>You're all sat around a table playing a game, which has just started

>>31328575
I did this one.

One of mine was a sorta similar to a village getting attacked.

We were all at a (mostly) non-lethal gladiatorial event. After two sessions of combat, side bets, and some light intrigue like bribery and fight fixing events, we were all contacted and hired by a rich spectator that needed a macguffin.

My current game didn't start in a tavern.
It started in a cantina.

>>31328439
>HELP WANTED

Pretty sure my GM's done that twice in a row now.

>You are all in a tavern
>You are locked in the tavern
>The tavern is on fire
>The police are closing in fast
>What do you do?

>>31328439
The Quests meet in an Adventurer where they are given Old men by an Tavern.

>>31328782
Depends who I'm playing as.

Can I play as the fire?

I asked the party to give me a reason why they were special. The assassin said he could kill anything and never be seen, the monk said he has transcended reality, and the fighter said he had won fifty skirmishes in the Colossium alone. So when they all awoke bound into a machine to extract their unique souls in the wizards lair, they knew why.

>>31328814
Only if I can be the tavern, if you get my drift ;D

I've done the "mistaken for an adventurer of some renown" one.

>Dammit GM, how do you mistake a shifter ranger for a dragonborn cleric?
>The guy who sent the summons was cheap and didn't include a drawn portrait for verification.
>The player blinks for a minute or two, and I get the feeling he's remembering they don't have smartphones or cameras in Eberron.

>>31328439

You have all been contacted by a particular ancient and prestigious legal service, possibly of infernal origin. The lich lord Razafrazem has perished at the hands of an order of paladins, and his phylactery has been destroyed. His reign of terror is finally at an end.

On a much brighter note, you are all the closest living equivalents to the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy! Turns out he payed quite a sum of money back when he was Razafrazem the living, an adventurer. This was some hundreds of years ago, however, and the original friends, comrades and family that he would have left his belongings to are all long dead. Your group, as far flung an strange as you are, are their most direct descendents.

Expect to receive quite a lot of money, a few sentimental tokens the meaning of which is lost on you, and at least one plot important artifact for a quest that is long, long overdo.

>>31328970

Errr, Last Will and Testament, rather than life insurance policy. Something of a brain fart there.

I'm thinking of running a Dark Heresy game. I'm thinking about just having them all be trusted comrades in arms already. I mean, they're already friends outside the game. I think they can handle being comrades in game.

Has anyone tried this? Did it work out well?

One of my favorite campaigns started with all the characters being war orphans raised by the church, who once they became adults owed the church a year of service in exchange for having taken them in as children.

Another one I liked that I read a long time ago was that all of the PCs were in an inn (stay with me a minute) inning it up when the door bursts open. Then suddenly the inn is cold and quiet, all of the food sitting in front of them is spoiled, and they realize that all of the other patrons are frozen in place. Besides themselves, they see one other man who is still moving. He explains to them that he is the mayor of the town, and that a year earlier the town was attacked by a medusa, who turned everyone to stone and has taken over the mayor's estate and turned it into a haven for monsters. It took him a year to raise enough money for a potion to cure the Medusa's paralysis, but it was only enough for a handful of uses, and so he decided to save the PCs, as they appeared to be the strongest people in the town he could find, hoping that they would somehow help him rescue the town (for added fun, make the potion have a limited duration of only a couple days before its effects wear off, and the PCs will revert back to stone).

>>31328785
You're attending a tournament. Place your bets on the fighters or forge a note of nobility and attempt to enter.

>>31328970
that sounds really cool actually. I might steal that.

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>>31328439
>Never been in a tavern start game
>never been in a village starting off under attack game
>never washed up on shore
>Started only a single game where everyone was in prison

I don't know why... But I would kill for a generic start.

You're traveling through the wilderness when the dark clouds that have been hovering over you all day burst into a torrent of rain. The only landmark you've seen is a tower of stones in the not-too-far-off distance, which you recognize as a cairn, a mound with a tomb underneath it. You know from the construction of tombs in the area that you should be able to take shelter from the rain it is entrance. When you arrive, you see some other travelers had the same idea.

An old Dungeon magazine Adventure, A Hot Day in L'trel, starts with a massive explosion one hot summer day in the city of L'trel, one which outright destroys one section of the city, and sets fire to a significant portion of the rest. In the wake of the disaster, martial law is imposed, and the PCs are drafted into the town guard in order to assist in keeping order.

I ran a one-shot once where all of the PCs died in their introduction, each of them receiving a kiss from a young girl just before they did. The young girl was actually a Valkyrie, and the PCs all awake in Ysgard as her einherjar. If they show valor in completing the task she has for them, their souls may be released and they will be free to travel the planes as they please (this didn't have to be a one shot, it could also be the intro to a Planescape campaign).

>>31328439
I set up a short intro scene for each character where the other players got to play as cameo npc's with short term goals in opposition to the actual character.

The first two characters got to play out small scenes from their childhood, the first, a wizard, got taken as a slave when his stake-pallisaded village got sacked. The next, midwife/rogue, went for a wander in the forest, got attacked by a few goblins and met her goddess after helping a doe give birth.

The last character, a monk, was traveling from distant lands, and arrived in the town where the wizard was still a slave (but all growed up) and rogue lady was midwifing for the (owner of the wizard) king's wife. Shit went bad, and the wizard and rogue escaped together, and met the monk on the road later that day. They then made their way to the rogue's home village and had to escape mercenaries who had spread the word, and ended up stealing a ship.

Pretty decent first two sessions overall, even if it was inspired by Farscape, and looking forward to seeing where it goes

>You're all wherever you happen to be on Corneria
>OH FUCK, ANDROSS IS ATTACKING! GET TO YOUR SHIPS BEFORE THE WMDs HIT
>FUCK YOU, THE PLANET IS SURROUNDED, TAKE OUT ALL THE SPACE SHIPS
>several rounds of bloody space combat later
>Corneria is burning, you can see the pinpricks of light even from space as they lay waste to the once peaceful planet
>his forces have been mostly destroyed or chased off
>your ship is heavily damaged, your engines are shot and you're all waiting for a slow, cold death in space
>your personal headset kicks on
>This is the Cornerian Cruiser Watchdog, we are picking up a number of life forms and are attempting extraction
>a few hours pass, the last thing you see before the o2 runs out is the running lights of a large ship.
>You come to in a cell with a jolt, surrounded by other survivors you assume
>A guard comes to the cell and unlocks it, motioning towards the party
>Your ships have been rescued...mostly. Only a handful made it through, and only you 5 are in any condition to fly. The general would like a word.

>>31329638
That last one reminds me of a campaign I ran where the PCs started off dead. Then Death (an evil trickster god disguising himself as the Grim Reaper) offers them each a choice: continue to the lands of the dead, or swear an oath of allegiance to him and serve as his champions, sent forth to right a vague "imbalance" and that he will let them know more in time. They all awaken in their own respective graves with an instinctual knowledge of going incorporeal for 2 rounds/level/day. They each also have an internal radar that lets them know who and where the others are. They eventually meet up, weakened by death (level 1) and set out on their first task. Death gives them seemingly random missions, and they're free to do whatever else they want in between.

Not really related to the beginning of the campaign, but I thought I'd throw in that I revealed Death to be the evil trickster god, and the PCs were helping him supplant the other evil gods, growing his own power

I based it on some video game, I think.

>>31328439
>You are all in a prison tavern
Done.

>>31328575

Didn't XKCD do that?

>Hey, no recursing.

>>31329638
I've used the first one before. Isn't it from a pre-made adventure or something?

I've also had players all be in a metropolitan port city and get caught up in a terrorist attack. They all fought back and then got conscripted into the local branch of the empire's legions as deniable assets.

>>31331956

Sounds similar to A Dark and Stormy Knight.

I just realized we don't almot ever actually play proper beginnings. It's just "You all just turn up in this place. Sort your shit out, then I'll tell you about the quest."

