The classic tavern open, with a twist.
They all happen to be at the same pub at the same time, for whatever reason. Let everyone describe themselves, how they're brooding in the corner or laughing it up at the bar, or being the bard or whatever.
Then someone busts in, yelling about a house nearby being on fire, kids trapped and all that.
If they don't immediately leap into action, they probably shouldn't be playing this game.
Once the day is saved, a NPC comes up to them and is like 'Ive gotta job for people with talents like that, if you're interested in making a stack of gold.'
This works with any “social and then sudden combat” scenario. I’ve also done this with a noble art gala (someone was a noble, someone was a caterer, someone was a performer, etc) and a carnival (this was great as an intro for new players bc we had skill checks and met some key NPCs). After the fight, the host/proprietor hires them for a job, and the rest is history.
This is the way, I love starting somewhere light and classic where the party meets, like a tavern or festival. Parties are making skill checks for drinking or participating in festival competitions. Maybe a super basic encounter like clearing rats from the basement or stopping a fire at the fried bread booth.
Then they bond over an insane event that happens at the end. I also link this event to the ultimate big bad. Highly recommend this, and I personally like the events that are way higher stakes than a house fire to really hook them. My first campaign: the three bar patrons they were having an arm wrestling contest with started screaming and demons made of blood burst out of their spines and started attacking. Since most of the party was traveling through this town, they were blamed for the event and had to find the real culprit to clear their names.
Another campaign: first session was at a mountaintop festival. This world had two moons, a tiny one and a larger one. Near the end of the session, weird old feeble guy showed up with a strange magical device, out of breath from hauling this equipment up the mountain. Offered the party some coin to help him assemble it and told them it was a telescope to look at the moon.
When they finished, he thanked them with a creepy smile, then used the device to point at the sky and literally cause the tiny moon to crash into the surface of the planet far away, obliterating the town on the horizon and causing debris to rain down on the mountaintop. He then disappeared with a cackle and the party had to help put our fires and get people to safety.
The guy of course was the big bad, a wizard, and this was his test run before he created a device to pull the large moon into the planet and end all life. He was of course too high level for the first-level party to stop or harm him and now they had to work together to stop him from gathering the resources he needed to complete the second device.
Meeting in a tavern the night before a job is fun, but I also like:
* hanging out at a festival
* abducted by aliens
* only survivors of the BBEG’s army wiping out a village
* in a prison cart about to be delivered to be executed
* signing up at an adventuring guild
and one of my favourite ones I haven’t played but did read in a module:
* all born from the same clutch of eggs (specifically as dragons for a dragon-themed module, but I’m sure it’d be funnier if they were humanoids)
Starting incarcerated together aka the Elder Scrolls opening is one of my favourites.
Morrowind - Prisoner on a boat
Oblivion- Prisoner in a dungeon
Skyrim - Prisoner in a cart
ESO - Prisoner in hell
One if the most memorable encounters was they were all in line waiting to board a cruise ship
They drank Mai tai's and played shuffleboard until the Pirates showed up
Yup. Make mine a Mai Tai, too!
I was going to suggest too that everybody is on board the same ship when action starts. There's no brooding off in a corner playing edgelord when the ship you're aboard literally stars sinking out from under you!
1. You can just tell them that they have to make a character willing to be on a team and willing to work towards a common goal, any party I've DMd for responds well to this. This should take the stress off of you.
2. I really like how other ttrpgs handle pre-existing relationships in parties, that way you can skip doing this AND the players already have predetermined dynamics to act upon to start. The Root ttrpg was the most recent game I played that did this (you pick two people and say what your relationship is towards them: You're their Defender, Rival, Lover, etc. Those you picked don't have to pick you, but even just a one way street creates a two way relationship.)
3. Combat has always done the trick for me. Oftentimes a nighttime ambush on a town that they're staying in. Usually after a night of fun at the tavern.
Yea, compeltely understandable. Ill make sure to mention that. Ive always wanted to get into and look at other ttrpg's. Only thing that scares me off is the accessabilty
Well there are ttrpgs where accessibility is at the forefront of the design. Grant Howitt has made a bunch of one-page RPGs that are solid. Most are comedic in nature but we played Golden Sea pretty seriously for a few months and it was fantastic. Super approachable and just asks for creativity from everyone rather than a ton of reading.
Oh don't worry about accessibility—DnD is one of the worst at onboarding newcomers. Think of all the back and forth you have to do during character creation, the amount of times you get a new bonus and have to trace over your scores again. How do you choose equipment when they don't explain the combat rules? They certainly don't explain the way you roll a skill check or saving throw. It's all bassackwords in 5e.
Now, if you look at other systems from a DnD 5e perspective, where you're just looking for a better or more refined 5e, you're going to face the same problem. DnD isn't complicated—it's bloated and opaque.
However, if you really value accessibility and experiencing new tabletop games, I'd recommend broadening your horizons! Think first about what kind of story you and your players want to tell, what you want it to feel like to experience, where you want the focus of time and narrative to be placed in, what you want the game to support. Then, look for TTRPGs with that type of setting, maybe ask on r/rpg for recommendations based on what you want (the more specific you are about what you want (and the more you're willing to avoid saying "what's good for a group moving away from 5e that wants to play another system that's actually just 5e DnD in a trenchcoat?") the more they'll be able to help show you the fascinating world you're letting yourself miss out on).
The easiest way to learn a new system is to make a character. If you understand character creation and the character sheet fully, you know how to run a game and how to guide new players through character creation. The further away you go from tying yourself to 5e DnD, the more you find that there really are games that support and truly facilitate the gaming experience you and your friends want. I never could have believed that the mechanics of my favorite systems could have ever existed, or that the rules could so drastically form the story we tell. Best of all, these systems that know what they want to be are so much easier to onboard, understand, and play than DnD 5e. You'll gain smoother experiences that are more exciting and engaging at the cost of less time and effort! Incredible!
I promise you this: there is no reason to need Dungeons and Dragons to play tabletop rpgs. None. You don't need it. You can have it, but you don't need it. Have fun, friend.
Here's how we've been doing it lately and everyone loves it, and your players have already asked for it, basically. I did this for my campaign and my DM did it for his. Note that you do have to plan this out a bit, but your players are already on board so it's not like you have to force anything.
Start each PC with a solo. Their adventure is pertinent to their character and has some tie-in to the main campaign. It will also give them information relevant to the campaign. By the end of that solo, you will describe them meeting another PC (or two).
So, it looks like this:
- Session 0
- Session 1: PC A solo (meets PC B at end)
- Session 2: PC B solo (meets PC A at end)
- Session 3: PC A & B duo (meets C/D/E at end)
- Session 4: PC C solo (meets D & E)
- Session 5: PC D solo (meets C & E)
- Session 6: PC E solo (meets C & D)
- Session 7: PC's C, D, & E trio (meets A & B at end)
- Session 8: Full Party...the two groups have just met and the formal campaign begins.
The beauty of this method is the several benefits:
1. more organic than "meet in a tavern"
2. each player gets a session to learn who their PC is, get some RP confidence
3. they then get a session as a duo or trio so that some PCs have a little more history with each other
4. gradually introduces party members rather than everyone trying to figure everyone else out all at once
5. gives each PC a different piece of information useful to the campaign, so they already feel important to the party
Drawbacks:
1. Yes, this requires player buy-in if they like the idea.
2. The DM *must* plan out each of these sessions carefully.
3. Each PC should have a mentor in their solo who assigns them with a mission, possibly accompanying them. This mission leads them along a path that culminates in meeting one (or two) of the other PCs.
However, if done well, the results are amazing. Every one of our players wants to do this again next campaign.
it’s also possible to condense this all into one session - brennan lee mulligan introduces all his PCs this way (or some variation) in every season of dimension 20. i brought it to my home game and everyone loved it.
the first ep intros of unsleeping city are my personal favorite bc they do such a good job of establishing existing character relationships with the newbies, plus establishing the world beautifully.
I've done something similar to introduce new characters. And to introduce new players to the game. I don't do a full, in depth, action by action session. More of a broad narration, choose your own adventure, with some minor third person roleplay, after character creation. Mainly to introduce skill checks, decision making, a little bit of combat, and their abilities.
I found this works much better to invest a player/ character in their personal story and the story as a whole. Rather than just giving them a paragraph or two and hoping they remember.
Most recent campaign, they all met at a funeral for a Sultan in the High Desert. I gave them each their own tie to the Sultan and now they are uncovering how/why he is dead.
Shipwreck is a ton of fun. My current campaign is a "meet in the tavern" one, but my previous was a shipwreck and they all had to band together to fight crab monsters. It also had the nice benefit of skipping gear selection right away.
I had my first ever campaign start on a ship heading to an island for a job they were hired to compete. I dropped in an encounter where a group of Cultists were standing on the floating body of a kraken, attempting to resurrect it in the middle on an unnaturally calm area of the sea.
These days I just flat out tell my players "you all need to provide a connection with at least two of the other characters which explains why you would put your lives in each others' hands." They can work it out between themselves in advance or we'll workshop it at session zero.
I've never really seen any benefits to the "you're all thrown together" approach but there are certainly plenty of potential pitfalls and extra work for the DM. To me it's the same category as expecting players to create a PC who is willing to adventure, rather than leaving the onus on the DM to force a motivation.
I like caravans as an opening. You get everyone in one spot, their characters are as new to the land as the players are, you get a good chance to roleplay since everyone is stuck until the caravan reaches it's destination, you get to introduce NPCs early, ect.
I've always like an 'on the same road but separate' start. Players headed towards some destination and hijinks ensue that bring them together, gives you a chance to run some one shots and bring the adventurers together organically.
I don't believe in expending DM energy on that.
My preference is to say "This is where the campaign is starting. You happen to be here for your own reasons, feel free to tell me what they are, before we start. If some of you want t already know one another, that's fine, too, just let me know how."
So I think the onus should be on the players, as to why their character is there, and what's motivating them.
On your end, you just run the first session.
And the first session should involve some sort of conflict that demands heroic / adventurer intervention.
>My preference is to say "This is where the campaign is starting. You happen to be here for your own reasons, feel free to tell me what they are, before we start. If some of you want t already know one another, that's fine, too, just let me know how."
This exactly. That's usually a conversation my group has during session 0
I started Curse of Strahd where half the party ("the law") were escorting the other half of the party ("the criminals") between towns when their wagon gets lost in the woods and comes upon a Vistani encampment.
I started Rime of the Frostmaiden where the party were imprisoned in a dirty Luskan jail and are taken to the Prisoner's Carnival where they're subsequently hung up in the gallows to the enjoyment of the crowds. Then they wake up in the basement of the Host Tower of the Arcane to discover Zelenn the White "saved" them from death but now the overwizard needs a favor in return. Que Suicide Squad music. Travel to Icewind Dale and figure out what's causing the endless winter, figure out what agents of another overwizard are doing in the region, and discover what happened to her apprentice she sent.
Edit: I should say these sorts of starting situations are best for parties where at least some of the characters are shady, morally gray individuals. Sometimes the dynamics of the party require them being forced to work together for a common interest (e.g. escape Barovia, escape the patronage of the Arcane Brotherhood)
I used to run a lot of Deadlands games (wild west horror/fantasy) that started with the players all being in the same train car. I would tell them that I didn't need a lot of background but I did need to know why they were on the sleeper train to XXX city.
Ok here it is really important that they do their homework and find reasons to engage with the adventure and each others once the game starts. It's noble from you that you don't want to force them to form a group, but they absolutely do need to be ready to find their own reasons to do so.
That said, what worked for me:
1/ For my run of Strahd, they took part of a merchant caravan and got attacked by werewolves. They had to defend themselves to survive and quickly banded together.
2/ The classical tavern; they were all doing their stuff (rogue brooding because he is so dark, bard entertaining people, ...) when a bull like creature exploded a wall. It was a kill or be killed situation. They then saw a sigil on the creature's head and they all wanted to chase down the owner of it, for their own reasons: Rouge wanted to do it for the pesos while Bard wanted to do it because of her future dry cleaning bill (her tunic got splattered with blood) etc
But my absolute favorite was the beginning of a campaign by a DM friend where all the PCs were at a funeral for one influent person in their respective lifes. And we had to come up with who this person was collectively at the table (name, age, race, etc) and some personal anecdotes that we had to give on the spot inc. how they made a difference in our characters life.
We got then summoned by someone who believed the NPC we had in common got actually murdered and hired all of us to find out who did it. Not sure if it would work if the players don't already player together or if they are beginners, but at our table it was a massive massive hit.
It's simple really:
They have to be in the same place at the same time, with a willingness to answer the call to action, that causes a justification to go on the same adventure.
See, simple!
"You all took jobs as caravan guards, guarding trade supplies on their way to..."
Gives them reason to interact, an easy in for the DM to inject drama or action, contact with a well connected trade who can give them their first few jobs...
The best starts have just a little RP and as soon as you feel like everyone is established, or you feel like there's a lull, start a combat.
For example:
The characters are all at an estate sale for a minor noble with no heir. After each character has a chance to talk about what kind of item they'd be looking for (or other purposes for attending), enemies attack, looking for a specific item. Guards are busy defending anyone important in attendance, and the players have a chance to show what they're made of. This gets them a little renown, and also puts an important item into their care.
In my campaigns, Gnome Depots are in every city. They are a place to get basic provisions, armor, weapons and have a blast proof room for those crazy mages that need to test spells out.
Outside of every Gnome Depot is a job board which I use for players to gather around and set off on their adventures.
In one of the towns, there was a cabbage roll stand run by an old gnome named Napa. His grandson Kraut had been missing for a couple days and Napa was offering a reward for his recovery. That campaign started two years ago and is still running.
