Game-starters?

[ExHunterEmerald]

I was just wondering, what sort of creative takes on the "beginning the game" story do you take? I hear stories about tavern after tavern, but I've really yet to ever see one.

I'm planning on using the Lightning Rail in an Eberron setting I'll be running soon, given that the first adventure will take place on it.

I've also been mulling over a few funny takes on the stereotypes...

The Blue Bauble inn has been your favorite haunt for as long as you can remember. Many a night it was that you hoisted a tankard in her walls, with fire aglow and songs floating on the air.

Fortunately, you were nowhere near it when it burned down yesterday.

[goat]

Throw everyone in jail.

Free everyone from jail.

Send them off to war.

Send some of them to kill the others on false pretences.

Have one of them sleep with another's spouse/sibling/parent/child/dog.

Glue one's foot to another's face.

[silentknight]

A campaign I will be starting soon will start with the characters being resurrected and then sent on a quest.

[Saph]

I just ran a game where the group of 2nd-level PCs were summoned monsters. A blue dragon pulled them from various corners of the world to kill some hobgoblins so that he wouldn't have to get his claws dirty. He hadn't read the small print on the scroll and didn't realise the spell was 'calling' and not 'summoning', and was annoyed at having a bunch of adventurers cluttering up his cave afterwards.

After he threw them out the PCs had to make it out through the hobgoblin patrols, away from the hobgoblin warcamp, and to the nearest town. It was a one-shot so we stopped there.

Worked pretty well. Fastest intro I've ever done. PCs appear, hobgoblins in front of them, dragon behind them, dragon points at hobgobs and says 'kill'.

- Saph

[goat]

Have them each come up with a character idea and roll it up. Then have a god get bored enough that they swap their minds into each other's bodies.

[BCOVertigo]

I just ran a game where the group of 2nd-level PCs were summoned monsters. A blue dragon pulled them from various corners of the world to kill some hobgoblins so that he wouldn't have to get his claws dirty. He hadn't read the small print on the scroll and didn't realise the spell was 'calling' and not 'summoning', and was annoyed at having a bunch of adventurers cluttering up his cave afterwards.

After he threw them out the PCs had to make it out through the hobgoblin patrols, away from the hobgoblin warcamp, and to the nearest town. It was a one-shot so we stopped there.

Worked pretty well. Fastest intro I've ever done. PCs appear, hobgoblins in front of them, dragon behind them, dragon points at hobgobs and says 'kill'.

- Saph

Your idea has just been stolen.

[Quietus]

I generally don't worry about setting the PCs up in the same place. I drop them into the same general area ("Okay, you guys are all in Vaeles/Resta/Whatever, you've got a map that shows generally where things are - what would your character do?"). Once they're off doing their own thing, MOST of them tend to metagame a bit and gravitate toward one another. If they don't, then I start off whatever main thing it is that I have going - in my most recent adventure, an IRC game I run on Saturday evenings, everyone's now running around attempting to find the source of a blue beam of light that came down from the sky at four AM. One of them was on watch outside the city, two were sleeping in the inn (one of whom woke up to see the light - the other was "too pooped to get up", aka not present), and the fourth is so far an MIA, but she is shipbound, and would've seen the light on her way in. So far no-one seems interested in the light, they're more interested in sorting out the problem with these strange, colorful creatures that have been showing up, which is fine, since the two are connected. But all three that have been present at all are now in the same general area, and working on solving the problems they've found.

In my experience, if you give one flashy thing that WILL get the PC's attention, you'll get them all congregated in one place. You don't need to start them all off in the same building. The players are there to play together, NOT to bugger off and wander aimlessly. Set a hook, and they will come.

[Dareon]

Glue one's foot to another's face.

I'm stealing this. Heck, I might do it to the entire party. Glue Party Member A's foot to party member B's face, party member B's foot to C's face, C's foot to D's face, and D's foot to A's face. Then they could roll through the dungeon like a katamari full of weapons and magic.

[Maxymiuk]

Then they could roll through the dungeon like a katamari full of weapons and magic.

+1 cool point.

[AoiRorentsu]

One idea I've been toying with is starting all characters in NPC classes (though that's not strickly necessary for this to work), and then have them all sorta take the reigns when a disaster strikes the town- ie, a massive fire, some kind of thug takeover, a politically-motivated imposition of martial law, or a warlord takeover or something. This way, the characters can meet each other "in the thick of it." When they deal with the problem, they get regarded as local heroes, but also start learning to work together. When the townsfolk have another disaster, the heroes start working together again, and eventually some kind of bad-guy, who's been behind it all, decides to hunt them down. Boom- the accidental party. Haven't tried it though, so if anyone has and has any insight, listen to them before me.

[Talyn]

My favorite was all the PCs were members of a traveling circus! The mage was a fortune-teller, the two rogues were the knife-throwing girl and the trapeze act, respectively, the 18 STR fighter was the strongman and the lion-tamer, and the cleric just kept everybody alive (and drove the wagons).