>>31331956
Yeah, >>31332015
thanks for remembering the name

>>31332015
Google has told be that you are probably exactly correct.

>>31331956

To be fair, "You need to take shelter from the weather. Oh look, here's a perfectly fine, not fucking monster-infested at all ruin" is a pretty common one.

>>31328439
You all get cursed by the same witch and you and co go on a hunt for her while dodging the kingdom's zealous knights who declare all cursed to be marked for death

>>31328439
>You are the Kingdoms elite deep cover, black-ops squad; undercover as regular adventures to stop threats to the Kingdom the regular army can't deal with.

>You're all pirates on board a ship together and there is a mutiny, you must kill the old captain, elect a new one and begin your adventure.

>Your Fixer is putting a team together for a 'Run. Work with these Chummers to get your cash.

>You are all members of the Neighbourhood Watch on patrol one night in PlayerX's Van. You have known each other for at least a year and thus don't need introductions. This is actually a FATE game I am in

>>31332151

What if you're cursed to be marked for death by the kingdom's zealous knights?

What if you're cursed NOT to be marked?

>>31329379
This sounds so much fun.
I'm stealing it.

>>31328439

>your group is sitting in a house playing videogames
>suddenly there's a coup and there are cops everywhere

>you're all in line at the Grocery Outlet
>suddenly there's a riot

>you're all standing in line at traffic court
>suddenly the whole building blows up but you miraculously survive

A long time ago I did a WoD game where I started them out with a flash forward.

They slowly wake up in agonizing pain. They're soaked from a mix of the rain pouring down, and their blood pooling around them. They realize they're in a dirty alley. Tires screech and 4 guys in suits step out of a nice car. They enter the alley, pull out their guns, aim it at them, and pull the triggers.

Then back to the present. I really don't remember what I did after that though. But I think that flash forward did a lot to subconsciously bring the party together. They seemed to like it anyway

>>31328439

Gonna be starting a superheroes game soon.
The first session will have the party being interviewed on national television by a retired WWII-era hero (it's in the 80's so he isn't too ancient). I'm excited to see what happens.
It's a potentially high-stakes social encounter that will help party dynamic develop really quickly as they respond to questions about their goals, origins, and methods - among other things.

>>31332271
Oh yeah. I forgot, they recognized one of the guys in the suits. Who was it? We will see!

>>31332253

>you're all sitting at home watching TV
>suddenly nuclear war

>you're all shitposting on /tg/
>suddenly the Internet goes out

>you're all at the post office to pickup your dragon dildos
>the police come for you because dragon dildos are banned

Assembled as a government/secret society/military/cult/religious task force

>>31328439
>>You're all in a tavern
>>You're all in prison
>>You're all from the same village and it gets attacked
I've never done this in one of my games ever.

Each player gets a unique introduction.

>macho man randy savage has challenged your puny planet to a tournament!
>You 4 have been given 6 months to train, git gud!
>OOOOHH YEEEAAAAAHHHH!

>>31328439
You all met in a tavern. Probably.
You are currently in a cornfield, waking up with terrible hangovers. Smoke rises in the distance.

Literally have just started the game at the beginning of combat so they're exhilarated and ready to hit the ground running. I have them establish how they know each other and why they travel together.

>>31332364
MISTER TORGUE'S CAMPAIGN OF CARNAGE

>everyone is in a giant cornfield in fantasy iowa
>gnome witch, paranoid ranger, and half orc barbarian
>gnome witch tries trolling the others w/ dancing lights
>paranoid ranger nails the gnome witch with a crit
>panicked hospital rush ensues

This was a suggestion i got from here but i started my campaign having all the players come up with reason to be at the bank of the city they all live in, which was then robbed and they all had to react to that.

It resulted in some roleplay where the Magus player tried to rob the Drunen Monk player who was sleeping off his buzz. This in turn woke up the Monk to punch the Magus which allowed him to be awake in time to respond to the bank robbery happening.

>>31332364
I remember listening to a replay where the heroes met basically like this, but it was Galactus challenging the Earth to a dodgeball tournament for the right to eat the planet.

You're all dreaming. You're not adventurers, not really. Some of you don't even speak the same language, nevermind sleep at the same times. But why are you so strong, then, and why do you keep seeing these others, and why can you speak with them with such ease?

>>31332552
>>31332495

Also an episode of Dexter's Lab. Er....Dial M for Monkey.

I've had this dream for a while of starting a game in media res at a really tense or climactic moment, and then cutting all the way back to beginning, where it turns out that the BBEG who is established during the "flashforward" cutscene is actually an ally or friend.

I've never been able to figure out how to do it without heavy railroading and/or some player trying to intentionally make it so the future events can't happen just to be an ass.

You all end up in the emergency room at the same time, sporting identical - though not life threatening - burns across your torso. But you were all in different places when the burns happened.

>>31328439
My college group during a 4 day vacation we had once did a non stop RPG session. We played Iron Kingdoms and the beginning was as follows.
You all wake up in the middle of a church that is burning down. You are all hung over. There is a mob outside calling for your blood. Better sort shit out.
It was the goofiest and funnest campaign I think I have ever played.

>>31328439
You and a companion stop a mugging in process (the mugging is the other two players) and the four of you are ambushed on site, by a raiding party of (insert asshole antagonist force here) forcing you to run on the lamb and work together.
Works for DnD
Works for CoC
Has a nice, although somewhat cliched touch to it. Short, simple, easy to remember but just different enough.

One of mine was the players all being in an immigration office, which is attacked by revolutionaries. They save the day and a lawyer, who proceeds to legally justify their actions by forging papers saying the group is a private security firm. The adventure proceeds from here.

>>31332598

BBEG must be planned to die, and then later reincarnated or raised in some fashion. That way, whatever they try to do to derail it will only aid in the plot's advancement. Make sure to include details about the BBEG's death, or results of his death, in the media res.

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I've done the "village under attack" thing, but I also had an NPC hire the PCs into a monster hunting organization because they did such a good job of defending the village from those pesky zombies and skellingtons.

The attack got them into combat right away and it presented a mystery in why the village got attacked (spoiler: it was a necromancer, part of a necromancer cult, needing more bodies for more undead), and a cash money reward for solving the mystery.

It got the characters involved in the larger plot nicely.

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Do any of you know any way to start a campaign with zero railroading?

I mean these will all be new characters and theres no real way of knowing how the players will play them and what should motivate them. Is it possible to get 4-6 strangers with completely different motivations and goals to work together towards a common goal without forcing them down a certain road?

I have no problem going on from that point, where all the PCs know eachother and you kinda know what the players wanna do with them. Its just that everything i think of to get it started feels a little forced and contrived to me.

I was also this guy: >>31332539

You have all run away to join the circus.

>>31332706
The best would be if I could somehow make whatever they do to try to ruin things be the actual catalyst that turns him into the bad guy. Even better if the players realize that they screwed up and did something wrong or even evil.

Somewhat unrelated to the thread topic as a whole, but I remember a great /tg/ storytime about a party that was on a hallucinogenic trip and thought they slaughtered a village full of evil monsters, only to have their party from the next game come across the village full of slaughtered innocent villagers and realize what their party from the last game had actually done.

>>31328439

I once took part in a great game where we were all pretty much country folk going to the big city. We were, and this was the best part, all related.

The two elves were brother and sister with their foundling gnome brother. The half elf was their illegitimate cousin. The humans were her cousins. We got day jobs--janitor, bouncer, dancer/singer, apprentice alchemist, bartender, street performer.

At the same time we paid rent, eventually started a couple businesses (heavily invested in our alchemist to start his own shop and a dojo for the monk) while running jobs as a neutral mercenary group at nights. We were about to get involved in politics before the game ended.

>>31328439
More often than not I just have them be strangers who have been separately contracted and assigned to a team together by whoever they were contracted by.

>>31332787
I remember an RPG, it might have been Spirit of the Century, where part of the character creation process was coming up with backstory connections between the characters.