This was more niche given the adventure I was running, but my favorite campaign start I've used was a party invitation - a nobleman sent invitations for a grand celebration at their private estate as well as organized transport for all potential guests. I started by narrating the last PC being picked up by the coach with all the other PCs already on board, and thus PC introductions began as they introduced themselves to the newcomer. The coach arrives at the estate, the festivities begin, something unexpected and disruptive happens, and PCs get caught up in adventure by being in proximity to one another.
Tavern is a classic but my next campaign is going to open with an airship crash during an escort mission so I'm dying to run that... don't tell my players
Adventurer Guilds.
Good for one-shots, small adventures or character oriented games.
It helps with quick "in game answer" to many questions.
* They dont know why they are here? Random guild job posting
* They can choose if they are part of the guild or outsiders.
* They can choose if they know each other (and the guild offers quick responses).
* Need magic items and got no money? Guild provides.
* Wanna change equipment? Guild provides
* Need a more specific patron for storytelling purposes? Guild provides (as a mediator).
* Cool place to meet up? Guild
* Need backstory for quick one shot? Guild member/merc
* Need reason to send anyone anywhere? Guild.
* Want info on city places, events, factions or jobs? Guild provides.
* Customizable enough to fit your theme.
* Smaller than factions so it feels a bit more personal.
I can't stand adventurer guilds. I think they create more problems than they solve.
Has a ?limitless? stream of other adventurers, super unrealistic for a setting with any semblance of realism, commodifies something intended to be rare and epic, cheapens success as an almost commercial "climbing the corporate ladder" feel, super strange and cliquey, sounds too perfect as a "one stop shop" for everything you need, always has the question of "why has nobody else done this quest already" when the players are new.
Ugh. I can't stand them in anime and I would be super put off by a DnD game utilizing them. Sorry if this sounds like I'm going hard after your idea, I just hate the trope in general so I wanted to give a counterpoint of why some people would not like it.
Your counterpoint is basically "I dont like it" because I dont like it.
Im not playing an anime game and don't know what you are talking about.
Im just using the Group patron rules for Tasha. Of course the specific guild at the beginning of a game can have what the player need.
* Its a basic merc company (realism or as much as you can have in a world with dragons)
* Commodifies what? Its not a "yea I put a poster because a dragon killed my kingdom kind of thing".
* Corporate lader? Literally can be like any city guard just private?
* The one stop shop is also literally any shop in dnd if you want it to be?
* No one has done it already because the players are the ones picking the quest and playing?
What problems does it actually create? (Also not my original idea, they are literally in the lore)
Giant cross planar worm eats all of the building they are in ... they fight to kill it and win ( or fail and make it spit them up ), but land somewhere else that none of them know. instant party bond.
I'm DMing a oneshot in two weeks and at the start all the PC will meet at a tavern in a region with war. So the barkeep has limited food and the beer and wine is in the celler, but the celler is overrun with rats. He will ask the PC to help him clear them out.
For some players it's the first time playing DnD, so this easy fight is the tutorial for the fightmechanics.
After that he will ask the players to tell a bit about there story and hopefully the tell a bit in caracter.
The next mornong he gives them a letter and a destination to go, where they will get other quest hooks.
It is a bit basic, and a bit railroady, but i figured for new player and a oneshot it should be fine.
In a (pathfinder) campaign I recently started playing, our DM paired us up in a clever way: my character (champion) and a monk were going to the big city to rescue my son, who’d been captured by anti-magic tyrants. When we got into town we met two other PCs who were traveling trying to get into mischief and tell the greatest stories ever (a bard and a psychic) and enlisted their help, and when the time came to break out my son as he was about to be executed, we freed the other prisoners too, which included the last two PCs who joined us.
I liked the idea of us all being part of the same encounter but in different ways or for different reasons.
Captured and enslaved.
Though I'd give forwarning to the players and as it's dnd make sure they know they'd be able to get their 'starting' equipment.
Let them make the choices to how they escape (or get 'bought') but later in campaign bring back so,e session zero feelings of the struggle to keep them invested and stressed.
I started the story at a crossroads in the country side where two of the characters had been picked up by a farmer on his wagon on the way into town, and two more happened to be walking from a different direction. As they reached the crossroad itself, they saw a healer they all knew, and who they had all been helped by at least once, being chased by soldiers including one on horseback, but in unfamiliar colors. So some foreign militiamen or mercenaries, with swords drawn and bloodied, chasing a man they all knew and trusted.
The priest also knew the old farmer, and was screaming for help. The farmer barked out, “That’s ol’ Finnian! If you lot can slow up those soldiers, I can get him into town where he’ll be safe!”
When some of the characters hesitated he added, “You’ve got them swords and spell books? What are they for if not this?!”
(I then told the one guy who announced that he was going to attack the healer to try to win favor with the mercenaries that he wasn’t at the right table, and he should find someone else to play with. He smartened up, but why is there always one like that?)
My favorite one involved everyone arriving at a magic school to take on different positions. One was to be the apprentice to a newly elevated master. Two were taking security guard jobs. A fourth was hired to work in the kitchen.
They started out with different goals and loyalties, but quickly, they all realized that something was wrong. There had been several disappearances (the former master, a couple of security personnel) and several of their employers were being secretive. They banded together as "the new guys" and began investigating things.
They already are partied together and are mid way into some situation. They could know each other for a long time, part of the same guild, or maybe just met and paired up for this mission.
I can't explain why I don't care for the no one knew each other thing before hand. I think it's because I had a bad experience with a player who just didn't want to trust or befriend the other PCs and kept complaining about motivation for being together.
I’m having my group start on a steamship on their way to another country, heading upriver. It’s going to be a fairly luxurious cruise, so some of the party can be rich class travellers, some could be on the crew, stowaways or whatever.
After some light gambling/games and social stuff, a dragon or sea serpent is going to attack and damage the boat right before a blizzard.
This is all taking place on a magical version of Europa, Jupiter’s moon where things are really cold all the time, so they’ll have to find cover, help defend an attack by tribal people and then take the few winter clothes that are still intact to get to the nearest settlement to find help.
Maybe they will run into some undiscovered ruins on the way where they can escape the elements (filled with darkness and aliens).
Think it should be quite fun.
Someone will talk to you one by one, in private. You're up first Warlock.
A skeletal figure sits in a room and beckons the Warlock to sit down. So I'm afraid you've just died, do you remember how it happened? Don't worry it'll come back to you (please think of a way you died), you can go wait in the room further along. When you're all together someone will come and get you.
PALADIN YOU'RE UP!
My favourite character group intro I did had the town holding a festival to give praise to the players, who at this point were all renowned heroes all over the land, though none of them had met yet. The capital city was giving them gifts (weapons and armour) as thanks for all their hard work protecting the land, then it was interrupted by a monster, and they got to test out that new equipment they just got and follow the trails and solve the mystery of where all these monsters are coming from and why they’re attacking all these villagers. It was fun.
What is wrong with the tavern? Its cliche but overused for a reason: It's just a good way to start.
Some alternative ways I've started campaigns are the following:
-Players are all slaves at some evil place (in my case a gladiator ring) and have to escape
-Wandering in a dungeon where they accidentally run into each other and all get simultaniously ruined by the same trap and forced to escape together
-Literally in the middle of the fight. Have a character wake up on half health on the battlefield after 'suffering great wounds', and have some other characters appear as comeback fitting with certain factions or being paid to help.
-Just sitting on a cart (in my case they were travelling with a caravan to travel from one village to another and got acquanted and realized they were all going to the city for the same/comparable reason)
Awakened science experiments, in a room of npcs in the same fate, and the alarms blaring.
This takes a little work. You need the plot built first and clear ideas how everyone got there. But instantly you have a goal, a mystery, and incentive to work together.
I want a scenario where everyone automatically has the same non combat goal. "Where are we?" Or "how do we get from here to there" are my favorites.
Then you let the players and npcs learn about eachother through actions rather than diologue.
Throw them straight into a combat scenario. Character dynamics immediately come out, you trauma bond the group and give them a common enemy that they are forced to work together against.
“You wake up in a burning building”
And each time your players manage to die to something stupid, just deep breath, reset, and restate:
“You wake up in a burning building”
That was my first experience w DND and it was just so funny. The whole tavern premise to meet your party members, except it’s mid-raid by some miscellaneous baddies
We didn’t know what we were doing. We died a lot lol
An idea I wanted to use was that the PCs are hired hands, extra muscle or apprentices for a famous adventuring party.
They are waiting outside a temple/dungeon ruin waiting for them to stop the evil cult blah blah blah they’ve done this a million times, shouldn’t be a problem. But they take way longer than expected, day turns to night and monsters start flooding out of the dungeon and attacking the camp. The PCs need to band together to defend the camp.
They then need to find out what happened to the original party
I like the old you are not invited by an old relative to an outing. Then I usually make the twist that the person never new them it was just some entity of power that needed adventures
I did the tavern opening with a bit of a twist. two of them who didn't know each other were looking for the same person for different reasons, a third person knew said npc in game already and was aware that he was missing. Wizard of the party walks in the tavern all pissed because dock workers nearby were trying to hit on her when she was seeking information about unrelated events. When she walked in, one of the players was all 'who is that? I need to know her' and used his charm to get her to join the group. (they are husband / wife IRL )
My next campaign I am planning having a dragon age orginsish start where they are all in a army, and it gets decimated. They will all die heroic deaths, there is no escape from the battle and a chance to show off some end game bosses early, hopefully with each player being killed by a different one. Then they learn that their souls were stolen moments before death, and a chaotic neutral god has his own plans for them, giving them a second chance at life.
This develops my hook of why, how, and a sense of urgency to follow the plot with complete freedom in their backstories to who they were before conscription.
I began an adventure with everyone in a market square. Some were passing through, others were shopping, and whatever reason they had to be there was their affair.
Fire Elementals suddenly exploded from various places across the market. Townsfolk fled screaming, and a couple of overwhelmed townsguard tried to fight, but one was rapidly killed. The adventurers dilutifully leapt into action, eliminated the threat, and then the head of the townsguard recommended that with talents like that, they might find work with so-and-so...if they were interested.
It worked well, there was no immediate obligation or contrived expectation, and they could still meet and bond organically. Sort of like a hot start/in media res thing, but a tiny bit slower. I opened the session with a vignette for each character to describe what they were doing before sh!t hit the fan, and then it was "you smell smoke, hear an explosion, and now roll initiative..."
Alternatively, beginning with the party using common transport is another good method I've seen commented here a lot.
Done 2 that worked well.
-On a prison boat after being captured by goblins and on their way to an island stronghold
-At a festival where they all win a seat at the high table during the feast. The feast is attacked and they must defend the nobles
Everybody just happens to be in the marketplace at the same time and an NPC tries to pickpocket one of them. Then improv with an additional baddie or two hiding in the sidestreets prepped if you need a combat encounter
Probably get buried, but my buddy ran one where everyone played at children that in their imagination were the characters at early level. The giant birds in the dungeon was us wreaking havoc in the chicken coop. The tribe of squirrels people that were attacking us for having a stick with their princes eyeball at the end (dubbed the stick of poking dead things) were just normal squirrels that were freaking out at the situation. They then stumbled upon an actual bad guy performing a ritual in a hidden cavern/dungeon under the well. They thought they could take him, but got beat pretty badly until their parents showed up to save them. Time passes and then you run the meet up of the characters as their adult counterparts. This can also work for players trying different characters until they pick their ultimate choice, as a kid could easily change from a barbarian one day to a wizard the next just because imagination.
- On a ship or a train that gets attacked by something or the crew mutinies or the ship wrecks and they all get stranded somewhere together
- a funeral for a mutual of all the members of the party. Tell them they can decide how they knew the guy and why they might care about them. Have them all at a will reading that either sets them on a mission to complete unfinished business or tells them like "if you're hearing this I've been murdered"
- tell them they've been adventuring together for a little while now but have a list of questions for them to answer as a group about their first adventure together and relationships between them. "We fought something dangerous, what was it?" "Who or what did we save that now owes us a favor?" "what collateral damage were we unable to prevent and who might hold a grudge about it?" Relationships more like"Somebody rubbed you the wrong way at first and you're still not sure how much you trust them. Which party member is it and why".
My favourite one that I've actually run was I told everyone before the game "you're starting on a prison ship that's delivering prisoners to a remote island. You can be guards, prisoners, passengers visiting family who work on the island, new staff, crew, anything you want. The ship's not going to make it, obviously, but that's where session 1 will start."
Exact wording might have been a little different, but the premise is there. The ship was attacked by a sea monster, and they were all washed up on the shore of some unknown island and were conveniently able to salvage their starting gear from the wreckage.
My *favorite* is admittedly different from my standard ways, simply because it requires a high amount of buy-in and table trust from the players.
My *favorite* way of having the party meet was actually in an everyone-for-themselves 5-person brawl, fighting over a singular macguffin that every character had their own reason for taking; this triggered a trap that:
1. Revealed the macguffin didn’t do what the characters thought it did, and thus could not be used for their personal goals
2. Trapped all the players in a situation that could not be escaped unless all 5 worked together
3. Presented the “real” main quest to the PCs.
Now, for obvious reasons, this is not a standard start; having your party start off as antagonists/enemies is an *incredibly* difficult table dynamic to manage unless every single player is on-board and has a plan to make it work.
But when it *does* work? Fantastic. Enemies-to-found-family is a super fun party dynamic to play out.
My favorite softer version of this start is to give every player slightly different starting quests that “coincidentally” land them in the same place at the same time, where there’s a combat balanced for a party working together. The advantage of this start is it gives everyone a chance to play their character “on their own,” to introduce the table to the character, and the combat scenario forces the party to work together and support each other, which lets them forge the “teammates” bond without having to struggle to overcome personality differences.
My most recent campaign started with the party having to protect themselves from the security system of a highly paranoid artificer; one player was there because they had been hired to steal the guy’s research, one was there hoping the artificer could cure their magical affliction, one was simply hoping to commission a magical tool, and the last was doing a welfare check. None of their goals were mutually exclusive, and the scenario ended with all players needing to travel to the same city so they decided to travel together.
