Just like the question says, how do you begin a campaign? I almost choked when my last GM had us start in a fucking tavern with some random hooded guy forcing us to work together under the pretense of "your pay will be docked per death within the group" as opposed to us getting bigger cuts.
I'm running a game starting next weekend and I'd like to hear any cool or interesting starting points for a game set in generic fantasy setting #5643.
A couple of mine that were too specific to reuse:
>You draw another ragged breath and the morning mist clears. You think you hear thunder. From the soreness in your muscles and the burns on your fingertips, you've been slashing and casting all through the night. A field of corpses in varying states of dismemberment makes up the majority of the immediate landscape. There are two problems: First? You do not recall any of the events that brought you up to this point. And second? The dead combatants around you bear the heraldry of the king, and that thunder in the distance heralds the rapidly growing shapes of the king's elite knights. (players eventually broke free, became fugitives, and discovered that they were clones of a band of heroes captured by a very angry alchemist)
>A string of kidnappings has plagued the countryside of West Alamber. Each scene is a grisly tableau of ritualistic markings, dead parents, and a missing child. Each stolen child is more beautiful than the last, and the trail of abductions is leading straight towards the capital of Alamber. The city is in a state of panic and the gates have been augmented by a reinforced garrison and are manned day and night, with a curfew affecting the interior of the city. That is a minor problem; you have children to kidnap, and a hungry, vengeful master to feed.
>>46426274
Well, we begin on a crisp autumn morning, you've just finished burying your 'Pa, who apparently tripped over a rake and drowned upside-down in the water butt last night, and now you're standing around wondering if you've got what it takes to run a farm between you.
>>46426274
Any way you want to go is fine, even a generic tavern entrance, if you let everyone's character have their own reasons for being there.
Like if you've got an alcoholic gruff fighter dude, he's in the tavern at 11 AM swigging away and the others show up periodically and start sitting wherever (edgy ninja guy goes to the corner, boistrous lady bard sits next to the fighter, etc) and as the night goes on eventually some dude comes in with an urgent message from the local police/king/dudes/whoever that they really need some manpower to go deal with criminals/monsters/enemy invasion. Plothook from there.
>>46426274
"You're all sitting around in a bar, or tavern, or whatever when suddenly in walks a centaur with a big bag of money..."
>>46426274
Start them off in a fight. Like they're travelling with a caravan and get jumped by bandits, roll initiative.
Afterwards they can explain to each other why they're travelling together. Anyone stuck can just say "the caravan orders hired me in last time as security"
Never digged the whole amnesia beginning, equally as cliché as "you meet in a tavern". Not that I dislike either, but never understand when people throw that out as though its better.
As for a "better" start, I like the way FATE sets up stories and incorporated that into my games. Make each player write a short synopsis of how they got into their class, why they left for adventure, and why they would be looking for other party members.
At the actual start of the campaign we just start in media res, everyone already knows where they stand, and that there's mooks to kill and wenches to seduce.
>>46426274
I once started a campaign of Deathwatch by waiting until everyone had finished their characters, then slamming my fists down onto the table as hard as I could and shouting
>"OI, WAKE UP YOU GROTS! WE'Z GOT FIGHTAN' TO DO!"
And then they were all orks waking up in a rok that had crash landed.
As quickly as possible.
Preferably without having players write or read long background stories about themselves or their world. (This is why cliché settings are popular btw)
Also if PCs don't kill each other because they don't get bigger cuts, you've got some young players/sociopaths.
>>46426565
>tfw party attacks centaur and are suddenly rich
>have to now figure out what kind of items are available within the area for them to buy
>>46426274
I really like Shadowrun 4e's Foodfight scenario for this.
>Ok, you're a bunch of schmucks at the local convenience store for a midnight snack
>Suddenly, the front of the store blows up and 3 armed men run in shouting orders
It's great. There's no reason to contrive a reason the party is working together; they're just in a convenience store. After they inevitably butcher the 3 mooks busting in on them, the person the mooks came after can turn quest-giver.
>>46427930
Yeah, we didn't get that far. The battle with the centaur expanded dimensions. Then they saved someone from inside the "bigger on the inside" centaur with a device to manifest any one thing into reality. Then the players got into a big argument as to who's waifu their going to summon. Then they made one of those Ricola horns play the brown note.