So when the game starts, you already have plenty of reasons for the PC to at least be acquainted with one another.

>>31328439
>You're all in a tavern in a prison in a village that's being attacked.
I seem to recall something of this nature happening in The Baroque Cycle.

>You're all a bunch of mercenaries, auxiliaries, or levies in this fucking invasion force
>Battle's coming up, try not to get stabbed in the dick
>Oh shit nigger, it all went tits up and all of our forces are routed or fucking dead
>Good luck getting back home in the enemy's heartlands, hope you can speak fantasy Polish, faggots

Alternatively

>You're all a bunch of soldiers in opposing armies
>Oh god fucking five or six different armies on a field all trying to take or defend a castle in the center who thought this would be a good idea
>SUDDENLY DRAGONS/UNDEAD/WIZARD
>Oh shit nigger, it all went tits up and everybody you love is DEAD
>Will you cooperate with these other survivors who you were trying to kill before or will you try to strangle them in their sleep

etc.

>>31328439
>no "running away from a botched job"
I swear, it works and it works well.

>>31328439
We did the tavern beginning with a twist: My character, a wizard, got an assignment from his mentor to prove his abilities and earn the right to learn spells of 3rd level and upwards. The task was to explore several distant ruins and to bring back any artifacts of value (a ruse, as it turned out). I decided to go ahead and gather a party before venturing forth by various means, including posting ads in taverns. Meanwhile, the DM has been playing solo adventures with the other players and gently guided them to stumble upon some of my ads or the forming party. After a while, all the players plus 2 NPCs had gathered and were promised fixed payment and a share of the loot and we set out.
This initial hierarchy with me being the 'employer' quickly broke down and turned egalitarian once we opened said ruins though, due to ancient prophecy shenanigans.

>>31332885
I kinda handwaved complicated backstories since everybody is new at TTRPG and i didnt want to drag down the game. These backstories could also be too different to motivate all the PCs to go after the same thing.

But i guess making everyone come up with a long term goal and tailoring the story to that could be a way to go.

>party of 5 strangers resting at an inn.
>you all wake up from a ruckus in the middle of the night.
>party heads out.
>an invasion of orcs has arrived at the village gates.
>players must help in the defense of the village
>DM keeps tossing in orcs after orcs at us
>eventually our players all die.
>but in our last breaths, the cavalry finally arrives to save the village.
>we all stop playing and about to beat the shit out of DM when the DM told us "its not over yet".
>we return to our seats.
>our players awaken in some grand banquet.
>we are surrounded by different warriors from different lands.
>A bearded man with a golden horned helmet and missing eye enters the banquet.
>He declares with a booming voice "Welcome, noble, brave heroes... To Valhalla!"

Now we're serving under Odin and doing quests to get stronger in preparation for Ragnarok.

And this is the story of how we love our new DM.

>>31328439
>you are all drinking in the tavern separately and pass out. When you wake up you realize you're now conscripts in the conqueror's army. Met your new squad mates.

One campaign, we were all in a tavern, blacked out, woke up on a beach, got arrested, and woke up in a prison cell. It was glorious.

>>31333169
I want to play that game.

>>31333169
Stealing this for future use

>You are already in the middle of doing something that is probably unrelated to any of the plot hooks but can be used to establish characters and act as an introduction the the setting's basic ideas.
In media res is a miracle of the universe.

Let them work out how they got together later, that shit is boring anyway.

>>31328970
Stealing this.

>You all meet at the "International People Whats Parents Got Killed and Village Burned Down By Orcs Convention".

My last game started with the party being a group of performers trying to make it big and they just saved up enough money to rent out a stage for their first real show.

Pathfinder. They ended up setting part of the town on fire and got the hell out of Dodge before the town guard showed up

>>31332570

Which was based on a Fantastic Four comic.

>>31333612
I'm guessing the Thing carried the team that issue?

>You're all milling about the town, minding your own business, when you hear an explosion. The town walls are on fire and what looks like an army of masked wizards are slowly advancing through the town. Go.


I miss that campaign. It was basically sandbox, but with the threat of a fuckhuge wizard army rampaging across the countryside behind us.

>>31333638

You bet your everloving ass, Monkey took Ben Grimm's role in the cartoon.

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Here's an idea I thought up but have yet to use (I'm currently writing a campaign around the idea):

* A party member regains consciousness. He is blind, weak and feeble; he doesn't remember what happened to him. A voice from nearby reassures him that he's okay, but he is suffering from "hibernation sickness" (not really what I'm going to call it, but if you think Han Solo coming out of carbonite, this gives you an idea of what the PCs expriencing).
* The person rustles around and does something the PC can't see. A second party member regains consciousness.
* The voice explains the PCs were turned to stone while trying to slay the gorgon/medusa master of the place they are currently in.
* Each PC is from different time periods, regions, etc, who all failed at some point to defeat this gorgon (so their wildly different backstories don't have to mesh pre-campaign). They're now (or were) decorations in the gorgon's Gallery of Heroes.
* After all party members are revived, the voice tells them that he has run out of the elixir that reverts stone to flesh, and they need to flee, now!
(Continued)

>>31333987
I like it.

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>>31333987
Cont...
* The gorgon is approaching
* Party members must navigate the place blind, aided by the mysterious NPC.
* After escaping, the PCs slowly recover, converse with the NPC to learn about the region, explain their backstories and why they came to this place.
* Campaign begins.

>>31333686
For some reason I read that as an army of naked wizards.

>>31328439
>>You're all in a tavern
>>You're all in prison
>>You're all from the same village and it gets attacked
I have literally never seen any of these happen because of faggots like OP wanking about "MUH ORIGINALITY"

>>31334023
Well, just because they're masked doesn't mean the rest of them isn't naked.

>fucking wizards

>>31332808

Also known as that one fighter's Guild mission in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

atleast for my GURPS campagin
>your all on a flight
>everyone explains why there on a flight
>use CYOA style insinuations to start the stone a rolling

nothing beats having your team start an all out kung fu battle with muslims and and rednecks

>>31333169

All of my YES

>>31332787
>All 6 of you are milling about on the boat to the City of Guilds, the only city on the new continent. [2 minutes setting backstory]

I had a game where this was the only introduction. No "you talk to each other", no "suddenly kraken", just "you're on a boat."
The DM left it up to us to quickly make up WHY we'd be on a boat to the city, one person said "I wanted to pave the way and make my own guild, and raise it to the top, to be the best like no one ever was.".

...So we did. He went about to each other player (and a few implied NPCs), did a job interview, and found they were all freaks, which was perfect to make an impression, since reputation is what makes a guild, go for the weird ones, they get noticed more and thus the guild gains rep faster.

DM loved the idea. By which I mean (revealed later) he intended us to join a explorer's guild and instead we spent most of the first session designing a flag and charter.

>>31332598
OP of >>31332271 here. As you can see, my campaign was an example of what you described. I encourage you to steal mine or make up your own and give it a shot. It worked great for me.

I really didn't have to do any railroading... I just kept that scene in reserve. When the story felt right, I gave them an overwhelming fight. Then they woke up in that alley. As for the one guy in the suit that they recognized, I just picked one of the NPCs they had dealt with and I fleshed out some of his motivations and why he would be working for the enemy.

>>31328439
>You're all in a tavern

In a Warhammer fantasy rpg (2nd ed), we have literally set the tavern on fire immediately and killed everyone in the small village as soon as this was mentioned by the GM.
He just sat there, not quite sure what to do for about 5minutes before realising that we where not kidding.

Spent some time in one on one as well as group sessions with my roleplaying group coming up with back stories. They decided that a communal background as war veterans sounded like fun.

The first session took place ten years in the past with the group fighting through their most important mission, part of an assault force to kill a lich that had been gathering power. Eventually the PCs win but their respected commanding officer is killed in the aftermath.