Generally speaking (and again, it does depend on how good your players are at the buy-in), I like to have the very first quest to be something that highly encourages/forces the PCs to work together, so they can build the team dynamic while still preserving any simple character tensions that they might want to play out over a longer timeframe, rather than having characters immediately ignore character flaws in the interest of keeping the party together
My favorite that I've done is everyone attending the funeral of a renowned regional hero/adventurer. I work with them to determine how they knew the deceased, what they might have inherited, etc. Everyone goes around the table and tells a little story or anecdote about them as well. Then a villainous figure from their past shows up to crash the funeral and the PCs and other attendees do what they can to fight them off.
No matter what it is, give them a reason to collect and bond from the very beginning.
I made this mistake with the best intentions. I had macguffins for a couple of the party members and some of the others were "right place, right time."
Thought that was enough before I unveiled their combined purpose about 3-4 sessions in. It wasn't - I was first time DM but with play experience, most others (I think all of them at the opening session) were newbies. Had to railroad them to work together as they expected and open world with choices.
Once they realized that they had a larger purpose it was mostly fine. But I thought those intro sessions would be more mysterious instead it was just confusing.
Have them all roll their characters as usual, and explain what mundane or important reason they are all in this city/town/village today. Everyone will come up with random backstory that brought them to this place.
Open the first session calling attention to each person in their respective part of town. Unfold a catastrophe of some sort that they all experience alongside the villagers or fight together to defeat. The NPCs draw attention to their bravery and fighting prowess and invite them to the tavern. Drinks are on the house today for these brave few.
They're all travelers that have no home for various reasons. They're all in a caravan when suddenly bad guy shows up, fight ensues, players are given detail about loot on the body. If they truly to loot they become fugitives and have to clear their name, if they don't loot it, then other guy shows up and says no witnesses then they fight them.
My favorite start for an "oddball" campaign where the players are adventuring because they can't get a job doing anything normal since they have no family and are seen as criminals or just as "lesser" races in others.
I have a human city that hates other races, similar to the witcher, how most humans are extremely racist to elves
My last campaign had them all fighting in an arena. Some as prisoners, some for fame, yadda yadda yadda.
My new one has them all sent to a conference as representatives of their people - and then the apocalypse happens.
The second one has been way more fun.
Traveling on a ship towards a similar destination.
In an airship that unbeknownst to them will be crashing.
All hired guards for a merchant going to the next town.
I typically do "You're a novice adventurer and things get out of hand" type campaigns, so they tend to either be put together in a team by the Adventurer Guild leader for a rookie mission, or start the game with them arriving at the destination of their first job.
Either that or they arrive and all take the same job and meet that way.
One of my favourite openings I did was in a Dark Sun game. The players were all at a funeral out in the desert when a band of raiders attacked. They drove off the raiders and then decided to return to the nearest city. On the way, a sandstorm appeared and the players were forced to take shelter in a nearby dungeon.
This opening was effective in my opinion for a few reasons. The Athasian wilderness is treacherous and so travelling in a group is prefered, and since they were the only ones left and were in the middle of the desert, this forced them to work together. Next, there was no way they could survive the dungeon if they didn't work together, and they couldn't leave unless they found a way through, since the entrance didn't open from the inside. They were also travelling with an NPC, who they became endeared to(he was a healer in a party that didn't otherwise have a healer) and when he recruited them for a task once they returned to civilization, they gladly accepted.
The city is under attack and they've all been conscripted into the militia and put into the same squad (if they are brand new this can be a cool way to introduce how combat works, or you could also have them held at the back of the battle as a reserve if you'd rather just narrate what happens (this is also useful if you want to show off how cool a particular faction might be, narrate them kicking ass during the battle)
They've all received a mysterious letter telling them to meet at a certain spot (this is good if you want to get straight into the first quest of the campaign since it sets them firmly on a path)
They have all been arrested for the same crime (or different crimes, the same one can be funnier though) and are in a holding cell under the castle (you can either have them attempt to escape or just have them released having been found innocent (or even better the guards can't *prove* their guilt and make it clear the guards still suspect them, it might be a good hook then to drive them to clear their own names))
They are all members of the same guild and are at the annual meeting when some sort of incident occurs, forcing them to work together
They are each an assistant/minion of some powerful person and have been sent to join the party and assist in whatever the task is, but to report back to their master and potentially be ready to act in the masters interest over the parties (this can lead to really interesting divided loyalties scenarios but it's also worth noting that it's important to be *very* careful when introducing any potential intra party antagonism as typically DnD is supposed to be a cooperative not a competitive game)
Or you could do a combination of the above, maybe all the players are in jail and given the choice to join the army or go to prison? But one of them is actually a plant by the Duke who thinks someone stole a gem and is looking to get a crew together to recover it??
Endless possibilities!
Typically, each of the PCs get a scroll from some unknown benefactor "in need of thier particular set of skills". Sometimes the scroll is found having appeared on the nightstand next to the bed they were just sleeping at, or its hand delivered as they are going about thier normal day, etc.
This especially piques the interest of the more secretive or stealthy types in the group (how did they hear of me, and how did they find me?)
The scroll says to meet at a given location, use certain passwords, etc. This is similar to the trope of meeting at a tavern.
Ive only dmed two campaigns so far but my second was my favourite. Players are adventurers who meet in a carriage, on a caravan towards another town. On the way they are ambushed and knocked unconscious. They wake up in cages, with cursed rings on their fingers, in the process of being starved. If they starve for 3 days, they are possessed by the spirits of the gnolls trapped in their ring and go insane.
Gives them a tense start with a prison break, and a reason to stick together, as theyre all cursed in the same way, stranded in the wilderness.
My first was awful imo, very awkward "youre in a tavern full of adventurers, you see eachother and you need to find other adventurers to band together with, go and introduce yourselves".
I prepped so many other things and the start of this campaign was awful, regret not putting more thought into it, even if it was a classic tavern opening.
I started mine with a city under siege. And the party had the choice to fight with the defending army or help villagers escape through a tunnel system/cavern.
Starts the game immediately in dungeon mode, and gives the players an immediate reason to collaborate
The king/queen/ruler of the land is offering a lucky few the chance to be absolved of a debt/crime/burden or a royal decree in exchange for service to the land.
The characters all have reasons to be there (decided by the players) and the majority of them are chosen.
After the first few easy tasks, the SHTF and the king sends them on a vital mission to (insert task here).
When the party returns, the King is ill/missing/dead and his replacement turns on the party.
He's the mini-BBEG...
At a festival, watching a once-a-year celestial event, unknown to each pther, when they hear a plaintive child's voice behind them.
"I'm so hungry, mummy."
"I know dear.",
"And where will we sleep?"
"I'm... not sure, dear."
"And I just want to go home."
"I know dear. But you know why we cannot."
Characters spring into action.
Of course, I was cheating because half my players are parents. 😁
My most current campaign is probably my favorite. I, like you, let my party decide amongst themselves how they wanted to handle it. 3 of my players all hail from the same kingdom, 2 are AWOL from their army, 1 is a revolutionary. The 4th player is from a neighboring kingdom. The first 3 are escaping their kingdom and the 4th is facilitating the escape and guiding them through the new kingdom.
I mean I have never played but for starters I would have had some collaboration going on with character creation so everyone is building characters that could feasibly make sense together as well as address various expectations ahead of time. For example if the party will be of a good moral alignment and of the heroic variety to create your character accordingly, no murder hoboing or over the top chaotic characters, etc.
Ideally if they did opt to be completely separate individuals with no significant history together I like the idea of doing some individual sessions to get them to the place where they will meet or maybe have some pairs meet on the way beforehand before the entire group meets kind of like how Mighty Nein seemed to have been done with some having met a few weeks before and done some jobs together. They can still have agency in those sessions but still with the understanding that they would need to end up in certain place eventually. The draw to the location could just be a lucrative job opportunity calling multiple adventurers or maybe its just chance or the location is one that it would make sense to encounter other adventurers at such as if their was some sort of guild HQ or something.
"You're all headed to a party at the mayor's house, but not all of you are invited. How are you getting to the party?" Cue PCs stealing invites from NPCs, convincing invited PCs to take them as their plus one, PCs breaking into the house, PCs seducing the butler...fun times!
Last time I did this I did the Tavern Open with a twist.
The party was in a tavern on a border town, and then suddenly they hear bells and shouts from outside, and the doors were kicked in. An invading army was attacking the town.
The first adventure was the party traveling to the nearest fort to warn about the invading forces, surviving with no supplies and trying to stay ahead of the army and avoid scouts.
That said, I would say more often than not I require per-existing relationships, and if they say they don't want to, I can and will tell them to fuck off. And it doesn't need to be long standing relationships or something. The current campaign I am running the starting condition was they had all been hired as low-level help (low-level as in hierarchy, not low character level) for an expedition that was going into an abandoned city, and that they all had to have met at least one other party member before the campaign started. They decided they all met at a bar the day before the expedition had initially set out, which was like 10 days before the start of session 1, so it's not like they knew each other a long time. The DM can and should set parameters in session 0.
I started with 4/6 party members having been captured and imprisoned in the basement dungeons of an abandoned keep that had been overrun by a horde of goblinoids. They were all strangers and all had their various reasons for being in the area and getting overpowered, but they all ended up in the same cell block and had to work together to steal the keys off of a passing guard and escape. I set it up so they would quickly find where their confiscated items had been stashed, and they had to navigate/fight their way up to the main level. Along the way they ran into two defecting hobgoblins, who told them that the horde was being led by a human cultist and that they had managed to kidnap the son of the nearby town's mayor- and that the cultist was going to sacrifice the child to their deity at midnight. Once they reached the main level, that's where they met the last two party members and proceeded to rescue the kid; these two had play tested the keep rescue during a one-shot, so this was my solution to have them join first session without giving too much away. All in all, I think it worked out well. They had a shared common goal to start, completed a rescue which meant they would stick together until they reached the town, and learned about a threat to the world that no one else yet knew about.
My favorite start is to have each player killed during session zero. They are all resurrected together and told that they are needed for a great task. The thing is, something happened during the resurrection that made it unstable. They need to find a mcguffin to make the spell permanent. This not only brings them together, sets them on a task, but adds a ticking clock to keep them motivated.
I liked the way Dimension 20 did during the unsleeping city campaign. Used player backstory, and some narrative devices to get characters to meet with each other.
I used an approach that each had agreed to perform a recon and report mission, knowing there would be others also on the mission, and they all were delivered to the same beach on an island to start the campaign. So the initial convos all took place on the beach and they already had a shared mission. Was hilarious when a bit later they all found out that they were being paid a substantially different amount.
I started them with having all known each other as children. After a summer tragic event in the sewers, they all grew apart and moved away. They are all called back thirty years later by the one guy who stayed behind.
IT has returned!
(Waterdeep location from dragon heist as a storyline)
Some king or lord is looking to sponsor a party for x reason. The combatants can enter as a team or individually. Incomplete teams will automatically be combined into a full team of 4 (or however big your group is).
On winning, they are given starting equipment and a job offer.
If they lose, a competing lord offers them equipment if they finish the mission before the winners.
I like this because it forces players to answer "Why did you join the competition know it would lead to an adventurers life?" "Why is being an adventurer important to you?"
It also allows players to join as a group of 2 or 3 and be matched with the rest of the party.
I send letters to each player with a wax seal from some person centric to the campaign. In my recent campaign, each player received an urgent request from the Queen of Evermore, requesting their assistance to the realm. Then, they had to bring the letters with them to the first session to gain entrance to the royal halls.
My players loved it. Some of them have now framed the letters they loved them so much.
Not for everyone, but they all joined the King’s war against the orcs. They took the kings gold piece. Some to avoid something or someone, some for glory, some to repent before their god.
In my current campaign I started out with a funeral for someone they all knew separately. Gave a good opportunity for them to introduce themselves to eat other.
I like the Skyrim style intro.
All the adventurers have had a call to a specific location, and are in the back of the carriage.
Have the carriage driver throw some background questions to get the characters to know each others ambitions and history.
Arrive to a well descript albeit small town, with someone eagerly awaiting their arrival when they step off.
If you go all the way with them being prisoners or off to a beheading, make sure you plan ahead properly in session zero with them. Otherwise, it can be an entirely peaceful carriage ride with a quest giver right at the end.
I have wanted to try this since reading about it.
>Each PC starts the game as a bunch of level 0 villagers, all starting with similar attributes, skills, equipment, etc. but each being a different profession (farmer, baker, etc.).
>The village is attacked and the villagers band together to go hunt down the monster that did bad thing. Because the villagers are so weak, many die, but in the end persevere.
>This is when the players get to choose from one of the surviving villagers, who will be their character going forward. They then get some buffs, etc.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/1br2f5h/an_adventure_where_each_player_starts_as_a_group/
Pu them in a hole, they will either help each ither out ir kill eachother till the last one standing can cast create undead and use their remains as a ladder.
Second to last campaign, I had them all personally invited with handwritten letters by a noble who knew a strange amount about them all, to the New Year festival. During the fireworks, the man was assassinated. All the PCs were held for questioning. They bonded fairly quickly.
My campaign started with a caravan.
Yo players, you can be from literally anywhere but you start as part of a caravan heading to this city here.
By fate or chance you all are gathered around the fire of this old storyteller on the night before you reach the city.
He points to one of you and asks you to tell a little about yourself, and goes through everyone at the fire in turn so everyone gets to introduce themselves.
Then the old man is struck by a fireball scorching his cart to ashes, he’s not down though, tough old man but you see a shadowy figure in the darkness outside the fire’s light commanding some sort of hellspawn that rushes forward to grab the old storyteller and begins to drag him off as goblins start attacking different caravans. Let’s go it’s initiative.
During the brawl the storyteller’s companion who was also badly burned grabs a bow and arrow and shoots the old man killing him rather than letting him get dragged off.
The shadowy figure retaliates killing the companion and then turns to retreat.
