Bringing Them Together

[Eradan]

Greetings, all.

I posted this in one of the DM forums over on the WoTC site for some feedback. Throwing it up here as well just to get some insight from the community here. Thank you.

My second home group has scheduled its first session in on Friday, September 10. All classes and races have been defined. I've been making steady progress on the campaign world (homebrew), have the first few adventure ideas outlined, and have been working with the four players on backstory.

I'm still considering various ideas for bringing them together in that first session. Not a big fan of just having them meet in an inn or saying, "Okay, you guys are adventurers and just happen to know each other." They all have different backgrounds and I usually try to craft something where the paths of their lives intersect at a place and point and time along with a strong motivation for them to work together.

So tell me, Oh DMs, what methods have you utilized to bring your PCs together at the outset of a fresh campaign?

 

[Stormtalon]

1) Attack on a village they all happen to be in. Guards call for "all worthy souls to aid in the defense!" Being obvious (I would hope) adventurer types, they get lumped together in haste by the captain of the guard.

2) Town crier calling for volunteers to aid the [insert relevant nobility here] with a grand quest -- with, of course, the promise of monetary rewards and a favor owed to them.

3) (I did this one) The characters are one-by-one ambushed, bound and taken to a distant quarry, where they see some statues around them (except for the first character taken there, of course) and they're told, "So, the children of prophecy, HAH! We scoff at prophecy. Yet we can't kill you, as Fate would simply select new champions. But we have a way around that...." At which point they're forced to stare into the eyes of a Medusa until petrified -- and then buried in the quarry. Cut to 100 years later (aka, when the campaign really starts), as someone finds and awakens them -- to a world that has changed drastically from what they remember.

 

[thalmin]

Just used a new one in my campaign. The characters were all going about their normal business when they were suddenly and mysteriously gated in to the middle of a combat. They have no idea how they got there, or why, or where they are, or how to get back. And the one who apparently gated them was killed as they arrived!
I used this to let the players bring in existing characters from previous campaigns and different worlds.

 

[RHGreen]

I always fancied the idea of solo adventure that bring the group together.

ROGUE: Stealing from main bad. He goes into his lair, kills some stuff, steals some stuff. He sees the main villain. The main villain leaves. He gets knocked out in a cunning trap.

WARLORD: He is on the trail of the main villain. No-one knows what he looks like, but he is close. He kills some stuff and lays a trap to catch him. When he gets to the trap he finds the rogue unconscious in the trap and the main villain gone.

WARLOCK: Made a pact to get of the streets and get away from criminals. Adventure: escaping criminals she stole from. Makes pact, has fight. For years she did not have to give anything in return for her power. Now a little imp comes along and tells her she must volunteer for the possy that is searching for the main villain. She must slow them down (not anything too bad - just delay as much as possible) without getting caught and report information to the imp. The imp will be keeping an eye on her. If she does not she will loose her power and suffer.


ROGUE+WARLORD: the rogue wakes up in gaol. He has a collar. The collar is locked with padlock with a really high DC to pick. The cell door is open. He walks out and out of the building. Suddenly he feels a crippling sharp pain go through his skull (Monkeyyy!!!). He fights it but he can't stop himself from turning around and walking back to his cell. The warlord comes in a tells him he believes the rogue can identify the main villain, and seeing as the rogue spooked the main villain into escaping. HE WILL HELP HIM OR SUFFER. *Collar - "Come to me" & "Drop prone."


Motivations:

Rogue: To crack the collar lock and escape, perhaps giving the warlord a kick up the backside on the way out. Along the way perhaps he starts to feel a little responsible for all the harm he sees the main villain has committed because he spooked him into escaping.

Warlord: Get the main villain and protect and bully (dah, dah, dah, froth) the rogue. Perhaps a secret motivation to exact revenge for the death of his wife.

Warlock: Slow the party down but without doing any serious harm to appease the imp. Report as little to the imp as possible, while still keeping sweet. Aid the group as much as possible (without the imp knowing) so she can get to the main villain and stop him from blackmailing her. Keep away from city where she has a price on her head.


Just 3 characters, but you get the gist.

 

[RHGreen]

I'd like it if you could buy cheap pregen characters. In the little pack would come the character sheet, mini/pog, background, a short integrating solo adventure and a small DM book with the character's personal plot and how to integrate the character plot into the campaign plot.

Leave out personality info, though. The player makes the character his own based on how they interpret the info - how they think the character (in their eyes) would behave and react to what they see.

Probably just me.