The second session started off on Veteran's Day ten years later where the PCs (some marching in the parade, some staying home with their families, one drunk and alone on the streets) all see what they think is their command officer now ten years dead.

The mission isn't over.

>>31329605
The nice things about generic starts is that your party can decide how they got where they got as opposed to the GM deciding. A big thing I do is I tell my parties that they've been travelling together for a few months before they actually meet in-game, so that way they can exchange their back stories OOC and already have character relationships established.

I mean, when we build our characters together and have already told each other the basis of them, it's a lot better to start off generic like that because you don't reiterate shit you've already heard.

>>31336534
I NEED TO KNOW MORE

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>>31336534
Awesome!

One I did was the party waking up in a forgotten crypt with total amnesia. The room they're in is the central burial chamber where obviously the most important person here was entombed. It was also obviously the site of an intense battle decades ago.

They emerge near an abandoned road that they follow towards signs of civilization. It takes a few sessions and a few weeks of game time. When they get to the nearest settlement, they catch people doing double takes as they pass by on the streets, old people staring in disbelief. Eventually, I have them run in to statues of themselves in the town square. Turns out that they battled a powerful magic user in that crypt. With his dying breath, he hurls one last curse at them. It's not enough to kill them, but it saps them of their power and puts them into a magic stasis. (game terms, they started out at reduced level and mundane, if high quality, gear when they were like level 15+ with magic items). Eventually the curse faded and so to did the evil that tainted the land surrounding the crypt, which has allowed them to waken and leave.

I specifically asked my players to not worry about writing backstories right away, but they would get a chance to. After they found out who they were, they were allowed to do so. Whatever they came up with was explained in game as their memory returning. They just couldn't pull some shit like "oh, I remember that I totally had a +5 vorpal sword hidden in the basement of my summer cottage. Oh and a treasure pile there too"

>>31336091
>AHAHAHAHAH
>Fuck you DM for trying to make our characters meet up
>Fuck you for trying to make our convoluted and stupid backstories work together
>Fuck you for trying to have a story line
>AHAHAH were so great
People like you are like cancer.

>You wake up in a forest beyond the Shield Mountains
>Shield Mountains being the magically raised and protected mountains keeping out the nasties
>You remember EVERYTHING
>The others set to "recharge" the mountains's magic betrayed you!

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>>31336091

>>31328439
I COMMAND YOU ALL TO RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES!

I'm a big fan of caravan guarding mercenaries, myself.

>>31328439
>beastmen attack town
>my character and other NPCs are hired by some guy to go and help fight them
>one other PC lived in the town
>Two days after the fighting, three PCs come to help with the relief effort

>>31332885
SotC kinda does it, Apocalypse & Dungeon world REALLY force it (though not in a bad way)

>>31336884
>>31337527

Unfortunately the group broke up (we'd started playing towards the closing of summer break). There were promises about keeping it going on IRC and what not but it wasn't to be.

At the last session the PCs had finally contacted each other after ten years apart, taking a bit of time to find and clean up their former Sergeant once they located him on the streets. They were going to gather together and seek out the local clergy for what the ghost sighting really meant, and at least some of them had the foresight to dig out their antique weapons from wherever they'd kept them.

Current campaign party: Every character got a mysterious envelope from a mysterious figure, promising adventure, or a chance to help others, or a chance to fight tyrants, or excitement, or travel - whatever appealed to that specific character. The letters guided them to a meeting, where the party's mysterious benefactor gave them a ship and a bunch of cash and an assignment: To overthrow a powerful emperor...

Who their benefactor is and what his motivations are remains unseen.

>Every member of the soon-to-be party recieved a letter baring the seal of an old family friend
>He has passed on, and bids for each individual member to come to his funeral, stating he has left them something of importance
>Upon arrival, his skeleton lawyer reads his will
>The will states that the group he has summoned in order to solve his murder, which was apperently committed by one of his many apprentices
>In fulfilling this deed, a chest that has been left for each member will be unsealed of it's arcanic charms, said to contain something of great calue to the individual person some time in the future to come
>after they succeed, these items could be used for later player-specific side stories, that cod take place really whenever the DM feels it's suitable

Not super original, but I think it'd at least change things up for someone

>>31337557
Initial introductions can be pretty awkward, especially with a new group.

Do you even hardcore /tg/?

>You all begin in a freaking cylindrical hall/sewer.
>The [important NPC] is freaking [mental condition], you are in the same city, do something (you don't know each other).
>Your two families have a social war. Sort it out.
>You meet at a tavern in [ cool city name]'s ruins .
>You begin in the same caravan.

The only reasons i tossed cliches was for players who like PvP so much they will try t ofind reasons to fight each other. So i just named them brothers who die if one dies.

>>31328439

You are all Assassins separately hired to kill the King. You all break into his room at the exact same moment.

>>31338549
>the king is Aizen

>>31338405
That's like from Shadowrun on Steam.

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>>31328439
>You're all from the same tavern-prison and it gets attacked

>>31338565

Spoiler:

It was a set-up. The King is ALREADY DEAD, and the guards have been alerted.

>>31338405
>Original enough and I'll steal it
FTFY

>>31328439

You all wake up at an orgy. Where the hell are your clothes? Why did that woman have bat-wings? WHY IS THERE A MOB AT THE DOOR?

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So are there any scans floating around for Militarum Tempestus yet?

>>31338549

As you burst in, you see a Scottish couple arguing with each other about whether they should kill the king.

Not gonna lie, the wife seems like kind of a bitch.

All kidnapped by secret illuminati-like cult and broken out by benefactor Who told the cult you were his operatives beforehand, causing you to be kidnapped.

>>31338584
That's basically what I just said, isn't it?

>>31328888
some men just want to watch the world burn

>>31328439
>doesn't mention aboard the same ship.
>awake in the stomach of the same colossal building swallowing beast
>summoned by the same magical spell to defend the world of sunshineandrainbows from evil
>summoned by the same spell to destroy the world of sunshineandrainbows because it draws the life energy off of every other plane and is going to end existence one day, Keeping the inhabitants unaware to avoid them stopping this.

>>31331887
>It's getting attacked and you are all asleep
They are living in a megaprison, either born there or ported in there for a lifetime.

>You just freed player 1 from an magic revolution training/research facility disguised as an anti-magic gladiator ring.

Your job since finding out the revolution is to either beat the shit out of the nerds or whatever. As long as the nerds get beaten up for trying to get privileges.

>>31329379
I REALLY want to use this. But my players would bitch about getting a saving throw for it and I don't know what I would do, if one of them got a 20 or some shit.

>>31338856
Pretty simple: The effect reoccurs daily. They may make one saving throw. They may even make two. But sooner or later they'll fail.

>>31338856
You'd blast them with it again.

You are travelers either in magic fantasy train/boat moving towards the "new world" a new land found through magic scrying.

As their vehicle is attacked by new world savages and they are to defend themselves they are later arrested with the savages. they are taken in for their "crime they are trying to escape" (which you've told your player to have, something at least worth being arrested or flee from) and are told by the local government spooks that they can either become a sort of penal government force (forced trough magic, also make shit up about lack of workforce).

Well that's all i can make up on the spot.

>>31338100
This works pretty well. Every player is in the same place. They got a reason to be there, they're all getting paid, they got a reason to being going just about anywhere. But they can all still have separate histories.

>>31338892
>>31338897

RAILROAD

>>31338919
My players actually prefer a bit of railroading. If they follow what I have planned we don't have to slow down or end early to give me time to come up with stuff.

>>31338856

Say it was a god instead. Divine Ranks > you.

You are all carnies under the employ of a fantastically-magical wizard with an unhealthy amount of greed. You go around putting on acts of valor and heroism for a small fee, using your own combat training and a hefty amount of illusion magic.
One day, something goes wrong and you have to decide whether you want to be REAL heroes or run away with your employer.

>>31338919
That's not rail roading, if some "medusa" wants them turned to stone she's gonna turn shit to stone. Maybe they can kill it or something but that's up to them to figure out.

