1001 Ways To Get Characters Together

Hi ya-

One thing I see alot of, are newer and sometimes a grognard here or there asking how to get player characters together at the start of a campaign. So with that in mind, here are a few idea's I have used for such a mighty endeavor:

The Players are at the local Bazaar looking over the wares of Mustapha El Alamein, Then a scraggly looking man walks up to the merchants Stall with a fairly large bag, sets it down next to him and start talking about making a deal for a rare and wonderous creature he has obtained.
As he talks the talk, a Rogue sneaks by grabs the bag. Here the players can unite and try to capture the Rogue. Nice use of the chase rules might come in handy too.
What in the Bag? A Demon of course but one that can be matched to the players power level if need be. Also, the Bag that holds the Demon is marked by arcane runes and stitched up with elements of unicorn guts.
This could turn out to be a nice little campaign in itself if the Demon escapes its bondage and starts to terroize the City.

Anyway, lets start this thread with more ways to get players together, I for one will try to come up with more nifty ways of doing the same.


Scott

in a bar. it is small place with few tables so they have to share.

a dark figure enters from the rain and takes the last chair at their table

Each character is arrested because of some not neccesary logical reason.
All characters are put in the same cell.

All the PCs are sitting in Ye Olde Towne Pub in the evening. A bard is singing a ballad about a lost love. A burly man storms into the tavern, looks around, and strides up the a nondescript man in a cloak at the bar. He yells, "You cheated me!" and swings at him. The cloaked man ducks, and the fist slams into another patron at the bar. Soon, a full scale brawl breaks out. One man is thrown into one of the PC's table and he begins attacking one of the PCs.

Each PC gets a letter addressed to them. The writer introduces him or herself, mentions that s/he was referred to the PC by <insert name of NPC from character's background> to assist with an situation. The letter is a business offer - and just for showing up and hearing the offer, they will recieve <insert appropriate GP value - enough to tempt PCs of that level>, even if they refuse.

When they get to the meeting, have the rest of the PCs there, and introduce the campaign. ;D

I like the old "you don't know how you got here, but here is where you are." First adventure: why did we wake up in this crypt/castle/maze etc

Rav

My favorite hook/opening/way to get the characters together is to dispense with in-game preludes entirely. I just love the look on the player's faces when we finally stop pre-game goofing around, all the dice and character sheets are in order, and I say, something like:

"They came out of no where. A troop of <insert a good-sized band of mooks here> flood out of the brush onto the hot dusty roadway."

"Roll initative"

Wrong place at the wrong time. Corrupt agents of the local government go about town looking for patsies for a crime, be it a robbery or an assassination. They know who the real culprit is, but someone must be made to take the fall. And the PCs just happen to be there at the same point in time. Protesting innocence will do little good against the armed militia.

All PC's are from the same town. The local Baron, tired of receiving tributes months late, decides a coup is in order. He sends a garrison of soldiers in to collect as much of value as possible. In the mayhem, several innocents are murdered, who just happen to be connected to the PC's.

Instant party.

The PC's are invited to the funeral of a person they may or may not know (depending on the PC). And to the reading of the will afterwards...

Those who attend the funeral see a closed casket, which is never opened. (if they open it, the casket is empty).

At the private reading of the will, the PC's are offered a good sum of treasure in return for a heroic deed: find the deceased's corpse and destroy it. Naturally, it'll be walking around in some necromancer's lair, but that's always the problem isn't it?

Weddings and funerals are always good means to get people together. Actually, any kind of get-together works.