>The party starts in a tavern.
The first time I every roleplayed in person, we played in a bar.
>>43613333
Look, do YOU want to run this thing?
No?
Then sit down, stop complaining, and accept the drink from the old man.
>>43613333
>233 replies, 51 images
So you've all just met climax in super hot lewd willing elf slaves, when all of a fucking sudden!
*BANG BANG BANG*
"OPEN UP THIS IS THE TOWN GUARD!"
in a tavern....
>>43613333
The bard is upstairs fucking a barmaid
The barbarian is brawling and fucking up the
The rogue is stealing everything not nailed down.
The paladin is coming to arrest everybody.
The wizard is actually there at all.
>the party meets in a pre-school
>>43613333
>social gathering hall
>not being the center of social gatherings
It's not my fault you wanted to be Broody McDickass with no ties to any other place in town or to any of those boring, weak townsheep.
>You all wake up in a prison cell.
Better than waking up in the middle of a field wondering where the fuck the druid's pants went, why the paladin has a goat tethered to his leg, hpw the barbarian ended up upside down in a tree, why the rogue is missing three teeth, and how come the wizard has apparently eaten half their reagents and hat the night after with only an animal companion with a hundred mile stare to try and ask for answers. Also on why no one's allowed back in the nearest town.
>>43613333
>You all meet in the Governor's office. He's lying on the floor with a knife in his back, and the guards are banging on the door.
>>43613970
>there's a drow staring at you
>>43613333
>You all meet in a tavern
>You see in the corner a young man in studded leather chatting animatedly with an older woman in heavy armour.
>An old man wearing a ragged cloak over equally ragged clothes nurses a cooling cup of coffee while watching their antics, stirring in a spoonful of sugar after a exploratory taste.
>A man with dark skin pays for his meal with several unfamiliar coins, before brushing past you on his way out the door. He wears a vest made of soft leather over a loose cotton shirt, a short sword in its sheath across his back, held by a series of leather straps and small metal rungs.
>A young girl greets you animatedly, and asks if any of you were interested in buying some of the potato and rabbit stew that is currently cooking, or if you'd like rooms for the night.
>>43614343
Of course it's a drow in a prison cell.
Always have to have a dark-skinned person in jail, don't you.
I bet you vote republican.
You make me sick, you disgusting white cishet.
>>43614374
You all wake up on the floor, wearing only red cloaks with a heavy headache a sleeping blue dragon in his true form and a tied up dwarf up in the cellling.
>>43613641
>my shitty campaign is actually good, and it's because I'm doing it and not you
Nice argument. Think I'll be heading off to join another group. Enjoy playing by yourself.
>>43614374
Um, I think he was talking about the jailer...
>>43614374
What if i say he's a albino drow?
>>43614374
Listen, you can play the race card all you want but putting spiders in people's asses will always be illegal.
>>43613333
>The tavern starts to party
>>43613333
You all wake up in a hotel room. None of you have any memory of the past 24 hours. Roll perception.
>one party member is not present
>you are missing a tooth
>there is a baby in the room you don't recognize
>there is a tiger locked in the bathroom
>>43614428
Well, you won't know if it's shitty or good if you can't get past this little introductory session without storming off in a tiff, will you.
Well good. I don't need that kind of poor attitude ruining a campaign before it starts. Thank you.
>>43613333
>The party starts in a turnip.
or alternatively,
>The party start in a non-euclidean space populated by hipster mesons.
Enjoyment is the combination of novelty and familiarity.
At some point, some part of the game is going to wander into too familiar or too novel.
Deal with it.
>>43613333
>I've seen thing before
>that makes it bad automatically
You see your face in the mirror every morning, I can only imagine the amount of self-loathing you must harbor.
>Party meets on a lifeboat from a sinking ship, or are shipwrecked or wash ashore together
>Party meet in a train compartment
>Party meet after being abducted by ayy lmaos
>Party meet after having their shit stolen by a flamboyant thief
>Party meet when thrown into gladiator games
>Party in a chain gang
>Party as witnesses to a crime, or meet as a jury
>Party meets during a sudden disaster, like hiding together during an undead upwelling from the sewers
>Party in a bread line
>Party in a stranger-organized crime
>Party meet when the merchant caravan gets attacked
>Party in a group of people fleeing from a cataclysm
>Party meet in a camp for refugees fleeing raiding barbarian hordes
Or my personal favorite
>Party meet in a prison break
>>43613787
>The party starts in an elf in a tavern.