>>31338935

This one I like, but as an origin background for one of the PCs, not the whole party.

>>31338938
>>31338919
>>31329379
"You're all under a curse, you must do X within Y time or suffer Z fate" is a pretty common quest hook.

>>31338943
I run it to introduce new players to fantasy RPGs when they tell me they don't know what they want to play. The first session or two is spent on fake combat and really over-the-top tropes, so even if they screw up they are fine and have fun doing it. Four times running it now and everyone still has a blast.

YOUR WILD ORGY IS INTERRUPTED BY SCREAMS THAT YOU DIDN'T CAUSE.

>>31338919
Not at all. You are entirely free to go where you want.

Sure, you may not get very far, but that's entirely your choice.

You all meet in a building composed entirely of dark corners, perfect for brooding in. As you each take your respective places, competing to see who can out-angst everyone else, a man runs inside and tells you that his daughter has just been raped and he will give one thousand silver pieces to whoever avenges her virtue.

>>31338982
No, a Hobson's choice is not really a choice.
>you can stay on the rails, or you can die pretty quickly.
That's still railroading.

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>>31331742
YES.
YES STAR FOX CAMPAIGN. FUCK YES.

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>>31328439
Heres how I did it when not all my players could come to the first session.
>Character A has known character B for some time
>A and B meet C on their travels after a dispute over a river crossing
>A,B and C then rescued D from a castle they were busy escaping from
That good?

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>>31328439
I always do it like james bond/ one off tv shows

> your escorting a prisoner to jail when
> your out in the wilderness camping, counting the boubles from the kobold encampment you were hired to remove
>after receiving the dispatch orders from the commander the base alarm sounds

Always have them right in the middle of something, so they have a primary goal, but the adventure is the sub quest (hurdle) they have to clear to finish it.

>>31328439
I like to have my players have met themselves long time ago and that they area already friends when a campaign begins. I also like to incorporate this meeting into their character stories.

An example of what I've used.
>Your characters met years ago when you were kidnapped by a terrorist/anarchist group. You spent a year together in closed space with horrible treatment and poor hygiene. You were the only survivors after the militia found your location and attacked the terrorists, killing both hostages and OpFor at the process.How did your character act in this situation and how did it change the character?

>>31338999
So, what you're saying is that you'd have to be a retard NOT to deal with the immediate problem first?

>>31339026
I'm saying that's not a good argument that you're not railroading.

It's the definition of railroading. When players are only given one option to take - they MUST do this thing. Justifying that they do have a choice, they can also choose to die horribly! Is retarded. It's called a Hobson's choice.

>>31328439
>You all work for the same corporation/branch of government/whatever

>You share a dorm

>You survive the same crash

>You're the only [whatever] in the world (woks especially well for spiritual beings and AIs).

>>31332495
There was an idea somewhere on /tg/ about adapting Torgue's corporation... to Shadowrun. I had an explosive boner.

>>31339014
so you let their characters do things while they dont play them?

>>31339048
Arguing that your DM is railroading is a shit argument to start with.

Of COURSE he's railroading. The questions are "how hard" and "is it really a problem?"

It's a perfectly acceptable gimmick to get a campaign started because it gives the players a clear objective.

It's not railroading so long as there are many possible routes the players could eventually take to solve the issue, even if only one of them is immediately evident.

But if you're going to scream "railroading" at the slightest provocation, without even investigating, then you've pretty much proven that you're a kind of player not worth playing with.

>>31338856
Will-based saving throw, the DC is 40.
Impossible for them to roll high enough unless they have 20+ will save, and those don't crit.

>>31339116
I'm not saying railroading is never sometimes necessary- I'm saying it's retarded to claim
>>31338982
>Not at all. You are entirely free to go where you want.
when that isn't true in any real sense whatsoever.

So when you go from
>You are entirely free to go where you want.
to
>s-sometimes railroading is necessary...
I'm going to read between the lines that you're admitting you were wrong to claim it's "not at all" railroading.

>>31339131
That's also bullshit. an impossible roll is the same as having no roll at all.

>>31339073

...wat. Doesn't everyone? How else are characters expected to have a childhood, you want them to RP all their backgrounds separately before the start of the campaign or something?

>>31338982
Out of curiosity, were you the GM in a situation where the players would tell the old man to go fuck himself and skip town, how would you continue? The game has been on less than an hour, and the characters are stoned. Would you call off the campaign or have them saved some other way?

>>31339153
Yeah, that's what you tell the players if they bitch about not getting a saving throw.
"Well, the DC is a 40, and none of you can really make it even with a 20, so I figured we could just streamline it."

>You all end up in an orgy.
>Roll for Anal circumference.

>>31339116
Nah, you just sound like a shit DM trying to justify being shit.

>If you do anything other than this one thing you'll quickly die or succumb to a curse or turn to stone or whatever
This robs players of agency. It robs them of the ability to make meaningful choices. It's shit DMing. A good DM can make characters WANT to do what's needed, not just using shitty gimmicks to force them to.

>>31339163
You're not really grasping the underlying problem here, are you anon?

>>31339163
>yes except no
Or you could grow a spine and say it's sometimes okay not to have a saving roll.

>>31328439

>The Guardian Mage of the mortal realm tries to stop the BBEG before the campaign even starts
>Except he accidentally teleports you and your party to the BBEGs castle along with him

>>31339181
THIS

I'd be more pissed being given a literally impossible roll than just being told there's no saving roll. It's a GM too smarmy and rules-lawyer-y to actually exercise GM fiat.

>>31339187
>>31339181
Alright, fair point. You're right. I guess I'd just tell the players something about 'it's just to get the story started' instead.

>>31339158
Probably I'd have the failure slowly turn them to stone piece by piece. Give them rumors of some kind of artifact that can mitigate the effect.

But much would depend on how the players decided to deal with it.

>>31339171
>This robs players of agency. It robs them of the ability to make meaningful choices.
No, it doesn't.

You're assuming it does. And in the hands of a shit DM it very well could.

But this provides a framework for players TO make choices.

You're slowly turning to stone.

What do you do, motherfucker?

>>31339171
>A good DM can make characters WANT to do what's needed, not just using shitty gimmicks to force them to.
This. "Do what I feel like or die" GM can go fuck himself, no one will be playing with him in the future. He belongs writing shitty fanfiction alone, not in a cooperative game.

>>31334021
>The NPC is actually the gorgon

>>31339237
Good luck finding any kind of game that meets your impossibly high standards of player freedom.

>>31339229
>You're assuming it does.
Yes, I'm assuming
>>31338982
>Sure, you may not get very far, but that's entirely your choice.
means "take this choice or you won't get very far."

You seem to just change your argument whenever someone calls you out. It's kind of making you look like a retard.

>>31328439
Who are you, who travel betwixt London and St. Albans?

>>31339229
Better way would be to tell the players before the game that their characters are going to be slowly turning into stone and get recruited to saving a village. That way they can work with the GM, not against him. But starting a game with a situation like that, especially when the players might have had entirely different plans for the game, is needlessly heavy-handed and railroady.

>>31339270
>>Sure, you may not get very far, but that's entirely your choice.
>means "take this choice or you won't get very far."
So you don't see any other possible interpretations of that statement?

>>31339296

I will say that there are no other REALISTIC interpretations of that statement.

>>31339296
>So you don't see any other possible interpretations of that statement?
Nope.

Do you not know the definition of a Hobson's choice?

You might as well be saying "The players can always choose not to play! They have choice!"

>>31339295
Eh, it's a fun storytelling technique, if the players can handle it and not get all "muh freedoms"

>>31339324
>"muh freedoms"
Look, I know there's no such thing as a perfect sandbox. To be honest, good GMing is giving the illusion of choice while guiding the players to what you wanted all along.

But you're not even bothering to hide it, you're just forcing them to do what you want on pain of killing their character.

>>31338598
So is the husband.

