You Meet In A Tavern.... The Tavern Is On Fire....

[TheYoungKing]

DMed the first gaming session in a while (scheduling conflicts, a party drop-out, and a few other things) and so we had a new player, who had to be introduced, and I had to get the PCs back into the action.

So I set the inn/tavern the old PCs and new PC were staying at on fire. Certainly got the ball rolling. An improptu evacuation of the tavern's patrons into the churchyard labyrinths (long story there)

Anyways, does anyone else have any stories about rather abruptly messing with party introductions and pushing the players right into peril?

[Private-Prinny]

Not from the DM, no, but I get a lot from my fellow PCs. Including lighting a tavern on fire.

[PhoenixRivers]

Imagine starting off trying to explain to the town guard that you shouldn't be arrested.

I had a group of PC's (the players all knew each other well, but the characters had never met) start a campaign with basically "you've been accused of instigating a bar fight." Town guard there and everything. Oddly enough, they failed, spent a night in jail, and left. They'd all gotten seperate information from me, and some of them collaborated information while in jail, leading to an adventure hook that they figured out on their own.

[Math_Mage]

Imagine starting off trying to explain to the town guard that you shouldn't be arrested.

I had a group of PC's (the players all knew each other well, but the characters had never met) start a campaign with basically "you've been accused of instigating a bar fight." Town guard there and everything. Oddly enough, they failed, spent a night in jail, and left. They'd all gotten seperate information from me, and some of them collaborated information while in jail, leading to an adventure hook that they figured out on their own.

I saw something like that in a PbP game. The players were out shopping, and a thief stabbed a guard trying to get away. Most of the party pursued, while one member stayed behind to heal the guard. Result: The one party member got heaps of praise, and the rest almost got thrown in jail, essentially for brawling in town. Unfortunately, they didn't end up behind bars in the end.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Yep. Great way to get PCs to meet each other. Something like 'You meet in a Zeppelin... The Zeppelin is on fire. And about to crash into a mountain. And the crew have all been murdered.' Really helps break the ice.

[aivanther]

Once on a semi-home brewed 3.5 game I was in the DM had our giant train got derailed by some giant cannon and turned into a massive melee on the spot. It was pretty effective at getting the ball rolling.

[Eldariel]

We actually had one game that started in a roadside tavern...which got attacked by trolls midway through the first introductionary lines. As a consequence, the PCs ended up torching the whole place.

[Kaiyanwang]

The tavern is on fire, only?

Sorry, not enough gritty.

[Flickerdart]

The tavern is on fire, only?

Sorry, not enough gritty.

The fire is also on fire.

[Kaiyanwang]

The fire is also on fire.

*nods*

it's a start.

[PhoenixRivers]

*nods*

it's a start.

The tavern is also on a houseboat.

The water around the houseboat, with the fire that is on fire??

That water, is also on fire.

[Kaiyanwang]

Cool. We need bears now, I guess.

[Tavar]

Better yet, fire-breathing bears. That are on fire.

[Dragero]

I like to introduce new PC`s as NPC`s at first.

One of my players NEEDS to have sex with EVERY female NPC I put in front of him. He saw the new female gnome, then rolled a natural 20 on diplomacy and 19 on bluff.

"You go into the bedroom for 20 minutes. By the way, thats Bob`s character"

[JGoldenberg]

Better yet, fire-breathing bears. That are on fire.

Nessian Hell Bears for the win?

[Thajocoth]

As soon as the players gathered around the table, before anything, I said "Roll Initiative". I was, however, using initiative to decide what order the players arrive to the place they'll be meeting one another at, and thusly the order of introductions.

Then, in one of the campaigns I did that in, I had a pair of paladins bust in all Spanish Inquisitioney. They should've fell but didn't, and no player noticed this fact. Maybe because it was 4e... But they were Paladins of a LG deity, which the PCs did identify...

[Lord Vukodlak]

Going way way back to 2nd edition my first D&D character an Elven Ranger,

Some dwarves offer me a drink, the DM has me make a wisdom check. I make it. He tells me I'm a little suspicious. I pass out and they steal my pants.

This same elf on his first adventure was knocked out by a poison needle and missed the first fight, the second fight occurred at night and by the time he got equipped and out of the tent it was over. For the third fight, he was knocked out from behind dragged off and held captive by amazon women.

All in all he had a very nice time..

[Haven]

The fire is also on fire.

Like this? Obligatory! I should sign that thing in case other people start linking that.

[Sir_Elderberry]

I'm a bit infamous in my group for doing this--I'm trying not to do it in my new mods. I've done "You're in a marketplace, when Zairtails come out of the ground. Roll initiative." and "You're in a courtroom in Waterdeep, suddenly there are wights outside. Roll initiative."

Except there's always a good paragraph of description beforehand. To lull them.

[Shadwen]

Im usually the player who gets the ball rolling. I tend to set things on fire or do something to make things go.

[TheOOB]

I had a campaign set that started in the Free City of Greyhawk right as someone targeted the area with the Invoked Devastation. The party was just outside the radius.

[Skorj]

My current forum game started with the party's entire home village on fire. It does tend to focus the attention.

In tabletop play, I try to start the first "actual play session" (as opposed to getting characters sorted out) of any campaign by ending the first paragraph of fluff with "roll for initiative". I highly recommend this to get a campaign started! Allow your players to start with a small selection of equipment central to their character concept, then throw them right into battle.

It's amazing how much time can be lost early in a campaign simply to shopping. Mundane gear selection goes a lot faster when you say "you have 10 rounds to loot the general store before it collapses - what do you take".

[Soranar]

Does a flaming boat count? Cause it tends to put things into perspective when the boat you're on is both attacked by pirates and set on fire.

Nothing like the desperate need to survive to make clashing alignment and races join forces.

[Silly Wizard]

Reminds me of one campaign I DMed. My players were all doing their own thing in a tavern, drinking and having a good time.

Then goblins jump through the windows and starting attacking

[Masaioh]

I started my first campaign in a tavern, and then suddenly it imploded into a black hole and the PCs were in a demiplane made of jello where fish could fly and orcs could double-jump.

[Pyron]

The tavern is on fire, only?

Sorry, not enough gritty.

The PCs are on fire.

Here's another one:

"You meet in a tavern. This tavern is owned by monsters and you are all in a boiling cauldron. You are on the menu."

[IonDragon]

I regret this even before doing it...

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!

[JGoldenberg]

I started off a campaign by one of the big baddies attacking the inn they were staying at, 4/5 were put into negatives and left for dead while the 5th hid until the Magelord left.

[rayne_dragon]

Recently we ended a session with us opening the door of a small room filled with monsters. Since we'd been pressed for time I decided to do the one thing that would make short work of the encounter: wall of fire the whole room. We started the next session with the results of that: mainly a room on fire full of exploding draconians.

[WeeFreeMen]

For my mercenary campaign.
Non of them had met, but pre game I handed out a peice of paper with battlefield objectives on it.

When I officially started the game I said:
"You look to your left and right and notice 3 other members about you, *Insert character descriptions* , also a Gnomish inventor flys by you and attempts to pull a string coming out of his jacket. By the way, you guys are free falling about 600ft above ground."

Was hilarious what they came up with because they didnt have a cleric or wizard for feather fall. and they all tried to make the D10 use on their parachutes. 10 rounds of "Oh god! I failed the check! Quick someone grab me!"

Ahh, good times.