1) They meet in a tavern, hit it off, and decide to go adventuring (had to get it out of the way)
2) They all answer an ad posted by a mysterious stranger
3) They are all on a ship/airship/lightning rail coach on the way to point X when something attacks!
4) The Usual Suspects - they are all arrested and incarcerated together for a crime they didn't commit (or did they?)
5) They are all related in some way to one of the members of a veteran adventuring group in the midst of a reunion, and the entire group has disappeared without a trace.
6) They are all veterans of a mercenary squad from the Last War, and their old CO needs them for one last mission.
7) They are all from the same little town on the Darguun frontier when goblins attack!
8) A mutual friend dies and they meet each other at the funeral. Each of them receive a piece of a map, but the last piece goes to a villainous relative.
9) The PC's are in the audience of a play, when it becomes apparent that the action on stage is more realistic than it should be.
10) In a crowded marketplace, a young child and her mother are attacked, and the PC's come to the rescue. The mother is killed, and the child has far to go to reach the nearest relations. It is apparent, however, that this is no ordinary child...
Others?
The group were hired by a mage in Passage to be a guide and protector for him when he went travelling abroad. The mage was looking for people with skills in multiple areas so he would be safe from the myriad different threats of wild Khorvaire. Hence the group was pulled together, that and he offered them a tidy sum for his protection.
13) The enemy of my enemy is my friend
14) Friendly Rivals
15) One member actively recruiting talent
16) They all meet some sort of "requirement" which is getting other people killed, so they band together for survival.
17) Last survivors of XYZ catastrophe
18) National Pride
19) Common cause
21) Gladiator style tournament.
22) Wake up in an unknown location...with an unknown group of people, slowly figuring out that they all have abilities and talents the others will come to rely on in order to escape (think cube).
23) "There is a HUGE monstrous beast rampantly terrorizing the town. You find yourself running just out of armsreach of said monster with a small group of people. Roll initiative."
Now that I think about it, I really need a new beginning. That one is getting old.
27. Patron of the *ahum* Arts
A rich patron which can range from a wealth noble right upto the Morgrave University (my organiztion of choice) needs a group of people with particular skills to recover some items from a dig/ancient site of power (potentially). Not the actually items from the dig, but the items of the last less robust group that got sent to this dig. Maybe if you could also send back some word on why we haven't heard anything from the previous team... or any of the messengers we sent... or why the locals upped and moved the other day?
You have to wonder about some of the wizards.com boardies... I really do :P .
#29: The PCs are all from the same village, having grown up together. They save the town, narrowly, from a plague that was going around, and are emboldened to continue further. After discovering that the plague wasn't natural, they quest onward, and find the culprit responsible. However, just after defeating their nemesis, the party...
...wakes up. Where are they? Why do these metal binding straps hurt so much? Why am I lying on a bed of nails?
A voice chimes in through a speaking stone: "Excellent. Most excellent. Group 5, you are free to go."
Released from their shackles, the disoriented PCs open the door to the room, and find themselves in the Mournland.
#31 They each awaken in a groggy and dizzy state as a shadowy figure unbinds them from the testing equiptment they are attached to. Next thing they know, all of the party members are gathered into a single small compartment of a caravan. After a long and bumpy trip, theyy are tossed out into the middle of the wilderness and each tossed a bag with appropriate adventuring gear. Everyone is too groggy to make out the faces of anyone from the caravan.
I like this one. Maybe someone(s) or something(s) are want to see if they can survive _____ for some reason, so they dump them somewhere. The heroes, who don't even know each other can try to survive _____, and get their revenge for being made into being treated that way.
I like this one. Maybe someone(s) or something(s) are want to see if they can survive _____ for some reason, so they dump them somewhere. The heroes, who don't even know each other can try to survive _____, and get their revenge for being made into being treated that way.
I am actually running a campaign with ties to that start. House Vadalis is doing some very Umbrella Corp./Dr. Frankenstein/Dark Angel/etc. kind of stuff. Basically Magebred Humanoids.
26. They find themselves on stage, with people all around them applauding. They are in positions suggesting that they've been imitating certain monsters. There's a dead elf next to them... a Phiarlan hypnotist, who's just died of a heart attack in the middle of a performance. None of them have any memory of the last 48 hours. Evidence (and testimony from the audience) suggests that they were all sitting together at one table, though none of them remember one another from more than 48 hours ago. There is a small box at the table, sealed with an arcane lock.
Y'know there's some goodies in this thread. But I have to say I quite like this one
Damn. i'm not sure if i can top that but i'll try
27. Patron of the *ahum* Arts
A rich patron which can range from a wealth noble right upto the Morgrave University (my organiztion of choice) needs a group of people with particular skills to recover some items from a dig/ancient site of power (potentially). Not the actually items from the dig, but the items of the last less robust group that got sent to this dig. Maybe if you could also send back some word on why we haven't heard anything from the previous team... or any of the messengers we sent... or why the locals upped and moved the other day?
Aaaawh. I thought this was going to involve smuggling a mistress out of a city because the wife has killed her husband and is now framing the mistress. The wife is also one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the city.
Oh and here's a contribution.
33) The players suddenly find themselves transported into a ball. They're a few years older, extremely wealthy and all standing around talking to each other. Suddenly the night sky lights up, as everyone looks to the windows to see what's happening, a wave of fire is tearing through the city destroying everything in its path. Just before they die, they're suddenly back in the present where they were originally with only seconds passing.