Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dakkon 07-12-04, 08:01 PM	I am curious to know how you guys like to start out your campaigns with new groups. How do you beat the classic cliches of meeting in a bar/bar fight, or the all being volunteers or hired by the authorities kill/investigate something? I was thinking earlier today of a Prison breakout/riot, or a slave rebellion, but that still is pretty 'clicheish'
Athenna 07-12-04, 08:09 PM	i had them all meet by chance. It requires a little more leading to intoduce them than having them meet in a bar, but i think the effect was worth it. This is for my 2nd campaign in my signature. I had them meet at the city gate, which the city was locked down, then they were forced into a building together, and everyone else in the room besides them grouped together, leaving them sorta together with a buffer of space around them. Worked well :) was very pleased with the outcome. Like i said, it requires a bit more leading for them to get together, but sometimes you have to trade in the freedom for creativity.
Loftower 07-12-04, 08:34 PM	I generally set the first plot hook with all or most of the characters independently. This is more work, but gives them a realistic reason to work together. It also frequently sets up some intra-party relationships from the start, particularly because they don’t all necessarily have the same plot hook. For example: (Believe it or not, heavily edited for brevity) Ranger You walked down the ice to Skamsfjord before the thaw began. As spring broke up the ice you conceded that you might have to go viking after all. Fortunately, there is a caravan forming up to go to Vor through Thermunhill on the overland path. Two caravans had tried the path last year and returned defeated by bandits and goblins. This one is going to be more heavily protected, and the caravaner has offered you a job. It is certainly more honest work than viking. Paladin Lately you have heard of a handful of caravans being ambushed on the paths north of Skamsfjord. These caravans carried food for the Vor. Currently, all trade with the Vor goes by a northern pass to the Duchy of Wallenge. While Wallenge and Kernland are both split from the same country, the Duke of Wallenge seems content to stuff his treasury with he heavy taxes on the Vorrish trade route. Meanwhile the Duke of Kernland is trying to raise an army to re-unite the country and fight off the Jens and the Caruli. All of this has been without the benefit of the Vorrish silver. You have journeyed to Skamsfjord and found a new caravan forming up. The caravaner is hiring many guards, but some of them look to be as much a threat to the caravan’s safety as anything else. Archer You have sailed to Kernland [tracking your parents murderers]. From asking here and there you found the whereabouts of Skamsfjord. You arrived in Skamsfjord a few days ago. The town is not the nest of villains that you imagined, in fact, it is not greatly unlike your home. Like home the local lord, Count Mjurkisson, is the power and authority here. You recognize a few faces but you have found no occasion to exorcise your vendetta. You would certainly be arrested and executed if you shot them down in town, and you have not got the skill to challenge a viking in close combat. One opportunity has opened up, however. There is a caravan forming up to go north through the mountains to trade somewhere. The caravaner is hiring anyone he can for protection, and one of your vikings – obviously down on his luck – has signed on to make the trip. You seized your opportunity and signed on after him. Mage You don’t get a great deal of news in the cave, but you do know that you have a 13 year old step brother, Tekkir. Recently, news has come that Trenjen [her father] was killed in battle. Tanjen and your uncle, Thresh are currently vying for the leadership of Junthra. Hrettni has put off the wedding – officially out of respect for your father’s passing, but most likely to find out who will take over as headman of Junthra. He will certainly cancel the marriage unless your brother wins (or possibly try to have you killed to save him breaking his father’s oath). It is also likely that Kirth [her stepmother] will try to put Tekkir in your father’s post, though you have not heard anything about that. If Tekkir takes control, Tanjen will already be dead and you will likely be next on the list. Ydras declared your training complete immediately after the news of your father’s death. … There is a ship – the Foaming Raver – in the harbor taking fresh water that will be crossing the fjord to Skamsfjord in Kernland this afternoon. It is your best chance for escape. Cleric A year ago you were charmed by a nixie while swimming in the lake. You were used for heavy labor and grew strong fighting your way through the water. The nixies kept you for exactly one year, as is there custom, and then released you on the Cerachi shore. Naturally, your father was enraged. The nixies do not try to charm Alovians (because of their high resistance) and live peaceably with them. The Cerachi officials considered a year’s labor to be an insignificant cost. Piago [his father] disagreed violently and was arrested. In a bargain for his freedom, you have agreed to leave Cerachi and return to the world of the humans. With a mixture of curiosity, loyalty, and gratitude your half-brother asked to go with you. You traveled together west over the high mountain passes to the town of Skamsfjord, Kernland (you couldn’t backtrack your father’s route without spending too much time on the lake). There is a caravaner here waiting for a shipload of food to take to Vorn. He has offered to take you on as guards. Your brother wants to get a ship to Caruli, but you are not ready to go to sea after spending the last year under water. Shaman Following the death of Junnamaitu, Raspural supposed that he would be made chief. To his surprise, many of the Uman want to put you in Junnamaitu’s place. He claims that it is counter to custom to make a shaman chief, and many Uman agree (even some that don’t favor Raspural). You know that you are not strong enough to take on Raspural and his followers. Your mother and young sister have already fled to your mother’s maiden tribe, the Shen. You have fled your ancestral home for fear of Raspural and his followers. You have taken ship for Kernland aboard the Foaming Raver. This allowed you to send a message to your mother from the port in Shen because the ship stopped there to take on more grain. [Note that the two displaced ‘nobles’ have a sea voyage to commiserate.]