>>31339324
>Storytelling technique
>railroading and saying anyone who doesn't do what you say is dead
That's not fun or worth calling a 'technique', you're just shit at DM-ing and not creative enough to create actual motivations.

>You are all in a female storm giant's uterus.

>>31339324
No, not really because it is a hamfisted way to force the players to follow the plot, or else. At best you're going to generate resentment in the players and there's no benefit in doing so, when you could ask them to agree with it in the first place.

>>31339336
As the first choice of a campaign? Sure, why not? If the definition of a roleplaying game is slowly escalating player freedom and power, then the first thing to do is remove all of it.

>>31339346
>create actual motivations.
That's the players job. The DM creates situations.

>>31339361
>If the definition of a roleplaying game is slowly escalating player freedom and power
I've never heard "slowly escalating player freedom" as the definition of an RPG. What the fuck?

If the definition of a genius is a complete fucking retard, then you're a genius. See? It's easy if you just re-define stuff.

>>31339347
>all the characters are siblings

>>31339361
>If the definition of a roleplaying game is slowly escalating player freedom and power
Uh, what? I've never heard it defined that way.
>then the first thing to do is remove all of it.
Now you're just being silly.

>>31339368
Jumping to insults doesn't help your case.

Just a suggestion, why don't you try telling me what you think a roleplaying game is so I can compare and contrast where you're come from.

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>>31339385

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>>31328888
Let me start a fire in your tavern

>>31339401
The two definitions are not incompatible.

You level up, you get more power to influence the state of the world.

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>>31339361
>the definition of a roleplaying game is slowly escalating player freedom
What?

>>31331887
You are all in the Tavern's prison in the village you all grew up in together while it is under attack.

>>31339427
Having the freedom to do something and the ability to do something is not the same thing.

Cursing characters to suddenly die horribly if they move off the rails is shitty DMing. It's not about not having the right power or resource, it's about a shitty mechanic meant to keep you from straying off the rails.

>people on /tg/ are actually defending amateurish railroading

>>31339444
Anon, it's a troll arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.

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You are sitting around a campfire.

Your leader of your merry gang of bandits announces that it's time for another village raid.

>>31339459
...Good point. Thanks.

>>31339441
You mean the attacker's village in the prison you all grew up together in while it is under a tavern.

Actually I'm reconsidering my position.

But I'm still at least 75% sure most of you are just whining faggots.

>>31339444
>die horribly if you move off the rails
Nah, man, you don't see it like I see it.
Where you see a single set of rails, I see a whole fucking crossroads! You can take this road to go kill the medusa, thus breaking her curse, or this road to help the wizard so he'll cure you permanently, or this road so you can earn the cash to buy more cure potions to buy more time, or possibly even this last road! Which I can't think of a third option, but that's the GM's job! You only die if you go out into the wilderness without a purpose and do lulrandum shit.

Ideally, a good GM would give you something to light a fire under your butt and keep you from dallying, and then making sure that no matter what path you take, you'll find a bucket to put the fire out. It'll just keep you from running in circles.

>>31339548
This guy.

This guy gets it.

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>>31339548
>You only die if you go out into the wilderness without a purpose and do lulrandum shit.
That's a long way from "you can choose to do the quest or you can choose to go die" and "sometimes railroading is okay!"

>>31339270
>You seem to just change your argument whenever someone calls you out. It's kind of making you look like a retard.

>>31339548
Oh, and I forgot to say!

You also have to keep in mind the intention of a campaign. A GM should brief their players on what they plan, first of all.
>I want to run something where you're all adventurers trying to keep yourselves from succumbing to a magical disease!
>Let's play a campaign where you all inherit some land and have to deal with a bunch of threats to your people!
>Pirates! Always pirates. Who's up for a nautical campaign!
And if someone's like 'no, I don't want to do that' then you can either change to something they do want to do, or tell them that they can sit out of the game if they want.

>>31339592
Also, I'm actually a different dude.

The players recieve a letter that contains a personal bit of information, perhaps it ties into a bit of their character background or is a plot hook. Everyone recieves letters of a similar nature and they all tell the players to come to the same location, where all shall be made clear.

But first, there are rats in the cellar!

PCs are highway robbers, and they've managed to ambush a coach. In the coach there is a fancily dressed lady, made out of metal and clockwork. She gets out, bows and her hands transform into sharp blades.

>PCs are simple bargement, transporting goods and people from one lake shore to another. One day, after a thunderstorm, a shimmering castle appears in the middle of the lake.

>PCs are a ragtag group of monsters, driven out of their dungeon by rampaging adventurers.

>PCs have been press ganged into the service of a local Dark Lord. During a heated battle with the forces of Good they escape into the Enchanted Wood.

>>31339592

You sound like the kind of guy who wrecks campaigns for shits and giggles and then bawls on the intenet how he can't find a decent group.

Good luck getting anyone to DM for you with this kind of attitude.

I had my PCs start out as gladiator-esque entertainers that have just been grouped together.

>Fantasy
I once had a group of players meet in a swamp by having them all teleport at random heights (5-15ft) above the ground while they were going about some random task. Then other things started teleporting in like half a castle, a wagon, all kinds of things. They huddled in fear as the sky rained misc objects for around half an hour.
>Sci-fi
In true final destination fashion I had them all meet via a major vehicle accident that killed everyone but them. They all managed to survive by some twisted fate and were bound together by being thrust into the media spotlight for surviving such a thing unharmed. This of course also brought about wonderful things like random people recognizing them throughout the game, or angry confused people who blamed them for what took their loved ones(People in the wreck that didn't make it) and shit like that. All and all it was good fun.

>>31339361
The definition of a roleplaying game is a game where the player are supposed to play a role.

That being said, the players' job is what the DM let them/ask them to do. You might assume, per example, that it's never the players' duty to build parts - or even all - of the universe. You'd be wrong.

>>31328439
>You're at an orphanage
>An evil army is approaching choose one of three things to take with you
>A weapon, a backpack of supplies or 20 orphans.
>My barbarian taking 20 orphans caused serious problems

I was a dwarf rogue and the other guy was an alchemist. DM started the story game with my rogue selling drugs the alchemist made, was quite enjoyable.

>>31328439
>You're tax collectors for a bronze-age city state and your alien overlord orders you to go and gather tribute from a rebellious hill tribe to the west. You are given motor-chariots and firearms from the arsenal to aid you.

>>31340295
I'd play that.

>You all are being carried as the most recently looted slaves by the Elves, after your settlements were raided.
>what do you do?
Their stuff is in a coffer a bit further away, and they are being moved by a team of like 10 weakass elves.

>>31339592
You wouldn't have known anything about logical fallacies if it wasn't for that site.

Go back to reddit, fag.

>>31339171
>>>If you do anything other than this one thing you'll quickly die
More like, 'if you don't occasionally work towards the plot, I'll slap you with my dick'

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For my one piece campaign I had them forced into piracy. Basically they ended up in the same building to buy a ticket for the next boat leaving the island. the old man that was running the shop was getting run down by a corrupt marine officer while they were sitting in the lobby. one of the player fucking knocks him out instantly. i didnt expect that. lower ranking marines rush in and see them all standing around the old man. assumes they are together and starts to chase all 4 of them

My favorite start is always the Tavern Brawl. Its not especially unique but I enjoy it. My players enjoyed it too if i read their responses right. Essentially I have a group of thugs pull them all into the fight in one way or another.

My half orc inquisitor got a sucker punch crit on this big lizard man dude. Lizard man got a nat 20 full damage crit in return and knocked the half orc out cold.

When the Ogre sheriff armed with a bench showed up and started indiscriminately started walloping people with it they had all the motivation to work together.

Woke up tied to a mast, superKobold yelling and spitting in my face.

"U mad 'bold?"

He beats the shit of me, pass out again.

Wake back up later to the sound of fighting. Oh goodie, the slaves must be free!

The party/slaves I'm selling start a fight on the ship's deck, I break free. Combat wraps up.