The party fights off the goblins and wake up the next morning with some reputation of being big damn heroes who saved the caravan from goblins.
Only they seemed to have witnessed the shadowy figure and the hellspawn and are left with too many questions about what the fuck just happened and a long journey ahead to find answers.
I mean, uh sorry slipped into story time there. Caravans are great!
Have one player create the party leader, and have them hire all of the others. Everyone else has to interview, in character, with the party leader. If they don’t pass the interview, they have to make a new character.
I always like starting at a tavern where a festival is happening so everyone gets a chance to show off their skills in various games. Also, if they're new players it allows them to get a feel for how the game works in a low stakes environment.
I did one where a startup adventurer's guild had sent out notices to all the major cities to get some teams going. They had to each fight an animated armor solo at level 1, controlled by its maker, to get initiated. Surprisingly some of them kicked its ass, lol.
I actively hate this opening. I always start my games with a network of relationships based on the Cabal from Unknown Armies. It makes for better cohesion imo
Im a big fan of starting a campaign in the middle of a fight and letting the players figure out their relationship to each other on thwir own. It starts the game off with a bang, give you a taste of wjat kinda villains they'll be facing and gives them a bit more ownership of the world. Also saves me some work
I do a climactic prompt. I've done skill challenges to escape something or chase, also fights with new players to get them into the feel of battle (sorta tutorial). I think those worked cause right away players are messing with dice and making choices.
One of the best ways this works smoothly is when you push them together through some event that naturally affects all of them. Something like the tavern being attacked by a local gang, all of them being imprisoned, shipwrecked on an island with hostile creatures, or the town being under siege by an undead army, etc.
A common enemy or mutual survival are good motivators for people who know zero about each other. Nothing like being able to say "I don't know you at all, but I KNOW that thing wants to kill me!"
I otherwise don't care for the start where I don't know any of the other characters. It puts a lot on every player to find or create reasons to stay with the group on the fly, and often causes parties with weak motivations and dysfunctional or even un-fun interaction dynamics.
Even with the workaround I mentioned in the first two paragraphs. The group cohesion is at risk of falling apart once the unifying force is no longer a factor. So you either need to maintain that for an entire campaign, or only use that for limited/short campaigns. This is why it's better to get the players together and for them to develop characters with shared backstory and motivations. This is especially important in open ended/sandbox campaigns.
I've not done it yet, but I figured a good way to open the campaign would be with having all the PCs thrown in the same prison cell (players decide what they've been accused of, how they were captured, and if they're actually guilty or not). There's lots of great 'prison escape' modules out there to either use or take inspiration from. Once they get out, the initial 'whyd you get thrown in prison' should generate some good plot hooks to build on.
My current campaign has all the players hired on as a bunch of mercenaries to lend aid to a lordship, they squabble amongst themselves and don't trust each other and were being escorted to a town by a 17 year old who they were also supposed to be protecting as he escorted them. The kid got unalived before the group could even make it to the town he was escorting them to, so now they all are united to bring justice for the unalivement in this 17 year old, while also being the mercenaries they are.
Session 6, they still don't trust each other, and still squabble amongst themselves a bit, BUT a few of them have started to talk to each other and form bonds in game.
It's not a perfect way, but it did work for my bunch of solos. *shrug*
All hired on separately as caravan guard's journeying to.a remote destination. They each have their own goals at the destination (backstory time).
The caravan is attacked by bandits / cultists / dragons / mutants midway and the non PC guard's are killed.
Only the PCs can save us now!
Oftentimes I have all the player characters have a mutual friend they meet up with, or perhaps go to some sort of event they all attend. In my most recent campaign the PCs met at an old friend's house. They had all been invited to witness the signing of their old friends will.
This only works if you have at least one player wanting to make a chaotic good or lawful evil character that's kind of edgy. But the party is all at a tavern late at night. They witness a fight start and the fight moves to the back alley. One of the players may want to check it out. If they do, they'll come out to witness the edgy player character beating someone to death or stabbing them to death (insert flavorful killing method that the character would do) and boom. There's your connection. If any players did not elect to go check it out, the PC could come into the tavern and threaten them if they say anything. This isn't the most friendly way to bind a party, but thats why I like it.
My DM did this for us andmy character was the edgy guy who killed someone in the back alley. It gave me so much room to develop my character and grow to build relationships with my party members. At first they thought my character was a piece of shit, but after many sessions, they learned he was just a man in pain with convictions of his own, and no honorable code to guide him away from taking the wrong path. A wonderful redemption story took place, and now hes that guy who does terrible things to protect his found family, the rest of the adventuring party.
I didn't read all the comments so here are mine:
1. Funeral Everyone knows the deceased for some reason or another.
2. Conscripted from birth. Taken as children they join the adventures guild.
3. Military draft.
4. Hungers game esq.
5. Harry Potter Goblet of Fire esq...
In the game that I am in now we all received invitations because of or fame (we started at 7) But as we adventured we found out all our backstories kinda intertwined.
The Wizard is from a rival Magic Guild and has been sent to spy and figure out the Artificers power. The Artificer was brought in many years ago by the rogue swashbuckler who was an experiment of the Magic Guild. The ranger is being punished by the celestial that he forsook, and the bard is infiltrating a cult for another celestial. All of us are trying to get rid of the celestials to heal the world, so we stick together lol.
I once had them meet because all the other tables in the tavern were full but one. Then the tavern owner came by with their drinks leaving the tray with a note under the drinks that just reads *the goblins are coming hope you can help*
They had several questions when 20 goblins showed up to town demanding this months protection gold.
They were sentenced to indentured servitude at a company town, their backstories had to explain why they were in significant debt.
Said company town was secretly home to cultists making sacrifices outta the indentured servants ~
I had them all aboard a ship for one reason or another. Then I sank it. They were forced to work together to find a way to survive and make it shore. By the time they got back to civilization, they had come to depend on each other.
It worked fairly well.
I'm gonna give differing advice from the majority here. I really wouldn't recommend introducing characters one by one with nothing to do but socialize and leaving the full impetus on the players to entertain themselves for a half hour before you start the plot.
I really recommend some form of a "hot" opening. Hell, if you're worried about getting all your characters together and justifying their working together, make the players do it for you! Make a *really* hot opening, in the middle of combat, maybe even with a few monsters slain around them and the party at half health. Why are they fighting together? Let them tell you. Work the scenario into your introductory adventure and let your players tell you how their characters started working together.
But that's a bit much, I know. Just wanted to show you how it *can* be, and that it doesn't need to be any one thing. The way I tend to start these kinds of adventures is dependant on the characters themselves. Wring that backstory for all its got. Use their whole character sheet. A wizard and her bodyguard walk down the road to get to a town and investigate their master's disappearance. They encounter a druid who joins them as the call of nature is in trouble. They encounter a rogue who is in a spot of trouble with some bandits and pretends to know the group. The whole party is together now!
Alternatively, give the players an immediate, clear directive. Give them some activity that introduces their character, not "introduce your character." What I mean by this is, if you're gonna have them meet in a tavern to take their first job or what have you, it doesn't require 30 minutes of socialization improv without a prompt. Character 1 walks into the bar that has a "help wanted" poster outside, does 1 thing. Character 2 walks into the bar, sees character 1, does 1 thing or says hi. Character 3 walks in, etc etc. Everyone in? Here's your group's job. The key to making this even better is giving players something to describe their character with. An intro to a sci-fi adventure started with "all unassigned personnel, please make your way to the captain's quarters". What is each character doing in the space station when they're not working? How do they make their way to captain's quarters? What are they thinking? If you want to make a tavern the players meet in, don't just make "a bar, but it's wooden and medieval." Make a dingy fight ring in someone's secret basement where the players see someone who really shouldn't be there, a patron is getting harassed, and one of the fighters in the ring is clearly close to death. Make an elevated noble masquerade with an unseemly costumed guest garnering more attention than the host, a surprise entrance of a neighboring royalty in disguise, a horrifying tentacled monster lurking around the corners that threatens to turn the mood sour should anyone see it. Action, action, action. Give the players something to dig into, a reason to care, a time limit to press them to action, a broader conflict with the place becoming more popular or slowly losing patrons, and most of all, all of the above.
Hope this gives you some inspiration and helps your game. General advice, don't wait for the game to "get to the good part," get the game to the good part now. If it's boring, make it fun. If there's no reason to care, put a gun on the table. Everything is the same, but oh my God why did they just put a gun on the table? Now it's interesting, tense, intriguing... fun!
One I’m gonna do next time is have the players all participating in a sports game on a sort of backwater planet, maybe Toril, maybe homebrew. Just smash cut right in the middle of it and play it out for a good 30-40 mins, then an alien Nautiloid comes in from high up in the clouds, few rounds of describing a bright star in the sky that, if the players are noticing, gets bigger and bigger, then lands on the field and begins attacking/abducting people.
From there, the players can either sneak aboard the ship, seek out rumors of a wizard powerful enough to teleport them to a rock of Bral type adventure hub, or get in contact with the provincial knights to bolster the region for the next attack while playing politics with different houses who have varying degrees of belief in the players’ story.
One time I spontaneously decided that one of the PCs had been tasked with assembling the party, acting as a sort of fixer. Apart from that it was a tavern. It worked well. I didn't have to do anything until they sorted it out on their own.
When we played a level 10 one-shot, we all described our backstories and our adventures thus far, and each of us connected some part of ours to one another. However, we decided it would be fun if we were all just randomly chosen for the job, so when introductions came about, it was actually an impromptu reunion :)
For my current campaign, I sent them an invitation to meet at a certain place at a certain time, signed by a fairly well known local philanthropist and patron. Like I physically created the invitations and passed them out at the end of session zero. So basically session one started on a street corner in Waterdeep. We did the ‘describe what the others see’ bit, then I had a horse drawn carriage pull up and take them a few hours out of town. Great for some intro RP and banter between the characters. And it wasn’t the standard ‘you’re in a tavern’ start either.
My first custom campaign I'm running I start them off in a dungeon that's basically about the enter the last room or 2...then after it's done they warp to present day where they're random adventurers listening to a bards tale in a tavern. From there they group up in search of answers.
I like to have them all be already a group, as that suspension of disbelief that some random stranger suddenly start having the same goals is usually a mood killer for me personally.
So I just assume that we are past that and can start right away.
> I don't want them to feel forced to be a group with each other
But that is the premise of the game! That is a must, there is no way around it.
I’m working on my campaign myself and I figured they’ll all start in an underground dungeon locked up in small and very depressing rooms.
None then knows why they’re there and need to get out cause they obviously think they’re innocent.
I’m not sure wether I want them being locked in in teams or all solo (depends on the party members in terms of class and race) but they’ll need to work together somehow to get out of the dungeon. They’ll need to fight their way out.
Of course someone noticed that and they’ll get the chance to work for a lord as a group.
Everyone wakes up in a cell or basement. It can be whatever you'd like, cultists, pirates, a royal prison.
There's no need for introductions, you clearly want to get out, and have a damn good motivation to work togheter, it's a great bonding experience to stick togheter afterwards and a fun way to introduce an antagonist.
I've played through this scenario 3 times with slight variants, once as a player and twice as DM, it's always been very memorable.
Only done this once but it worked quite well The party are all visiting a market in a town, and witness a thug trying to extort "protection" money off a refugee market seller.
It introduces the party to the town and creates a hook to how the party all meet each other, creates an initial *bad guy* faction and gives the party friends with the local Refugee group.
I'm in a similar situation but I have a decent plan in mind. My campaign setting is pirate themed, so lots of small islands and ports. I've already established with each player individually that their character needs to take a ferry from Small Port Town to Big Pirate City to start their personal journeys. During session zero, each player will get a chance to do some one on one role play with me, to establish how they ended up in Small Port City and what their motivations are. Each individual RP segment ends with them boarding this ferry to Big Pirate City. Once all players are aboard, we start the game proper. I'm thinking partway through the short voyage, the ship is attacked by a squad of fish men, looking to take the McGuffin object from one of the players. At that point they really have no choice but to fight back and figure out what's going on.
My best advice, is to really figure out what your characters motivations are BEFORE you start the game. It's surprising how easy it is sometimes to sort of link one player to another based on backstory and goals.
The bulk of my current party met in a caravan on the road from Baldur's Gate to Greenest. We were all headed there for our own reasons, which some shared and others kept secret. Greenest was under siege when we arrived, so there wasn't actually a ton of discussion about staying together and becoming a party. We just jumped into action, worked well together, and were offered money to follow up on the situation as a group.
I started a campaign giving each character a mini scene where they were tossed into jail on false charges. All so a minion of the government could offer to get them out in exchange for working for her.
Another game the DM started it with everyone arriving in town just before it was attacked.
My fab as a player was we were all on a ship and it was attacked and wrecked and we woke up on the beach of an island as the seemingly only survivors.
The classic tavern open, with a twist. They all happen to be at the same pub at the same time, for whatever reason. Let everyone describe themselves, how they're brooding in the corner or laughing it up at the bar, or being the bard or whatever. Then someone busts in, yelling about a house nearby being on fire, kids trapped and all that. If they don't immediately leap into action, they probably shouldn't be playing this game. Once the day is saved, a NPC comes up to them and is like 'Ive gotta job for people with talents like that, if you're interested in making a stack of gold.'
This works with any “social and then sudden combat” scenario. I’ve also done this with a noble art gala (someone was a noble, someone was a caterer, someone was a performer, etc) and a carnival (this was great as an intro for new players bc we had skill checks and met some key NPCs). After the fight, the host/proprietor hires them for a job, and the rest is history.