PSchirf 07-12-04, 08:42 PM	My latest campaign started with a funeral for a minor noble. Several heroes from across the land teleported to the funeral, some bringing servants. The party are now the heroes, they're the underlings... and include: The noble's granddaughter who didn't know how famous her grandfather was. A local gnomish bard sent by her village to represent them at the funeral and to play an original song about their lord. A dwarf teleported to the funeral by a dwarven city that was rescued by the noble many years ago. He knew he'd have to walk home after the one-way teleport. An elf who is a mage apprentice of an Elven hero who teleported a group of elves to the funeral to pay his respects to his short-lived friend. The elven hero urged his apprentice to escore the dwarf back to his homeland, expressing that it would be a good learning experience for his apprentice. He also suggests that the human make the journey so that she may learn more about her grandfather. The Gnomish bard decided to make the trip, thinking that it would be a good source for material.
Princeoflowlight 07-12-04, 10:31 PM	If you can schedule it and have the time (shouldn't be too long for each), you could run a short solo adventure for every character, all ending at the same spot. At the first of your regular sessions, pick up where you left everyone off. Gives some much-needed early character development, plus it opens up the plausability of any given starting point much more (so long as you can think of a reason for all of them to have gotten there.)
Xyppenphrendleinackobus 07-12-04, 11:41 PM	Originally posted by Princeoflowlight If you can schedule it and have the time (shouldn't be too long for each), you could run a short solo adventure for every character, all ending at the same spot. At the first of your regular sessions, pick up where you left everyone off. Gives some much-needed early character development, plus it opens up the plausability of any given starting point much more (so long as you can think of a reason for all of them to have gotten there.) I did something very similar to this once and it worked very well. They each had a short, solo adventure of about 45 minutes each and all ended up at the same spot in the same forest. The players really seemed to like meeting in a way other than in a bar. I would like to begin a campaign more along the lines of what you, Princeoflowlight, suggest if I'm understanding you correctly, and run each PC through a solo adventure lasting one game session, having them all end up at the same spot at the same time at the end of each. I very much like that idea.
Mitchell 07-13-04, 01:43 AM	As a player, I'm going to attempt to help the DM out with this one myself. He is getting ready to start a new campaign, and I am tired of having no real reason to group up. Once everyone has settled on race, class, and homeland (Forgotten Realms), I'm going to try to make little stories for everyone who doesn't make up their own, and try to tie it all up in a neat little package. I guess when you get down to it, this is the hardest part. They'll go to the dungeon, if only because they're "supposed to", but trying to come up with a good and logical reason why the elf, dwarf, half-orc, and drow all decide to hook up as a team can be a little rough.
Pongolyn 07-13-04, 01:55 AM	There's nothing wrong with a cliche once in a while. In fact it's usually a good idea when you're trying to get your PCs together for the first time because the cliche is instantly recognizable and less prone to confusion. If Bob who's playing a fighter sees a dark shadowy character beckoning in the bar and his player knows that the shadowy figure is really the rogue that his buddy Joe is playing, it's not hard for him to put two and two together and figure out that he's supposed to go talk to Joe to move the story along (this is metagaming, but in a good way). And together the two of them can probably locate Jill's wizard and Tina's cleric PC with a minimum of fumbling. It's when *every* encounter from level 1-20 starts in the bar that it starts to get stale.
Nyvinyd 07-13-04, 02:12 AM	I've been trying to come up with a good way to encorporate a plane of imprisonment setting for an all evil setting. The idea is that in the campaign setting you've chosen, convicts are sent (for life) to the plane of imprisonment, which is essentially a one-way entry plane where the entire plane is a large labryrinth.
ArchmageOmega 07-13-04, 04:49 AM	Since I've started reading the Ravenloft setting, I've wanted to try this. Sometimes things can happen and drag people and places into Ravenloft. It'd be fun to have all of the characters run into each other in a bank of mist only to find out they aren't where they just were. Of course, it's usually not a good idea to suddenly change settings on the players. (Ravenloft in general makes starting things a little easier, since the mist can just pick people up and put them where it wants.) Outside of Ravenloft, I can't ever think of any good starting points.
