background. While the player roleplays a speech an old man approaches another PC. When that PC attempts to talk with him the old man attacks, being a zombie. Every group except one left the area to find the house. One group decided to stay awhile at the church. Had to improvise there, but they eventually got to the house.

At the house more zombies come. They find the dead body on the top of the stairs. It has a clue to "solve" the adventure. I'm not running a zombie apocalypse, so there is a way to end the undead plague which leads to campaign plot. They find the uncooperative father, concerned mother, and sick daughter in the basement. All groups but one left the house before too many zombies arrived as they were supposed to. One group stayed, and I had to improvise the siege. I gave multiple hints to leave the house, such as the backway wasn't crowded with zombies, but they either didn't get the hint or refused the hint. Eventually one person left the house and I did a quickened version of getting him to the solution while I did the siege with the others.

The solution is to go the river and break a staff that's planted in it. There's a clue for campaign mystery plot point. Every group but one searched the river when they got to it. One group decided to just travel along. They never got the hint of less frequent "zombie holes" where they dug out of the ground that they were leaving the center of activity. To get them back on track I had them find "Herschel's Farm".

The adventure is a bit railroady and vulnerable to PCs Must Do This Or Else. In other words it's not well designed, but it's a lot of fun and a nice break from the usual starting a campaign at the tavern.

[ImproperJustice]

We simply woke up, chained to a wall. Prisoners in a hobgoblin slave camp. We worked together to escape, but suprised the GM by deciding not to flee to the nearest town.
Instead, we hid in the nearby hills and launched desperate guerilla raids for food, supplies, and more allies.

It was awesome.

Same GM, same world but new campaign.
The world is getting colder every day without explanation. Crops are dying and panic is setting in. There is a massive continent to the south where it is still warm. It has long been unexplored because it is too dangerous. Well now that’s not an option.
Adventurerers from all around the globe are being sent as Trail Blazers.
Will you be the first to discover the next cradle of civilization?

[Reaver25]

We had a bit of a large group, but it was essentially as follows:

4 of the PCs were in cages and being transported to a Collector/slaver in a city.
1 of the PCs (me) was following the group because he saw them by chance and wanted to help them escape.
1 of the PCs was a merc with the group holding the others captive.
Super interesting, fun, unique, and that campaign went for awhile since we were all so into it.

[DMThac0]

The players were asked to go visit the local farms, make sure all was well. As they get closer they see a giant plume of smoke coming from the direction of the farms. They scramble to the smoke only to find that the forest south of the farms is on fire, a giant blaze. As they help coordinate the villagers to put out the fire, they learn that the fire was set by one of the farmers because he saw a bush run away with his chicken. *Twigblight was hungry...