>party starts in prison
>in shadowrun
>told all gear taken from us an absolutely out of our reach
>all contacts are considered burnt and point waited
>-1 dice pool to all physical and non knowledge mental skills
>mandatory tattoos make face characters useless in negotiating
You know Scott, this is why we talk for hours before starting and then switch to Tom's half of the session as fast as we can when you run.
>>43614577
I suspect OP's self-loathing is beyond even our fevered imaginings.
>The campaign is about the party running a tavern and having to deal with all the odd sorts that pass through town
>>43614438
this, 100% this
>>43614644
i would play the heck out of this comfy game
>>43614434
Isn't that just a high elf?
>>43614644
can I have a qt trap bar maid waifu like that?
>>43614644
>>43614665
I'd play the heck into that comfy ass.
Ah, I remember how my party met.
>your party wakes up in a field
>you don't recognize your surroundings
>the eagle man has stitches over his kidney
>the fungus mage is naked
>the half-ghost is sitting there, watching
>the warrior and his slave girl are wearing each others' clothes
>the elf rogue's pockets are full of broken glass
Ah, good times.
>>43614428
> I think I'll go join those guys wearing fedoras, they seem cool
>>43614428
You are the very definition of a beggar, which is why you cannot be a chooser.
>>43614686
Sure, just don't be surprised when it gets the customers more riled up than usual. Or bring in some rather... strange folk.
>>43614670
Oh you.Yes, yes it is.
>>43613333
>Be 14
>Play ad&d
>Start by talking about my shitty setting in wich the campaing took over
>One of my player says "just take us to the tavern so some hooded wizard can hire us to go to some dungeon"
>All players agree and start mocking my adventures
>cryinternally.exe
>>43615167
That's when you out shit them. There's an npc they like? Dead. Ohh a love interest? Keked by bbeg. Cursed belt of gender change etc.
>>43613333
>A cloaked man enters the tavern
>Starts shouting about needing brave souls to risk life and limb for great rewards
>blah blah blah blah
>Bears in hide and ironwood barding break down the door and through the wall.
>Cloaked man is ripped to shreds
>Roll for initiative
Last three intros to games I started:
>A public execution for bandits claiming to be revolutionaries
>A riot over the increased price of food
>A mad prophet preaching in the middle of a public park
>your party meets in a tavern
>the tavern is in freefall
>you have 5 rounds before impact
This still remains one of the most memorable campaign starts.
>>43615828
Care to tell us more?
>>43614605
>4 person party
>3 men and the Elf
>Elf is the Cleric.
>>43615462
I disagree. I would have given anons group exactly the generic adventure they asked for:
>>43615167
>So you are all in a tavern
>A hooded wizard walks up to you and says, "Hi, I am Ahud Deadwizard. I am hiring you to go to Some Dungeon in the land of Somewhere for some raisins. Here is your map. Bye."
>Wizard disappears.
>map is pic related
>So you are all traveling to Some Dungeon
>You randomly encounter a Random Encounter
>You are attacked by a Bandit, a dire badger, a stirge, and a confused gnome.
>They all attack, fighting to the death with no conversation.
>The loot includes a Wolf pelt, 8 copper pieces, a mace, and a bearclaw, respectively
>You are now at Some Dungeon.
>You enter Some Dungeon.
>The dungeon is one straight corridor with one trap and a few kobolds playing dice.
>They all attack, fighting to the death with no conversation, one throws the dice at you.
>The final chamber at the end of the corridor contains a box of raisins.
>>43614665
They get boring fast without some excitement, sadly.
>party meets at an npc's funeral
>we get to use eulogies as an opportunity for some pc backstory
>>43616199
Too bad the rest of that AP was mediocre.
>>43613333
>Except the rogue, who crashes through the tavern window seconds after a nimble little gnome dashes through the tavern carrying a ruby the size of his head.
Ah yes, the dreaded tavern.
A monster that is a cross between a tarrasque wyvern.
It is truly massive with a stomach roughly the size of Mt. Everest.
Your characters have recently been gobbled up by this monster and are now free falling down to the small sea of acid below you.
There's also wood, stone, some other people, and other things that couldn't elude its maw all falling down with you.
You have a few minutes to avoid this fate.
>>43613333
Everyone in the room but you is dead, the walls are covered with blood and you all have your weapons drawn. You have no idea what just happened. In fact, you the last thing you remember is boarding a ship for a two week's journey to Elsehaven to explore the ruins of Haedhrun.
What do you do?
>>43613333
The party starts in your mothers bedroom.
>>43613970
I did this last campaign
>>43616831
>The party finishes all over your mother.