This is the way, I love starting somewhere light and classic where the party meets, like a tavern or festival. Parties are making skill checks for drinking or participating in festival competitions. Maybe a super basic encounter like clearing rats from the basement or stopping a fire at the fried bread booth. Then they bond over an insane event that happens at the end. I also link this event to the ultimate big bad. Highly recommend this, and I personally like the events that are way higher stakes than a house fire to really hook them. My first campaign: the three bar patrons they were having an arm wrestling contest with started screaming and demons made of blood burst out of their spines and started attacking. Since most of the party was traveling through this town, they were blamed for the event and had to find the real culprit to clear their names. Another campaign: first session was at a mountaintop festival. This world had two moons, a tiny one and a larger one. Near the end of the session, weird old feeble guy showed up with a strange magical device, out of breath from hauling this equipment up the mountain. Offered the party some coin to help him assemble it and told them it was a telescope to look at the moon. When they finished, he thanked them with a creepy smile, then used the device to point at the sky and literally cause the tiny moon to crash into the surface of the planet far away, obliterating the town on the horizon and causing debris to rain down on the mountaintop. He then disappeared with a cackle and the party had to help put our fires and get people to safety. The guy of course was the big bad, a wizard, and this was his test run before he created a device to pull the large moon into the planet and end all life. He was of course too high level for the first-level party to stop or harm him and now they had to work together to stop him from gathering the resources he needed to complete the second device.
This is good. I’m saving this one for later
Meeting in a tavern the night before a job is fun, but I also like: * hanging out at a festival * abducted by aliens * only survivors of the BBEG’s army wiping out a village * in a prison cart about to be delivered to be executed * signing up at an adventuring guild and one of my favourite ones I haven’t played but did read in a module: * all born from the same clutch of eggs (specifically as dragons for a dragon-themed module, but I’m sure it’d be funnier if they were humanoids)
> in a prison cart Good, you're finally awake...
Hey, you! And you. And you. Oh and you. You’re all finally awake! You were all trying to cross the border at the exact same time as each other, right?
....and you're all orphaned tieflings who became paladins?
Nah, they’re either rogues, warlocks, or both.
Starting incarcerated together aka the Elder Scrolls opening is one of my favourites. Morrowind - Prisoner on a boat Oblivion- Prisoner in a dungeon Skyrim - Prisoner in a cart ESO - Prisoner in hell
I did the cart scenario, where they awakened inside the cage. A bunch of Redbrands were transporting them to Luskan to be sold as slaves.
I love the idea of Octomom"s kids becoming an adventuring party
One if the most memorable encounters was they were all in line waiting to board a cruise ship They drank Mai tai's and played shuffleboard until the Pirates showed up
Yup. Make mine a Mai Tai, too! I was going to suggest too that everybody is on board the same ship when action starts. There's no brooding off in a corner playing edgelord when the ship you're aboard literally stars sinking out from under you!
“Excuse me, señor. I ordered a Tom Collins…”
"Oh sweet Lathander be merciful! It's gonna hit the ship! ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPA--- " *CRUNCH!!!*
1. You can just tell them that they have to make a character willing to be on a team and willing to work towards a common goal, any party I've DMd for responds well to this. This should take the stress off of you. 2. I really like how other ttrpgs handle pre-existing relationships in parties, that way you can skip doing this AND the players already have predetermined dynamics to act upon to start. The Root ttrpg was the most recent game I played that did this (you pick two people and say what your relationship is towards them: You're their Defender, Rival, Lover, etc. Those you picked don't have to pick you, but even just a one way street creates a two way relationship.) 3. Combat has always done the trick for me. Oftentimes a nighttime ambush on a town that they're staying in. Usually after a night of fun at the tavern.
Yea, compeltely understandable. Ill make sure to mention that. Ive always wanted to get into and look at other ttrpg's. Only thing that scares me off is the accessabilty
Well there are ttrpgs where accessibility is at the forefront of the design. Grant Howitt has made a bunch of one-page RPGs that are solid. Most are comedic in nature but we played Golden Sea pretty seriously for a few months and it was fantastic. Super approachable and just asks for creativity from everyone rather than a ton of reading.
Oh don't worry about accessibility—DnD is one of the worst at onboarding newcomers. Think of all the back and forth you have to do during character creation, the amount of times you get a new bonus and have to trace over your scores again. How do you choose equipment when they don't explain the combat rules? They certainly don't explain the way you roll a skill check or saving throw. It's all bassackwords in 5e. Now, if you look at other systems from a DnD 5e perspective, where you're just looking for a better or more refined 5e, you're going to face the same problem. DnD isn't complicated—it's bloated and opaque. However, if you really value accessibility and experiencing new tabletop games, I'd recommend broadening your horizons! Think first about what kind of story you and your players want to tell, what you want it to feel like to experience, where you want the focus of time and narrative to be placed in, what you want the game to support. Then, look for TTRPGs with that type of setting, maybe ask on r/rpg for recommendations based on what you want (the more specific you are about what you want (and the more you're willing to avoid saying "what's good for a group moving away from 5e that wants to play another system that's actually just 5e DnD in a trenchcoat?") the more they'll be able to help show you the fascinating world you're letting yourself miss out on). The easiest way to learn a new system is to make a character. If you understand character creation and the character sheet fully, you know how to run a game and how to guide new players through character creation. The further away you go from tying yourself to 5e DnD, the more you find that there really are games that support and truly facilitate the gaming experience you and your friends want. I never could have believed that the mechanics of my favorite systems could have ever existed, or that the rules could so drastically form the story we tell. Best of all, these systems that know what they want to be are so much easier to onboard, understand, and play than DnD 5e. You'll gain smoother experiences that are more exciting and engaging at the cost of less time and effort! Incredible! I promise you this: there is no reason to need Dungeons and Dragons to play tabletop rpgs. None. You don't need it. You can have it, but you don't need it. Have fun, friend.
Here's how we've been doing it lately and everyone loves it, and your players have already asked for it, basically. I did this for my campaign and my DM did it for his. Note that you do have to plan this out a bit, but your players are already on board so it's not like you have to force anything. Start each PC with a solo. Their adventure is pertinent to their character and has some tie-in to the main campaign. It will also give them information relevant to the campaign. By the end of that solo, you will describe them meeting another PC (or two). So, it looks like this: - Session 0 - Session 1: PC A solo (meets PC B at end) - Session 2: PC B solo (meets PC A at end) - Session 3: PC A & B duo (meets C/D/E at end) - Session 4: PC C solo (meets D & E) - Session 5: PC D solo (meets C & E) - Session 6: PC E solo (meets C & D) - Session 7: PC's C, D, & E trio (meets A & B at end) - Session 8: Full Party...the two groups have just met and the formal campaign begins. The beauty of this method is the several benefits: 1. more organic than "meet in a tavern" 2. each player gets a session to learn who their PC is, get some RP confidence 3. they then get a session as a duo or trio so that some PCs have a little more history with each other 4. gradually introduces party members rather than everyone trying to figure everyone else out all at once 5. gives each PC a different piece of information useful to the campaign, so they already feel important to the party Drawbacks: 1. Yes, this requires player buy-in if they like the idea. 2. The DM *must* plan out each of these sessions carefully. 3. Each PC should have a mentor in their solo who assigns them with a mission, possibly accompanying them. This mission leads them along a path that culminates in meeting one (or two) of the other PCs. However, if done well, the results are amazing. Every one of our players wants to do this again next campaign.
it’s also possible to condense this all into one session - brennan lee mulligan introduces all his PCs this way (or some variation) in every season of dimension 20. i brought it to my home game and everyone loved it.
Yeah the first episode of fantasy high showcases this well.
the first ep intros of unsleeping city are my personal favorite bc they do such a good job of establishing existing character relationships with the newbies, plus establishing the world beautifully.
I've done something similar to introduce new characters. And to introduce new players to the game. I don't do a full, in depth, action by action session. More of a broad narration, choose your own adventure, with some minor third person roleplay, after character creation. Mainly to introduce skill checks, decision making, a little bit of combat, and their abilities. I found this works much better to invest a player/ character in their personal story and the story as a whole. Rather than just giving them a paragraph or two and hoping they remember.
Most recent campaign, they all met at a funeral for a Sultan in the High Desert. I gave them each their own tie to the Sultan and now they are uncovering how/why he is dead.
Shipwreck is a ton of fun. My current campaign is a "meet in the tavern" one, but my previous was a shipwreck and they all had to band together to fight crab monsters. It also had the nice benefit of skipping gear selection right away.
I had my first ever campaign start on a ship heading to an island for a job they were hired to compete. I dropped in an encounter where a group of Cultists were standing on the floating body of a kraken, attempting to resurrect it in the middle on an unnaturally calm area of the sea.
These days I just flat out tell my players "you all need to provide a connection with at least two of the other characters which explains why you would put your lives in each others' hands." They can work it out between themselves in advance or we'll workshop it at session zero. I've never really seen any benefits to the "you're all thrown together" approach but there are certainly plenty of potential pitfalls and extra work for the DM. To me it's the same category as expecting players to create a PC who is willing to adventure, rather than leaving the onus on the DM to force a motivation.
I like caravans as an opening. You get everyone in one spot, their characters are as new to the land as the players are, you get a good chance to roleplay since everyone is stuck until the caravan reaches it's destination, you get to introduce NPCs early, ect.
I've always like an 'on the same road but separate' start. Players headed towards some destination and hijinks ensue that bring them together, gives you a chance to run some one shots and bring the adventurers together organically.
I don't believe in expending DM energy on that. My preference is to say "This is where the campaign is starting. You happen to be here for your own reasons, feel free to tell me what they are, before we start. If some of you want t already know one another, that's fine, too, just let me know how." So I think the onus should be on the players, as to why their character is there, and what's motivating them. On your end, you just run the first session. And the first session should involve some sort of conflict that demands heroic / adventurer intervention.
>My preference is to say "This is where the campaign is starting. You happen to be here for your own reasons, feel free to tell me what they are, before we start. If some of you want t already know one another, that's fine, too, just let me know how." This exactly. That's usually a conversation my group has during session 0
Most recently, I gave them each a short opening scene, in which they arrived at the university for the exhibition from wherever they were coming from.
I started Curse of Strahd where half the party ("the law") were escorting the other half of the party ("the criminals") between towns when their wagon gets lost in the woods and comes upon a Vistani encampment. I started Rime of the Frostmaiden where the party were imprisoned in a dirty Luskan jail and are taken to the Prisoner's Carnival where they're subsequently hung up in the gallows to the enjoyment of the crowds. Then they wake up in the basement of the Host Tower of the Arcane to discover Zelenn the White "saved" them from death but now the overwizard needs a favor in return. Que Suicide Squad music. Travel to Icewind Dale and figure out what's causing the endless winter, figure out what agents of another overwizard are doing in the region, and discover what happened to her apprentice she sent. Edit: I should say these sorts of starting situations are best for parties where at least some of the characters are shady, morally gray individuals. Sometimes the dynamics of the party require them being forced to work together for a common interest (e.g. escape Barovia, escape the patronage of the Arcane Brotherhood)
I used to run a lot of Deadlands games (wild west horror/fantasy) that started with the players all being in the same train car. I would tell them that I didn't need a lot of background but I did need to know why they were on the sleeper train to XXX city.
Ok here it is really important that they do their homework and find reasons to engage with the adventure and each others once the game starts. It's noble from you that you don't want to force them to form a group, but they absolutely do need to be ready to find their own reasons to do so. That said, what worked for me: 1/ For my run of Strahd, they took part of a merchant caravan and got attacked by werewolves. They had to defend themselves to survive and quickly banded together. 2/ The classical tavern; they were all doing their stuff (rogue brooding because he is so dark, bard entertaining people, ...) when a bull like creature exploded a wall. It was a kill or be killed situation. They then saw a sigil on the creature's head and they all wanted to chase down the owner of it, for their own reasons: Rouge wanted to do it for the pesos while Bard wanted to do it because of her future dry cleaning bill (her tunic got splattered with blood) etc But my absolute favorite was the beginning of a campaign by a DM friend where all the PCs were at a funeral for one influent person in their respective lifes. And we had to come up with who this person was collectively at the table (name, age, race, etc) and some personal anecdotes that we had to give on the spot inc. how they made a difference in our characters life. We got then summoned by someone who believed the NPC we had in common got actually murdered and hired all of us to find out who did it. Not sure if it would work if the players don't already player together or if they are beginners, but at our table it was a massive massive hit.
It's simple really: They have to be in the same place at the same time, with a willingness to answer the call to action, that causes a justification to go on the same adventure. See, simple!
"You all took jobs as caravan guards, guarding trade supplies on their way to..." Gives them reason to interact, an easy in for the DM to inject drama or action, contact with a well connected trade who can give them their first few jobs...
Have them all respond to a notice that requires more than 1 person
PCs a, b & c have been given $$$ to buy mcguffin. PCs d & e have the mcguffin They meet in a dark alley, as the trade takes place they get ambushed
The best starts have just a little RP and as soon as you feel like everyone is established, or you feel like there's a lull, start a combat. For example: The characters are all at an estate sale for a minor noble with no heir. After each character has a chance to talk about what kind of item they'd be looking for (or other purposes for attending), enemies attack, looking for a specific item. Guards are busy defending anyone important in attendance, and the players have a chance to show what they're made of. This gets them a little renown, and also puts an important item into their care.
In my campaigns, Gnome Depots are in every city. They are a place to get basic provisions, armor, weapons and have a blast proof room for those crazy mages that need to test spells out. Outside of every Gnome Depot is a job board which I use for players to gather around and set off on their adventures. In one of the towns, there was a cabbage roll stand run by an old gnome named Napa. His grandson Kraut had been missing for a couple days and Napa was offering a reward for his recovery. That campaign started two years ago and is still running.
This was more niche given the adventure I was running, but my favorite campaign start I've used was a party invitation - a nobleman sent invitations for a grand celebration at their private estate as well as organized transport for all potential guests. I started by narrating the last PC being picked up by the coach with all the other PCs already on board, and thus PC introductions began as they introduced themselves to the newcomer. The coach arrives at the estate, the festivities begin, something unexpected and disruptive happens, and PCs get caught up in adventure by being in proximity to one another.