Then they began the talk of castrating their overseer, AKA me.


Dif I mention I'm a paladin?

>>31328439
>Modern day setting (strictly, JAGS Wonderland)
You happen to be in or around the same crowd watching a street magician (you're watching the magician, or you're a pickpocket making a quick buck off the crowd, or you're a store owner nearby, or you're a customer in a store) when he does... something. You're not sure quite what it was (his fingers seemed to move through each other for a brief moment...) but you sure as hell know what happened as a result - an honest-to-goodness dragon appeared out of nowhere, ate him, and vanished again. After that day, you've been experiencing hallucinations and other strangeness - people behave oddly, signs seem to be more honest, somehow, and it's all getting a bit too much. Then, someone contacts you, seeming to know about these hallucinations. You decide to meet the guy, and you meet the other party members. You're now trying to hold a normal life while dealing with collective hallucinations that seem to be a bit too real for your liking - that scratch you got last time hasn't faded yet...

You're watching TV one night, and there's a cut to commercials. You mute the TV, as you usually do. However, Suddenly you hear a voice - what's on the screen doesn't look like an advert - and it's talking to you, explaining that you're going to be on TV!
The party gets thrust into a series of game-show-esque scenarios, which seem to be twisted versions of real TV shows (a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire style show - but asking intensely personal questions, for instance) or downright lethal (think I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here style show, complete with snarky voiceover - that the characters can hear, by the way - but the setting is a city in the middle of a zombie apocalypse).

My favorite start was because the last set of PCs destroyed the economy with a perfect create gold spell. We do generations of parties, and a tpk starts at that exact time, just far away back at lvl 1.

2 generations later, I had converted most people back to hunter/gatherers because lolcurrency. The game started with each player getting his good luck handshake at 16. Better find some food and shelter party, winters coming and it's gonna get cold.

They pulled a landowners cat out of a tree, gathered herbs for food, and harvested crops until level 3, still having a blast pulling carriages from mud and even helping a handmaiden deliver a child.

Honestly when I started a adventure campaign, they were so loyal to the land owner and community, they set off to find other brave adventurers so they could stay on the farm.
It doesn't sound like fun, but we had a blast.

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I like starting in the middle of a clusterfuck and tons of excitement. Because yeah.

I actually don't mind calm "you find each other in a tavern" openings really. But it is fun to do something unexpected.

I started a Rogue Trader game, with a bidding war over a crashed acheotech ship going badly. So the numerous RTers from the sector, pirates and rich nobles all blew one another out of space. The first session was the ship upside down with damaged gravplates and them needing to get out of the place before it exploded.

The new crew was made of several others, surviving the next couple sessions on a hostile world until help arrived to fix the archeotech ship.

>>31332558
That's been done, too, by one Anthony Horowitz.

I'm currently working on an Eclipse Phase game that opens like this: you were all members of the same Firewall cell. However, shit got fucked, your identities have been burned and your memories altered so even YOU don't know why you were burned. Now you're adrift on a Scum barge, trying to piece things back together.

It's an interesting idea, I think, but it really depends on the group I get more than anything I can do.

>"Help Wanted"

>You come to in midair as you are tossed naked into a wolf-pit.

>You come to on a beach surrounded by wreckage of the ship you were on.

>You come to in midair, thousands of feet over a jungle.
Didthat last one before Predators, too.

>>31328439
>You awake in a chamber full of eggs at your feet are pale creatures vaguely resembling spiders with tails.

>>31339171

>If you do anything other than this one thing you'll quickly die

Does this mean that I'm a shit DM for expecting my PCs to drink something every once in awhile?

>>31344079
That second one's actually pretty interesting.

Reminds me of Persona 4 a fair bit, actually.

>>31328439
>>You're all in a tavern
That's a classic OP. Every setting has a bar/pub/tavern it's a tried and true way to start.

I might be running a game about a SWAT team, so I was thinking about choosing someone at random and asking them how they start there day before they head to the PD.
I think it would be good to show some personality and a bit about the character like if they have family or what kind of place they live in.
Each session would start with a different character getting ready for work until I've covered all of them.

>>31332787
I recently started a game. They way I started it was, everyone was in a tavern, together. I knew the players fairly well, and I wanted to do a sandboxy type campaign, so I devised a way to get them to work together early.

5 dwarves were in the tavern, drinking and hollering. Besides them, the tavern was quite. In the middle of the table was a sack of gold. A LOT of gold. That quickly got everyone working together to try and get it.

>You've all arrived in a city after years of travel. What is the first thing each of you do?

basicly everyone goes through their routines and shows off what kind of character they are-
"Joker has poisoned the water supply! AGAIN!" What do you do?

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I once started off a campaign with all the PCs being raised from the dead as skeletons by the Necromancer King and being told they're now his elite Shock Troopers. Then he ordered them to go kill Three-Eyed Grumgash the Orc because the Forces of Evil had won but now there was a civil war going on between all of them.

>>31328439
My most recent game began with a bunch of meteor like objects falling into our kingdom, and swarms of unknown monsters came out of them and started slaughtering people. I was playing a Warforged who was purchased from gnomes by a kind highborn gentleman, so I raced to get my "father" out of the city. He chose to stay behind to try and rally the people, but he sent me and another player (his character being my father's personal guard) to the neighboring town to appeal for help. We met the third player in said town. All in all, one of my fave beginnings.

I never began a campaign in medias res; Starting while a war has broken out and the heroes meet eachother in the trenches.

Also: The heroes meet each other during the opening of a magical school. A lot of people are there, it has a library, a bestiary, an observatorium, an alchemy lab and more.
During the tour around the place, creatures from another world start attacking and escape is impossible because the school is floating in outer space!
Held in place by a giant, alien creature. The beholder residing IN it has brainwashed a student who performed the floating ritual.
The heroes need to figure it out and defeat the beholder in order to get back home.
(It still ended in a tavern because they chose to. :( )

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>>31328439
You want my story? Sure, why the fuck not!

>Two elf chicks living together
>Suddenly loud banging on the door
>Human thief
>They shelter him
>Turns out he robbed a noble because it's eternally dark outside and thought nodoby will see him
>Too bad he had fucking lizardmen guards
>They decide to embark on a quest to see why it is so dark
>My character deserted from military and lived 5 years as a farmer
>On year 3 a dwarf crashed in his gyrocopter on my farm and just stayed there as my cook and guard
>Elves and thief meet us at my farm, help us with some orcs, and we join them
>Middle of the forest
>A daemon
>Motherfucking daemon
>One of elves is a cleric
>Starts sperging
>Thief is shitting his pants that daemon came for his soul because he was stealing shit
>Me and second elf (ranger) are trying to keep everyone shit together
>And the dwarf is picking shrooms
>That fucker is picking shrooms
>DM:"Roll notice for how many shrooms you found"

That's pretty much our party
Elf Cleric, Elf Ranger, Human Swordmage, Dwarven Warrior/Grenedier and Daemon that isn't bound to any deity and is free to do whatever he wants, but he has amnesia and doesn't remember shit. so he tagged along to see why it is so dark.

>>31336534
Im using this as a sequel start.

>>31345641
>Saxon lyrics

You are obviously a person of wealth and taste.

>PCs given a quest.
>Finish quest and told are worthy for the big mission of finding lost family member. Promised riches in return.
>After a long journey of clue finding, and mystery solving scooby-doo style, they travel to the unknowns. Twist ending. Main quest giver and lost family member never existed. All a means to lure them to the unknowns.

Pretty generic I guess, but the twist is cool.

>>31339592
There are four responses to this specific post, and nearly everybody ITT is "Anonymous." It's highly unlikely you've been talking to only one person this whole time.