Tevish Szat 07-13-04, 05:00 AM	In my current campagin, things began in Sigil. I fully intended to have solo plots lead the group together quickly enough. though at rooughly the same time, they all walked or stumbled through portals in random wards (all happened to be different). I Described things, took a knowledge check, and told them what they knew about Sigil. the three characters at that point preceded to independantly make beelines for the Hive, the answer to the question "Where would the cheapest stay be". The closest character was held up a little by witnessing a flaying (yes, a public and open flaying. the barmy that got flayed was preaching of the second coming of Aoskar in the middle of a busy street) and so they all ended up in the Hive at roughly the same time. they independantly wandered around looking for a tavern they'd like to go to or stay at and, independantly through amazing luck of the dice and coincidence (as no player knew what another was doing) ended up arriving at the same tavern within an hour of each other and meeting there. Well, i tried to avoid the cliche, but adventurer senses flaunted it!
ck2001wendt 07-13-04, 08:32 AM	Double Post...Boo-Yah!
ck2001wendt 07-13-04, 08:33 AM	Hmmm...I generally go for the Cliche. The only time that I step out of the cliche mode is when new characters come into the campaign. I generally have them meet the party on the road, or be useful . For instance, I had to integrate a Samurai (a refugee from the East working in the West as a member of a Town Guard) into the main party, who had just rolled into town on the way home. The Samurai took an interest in the PCs, because unlike the lazy and corrupt Guard they seemed legitimately interested in solving a double murder in the town. Maybe too close to one of your cliches, but it felt natural to me. Another good way is to have your party rescue the new player from slavery or a prison...sort of a Wookie life debt. Kind of embarrasing for the newbie, but effective still. Another good angle is just make some or all of them childhood friends. Cut down on the randomness.
the_best_sarek 07-13-04, 10:57 AM	After reading this I see that I'M not too original... In one game, a new player joined the game and he wanted to make it short, so no big story involved around him. He's just a treasure hunter. I let him wait in a room while the other are playing. The normally peaceful Pcs see someone walking calmly, in front of them witha lantern. Wizard : He looks too nice... must be evil. I cast Fireball on him. The other 3 with bows : Alright I attack 2 did Crits and I go calmly in the other room getting the new guy, well you are dying at -6 now come back in the other room and meet your new "friend".
TWG_Prometheus 07-13-04, 01:20 PM	I'm awaitng the beginning of a new campaign session, and if my DM sticks with the plan for integrating my new character, I just flat-out won't start with the rest of the PCs...I'll probably be waiting for a while during the session doing little of anything. It works. The worst part about the cliche beginnings is the 'all-meet-at-once' facet. The prison-break idea actually sounds pretty neat to me, but do the PCs have to be the prisoners, or do all of them? Perhaps: PCs A & B - happen to get caught up in violence as the prisoners escape. PC C - escaped from the prison, stole some clothes, and started fighting prisoners when it became obvious they would lose. Accomplishes his escape by switching sides & has to hide that fact. PC D - Prison guard who is thrown out for his failure to maintain control of the prisoners. PC D encounters PCs A & B as he arrives at the scene of the battle a few rounds into the fight. PC C comes in with reinforcements. Perhaps the PCs even separate after the event, but PC B takes pity on PC D after PC D is thrown off the force. PCs A, B & C are all rewarded by the warden for assisting in the fighting. Why do they do anything together from there? I don't really know, but you've at least connected the PCs without starting a bar brawl, and at least two of the PCs have definite background links to the prison. How does PC C hide their identity from PC D? What would PC D do if they recognized PC C? (Work with the players at this point to keep in-party conflicts from escalating.) Something like that.
chris7476 07-13-04, 01:57 PM	I try to avoid cliche starts to the campaign but I don't make the intros overly complex either. In the past I've tried to run solo quests for each new character and spent a lot of time on back stories and it just seems like a waste. Most of the time the players just want to get things rolling. I tend to agree. When I start a campaign now, I'll usually present the players will a common starting point. They are then free to fill in the blanks leading up to that. They can also decide if they know each other beforehand. I usually leave it someone open so that it can go either way. So basically when everyone start the first session, they may have very different backgrounds but there is one thing that binds them all together. For example, in the new campaign I'm starting, the players have been hired by a mercenary group (the Flaming Fists from Baldur's Gate in FR) that has an outpost on the edge of a huge jungle (Chult). Sure it's a bit of rail-roading but I don't really care since it's what the campaign is based on. Now how they got to Baldur's Gate and why they sought out employment with the group is up to them.