>>43616687
Cousin to the dreaded gazebo.
>>43616749
I would actually be pretty into this idea as a start to a game.
>>43613333
k, fine
>your all standing in a field
>you all have weapons drawn
>and pointed at each other
>you have no memory of where you are, how you got there, why you are there, how much time has passed since the last thing you remembered (which is fairly unremarkable), and why you have your weapon drawn against a bunch of people you've never met before now (as far as you know)
Good friggin luck.
![1387210421076[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/xKfD7Fh.png "1387210421076[1].png")
>>43615462
>Ohh a love interest? Keked by bbeg.
>>43613333
Our DM stopped doing that after we kept getting into fights every single time we went into a tavern.
They tended to get really crazy because one of our players insists on ALWAYS having a character who can toss around shit tons of fire and/or flammable materials. I'm convinced that the only reason he's not a serial arsonist in real life is because he gets to act out his fantasies with us.
>>43613970
>The prison cell is inside a tavern
>>43614347
>You all meet in the coffee shop.
>>43613333
>Not starting your campaign in a tavern
People actually do this?
>>43617328
Sick freaks yeah.
>>43613333
>>43614347
motherfuck
>>43614347
I feel like I should know these characters.
>>43617451
I'd venture a guess at Game of Thrones.
>>43613333
Pubs are where people meet. You would know that if you had friends.
>DMing an adventure path
>The thought of trying to make campaigns like this from scratch
How do you people do it?
>>43618563
Alcohol. Loooots of alcohol.
>>43618496
Considering I'm almost finished with those books, I don't think that applies. The barmaid reminds me of a Tika Waylan I read about, but all the others stump me.
>>43618563
Watch movies, read books, live life, talk to folks and hear their stories, drink whiskey, improvise. Then take notes after you establish something, for consistency.
>>43614605
>the party are quintiplet half-elves being born in a tavern
>their dad is the tavern owner
>>43614731
half...ghost?
>>43613333
>There's 106 miles to Nexus, you've all at half motepools, it's dark out, your caste marks are showing and you're knee deep in zombies. Hit it.
>>43614347
>>43617451
Well given >>43617413 reaction it definitely gotta be a reference, but I got no idea either.
>>43614596
>>Party as witnesses to a crime, or meet as a jury
I am totally going to do that in a supers game. As their civilian identities of course.
And then a supervillain crashes the proceedings, wat do.
>>43619040
The joke is that there are many things that wouldn't be present in Not-Europe, like female warriors, coffee, sugar, niggers, cotton, studded leather, that stupid sword sheath, potatoes, and young girls.
>>43618496
>>43618645
>>43619040
Guys, what this guy >>43614347 posted is only a reference to how one guy always starts his games - someone posted the exact same scenario in another thread the other day
>>43619246
>like female warriors
Actually, Nuns getting involved in fighting happened enough they needed to actually create a law in some parts of Europe saying that young women shouldn't loiter near nunnerys as they were a bad influence.
>>43614644
>>43614665
>>43615936
Which is why PF's Second Darkness doesn't stay there.
>>43621067
Also, order of the hatchett.
Also, niggers in europe were a thing... Moor of Venice anyone?
>>43621067
Recent genetic evaluation of a Viking burial site (in which every grave had weapons) showed that half were women.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0254.2011.00323.x/abstract
>>43621389
Nobles are also burried with weapons and armor despite never fighting.
>DM for a group for years.
>Mostly short games.
>get a couple new players for a new game.
>Realize I'd never done the tavern thing before.
>Begin describing tavern.
>One of the new players reveals his sperg power levels immediately with an angry rant about starting in taverns.
>Turns out to be the new THAT GUY.
>>43613333
THE PARTY DON'T START UNTIL THE BARD IS ROLLED UP!
>>43614343
>"Stand up. You were dreaming."
>"I heard them say we've reached Morrowind. I'm sure they'll let us go."
>>43621656
Man, that game. Everything but the combat was fucking beautiful.
The two times I've DMed the party started off in the drunk tank of the hamlet's jail (basically a glorified barn) and the receiving room of a minor noble (respectively).
>>43621389
>viking burial site
I didn't realize literally every Scandinavian was a viking
>>43618563
I did it once and cracked from the pressure.
I imagine others medicate, or simply are confident in their abilities.It was incredibly well received, but yet,I cannot find the will to motivate to run again.
>>43613333
>The party meets up during a execution. Their execution.
>>43622458
Bethesda is kind of shit when it comes to handling combat, so this is hardly surprising.
>You all meet up in R'lyeh.