Then the circus gets attacked by bandits and all the non-PCs die, leaving the PCs with nothing but each other, and a burning desire to hunt down the bandits... which in turn gets them hailed as local heroes, which leads to another job, etc. etc.

[crazedloon]

Well our latest campaign started with us (all evil characters) sitting in a bar (the DM had no clue what he was going to do to start us off) so he said go. Well I was the CE character with a pension for orphan skulls so I killed a family in the bar. First I killed the two parents of 2 kids then killed the two kids slowly (i.e. I killed the parents to make the orphans before I killed them). This cleared the bar out (everyone that was not a pc was afraid and ran away) which pissed 2 other PCs who were going to mug the families and other patrons as they left through the front door; however everyone left via the back door. Then the other member of the group choose this time to start killing the bar maids. That was when the last player in the group had a good idea and decided to offer me and the rest of the group (there was a bunch of role playing and threats here) a chance to help him rob the local town hall. So that’s how a real DM starts a campaign he doesn’t he leaves it up to the players

[Ashes]

That made no sense at all...

[Isomenes]

Our group has started two sessions now, and the DM has made most of the world, but he leaves it up to us to explore it. We spend a little time building 'seed' stories for our characters, and then we try to hook up with each other. Yes, both started in a tavern. But they were very colorful taverns, because we had contributed to the world-building :)

Really, a taverns's a great way to start in media res, as long as you color the NPCs appropriately. My bard knew the proprietor, for instance, and a couple of the PCs. We were sitting around playing poker on the gaming table, discussing the news of the city as if we were old friends. This does require that the group be willing to form a 'party', of course; but what's the point of starting a group if you're just going to run off and do your own thing?

My point: ask for input from the players, and you probably won't be disappointed with the results.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

I started mine by just explaining that the players had been travelling together for at least the past few weeks, and have now arrived, exhausted, at a small town in the middle of nowhere. Everything else was ad libbed, as I came up with the campaign in literally one hour. The party almost instantly split up and had their own solo adventures for the next two hours of game time, but it somehow held together.

[Toric]

Give players basic info about the setting, particularly the starting city/village. Require each player to come up with at least a few daily tasks that they do in the city/village. Once those are compiled, let them all pass by each other on their daily routines when danger strikes. Lightning rail variation: the PC's are all taking trips to the same city for their individual reasons (business, meeting relatives, taking a vacation, etc) and thus end up on the same lightning rail car when the adventure begins.

Or, if you want something less complicated, they've all been hired to escort a merchant convoy due to the unpredictable-yet-inevitable savage humanoid attacks. Or, in Eberron on a lightning rail, for suspected violent action from Emerald Claw members on the lightning rail with you.

[Sardia]

Put 'em on a ship, each with their own purposes. Then wreck the ship something in in the middle of nowhere. By the time they get back to civilization, they may have bonded a little.

[Quietus]

I'm curious, what exactly is a lightning rail? I haven't heard that term before I found these boards.

[The_Snark]

It's a transportation system from the Ebberon setting, not unlike a fantasy-style train, I understand.

[starwoof]

Time to look back on every campaign Ive ever been in.

You are sitting in the Drunken Dragon Inn. Theres a shady man in the corner...

You're all walking down the road when suddenly you're attacked by a bugbear and 2 goblins!

You're in the Drunken Dragon Inn again...

You're at the new years festival when you spot two assassins bearing down on the king! What do you do?

You're in the village square and theres an elf preaching about saving the rainforests...

Wow. That was a very lame look back on my adventures. My group digs the cliche'd openings. :D


A lightning rail is a train. Im pretty sure.

[AoiRorentsu]

the lightning rail is an Eberron-specific method of transportation similar for all intents and purposes to a train. Good for travelling long distance and being "railroaded" (pardon the pun) into adventures.

[Case]

Let's see the first D&D game opening I ever had was...

Barbarian, wizard, NPC Fighter, and a bard (me) are all sitting at a bar talking and laughing when the NPC notices a sign saying:

ATTENTION:
Talk to bartender.

We went to the bartender to inquire about the strange sign, and he told us that he was illiterate, except for the words attention, talk, to, and bartender.

It was one of my best one session games ever. (Please note all my games have been one session, and not just a one-shot game either.)

[Thomas]

Everybody's family (from a 20-100 person extended family, that is), and something happens at home.

[Jade_Tarem]

As you sit discussing possibilites for the (insert trivial event here) a portal opens in the middle of the bar. A man with a guitar slung over his shoulder comes diving through and rolls out to the side of the portal as fire gouts through. The portal closes before you get a good look at what's on the other side. The man shakily gets to his feet and orders a drink....

The PCs will usually talk to this bard, and you can have him feed them whatever plothook you want - the bard and portal bit is just a way to get thier attention. :P

As you head through the street away from the town hall, you hear a loud *whump* and screaming coming from the central square. As you race back there you find none other than a colossal dragon, a terrifyingly large red, snort out a gout of flame. He looks around and says, "I'm looking for a favor, are there any volunteers?" and lets out a long, evil chortle...