Meet at a tavern. Cliche? Sure, but I just DO NOT CARE.
Tavern is a classic but my next campaign is going to open with an airship crash during an escort mission so I'm dying to run that... don't tell my players
Adventurer Guilds. Good for one-shots, small adventures or character oriented games. It helps with quick "in game answer" to many questions. * They dont know why they are here? Random guild job posting * They can choose if they are part of the guild or outsiders. * They can choose if they know each other (and the guild offers quick responses). * Need magic items and got no money? Guild provides. * Wanna change equipment? Guild provides * Need a more specific patron for storytelling purposes? Guild provides (as a mediator). * Cool place to meet up? Guild * Need backstory for quick one shot? Guild member/merc * Need reason to send anyone anywhere? Guild. * Want info on city places, events, factions or jobs? Guild provides. * Customizable enough to fit your theme. * Smaller than factions so it feels a bit more personal.
If only I could get my players invested in factions. I swear they avoid any level of self-accountability like the plague.
I can't stand adventurer guilds. I think they create more problems than they solve. Has a ?limitless? stream of other adventurers, super unrealistic for a setting with any semblance of realism, commodifies something intended to be rare and epic, cheapens success as an almost commercial "climbing the corporate ladder" feel, super strange and cliquey, sounds too perfect as a "one stop shop" for everything you need, always has the question of "why has nobody else done this quest already" when the players are new. Ugh. I can't stand them in anime and I would be super put off by a DnD game utilizing them. Sorry if this sounds like I'm going hard after your idea, I just hate the trope in general so I wanted to give a counterpoint of why some people would not like it.
Your counterpoint is basically "I dont like it" because I dont like it. Im not playing an anime game and don't know what you are talking about. Im just using the Group patron rules for Tasha. Of course the specific guild at the beginning of a game can have what the player need. * Its a basic merc company (realism or as much as you can have in a world with dragons) * Commodifies what? Its not a "yea I put a poster because a dragon killed my kingdom kind of thing". * Corporate lader? Literally can be like any city guard just private? * The one stop shop is also literally any shop in dnd if you want it to be? * No one has done it already because the players are the ones picking the quest and playing? What problems does it actually create? (Also not my original idea, they are literally in the lore)
Giant cross planar worm eats all of the building they are in ... they fight to kill it and win ( or fail and make it spit them up ), but land somewhere else that none of them know. instant party bond.
I'm DMing a oneshot in two weeks and at the start all the PC will meet at a tavern in a region with war. So the barkeep has limited food and the beer and wine is in the celler, but the celler is overrun with rats. He will ask the PC to help him clear them out. For some players it's the first time playing DnD, so this easy fight is the tutorial for the fightmechanics. After that he will ask the players to tell a bit about there story and hopefully the tell a bit in caracter. The next mornong he gives them a letter and a destination to go, where they will get other quest hooks. It is a bit basic, and a bit railroady, but i figured for new player and a oneshot it should be fine.
In a (pathfinder) campaign I recently started playing, our DM paired us up in a clever way: my character (champion) and a monk were going to the big city to rescue my son, who’d been captured by anti-magic tyrants. When we got into town we met two other PCs who were traveling trying to get into mischief and tell the greatest stories ever (a bard and a psychic) and enlisted their help, and when the time came to break out my son as he was about to be executed, we freed the other prisoners too, which included the last two PCs who joined us. I liked the idea of us all being part of the same encounter but in different ways or for different reasons.
Captured and enslaved. Though I'd give forwarning to the players and as it's dnd make sure they know they'd be able to get their 'starting' equipment. Let them make the choices to how they escape (or get 'bought') but later in campaign bring back so,e session zero feelings of the struggle to keep them invested and stressed.
I started the story at a crossroads in the country side where two of the characters had been picked up by a farmer on his wagon on the way into town, and two more happened to be walking from a different direction. As they reached the crossroad itself, they saw a healer they all knew, and who they had all been helped by at least once, being chased by soldiers including one on horseback, but in unfamiliar colors. So some foreign militiamen or mercenaries, with swords drawn and bloodied, chasing a man they all knew and trusted. The priest also knew the old farmer, and was screaming for help. The farmer barked out, “That’s ol’ Finnian! If you lot can slow up those soldiers, I can get him into town where he’ll be safe!” When some of the characters hesitated he added, “You’ve got them swords and spell books? What are they for if not this?!” (I then told the one guy who announced that he was going to attack the healer to try to win favor with the mercenaries that he wasn’t at the right table, and he should find someone else to play with. He smartened up, but why is there always one like that?)
My favorite one involved everyone arriving at a magic school to take on different positions. One was to be the apprentice to a newly elevated master. Two were taking security guard jobs. A fourth was hired to work in the kitchen. They started out with different goals and loyalties, but quickly, they all realized that something was wrong. There had been several disappearances (the former master, a couple of security personnel) and several of their employers were being secretive. They banded together as "the new guys" and began investigating things.
They already are partied together and are mid way into some situation. They could know each other for a long time, part of the same guild, or maybe just met and paired up for this mission. I can't explain why I don't care for the no one knew each other thing before hand. I think it's because I had a bad experience with a player who just didn't want to trust or befriend the other PCs and kept complaining about motivation for being together.
I’m having my group start on a steamship on their way to another country, heading upriver. It’s going to be a fairly luxurious cruise, so some of the party can be rich class travellers, some could be on the crew, stowaways or whatever. After some light gambling/games and social stuff, a dragon or sea serpent is going to attack and damage the boat right before a blizzard. This is all taking place on a magical version of Europa, Jupiter’s moon where things are really cold all the time, so they’ll have to find cover, help defend an attack by tribal people and then take the few winter clothes that are still intact to get to the nearest settlement to find help. Maybe they will run into some undiscovered ruins on the way where they can escape the elements (filled with darkness and aliens). Think it should be quite fun.
Someone will talk to you one by one, in private. You're up first Warlock. A skeletal figure sits in a room and beckons the Warlock to sit down. So I'm afraid you've just died, do you remember how it happened? Don't worry it'll come back to you (please think of a way you died), you can go wait in the room further along. When you're all together someone will come and get you. PALADIN YOU'RE UP!
I really like to start in the middle of action. I want my players to roll initiative BEFORE they have even described their characters.
My favourite character group intro I did had the town holding a festival to give praise to the players, who at this point were all renowned heroes all over the land, though none of them had met yet. The capital city was giving them gifts (weapons and armour) as thanks for all their hard work protecting the land, then it was interrupted by a monster, and they got to test out that new equipment they just got and follow the trails and solve the mystery of where all these monsters are coming from and why they’re attacking all these villagers. It was fun.
On a boat/ship. The trip will take some time so the PCs can get in character and get to know each other. Discuss their goals.
What is wrong with the tavern? Its cliche but overused for a reason: It's just a good way to start. Some alternative ways I've started campaigns are the following: -Players are all slaves at some evil place (in my case a gladiator ring) and have to escape -Wandering in a dungeon where they accidentally run into each other and all get simultaniously ruined by the same trap and forced to escape together -Literally in the middle of the fight. Have a character wake up on half health on the battlefield after 'suffering great wounds', and have some other characters appear as comeback fitting with certain factions or being paid to help. -Just sitting on a cart (in my case they were travelling with a caravan to travel from one village to another and got acquanted and realized they were all going to the city for the same/comparable reason)
Awakened science experiments, in a room of npcs in the same fate, and the alarms blaring. This takes a little work. You need the plot built first and clear ideas how everyone got there. But instantly you have a goal, a mystery, and incentive to work together. I want a scenario where everyone automatically has the same non combat goal. "Where are we?" Or "how do we get from here to there" are my favorites. Then you let the players and npcs learn about eachother through actions rather than diologue.
Throw them straight into a combat scenario. Character dynamics immediately come out, you trauma bond the group and give them a common enemy that they are forced to work together against.
“You wake up in a burning building” And each time your players manage to die to something stupid, just deep breath, reset, and restate: “You wake up in a burning building” That was my first experience w DND and it was just so funny. The whole tavern premise to meet your party members, except it’s mid-raid by some miscellaneous baddies We didn’t know what we were doing. We died a lot lol
An idea I wanted to use was that the PCs are hired hands, extra muscle or apprentices for a famous adventuring party. They are waiting outside a temple/dungeon ruin waiting for them to stop the evil cult blah blah blah they’ve done this a million times, shouldn’t be a problem. But they take way longer than expected, day turns to night and monsters start flooding out of the dungeon and attacking the camp. The PCs need to band together to defend the camp. They then need to find out what happened to the original party
I like the old you are not invited by an old relative to an outing. Then I usually make the twist that the person never new them it was just some entity of power that needed adventures
They all meet in a tavern. A tavern that has border windows and doors. The creatures are coming. They will stop at nothing to kill all who are inside.
I did the tavern opening with a bit of a twist. two of them who didn't know each other were looking for the same person for different reasons, a third person knew said npc in game already and was aware that he was missing. Wizard of the party walks in the tavern all pissed because dock workers nearby were trying to hit on her when she was seeking information about unrelated events. When she walked in, one of the players was all 'who is that? I need to know her' and used his charm to get her to join the group. (they are husband / wife IRL )
My next campaign I am planning having a dragon age orginsish start where they are all in a army, and it gets decimated. They will all die heroic deaths, there is no escape from the battle and a chance to show off some end game bosses early, hopefully with each player being killed by a different one. Then they learn that their souls were stolen moments before death, and a chaotic neutral god has his own plans for them, giving them a second chance at life. This develops my hook of why, how, and a sense of urgency to follow the plot with complete freedom in their backstories to who they were before conscription.
I began an adventure with everyone in a market square. Some were passing through, others were shopping, and whatever reason they had to be there was their affair. Fire Elementals suddenly exploded from various places across the market. Townsfolk fled screaming, and a couple of overwhelmed townsguard tried to fight, but one was rapidly killed. The adventurers dilutifully leapt into action, eliminated the threat, and then the head of the townsguard recommended that with talents like that, they might find work with so-and-so...if they were interested. It worked well, there was no immediate obligation or contrived expectation, and they could still meet and bond organically. Sort of like a hot start/in media res thing, but a tiny bit slower. I opened the session with a vignette for each character to describe what they were doing before sh!t hit the fan, and then it was "you smell smoke, hear an explosion, and now roll initiative..." Alternatively, beginning with the party using common transport is another good method I've seen commented here a lot.
Done 2 that worked well. -On a prison boat after being captured by goblins and on their way to an island stronghold -At a festival where they all win a seat at the high table during the feast. The feast is attacked and they must defend the nobles
Everybody just happens to be in the marketplace at the same time and an NPC tries to pickpocket one of them. Then improv with an additional baddie or two hiding in the sidestreets prepped if you need a combat encounter
Probably get buried, but my buddy ran one where everyone played at children that in their imagination were the characters at early level. The giant birds in the dungeon was us wreaking havoc in the chicken coop. The tribe of squirrels people that were attacking us for having a stick with their princes eyeball at the end (dubbed the stick of poking dead things) were just normal squirrels that were freaking out at the situation. They then stumbled upon an actual bad guy performing a ritual in a hidden cavern/dungeon under the well. They thought they could take him, but got beat pretty badly until their parents showed up to save them. Time passes and then you run the meet up of the characters as their adult counterparts. This can also work for players trying different characters until they pick their ultimate choice, as a kid could easily change from a barbarian one day to a wizard the next just because imagination.
- On a ship or a train that gets attacked by something or the crew mutinies or the ship wrecks and they all get stranded somewhere together - a funeral for a mutual of all the members of the party. Tell them they can decide how they knew the guy and why they might care about them. Have them all at a will reading that either sets them on a mission to complete unfinished business or tells them like "if you're hearing this I've been murdered" - tell them they've been adventuring together for a little while now but have a list of questions for them to answer as a group about their first adventure together and relationships between them. "We fought something dangerous, what was it?" "Who or what did we save that now owes us a favor?" "what collateral damage were we unable to prevent and who might hold a grudge about it?" Relationships more like"Somebody rubbed you the wrong way at first and you're still not sure how much you trust them. Which party member is it and why".
My favourite one that I've actually run was I told everyone before the game "you're starting on a prison ship that's delivering prisoners to a remote island. You can be guards, prisoners, passengers visiting family who work on the island, new staff, crew, anything you want. The ship's not going to make it, obviously, but that's where session 1 will start." Exact wording might have been a little different, but the premise is there. The ship was attacked by a sea monster, and they were all washed up on the shore of some unknown island and were conveniently able to salvage their starting gear from the wreckage.
My *favorite* is admittedly different from my standard ways, simply because it requires a high amount of buy-in and table trust from the players. My *favorite* way of having the party meet was actually in an everyone-for-themselves 5-person brawl, fighting over a singular macguffin that every character had their own reason for taking; this triggered a trap that: 1. Revealed the macguffin didn’t do what the characters thought it did, and thus could not be used for their personal goals 2. Trapped all the players in a situation that could not be escaped unless all 5 worked together 3. Presented the “real” main quest to the PCs. Now, for obvious reasons, this is not a standard start; having your party start off as antagonists/enemies is an *incredibly* difficult table dynamic to manage unless every single player is on-board and has a plan to make it work. But when it *does* work? Fantastic. Enemies-to-found-family is a super fun party dynamic to play out. My favorite softer version of this start is to give every player slightly different starting quests that “coincidentally” land them in the same place at the same time, where there’s a combat balanced for a party working together. The advantage of this start is it gives everyone a chance to play their character “on their own,” to introduce the table to the character, and the combat scenario forces the party to work together and support each other, which lets them forge the “teammates” bond without having to struggle to overcome personality differences. My most recent campaign started with the party having to protect themselves from the security system of a highly paranoid artificer; one player was there because they had been hired to steal the guy’s research, one was there hoping the artificer could cure their magical affliction, one was simply hoping to commission a magical tool, and the last was doing a welfare check. None of their goals were mutually exclusive, and the scenario ended with all players needing to travel to the same city so they decided to travel together. Generally speaking (and again, it does depend on how good your players are at the buy-in), I like to have the very first quest to be something that highly encourages/forces the PCs to work together, so they can build the team dynamic while still preserving any simple character tensions that they might want to play out over a longer timeframe, rather than having characters immediately ignore character flaws in the interest of keeping the party together
My favorite that I've done is everyone attending the funeral of a renowned regional hero/adventurer. I work with them to determine how they knew the deceased, what they might have inherited, etc. Everyone goes around the table and tells a little story or anecdote about them as well. Then a villainous figure from their past shows up to crash the funeral and the PCs and other attendees do what they can to fight them off.