>>43622567
>“Shall I tell you about angels, Mr. Lipwig?”
![[Skree Intensifies].gif](https://i.imgur.com/XqKJaTo.gif "[Skree Intensifies].gif")
>>43622458
For it's time yes. Hasn't aged well, looks-wise, but everything else is still solid.
>>43622567
I like it.
>>43622604
Muddy textures do not offend me. The visual *design* of Morrowind still impresses, especially in the face of the brown'n'bloom and cawadooty-grey of many games today. The style, the art, the writing, the actual literature (vivec is a fucking trip) still stands out to me.
>>43616948
This could be made awesome though.
>>43622602
>Terry is dead
>No more Discworld
>Forever
I cannot stand this feel.
>>43622719
Pretty sure I heard his daughter would continue it
>>43622756
Pretty sure I heard she finished the last book and no more will ever be published.
It's dead famoriono
>>43622761
famorino*
I can't even meme right, fuck me.
>>43613901
> as little girls
> campaign is about finding a way to return to normal
>The party meets at a office reunion.
It was a Pentex game.
>>43622761
NOOOOO!
Dang it all to hell!
>>43613333
>The party meets at a roleplaying game.
>>43622781
>The party meets at the Water Cooler
We Office: The Faxing now.
>>43622785
It would've happened sooner or later.
Some feels are not meant to be felt and this is one of them.
>>43614428
>Their campaign starts in a prison
>It's literally the opening from Oblivion
>But they can't do a good Patrick Stewart impression, so it sounds like a cat choking out a Sean Connery voice
>>43614596
>>43613970
> DM gives us this scenario
> Playing a demon lord tiefling
> Actually expects me to believe a demon lord would find himself in jail
Fuck you all, next time my party will start the game in a pool of their own blood at the back of an alley.
>>43622756
No, she'll protect it. Which, amongst other things, means not going Brian Herbert on the whole thing.
>>43622838
Maybe it's a SUPER Jail.
Ever since my first DM ran Food Fight for Shadowrun I've started every campaign I've run in the same fashion. It's worked well for me so far.
>your party starts in the abortion clinic
>your party starts in a therapy session for cancer survivors
>your party starts at the abandoned mall
All variation of "the tavern", all worked wonders.
>>43622933
>>your party starts in the abortion clinic
Ferguson campaign?
>>43622933
>your party starts in a bus stop
>your party starts in a train wagon
>your party starts at Treblinka
>plot twist: you work there
>>43622941
You gave me a chuckle. No, it was a spy campaign about stopping future-soviet spies. Well, it was until the players decided that one of the moms in the clinic was destined to give birth to the savior, after which it turned into the terminator.
They had to revive and reimplant the fetus. Not very biologically sound, but it was fun.
>the party is part of the rebel alliance and are all traitors
>>43622897
This sounds intriguing, but other than a middling knowledge of Shadowrun, I have no context for this? Could you elaborate?
>>43624077
>Your gang is at a local convenience store/fast food place, whether to hang out, get something important or just because somebody had to use the bathroom
>A rival gang walks in and starts talking shit
>Depending on how the party reacts, the encounter eventually goes south (in most cases) and an all-out brawl starts between the party and the rival gang
It's fairly straightforward, starts sessions off with a bang and automatically gets people in on the action. It also gives me a chance to drop hooks for later if I want via the rival gang or even something in the store.
I also usually try to build specific Food Fight encounters around what the party is playing so nobody feels left out.
>>43624077
I'm not the one you responded to but I'm pretty sure "Food Fight" is a premade session starter where the shadowrunners stop by a not!7-eleven to get snacks after their last assignment. While the players are shopping/snacking some bad dudes bust in to the not!7-eleven and try to steal a kid or something and a firefight ensues.
I also remember there was a chart for what kind of mess you make when you miss.
>>43613333
>The party starts in a tavern.
None of the player characters have an invitation.
>>43618563
Just use your imagination.
>anon passes and moans about tropes fundamental to the genre
>the party meets in a tavern brawl
>roll initiative
>>43613681
A little over halfway, Anon
>>43618563
Read a book called "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon
Nothing is original so you just have to learn how to edit old things well enough to get something unique.
>the party meets in the disabled stall of a men's bathroom in a park.
>there is a hole in the wall with the words "fun here" written above and below it.
>>43622865
Dibs on playing Jack Knife!
>>43613333
>The party has just bought the tavern
>This is their first business venture together
>Are you a bad enough guy to double quarterly profits?
>The party starts in Hell
I've never seen a game start in a tavern, and now I feel like I'm missing out.