I actually used this one in a campaign I'm running now, and the dragon is the BBEG (they got to meet him less than a minute into the campaign!). It's just a variation on the DMG's "a dragon flies into town and demands tribute" idea, but it works, especially if you have the dragon threaten the town (or the PCs, for an evil group). As before, it doesn't really matter what the dragon wants, so long as it send the party where they need to go to get rolling. It doesn't even need to be a dragon either, just something the PCs can't handle with something that needs to be done and a reason the plothook can't get it himself.

It really wasn't supposed to be this complicated. "Just go from Stormwinter to Loresanctus to deliver some books," they said. Jerks. As the group prepares to surrender, one of the bandits says, "Hey boss, I recognize this one!"

Your group, travelling together for convenience from your hometown to Greenhearth, finally comes to the part of the mountain path where Greenheart is visible in the valley below. Peering through your spyglass, you are heartened to see the merrily twinkling blobs of lights and the smoke billowing into the night sky. Rather a lot of smoke, really. A few seconds (and some spot checks) later, you realize that the lights shouldn't be visible as more than pinpricks at this distance, and it hits you that the city is on fire. A gust of wind blows a scorched page to your feet...

You meet a traveller on your way to the trade meet, he seems cordial enough, but just as you were about to move on, silver wings sprout from his back and his eyes begin to glow. When he speaks, his voice sounds nothing like it did before. "I am Darastis of the Celestial realms, and your entire group is under arrest."

Those are just some I though up on the fly, don't use them if they're no good. Bear in mind that a group of PCs will typically respond to as little stimulus as -

A well dressed man walks over to your table. "I would like to buy your group a round," he says in clipped, precise tones, "and talk with you. I have an offer for you if you wish to hear it."

It's really not all that hard, although it varies from group to group. Although your group would have to be denser than depleted uranium to ignore some of what's been put on this thread.

Hope this helps.

[Siberys]

I'm going to run Chimes at Midnight for an Eberron campaign. Having the PCs as guards for a prison caravan, meeting each other through their work, and finding they fight well together when the criminals escape and a gigantic streetbrawl starts, is an absolutely brilliant way to start off. It's like the standard bar-brawl, but but in the middle of the crowded Sharn streets, and, ergo, better...

[Mooseman]

I basically just dropped the four players into the Wizard's Tower and said, "You are an amateur adventuring party who stumbled upon this tower. Upon entering, the door slammed behind you and is now magically stuck. Go."

[Legoman]

The best way I've found to start is like this:

Roll initiative. Fight ensuses with a BBEG, adequately detailed, well described, well thought out. Make sure to mention the plot. At the end of the fight, something dramatic happens - for a greedy bunch, say: the biggest diamond they've ever seen rolls out of their purse.

Say some quippy noir quote, like: "Money. You know what that is. The stuff you never have enough of. Little gold things with the king’s picture that men slave for, commit crimes for, die for. It’s the stuff that has caused more trouble in the world than anything else ever invented. simply because there’s too little of it.

We needed bread when Armadaeus took us in, and we needed bread when he sent us to kill Lord Benson. With the size of that rock, there'd probably be a lot of trouble for not enough gain, and we'd probably be back in the bread line in no time."

Then, cut to the PC's outside of, say, Benson's mansion. It's raining.

It's about as arbitrary and railroading as starting in a bar and an old man runs up and gives you a map; but instead, the players feel like they know where the story is going, while still not knowing how the hell it's going to get to that point. If they break in, then chicken out and leave later? Send some goons to bring them back, and give them a chance to kill him.

My Rule 0: Make it look like you plan everything.

[The Prince of Cats]

One of the best I ever had was doing a Castle Marrach; the party woke up in two rooms (women in one, men in the other) and had free access to the contents of the wardrobes. No character sheets, just a sheet of A4 and a pencil, where they made notes. That one was co-DM'ed, since we had all the character sheets. It was funny watching people try to guess at their roles.

Another one that my party enjoyed was waking up in the middle of the night to find themselves (individually) under attack and all running to wake the guard. The party were the only survivors of the attack in the whole village. Also, the bard was hung over (IC) and so spent the whole first session with an aversion to bright lights and loud noises.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

I've got an idea for the next game I run.

Every character will be the same age, regardless of racial aging charts (besides, my players almost always pick human so it probably won't even stand out). As part of the introduction, the players will all select a small slip of paper from a larger stack. Each one will give a little history and bonus abilities based on those histories (like what family they're from, what their relationship with the other players has been, and perhaps a significant event). After this, they'll go through a sort of played out aging introduction, where they play for about a week out of every two years of their lives until they grow suitably old enough. Their choices will immediately reflect upon who they are by the end of the introduction. Along the way, they'll see sort of odd, bad things happen around their country. The ocassional friend will just die from an unexplained disease, a bizarre accident might claim another, bandits or monsters from out of nowhere might string up a few, etc, until by the end, they realize that all these deaths have something in common- they were all born on the same year, just like the players themselves. The plot twist is still forthcoming, but I figure that'll get the players' attention.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Ooh, me likey.
I think I'll try that growing up thing, or a variant of it.