Astanphaeus 07-13-04, 02:03 PM	In my current campaign, all the PCs are related by blood and they grew up together. The back-up characters (currently) are either also family, or from the same general area and socially connected (either directly or indirectly) to the current line-up. For example: one of the back-ups is the apprentice of the father of two of the current PCs (twins). In the last campaign I ran, I used one PC as the lynchpin. All the others gathered around him, for one reason or another. I've used the "Powerful Patron" approach, who hires all the PCs and puts them together as a specialist group. A variation of this was having all the PCs being hired onto the same caravan. Another hook was focusing on a particular area of knowledge. The PCs were brought together through sagely/scholarly communications, because they all knew something special about X, or were experts on X. Abducted and tossed on a slaver ship was another method. Come to think of it... I've never done the meet-up at the tavern thang. Hmmm. ~ A.
LordofIllusions 07-13-04, 02:06 PM	Well even though I would not say that it is, "breaking the cliche" , my Eberron players are starting out in Sharn as co-owners of a small detective agency. Makes it easy to set them up with jobs, etc. ~~~
MysterYvil 07-13-04, 06:20 PM	When starting a new campaign, I sketch out the starting setting, maybe give a glimpse of the first hook, and then have the players come up with the reason they're characters have grouped together. Then again, I've got a very cooperative group of players. They'd rather I spent time on NPCs, story, setting, etc., than trying to come up with a reason for their party to be a party in the first place. Here's an example of what I've used to start the ball rolling: THUNDER IN THE HILLS Three years of liberation has not yet fully ripened the fruit of freedom in Sterich. Though to some a tough and bitter treat, it is preferable to slavery, and the hardy residents of the reclaimed frontiers work hard so that their offspring’s harvests may be sweeter ones. The meeting-place of the mighty Crystalmists and the age-worn Stark Mounds is marked by broken hills and tangled ravines, elderly stands of hardwoods and newly-born copses of firs. The mountain streams tumble together to form the Banded River, providing ample water for settlement and agriculture. The lure of nature’s bounty has drawn many people to the area, some content to make a simple living at farming and herding, others with more ambitious plans for trading and mining. And, as always, some are drawn to prey upon and exploit the hard-working. Gerdin the Straight, priest of Zilchus, devoted not only his personal fortune but also his blood, to the campaign to liberate Sterich from the giants and their minions. He claimed his reward from the northern reaches of the County of Ashtor, lands which had lain fallow and grown wild during the giants’ occupation. In the name of Zilchus, he seeks to bring prosperity and trade to his hard-won domain. The protection of his people and the safety of his roads and paths has lately become a matter of concern, though. Just as the barony’s folk were beginning to scratch more than a subsistence living from the land, bandits and tribesmen arrived like a plague, threatening lonely settlements and making travel a risky proposition. Unwilling to turn his regular troopers into sheriffs, Gerdin instead is hiring armsmen to travel the barony, charging them to carry out law and justice in his name in exchange for accommodations and a small stipend. His loyal armsmen will be empowered to root out and hunt down lawbreakers wherever they may lurk, to answer force with force, and to mete out appropriate summary punishment in accordance with Sterish law. Armsmen may claim any gear taken as spoils, and are further entitled to 25% of the value of any stolen goods that are returned to their rightful owners. In addition, armsmen are paid a salary of 2 gp per work week, and 20 gp per festival week. “Thunder in the Hills” is a chronicle set in the Dark Grae-Hauk campaign world, designed for four to six players. Gerdin the Straight, priest of Zilchus and Baron of Marketford will select his armsmen from any race listed in the Player’s Handbook, and of any non-Evil alignment except Neutral. Characters are made using 35 (thirty-five) build points, start with enough XP to be equal in level to the lowest-level current party member, and may have equipment valued according to their class level. The first story began during high summer, the 1st day of Harvester, CY592, in the March of Sterich, County of Ashtor, Barony of Marketford, in what the locals call the Hill-March (Hex 80-F1).
Boothbey 07-14-04, 01:29 AM	Weirdest start I ever did was begin the adventure telling each player in a two minute solo encounter how their character died. The whole party 'awoke' at once in a large summoning circle with a very dead summoner in the center. Heros summoned from beyond the grave!
Eck 07-14-04, 02:11 AM	I've come up with one that breaks the cliche... Each of the PC's has been turned to stone by a medusa while exploring the same set of ruins. Each of them explored the ruins at a different time with a different party. But each of their original party members were destroyed/eaten. The first session would be the PC's getting un-petrified by some higher level adventurers. This could put vastly different characters together at the same point in time and give them something in common. Warn the players not to make too detailed of a backstory for this one. Since they could have been petrified for 100's of years, a family tree of dead relatives might seem like a waste of time. :) - Eck
ben the blue 07-14-04, 06:06 AM	i am going to start out my campaign next week with themhaving a reason to be on a ship heading for a town when the ship is attacked and the party is formed then