Have you ever started a campaign in media res? Ill be running a campaign for a new group and I figured it might be a fun way to skip the awkwardness of the first session by throwing them straight in the midst of action.
Any stories of success?
>>44224401
That's more or less my favourite way to start any campaign. My favourite one was;
>everyone getting settled for game
>as we're setting up and idle chatter is dying down, I slam my fist on the table
>"You stand accused of the massacre of 15 baked men, 6 momen and 3 children. How do you plea?"
The table was stunned, and quick as that the party's thief (a really cool guy who does voice acting) shouts "NOT GUILTY! I swears I may be a no good rotten pickpocket, but I'll not have me name sallied with these lies of child murder!" Soon the rest of the party all chimed in, with stories of alibis and other anecdotes to clear their names. Was a great session and all of them came out with a burning desire to find the shits who'd gotten them in trouble.
Objectively the best way to start the campaign.
I did run a CoC scenario released in unspeakable oath(?) where the players are escaped prisoners from a prison for the mentally insane. The scenario start with the players standing around a table having comitted a brutal ritualistic murder. Nobody remembers anything. That one worked out amazing.
Kinda want ideas on how I could use a similar start for a pathfinder/d&d style game instead?
>>44224401
Yes, I ran Continuity as my group's first Eclipse Phase experience and they absolutely loved it.
Started a game of Shadowrun in a burning building, none of the players know each other or remember the past week.
>>44225165
Pretty standard but you could open with a caravan ambush with your players as guards. In the aftermath of the battle you can reveal the significance of what was stolen or who was kidnapped and kick it off from there.
>>44224401
Yes, it's pretty much what you're SUPPOSED to do anon.
Starting off when the characters have already gotten up to something that fits the theme of the game or characters is way better than having everyone awkwardly meet in a tavern while you try to get them to talk to the guy with an exclamation mark over his head.
>So your army just got defeated, you have to dodge enemy patrols and scavengers while trying to get the hell out of there.
>Your heist just went totally wrong and...
>So here you are, on the ship, just a day away from the new world...
I'm all for sandboxing once everything is up and running, but to get things started, in medias res is definitely the way to go.
For short campaigns, it's fine.
But, for campaigns that are expected to go for quite a bit, I prefer a neater package, with a clean start and an ending that ties up all the loose ends.
Admittedly, while it's easy to get the first part, the second part is damn near impossible.
>>44224401
Hey guys! You were all in a castle going to get a job from the king. For some reason it's now on fire! You might want to get out as fast as possible.
Put a bunch of obstacles in their way to get them to work together and then make an ambush by the arsonists when they get out.
It would be good to have a reason for the players to be together made up before the campaign even starts.
For me one of the more common 'in media res' moments I use is something along the lines of
> You all separately joined up with this trade caravan for X reason (let the players choose why), and are about halfway through your journey from [Town A's name] to [Town B's name] when...
>>44224401
That's my typical way of doing things, yeah, it gets around the whole "you guys meet in a tavern" followed by ten minutes of dick-measuring and "I DONT THINK I TRUST YOU" or "I REJECT THE PREMISE OF THE GAME ENTIRELY" that more contrarian players commonly pull.
Starting off with "you guys are going to X, your job is Y and you have to do it because Z - GO" gets the ball rolling nice and fast.