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>>31329019
I was in a D&D group that did the opposite of that, actually. The party was split on opposing sides of an army.
The clincher was that the GM didn't tell us that until we got there. We all knew we were going to be soldiers, but we didn't know we were in opposing armies until something like this happened.
>"You see an enemy soldier in heavy armor, rushing towards to with a warhammer."
>"I'll move to the side and trip him"
>"Alright, roll"
>"You move to the side and trip him. Y, you are now on the ground."
>"Huh? Why am I on the ground?"
>"Because X just tripped you"
>Our faces when we finally figure it out
We were pretty evenly matched, then the BBEG's undead army came at us in a surprise attack, and we had to make a temporary alliance.

A bunch of shady figures are silently drinking from their respective mugs, eyeing each other. One of them stands up and walks slowly to a slim figure, whose pointy ears poke through the hood, and starts whispering to him. The word "adventure" somehow resonates fthrough the room. Another three hooded figures approach the table and sit. They uncover their faces.
There's the fabled barbarian, a noble warrior of the northern frontier, honor bound to the elf ranger, a rather curvy woman of unbelievable beauty.
Next to them is the wise wizard, master to the elements, a rather twitchy old man, who looks warily at the shadows the torches project ln to the floor.
The afable halfling rogue, with a heart of gold, and the ever curious gnome.

They each take turns telling their story and how they got here (somehow the end result of dead parents is over eleven, and about the same number of little hamlets being burned to the ground by evil bandits). They start feeling at home and start planning their adventure.

And thats when a fireball explodes the southern wall of the inn, obliterating the wannabe adventurers, which opens a hole in the concrete big enough for five creatures of asorted sozes and shapes to run through, hollering something that sound vaguely like a cry of "OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT-". A few moments pass and a small man woth a turban rides his camel through the inn at the chant of "CRAZY HASSAN HAVE GOOD CAMEL FOR YOU ESCAPE POLEEESH, FAVORED AMD BELOVED CUSTOMER!", followed by a dozen or so camels that spit at objectives seemingly at random.

Behind the entourage, a squad of leather armor clad guardsmen clumsily ride camels of their own, not completely sure about how they ended on top of one of these things, and how strange ot was that they felt so good.

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My current party met as they had all signed onto a traveling caravan.

>My paladin because he heard someone needed protection from evil
>Our Bard because he needed money for booze and hookers
>Our wild man ranger because...well, he smelled food cooking

In the group I run, they, along with about 80 other of the world's best heroes, scoundrels, mages, and everything in between were summoned to take part in a grand expedition sponsored by that game's eeeeevil empire.

Bears are always related, motherfucker.

>>31345124
But here you're already forcing this group of complete strangers to be in a tavern for some reason. And what if one of the PCs doesnt care about money?

>The pregnancy test states that all three of these men are the father.

Thread archived here
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/31328439/

and here
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I've been thinking of running a game in which all the players and characters are dead. It'd start with them all waking up in a crypt or on a cemetery, or something.

>>31350283

>>31345310 here. It's pretty fun if you can find a group willing to do it.

Start in a theatre, watching a play.

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>>31328888
You could say these guys get along...
like a house on fire.

>>31350591
It worked for Assassin's Creed 3.

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>>31328439
I really want to do the standard meet up in a tavern but have a one on one roleplay session with each player beforehand to explain how and why their character got there in the first place. Too bad I have no one to play with.

>>31328439
Honestly? Give the characters some early XP and kick off the campaign with a fight by having them meet in a tavern...and then having somebody start a huge barroom brawl. That's always fun, and it gives people an excuse to go "Hey, you're pretty good, saw you back there,etc."

>>31350283
>I've been thinking of running a game in which all the players and characters are dead.
Should I call the police?

You're going about your business as usual when something falls out of the sky with no warning. Investigate or run away?

>>31332364
Wasn't there a Dexter's Laboratory episode that had a plot like this?

I played a game online where the GM gave each of us a 30-40 minute intro based on our character backgrounds one on one where we were all somehow kidnapped by some magical force and ended up in a hedge maze.

PCs were all visiting X town when Monster Y attacks, works every time. It gives reason for all alignments, whether to help out peasents, just plain fun, cash it for a reward, thrill of the kill, anything. I remember one time two PCs didn't end up helping out once because "it wasn't what their character would have done" so I just asked them why they were even here.

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I like to open in media res, with some of the party already working together on something, and leaving the others to find a reason to join them.
Sara you have a black bag over your head. Your stomach lurches as the vehicle tilts and shifts, you are glad you strapped in.

Dave you come to in the drivers seat, disoriented. You can't quite make out what is in front of you due to the thick smoke and fire that is erupting from the engine compartment.

Paul you are in the back of the van, it is boarded up so the cargo can't see where you are going. You have trouble breathing through the clown mask, as you hold on to your seat for dear life.

James you are outside, hanging onto the van's rear bumper for dear life. One of the girls you bagged flies past you. You can NOT see forward, the smoke is too thick to see through. Behind you is a bridge with broken guard rail, and you realize the van is in free fall.


What do you do?

I prefer bringing the party together by weaving their back stories into a plot in and of itself.

Though I only got to explore this method via a cyberpunk campaign, but I'd like to use it more and more in my other campaigns. Intros I find, are very bland for the most part and are pretty much just "Hey! we killed these things together! Lets travel!" or "Hey! We killed these things together, old buddy! Lets travel again, like good old times!" to which my characters would usually not want to do, but I do for the sake of a well flowing campaign.

I had a business man who was well known to be dangerous with firearms recruited by the upper levels of his corp to engage in a secret run.

This led them to seek out a legendary driver from Brazil (another player) who was falsely imprisoned on some minor crimes, bail him out, and act as the teams get-away driver.

They then needed a street savvy man who they could trust and could use a gun so they hired another player.

For additional muscle, an AI had secretly used another player, who was just a very competent gunman who was always looking for jobs and money, through whatever means possible, to double cross the team to help achieve it's own goals.

Thought my examples are very specific, my point is I try to tailor my campaign at least a bit around the characters back stories, which is why I dont like writing out campaigns before they've given my their backstories and general character idea. This way, I find the beginning isn't so ham-handed and forced and if done right can even be a high point of the campaign.

>>31352408
Thats terrible though. What if they were just happening to pass by the town on the way to another town? What if they had just been visiting to pick up some local item at a shop? What if they were on vacation and already had money to work with?

It forces characters to either act out of their character to keep the campaign flowing. COOL, we slayed some monsters together and defended the town. But why should I risk my life again, with you stranger, out in the wilderness where you might do god knows what, solely on the fact that I know you can kill things well. For most of my characters, that would make me very, very hesitant.

I haven't used this yet but I wanted to get some feedback on it before I started writing the campaign.

The PC's arrive in a dream state in which they are aware of their surroundings and can remember what they see/hear in said dream. after a few minutes of examining their surroundings they eventually make out what appear to be other beings (the other players) and a singular blinking eye and mouth somewhere high above them (which would be silent for the first couple of sessions and eventually speak to them, giving them subtle hints in the form of riddles and shit). They would also be able to determine the general direction and distance each of them were away from one another in the real world. They are able to exert a certain amount of control over the dream depending on how strong willed they are (wizards can float gracefully, barbarians just shoot around like rockets by getting angry.

This is still a very rough idea and I'm just looking for ways to improve on it.

>>31357811
I like it so far. Maybe they run in to some details in the real world that they saw in the dreamworld, to make them think it's more significant than a common dream and that they should probably take it seriously.

For example. Say in a dream they were in a room where a murder took place. In the room is a broken vase. One PC, wherever he is, could swear that the guy that they saw across the town square is the murder victim in the dream. Another PC takes a room at an inn that is exactly like the room from the dream. Another PC is at a general store where he sees the same vase for sale, intact. But then two children run in playing tag or whatever, knock it over and break it.

>>31359117
Or maybe the vase isn't broken by the kids. And all these elements are going to come together somehow.... unless the PCs prevent it

hit

>>31328970
I... uh.

The game i am soon to participate in has nearly this exact setup, except replace lich with elf ranger, and having to protect the town he protected.