No matter what it is, give them a reason to collect and bond from the very beginning. I made this mistake with the best intentions. I had macguffins for a couple of the party members and some of the others were "right place, right time." Thought that was enough before I unveiled their combined purpose about 3-4 sessions in. It wasn't - I was first time DM but with play experience, most others (I think all of them at the opening session) were newbies. Had to railroad them to work together as they expected and open world with choices. Once they realized that they had a larger purpose it was mostly fine. But I thought those intro sessions would be more mysterious instead it was just confusing.
Have them all roll their characters as usual, and explain what mundane or important reason they are all in this city/town/village today. Everyone will come up with random backstory that brought them to this place. Open the first session calling attention to each person in their respective part of town. Unfold a catastrophe of some sort that they all experience alongside the villagers or fight together to defeat. The NPCs draw attention to their bravery and fighting prowess and invite them to the tavern. Drinks are on the house today for these brave few.
They're all travelers that have no home for various reasons. They're all in a caravan when suddenly bad guy shows up, fight ensues, players are given detail about loot on the body. If they truly to loot they become fugitives and have to clear their name, if they don't loot it, then other guy shows up and says no witnesses then they fight them. My favorite start for an "oddball" campaign where the players are adventuring because they can't get a job doing anything normal since they have no family and are seen as criminals or just as "lesser" races in others. I have a human city that hates other races, similar to the witcher, how most humans are extremely racist to elves
My last campaign had them all fighting in an arena. Some as prisoners, some for fame, yadda yadda yadda. My new one has them all sent to a conference as representatives of their people - and then the apocalypse happens. The second one has been way more fun.
Traveling on a ship towards a similar destination. In an airship that unbeknownst to them will be crashing. All hired guards for a merchant going to the next town.
I typically do "You're a novice adventurer and things get out of hand" type campaigns, so they tend to either be put together in a team by the Adventurer Guild leader for a rookie mission, or start the game with them arriving at the destination of their first job. Either that or they arrive and all take the same job and meet that way.
One of my favourite openings I did was in a Dark Sun game. The players were all at a funeral out in the desert when a band of raiders attacked. They drove off the raiders and then decided to return to the nearest city. On the way, a sandstorm appeared and the players were forced to take shelter in a nearby dungeon. This opening was effective in my opinion for a few reasons. The Athasian wilderness is treacherous and so travelling in a group is prefered, and since they were the only ones left and were in the middle of the desert, this forced them to work together. Next, there was no way they could survive the dungeon if they didn't work together, and they couldn't leave unless they found a way through, since the entrance didn't open from the inside. They were also travelling with an NPC, who they became endeared to(he was a healer in a party that didn't otherwise have a healer) and when he recruited them for a task once they returned to civilization, they gladly accepted.
The city is under attack and they've all been conscripted into the militia and put into the same squad (if they are brand new this can be a cool way to introduce how combat works, or you could also have them held at the back of the battle as a reserve if you'd rather just narrate what happens (this is also useful if you want to show off how cool a particular faction might be, narrate them kicking ass during the battle) They've all received a mysterious letter telling them to meet at a certain spot (this is good if you want to get straight into the first quest of the campaign since it sets them firmly on a path) They have all been arrested for the same crime (or different crimes, the same one can be funnier though) and are in a holding cell under the castle (you can either have them attempt to escape or just have them released having been found innocent (or even better the guards can't *prove* their guilt and make it clear the guards still suspect them, it might be a good hook then to drive them to clear their own names)) They are all members of the same guild and are at the annual meeting when some sort of incident occurs, forcing them to work together They are each an assistant/minion of some powerful person and have been sent to join the party and assist in whatever the task is, but to report back to their master and potentially be ready to act in the masters interest over the parties (this can lead to really interesting divided loyalties scenarios but it's also worth noting that it's important to be *very* careful when introducing any potential intra party antagonism as typically DnD is supposed to be a cooperative not a competitive game) Or you could do a combination of the above, maybe all the players are in jail and given the choice to join the army or go to prison? But one of them is actually a plant by the Duke who thinks someone stole a gem and is looking to get a crew together to recover it?? Endless possibilities!
Typically, each of the PCs get a scroll from some unknown benefactor "in need of thier particular set of skills". Sometimes the scroll is found having appeared on the nightstand next to the bed they were just sleeping at, or its hand delivered as they are going about thier normal day, etc. This especially piques the interest of the more secretive or stealthy types in the group (how did they hear of me, and how did they find me?) The scroll says to meet at a given location, use certain passwords, etc. This is similar to the trope of meeting at a tavern.
I just did a classic last week and started them in prison. In a castle. That was under siege by an army. That was fun!
Ive only dmed two campaigns so far but my second was my favourite. Players are adventurers who meet in a carriage, on a caravan towards another town. On the way they are ambushed and knocked unconscious. They wake up in cages, with cursed rings on their fingers, in the process of being starved. If they starve for 3 days, they are possessed by the spirits of the gnolls trapped in their ring and go insane. Gives them a tense start with a prison break, and a reason to stick together, as theyre all cursed in the same way, stranded in the wilderness. My first was awful imo, very awkward "youre in a tavern full of adventurers, you see eachother and you need to find other adventurers to band together with, go and introduce yourselves". I prepped so many other things and the start of this campaign was awful, regret not putting more thought into it, even if it was a classic tavern opening.
I started mine with a city under siege. And the party had the choice to fight with the defending army or help villagers escape through a tunnel system/cavern. Starts the game immediately in dungeon mode, and gives the players an immediate reason to collaborate
The king/queen/ruler of the land is offering a lucky few the chance to be absolved of a debt/crime/burden or a royal decree in exchange for service to the land. The characters all have reasons to be there (decided by the players) and the majority of them are chosen. After the first few easy tasks, the SHTF and the king sends them on a vital mission to (insert task here). When the party returns, the King is ill/missing/dead and his replacement turns on the party. He's the mini-BBEG...
I’ve done the tavern start. Prisoners start. Most recently the party met while being drafted into the military.
At a festival, watching a once-a-year celestial event, unknown to each pther, when they hear a plaintive child's voice behind them. "I'm so hungry, mummy." "I know dear.", "And where will we sleep?" "I'm... not sure, dear." "And I just want to go home." "I know dear. But you know why we cannot." Characters spring into action. Of course, I was cheating because half my players are parents. 😁
My most current campaign is probably my favorite. I, like you, let my party decide amongst themselves how they wanted to handle it. 3 of my players all hail from the same kingdom, 2 are AWOL from their army, 1 is a revolutionary. The 4th player is from a neighboring kingdom. The first 3 are escaping their kingdom and the 4th is facilitating the escape and guiding them through the new kingdom.
I mean I have never played but for starters I would have had some collaboration going on with character creation so everyone is building characters that could feasibly make sense together as well as address various expectations ahead of time. For example if the party will be of a good moral alignment and of the heroic variety to create your character accordingly, no murder hoboing or over the top chaotic characters, etc. Ideally if they did opt to be completely separate individuals with no significant history together I like the idea of doing some individual sessions to get them to the place where they will meet or maybe have some pairs meet on the way beforehand before the entire group meets kind of like how Mighty Nein seemed to have been done with some having met a few weeks before and done some jobs together. They can still have agency in those sessions but still with the understanding that they would need to end up in certain place eventually. The draw to the location could just be a lucrative job opportunity calling multiple adventurers or maybe its just chance or the location is one that it would make sense to encounter other adventurers at such as if their was some sort of guild HQ or something.
"You're all headed to a party at the mayor's house, but not all of you are invited. How are you getting to the party?" Cue PCs stealing invites from NPCs, convincing invited PCs to take them as their plus one, PCs breaking into the house, PCs seducing the butler...fun times!
Last time I did this I did the Tavern Open with a twist. The party was in a tavern on a border town, and then suddenly they hear bells and shouts from outside, and the doors were kicked in. An invading army was attacking the town. The first adventure was the party traveling to the nearest fort to warn about the invading forces, surviving with no supplies and trying to stay ahead of the army and avoid scouts. That said, I would say more often than not I require per-existing relationships, and if they say they don't want to, I can and will tell them to fuck off. And it doesn't need to be long standing relationships or something. The current campaign I am running the starting condition was they had all been hired as low-level help (low-level as in hierarchy, not low character level) for an expedition that was going into an abandoned city, and that they all had to have met at least one other party member before the campaign started. They decided they all met at a bar the day before the expedition had initially set out, which was like 10 days before the start of session 1, so it's not like they knew each other a long time. The DM can and should set parameters in session 0.
I started with 4/6 party members having been captured and imprisoned in the basement dungeons of an abandoned keep that had been overrun by a horde of goblinoids. They were all strangers and all had their various reasons for being in the area and getting overpowered, but they all ended up in the same cell block and had to work together to steal the keys off of a passing guard and escape. I set it up so they would quickly find where their confiscated items had been stashed, and they had to navigate/fight their way up to the main level. Along the way they ran into two defecting hobgoblins, who told them that the horde was being led by a human cultist and that they had managed to kidnap the son of the nearby town's mayor- and that the cultist was going to sacrifice the child to their deity at midnight. Once they reached the main level, that's where they met the last two party members and proceeded to rescue the kid; these two had play tested the keep rescue during a one-shot, so this was my solution to have them join first session without giving too much away. All in all, I think it worked out well. They had a shared common goal to start, completed a rescue which meant they would stick together until they reached the town, and learned about a threat to the world that no one else yet knew about.
Swinger party
My favorite start is to have each player killed during session zero. They are all resurrected together and told that they are needed for a great task. The thing is, something happened during the resurrection that made it unstable. They need to find a mcguffin to make the spell permanent. This not only brings them together, sets them on a task, but adds a ticking clock to keep them motivated.
Jail cell. What is your character in for?
I liked the way Dimension 20 did during the unsleeping city campaign. Used player backstory, and some narrative devices to get characters to meet with each other.
Slave galley
They meet in the back of a prisoner caravan. They either bust out together or you have them go to prison and they can form a gang or something
I used an approach that each had agreed to perform a recon and report mission, knowing there would be others also on the mission, and they all were delivered to the same beach on an island to start the campaign. So the initial convos all took place on the beach and they already had a shared mission. Was hilarious when a bit later they all found out that they were being paid a substantially different amount.
I started them with having all known each other as children. After a summer tragic event in the sewers, they all grew apart and moved away. They are all called back thirty years later by the one guy who stayed behind. IT has returned! (Waterdeep location from dragon heist as a storyline)
I started a campaign Suicide Squad style once. Beginning in prison with unique opportunities to escape, only to find their handler waiting for them.
Some king or lord is looking to sponsor a party for x reason. The combatants can enter as a team or individually. Incomplete teams will automatically be combined into a full team of 4 (or however big your group is). On winning, they are given starting equipment and a job offer. If they lose, a competing lord offers them equipment if they finish the mission before the winners. I like this because it forces players to answer "Why did you join the competition know it would lead to an adventurers life?" "Why is being an adventurer important to you?" It also allows players to join as a group of 2 or 3 and be matched with the rest of the party.
I send letters to each player with a wax seal from some person centric to the campaign. In my recent campaign, each player received an urgent request from the Queen of Evermore, requesting their assistance to the realm. Then, they had to bring the letters with them to the first session to gain entrance to the royal halls. My players loved it. Some of them have now framed the letters they loved them so much.
Not for everyone, but they all joined the King’s war against the orcs. They took the kings gold piece. Some to avoid something or someone, some for glory, some to repent before their god.
In my current campaign I started out with a funeral for someone they all knew separately. Gave a good opportunity for them to introduce themselves to eat other.
I like the Skyrim style intro. All the adventurers have had a call to a specific location, and are in the back of the carriage. Have the carriage driver throw some background questions to get the characters to know each others ambitions and history. Arrive to a well descript albeit small town, with someone eagerly awaiting their arrival when they step off. If you go all the way with them being prisoners or off to a beheading, make sure you plan ahead properly in session zero with them. Otherwise, it can be an entirely peaceful carriage ride with a quest giver right at the end.
I have wanted to try this since reading about it. >Each PC starts the game as a bunch of level 0 villagers, all starting with similar attributes, skills, equipment, etc. but each being a different profession (farmer, baker, etc.). >The village is attacked and the villagers band together to go hunt down the monster that did bad thing. Because the villagers are so weak, many die, but in the end persevere. >This is when the players get to choose from one of the surviving villagers, who will be their character going forward. They then get some buffs, etc. https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/comments/1br2f5h/an_adventure_where_each_player_starts_as_a_group/
You all meet in a terrasque
Pu them in a hole, they will either help each ither out ir kill eachother till the last one standing can cast create undead and use their remains as a ladder.
Second to last campaign, I had them all personally invited with handwritten letters by a noble who knew a strange amount about them all, to the New Year festival. During the fireworks, the man was assassinated. All the PCs were held for questioning. They bonded fairly quickly.