>>43619029
I wonder which half is ghost
>>43624024
> DM alters the deal
>The party starts off as a tavern.
>The party, along with numerous other strangers, begin on a platform, facing the woods.
>You know everyone here is potentially an enemy.
>Behind you, various pieces of armor, weaponry, and other assorted articles litter tables and open crates.
>A signal commands you to "begin."
>Run straight to the woods, or grab some gear?
>>43621057
its from a thread 3 days ago
>>43614482
that was a great hangover
>>43624024
>yfw you realize the Empire was in the right, and Sheev did not wrong
>>43613333
>the wench is a boy who keeps on trying to sit in your lap
>>43613333
The party starts in the ruins of some building, which might have been a tavern at some point.
>>43634388
>>43634478
Smelly dumb alien scum.
>The party starts on the roof of a tavern.
>>43613333
The party meets at a party and get drunk enough to start quest that they can't leave thanks to some cosmic entity as an excuse.
(all DMs need to railroad sometimes but few are creative enough to do it in a non intrusive way)
>>43621057
>>43633980
The guy who posted it first used it as a test to detect autists who get angry about things existing in fantasy settings that didn't in reality during medieval times. It's composed almost entirely of things that break verisimilitude for people who listen to too many /tg/ memes about medieval Europe.
That's why >>43617413 recognized it.
If the story doesn't start with a drunken bar fight I'm already disappointed.
With a prod from the goaler behind you, you stumble from the dripping, septic stink hall that’s been your prison for unknowable nights. The sudden brightness hurts your eyes, the crude burlap garments chafe and the chains shackling you together bite achingly into your ankles. Adjusting to the glare, you find yourselves in a grand, open air arena ringed with clamoring spectators. Across the field of hot sand, a gateway opens identical to the one you’ve just emerged from, and with a cry of adulation from the crowd a figure of substantial stature steps across the threshold. He makes a slow circle, raising his weapons to the sky and bellows wordlessly, and the roar of the crowd trembles the air. Only by a thud felt through the ground nearby do you know that the portcullis behind you has slammed closed, and the guard has disappeared behind the blanket of darkness. His admonishment to the masses completed, the warrior plods toward you with deadly intent, casually shaking out his arms.
With a tug from your chains, you find they give barely a score's hands of slack, but otherwise hold tight. In the center of the fighting pit, various weapons and implements of defense have been piled, all in shameful states of repair.
Defend yourselves.
>>43622525
This was an overseas site and an early one. Going viking was fun for the whole family.
>>43614347
ive literally seen this three times in the past day, you really are stoked about it arent you
>>43613333
>the party already knows each other and are ambiguously "adventuring" when the game starts
>>43614596
>>Party meets on a lifeboat from a sinking pleasure cruise ship, after having several drinks at the bar
>>Party meet in a train compartment with a personal bar
>>Party meet after being abducted by ayy lmaos, who take them out to a bar for kicks
>>Party meet after having their shit stolen by a flamboyant thief in a tavern
>>Party meet when thrown into gladiator games that involve heavy drinking in large tavern stadium
>>Party in a chain gang, ducks into a tavern from the guard
>>Party as witnesses to a crime, they meet as a jury every weekend to play darts at the bar
>>Party meets during a sudden disaster, hiding together in a tavern during an undead upwelling from the sewers
>>Party in a bread line that is in a tavern
>>Party in a stranger-organized crime, which takes place in a tavern
>>Party meet when a merchant caravan gets attacked outside a tavern they were staying at
>>Party in a group of people fleeing from a cataclysm, one of the caravans is a mobile bar
>>Party meet in a camp for refugees fleeing raiding barbarian hordes. The camp isoutsidea tavern due to lack of space inside.
>Party meet shortly before a prison break, as inmates trade commodities for booze in a cell before rioting
Fixed.
>>43616948
Can we have this, but also in a tavern?
>The party starts in a bathroom.
>The party starts in a dirty alleyway.
>The party starts in a public fountain.
>The party starts in a barn.
>The party starts in a party.
>The party starts in a coffin.
>The party starts in a car driving down the freeway.
>>43613333
I feel obliged to post this.
>>43636652
I should probably add context to this now that I look at it. The thread was pretty similar to OP and one anon suggesting meeting in a brothel.
>>43613333
> one of my players is a critical douchebag
Pls go.
>>43636652
>What is the paladin doing in a brothel?
Draining the damn snake that's what he's doing.Although he must make sure to finish outside as such is what his patron demands.
>The party starts in a rail freight car, with Urist McMiddleManagement tied to a chair.