I tried just dropping them in front of a dungeon to start my newest campaign but the faggots couldn't even decide who was holding the torch so I had to backtrack until theyd decided they knew enough to pick the torch holder...
I'm toying with the idea of insert bbeg having people dragged off in the night to never return. PC's eventually discover after some village sleuthing and encounters in the woods that these missing villagers have been taken to a coastal cave. Dungeon will be timed as high tide fills the majority of the cave system. Still bouncing between necromancer doing sacrifical rituals or cult trying to raise a sea serpent they believe to be a god, or nagas.
>>46426274
Depends on the sort of game you're wanting to run. Themes and tone, scope, all that plays into that.
Gonna be starting a game soon, Pathfinder.
Players will give a reason for their characters being card carrying pathfinders in Absalom.
Game's going to start with a venture captain gathering them together to offer them an opportunity - that'll lead into the major plot I have planned, but they're free to look elsewhere.
Have them gather around a campfire, then they have to say their names and something interesting about themselves.
>A string of kidnappings has plagued the countryside of West Alamber. Each scene is a grisly tableau of ritualistic markings, dead parents, and a missing child. Each stolen child is more beautiful than the last, and the trail of abductions is leading straight towards the capital of Alamber. The most recent victim was extremely beautiful: arousing, despite her age. You can no longer control yourselves and break free from the case, looking for the long-sought-after Elixir of Youth, so that the only taboo you'll have to break is necorphilia.
>"You are all sitting in a tavern, complete strangers to each other, quietly sipping from your mugs, when the carpet floor begins to shake. Pink and furry, it begins to rapidly get wet with a sticky liquid. In a matter of seconds, you're ankle deep in it. This isn't carpet, this is a tongue. This tavern is a giant mimic."
> You arrive at the recruitment centre tired and weary. The blistering sun and scorching sands have been nothing but a hinderance since you first arrived in this dry foreign land. Whether or not you've come to escape from the constant feudal wars in north - or the nomadic lifestyle of the jungles to the south was too chaotic and tiresome; the promise of golden riches and magical artifacts was the final bit of encouragement you needed to journey to The Land of Shifting Sands. The new pharaoh has denounced the old temple and has decreed that anyone willing to descend into long buried tombs (which were built to keep thieves out) shall rejoice in 75% of the lost relics they find. All that is left for you is to register at the desk to go forth to claim your promised wealth and glory! Uncover something of significant value and you may even rise up to be one of the pharaoh's most trusted nobles in time. Or perhaps you wish to try and take his throne for yourself using magics buried away since the beginning of the memory of men. That is of course for you to decide.
>>46427534
I once did a one shot that combined the tavern and amnesia cliches. The party began strewn amongst the wreck that was once a tavern. It was the following morning, the party where the only survivors, but had no memory of the preceding night.
My last one went something like this:
>You all have been allowed on a ship as stowaways after being stuck in a port town for so long.
>After a day of back breaking labor you all get a chance to relax and unwind
>Most people introduce themselves
>Suddenly thunder and a horse crying
>Everyone but the players have abandoned ship already due to an overly sudden storm
>Giant wave in the distance with a cloaked figure riding a horse on top of it
>Starts galloping down the wave like the face of a hill directly towards their boat
>>46426274
I used this once and worked out pretty well
The party has been interview and assembled by a Museum Curator as a Recovery-Team. From escorting artifacts, to exploring archeological sites, to guard an exhibition during the night, to talk a noble into "donating" some paintings or "liberating" some relics from a private collector, you can pretty much do everything you want.
Just make sure that nobody uses a whip, or the quotes/puns will be endless.
>The caravans hold as each master calls for a halt. An avalanche has blocked the way and nobody is rested enough to help clearing it. Tents are erected and people gather around large fires. Guards and caravanners mingle to pass the time, some card decks are pulled out and small leather pouches with tobacco in them are passed around as signs of good will. You decide to sit down around a small fire made by an old caravan master. Strangers gather around you and to pass time you introduce yourselves.....
>Suddenly you hear a blood curdling scream as the caravan guards gather to defend the camp; the tundra kobolds have dug their way around the avalanche and launched an ambush. The kobolds are aiming for the caravan's food and water supplies. Take arms and defend them lest you want to freeze to death on this mountain trail. Roll of initiative.
An explosion