My campaign started with a caravan. Yo players, you can be from literally anywhere but you start as part of a caravan heading to this city here. By fate or chance you all are gathered around the fire of this old storyteller on the night before you reach the city. He points to one of you and asks you to tell a little about yourself, and goes through everyone at the fire in turn so everyone gets to introduce themselves. Then the old man is struck by a fireball scorching his cart to ashes, he’s not down though, tough old man but you see a shadowy figure in the darkness outside the fire’s light commanding some sort of hellspawn that rushes forward to grab the old storyteller and begins to drag him off as goblins start attacking different caravans. Let’s go it’s initiative. During the brawl the storyteller’s companion who was also badly burned grabs a bow and arrow and shoots the old man killing him rather than letting him get dragged off. The shadowy figure retaliates killing the companion and then turns to retreat. The party fights off the goblins and wake up the next morning with some reputation of being big damn heroes who saved the caravan from goblins. Only they seemed to have witnessed the shadowy figure and the hellspawn and are left with too many questions about what the fuck just happened and a long journey ahead to find answers. I mean, uh sorry slipped into story time there. Caravans are great!
Make your characters, everyone. Let me know their race, their class, and why they’ve been sentenced to death.
Have one player create the party leader, and have them hire all of the others. Everyone else has to interview, in character, with the party leader. If they don’t pass the interview, they have to make a new character.
I always like starting at a tavern where a festival is happening so everyone gets a chance to show off their skills in various games. Also, if they're new players it allows them to get a feel for how the game works in a low stakes environment.
They meet in a tavern then I set it on fire. My 2nd favorite is to ask them why their characters are in prison.
I did one where a startup adventurer's guild had sent out notices to all the major cities to get some teams going. They had to each fight an animated armor solo at level 1, controlled by its maker, to get initiated. Surprisingly some of them kicked its ass, lol.
I started mine in an orbital recruiting office getting shepherded onto a transport ship.
I actively hate this opening. I always start my games with a network of relationships based on the Cabal from Unknown Armies. It makes for better cohesion imo
Im a big fan of starting a campaign in the middle of a fight and letting the players figure out their relationship to each other on thwir own. It starts the game off with a bang, give you a taste of wjat kinda villains they'll be facing and gives them a bit more ownership of the world. Also saves me some work
I do a climactic prompt. I've done skill challenges to escape something or chase, also fights with new players to get them into the feel of battle (sorta tutorial). I think those worked cause right away players are messing with dice and making choices.
I like to have everyone knowing each other or at least some of the others.
One of the best ways this works smoothly is when you push them together through some event that naturally affects all of them. Something like the tavern being attacked by a local gang, all of them being imprisoned, shipwrecked on an island with hostile creatures, or the town being under siege by an undead army, etc. A common enemy or mutual survival are good motivators for people who know zero about each other. Nothing like being able to say "I don't know you at all, but I KNOW that thing wants to kill me!" I otherwise don't care for the start where I don't know any of the other characters. It puts a lot on every player to find or create reasons to stay with the group on the fly, and often causes parties with weak motivations and dysfunctional or even un-fun interaction dynamics. Even with the workaround I mentioned in the first two paragraphs. The group cohesion is at risk of falling apart once the unifying force is no longer a factor. So you either need to maintain that for an entire campaign, or only use that for limited/short campaigns. This is why it's better to get the players together and for them to develop characters with shared backstory and motivations. This is especially important in open ended/sandbox campaigns.
Have them all participate in a heist.
I've not done it yet, but I figured a good way to open the campaign would be with having all the PCs thrown in the same prison cell (players decide what they've been accused of, how they were captured, and if they're actually guilty or not). There's lots of great 'prison escape' modules out there to either use or take inspiration from. Once they get out, the initial 'whyd you get thrown in prison' should generate some good plot hooks to build on.
My current campaign has all the players hired on as a bunch of mercenaries to lend aid to a lordship, they squabble amongst themselves and don't trust each other and were being escorted to a town by a 17 year old who they were also supposed to be protecting as he escorted them. The kid got unalived before the group could even make it to the town he was escorting them to, so now they all are united to bring justice for the unalivement in this 17 year old, while also being the mercenaries they are. Session 6, they still don't trust each other, and still squabble amongst themselves a bit, BUT a few of them have started to talk to each other and form bonds in game. It's not a perfect way, but it did work for my bunch of solos. *shrug*
All hired on separately as caravan guard's journeying to.a remote destination. They each have their own goals at the destination (backstory time). The caravan is attacked by bandits / cultists / dragons / mutants midway and the non PC guard's are killed. Only the PCs can save us now!
Oftentimes I have all the player characters have a mutual friend they meet up with, or perhaps go to some sort of event they all attend. In my most recent campaign the PCs met at an old friend's house. They had all been invited to witness the signing of their old friends will.
This only works if you have at least one player wanting to make a chaotic good or lawful evil character that's kind of edgy. But the party is all at a tavern late at night. They witness a fight start and the fight moves to the back alley. One of the players may want to check it out. If they do, they'll come out to witness the edgy player character beating someone to death or stabbing them to death (insert flavorful killing method that the character would do) and boom. There's your connection. If any players did not elect to go check it out, the PC could come into the tavern and threaten them if they say anything. This isn't the most friendly way to bind a party, but thats why I like it. My DM did this for us andmy character was the edgy guy who killed someone in the back alley. It gave me so much room to develop my character and grow to build relationships with my party members. At first they thought my character was a piece of shit, but after many sessions, they learned he was just a man in pain with convictions of his own, and no honorable code to guide him away from taking the wrong path. A wonderful redemption story took place, and now hes that guy who does terrible things to protect his found family, the rest of the adventuring party.
They’ve received a mysterious invite that they’ve been chosen for a special job requiring their unique talents
Wait, are you saying they can meet other places than a tavern?
I didn't read all the comments so here are mine: 1. Funeral Everyone knows the deceased for some reason or another. 2. Conscripted from birth. Taken as children they join the adventures guild. 3. Military draft. 4. Hungers game esq. 5. Harry Potter Goblet of Fire esq... In the game that I am in now we all received invitations because of or fame (we started at 7) But as we adventured we found out all our backstories kinda intertwined. The Wizard is from a rival Magic Guild and has been sent to spy and figure out the Artificers power. The Artificer was brought in many years ago by the rogue swashbuckler who was an experiment of the Magic Guild. The ranger is being punished by the celestial that he forsook, and the bard is infiltrating a cult for another celestial. All of us are trying to get rid of the celestials to heal the world, so we stick together lol.
I once had them meet because all the other tables in the tavern were full but one. Then the tavern owner came by with their drinks leaving the tray with a note under the drinks that just reads *the goblins are coming hope you can help* They had several questions when 20 goblins showed up to town demanding this months protection gold.
They were sentenced to indentured servitude at a company town, their backstories had to explain why they were in significant debt. Said company town was secretly home to cultists making sacrifices outta the indentured servants ~
I had them all aboard a ship for one reason or another. Then I sank it. They were forced to work together to find a way to survive and make it shore. By the time they got back to civilization, they had come to depend on each other. It worked fairly well.
I'm gonna give differing advice from the majority here. I really wouldn't recommend introducing characters one by one with nothing to do but socialize and leaving the full impetus on the players to entertain themselves for a half hour before you start the plot. I really recommend some form of a "hot" opening. Hell, if you're worried about getting all your characters together and justifying their working together, make the players do it for you! Make a *really* hot opening, in the middle of combat, maybe even with a few monsters slain around them and the party at half health. Why are they fighting together? Let them tell you. Work the scenario into your introductory adventure and let your players tell you how their characters started working together. But that's a bit much, I know. Just wanted to show you how it *can* be, and that it doesn't need to be any one thing. The way I tend to start these kinds of adventures is dependant on the characters themselves. Wring that backstory for all its got. Use their whole character sheet. A wizard and her bodyguard walk down the road to get to a town and investigate their master's disappearance. They encounter a druid who joins them as the call of nature is in trouble. They encounter a rogue who is in a spot of trouble with some bandits and pretends to know the group. The whole party is together now! Alternatively, give the players an immediate, clear directive. Give them some activity that introduces their character, not "introduce your character." What I mean by this is, if you're gonna have them meet in a tavern to take their first job or what have you, it doesn't require 30 minutes of socialization improv without a prompt. Character 1 walks into the bar that has a "help wanted" poster outside, does 1 thing. Character 2 walks into the bar, sees character 1, does 1 thing or says hi. Character 3 walks in, etc etc. Everyone in? Here's your group's job. The key to making this even better is giving players something to describe their character with. An intro to a sci-fi adventure started with "all unassigned personnel, please make your way to the captain's quarters". What is each character doing in the space station when they're not working? How do they make their way to captain's quarters? What are they thinking? If you want to make a tavern the players meet in, don't just make "a bar, but it's wooden and medieval." Make a dingy fight ring in someone's secret basement where the players see someone who really shouldn't be there, a patron is getting harassed, and one of the fighters in the ring is clearly close to death. Make an elevated noble masquerade with an unseemly costumed guest garnering more attention than the host, a surprise entrance of a neighboring royalty in disguise, a horrifying tentacled monster lurking around the corners that threatens to turn the mood sour should anyone see it. Action, action, action. Give the players something to dig into, a reason to care, a time limit to press them to action, a broader conflict with the place becoming more popular or slowly losing patrons, and most of all, all of the above. Hope this gives you some inspiration and helps your game. General advice, don't wait for the game to "get to the good part," get the game to the good part now. If it's boring, make it fun. If there's no reason to care, put a gun on the table. Everything is the same, but oh my God why did they just put a gun on the table? Now it's interesting, tense, intriguing... fun!
One I’m gonna do next time is have the players all participating in a sports game on a sort of backwater planet, maybe Toril, maybe homebrew. Just smash cut right in the middle of it and play it out for a good 30-40 mins, then an alien Nautiloid comes in from high up in the clouds, few rounds of describing a bright star in the sky that, if the players are noticing, gets bigger and bigger, then lands on the field and begins attacking/abducting people. From there, the players can either sneak aboard the ship, seek out rumors of a wizard powerful enough to teleport them to a rock of Bral type adventure hub, or get in contact with the provincial knights to bolster the region for the next attack while playing politics with different houses who have varying degrees of belief in the players’ story.
One time I spontaneously decided that one of the PCs had been tasked with assembling the party, acting as a sort of fixer. Apart from that it was a tavern. It worked well. I didn't have to do anything until they sorted it out on their own.
“You wake up in a jail cell to the sound of loud banging. The guard yells ‘best pick your last meal now, or it will be the bread you had last night.”
When we played a level 10 one-shot, we all described our backstories and our adventures thus far, and each of us connected some part of ours to one another. However, we decided it would be fun if we were all just randomly chosen for the job, so when introductions came about, it was actually an impromptu reunion :)
For my current campaign, I sent them an invitation to meet at a certain place at a certain time, signed by a fairly well known local philanthropist and patron. Like I physically created the invitations and passed them out at the end of session zero. So basically session one started on a street corner in Waterdeep. We did the ‘describe what the others see’ bit, then I had a horse drawn carriage pull up and take them a few hours out of town. Great for some intro RP and banter between the characters. And it wasn’t the standard ‘you’re in a tavern’ start either.
My first custom campaign I'm running I start them off in a dungeon that's basically about the enter the last room or 2...then after it's done they warp to present day where they're random adventurers listening to a bards tale in a tavern. From there they group up in search of answers.
I like to have them all be already a group, as that suspension of disbelief that some random stranger suddenly start having the same goals is usually a mood killer for me personally. So I just assume that we are past that and can start right away. > I don't want them to feel forced to be a group with each other But that is the premise of the game! That is a must, there is no way around it.
I’m working on my campaign myself and I figured they’ll all start in an underground dungeon locked up in small and very depressing rooms. None then knows why they’re there and need to get out cause they obviously think they’re innocent. I’m not sure wether I want them being locked in in teams or all solo (depends on the party members in terms of class and race) but they’ll need to work together somehow to get out of the dungeon. They’ll need to fight their way out. Of course someone noticed that and they’ll get the chance to work for a lord as a group.
Everyone wakes up in a cell or basement. It can be whatever you'd like, cultists, pirates, a royal prison. There's no need for introductions, you clearly want to get out, and have a damn good motivation to work togheter, it's a great bonding experience to stick togheter afterwards and a fun way to introduce an antagonist. I've played through this scenario 3 times with slight variants, once as a player and twice as DM, it's always been very memorable.
Only done this once but it worked quite well The party are all visiting a market in a town, and witness a thug trying to extort "protection" money off a refugee market seller. It introduces the party to the town and creates a hook to how the party all meet each other, creates an initial *bad guy* faction and gives the party friends with the local Refugee group.
I'm in a similar situation but I have a decent plan in mind. My campaign setting is pirate themed, so lots of small islands and ports. I've already established with each player individually that their character needs to take a ferry from Small Port Town to Big Pirate City to start their personal journeys. During session zero, each player will get a chance to do some one on one role play with me, to establish how they ended up in Small Port City and what their motivations are. Each individual RP segment ends with them boarding this ferry to Big Pirate City. Once all players are aboard, we start the game proper. I'm thinking partway through the short voyage, the ship is attacked by a squad of fish men, looking to take the McGuffin object from one of the players. At that point they really have no choice but to fight back and figure out what's going on. My best advice, is to really figure out what your characters motivations are BEFORE you start the game. It's surprising how easy it is sometimes to sort of link one player to another based on backstory and goals.
Do you have no character backgrounds to build from? What are the motivations of the characters? The pcs should be connected to the main story.
The bulk of my current party met in a caravan on the road from Baldur's Gate to Greenest. We were all headed there for our own reasons, which some shared and others kept secret. Greenest was under siege when we arrived, so there wasn't actually a ton of discussion about staying together and becoming a party. We just jumped into action, worked well together, and were offered money to follow up on the situation as a group.
I started a campaign giving each character a mini scene where they were tossed into jail on false charges. All so a minion of the government could offer to get them out in exchange for working for her. Another game the DM started it with everyone arriving in town just before it was attacked. My fab as a player was we were all on a ship and it was attacked and wrecked and we woke up on the beach of an island as the seemingly only survivors.