Getting a campaign rolling with something different. Suggerstions?

[SteveC]

NeMoran's Vault started off the characters as people brought together for the reading of a will. They each had part of a key that would unlock their inheritance.

IIRC, the Silver Summoning started with the PCs attending a wedding. When the bride is attacked the PCs give chase and end up embroiled in a larger plot.

All of these hooks are "normal" social situations where people don't really know each other but have a common reason for attending. Then a disruption occurs that gets the PCs working together where *hopefully* they are forged into an effective team.

These are also some great suggestions, I actually used them together in my last long-term game. NeMoran's Vault is a GREAT adventure to get a group started with. For those others reading this, if you can find a copy of this old adventure track it down: it's very good stuff.

--Steve

 

[Tonguez]

1. The PCs are agents of the Church
2. PCs are current/propoective members of a Travelling Circus troupe
3. You are from the same village (ie the adventure comes to you variant)
4. You have all come together for the Festival are are looking to join in competitoions of skill and prowess
4a. "So are you guys all in the same team?" (a variation of 4 PCs are players in a sporting competiton (eg Football (Soccer), Ogre Ball, Lacosse, Polo, Quidditch, Grab the rice cakes etc) and the first encounter is playing out the game

 

[MummyKitty]

I used to love starting out adventures where the PCs didn't know who were PCs and who were NPCs. It was fun to see how player's reactions change when they realize they're dealing with a PC instead of a NPC. Kind of tricky to pull off, but it can be done. It worked best in a PBEM campaign where the players all started off in completely different parts of the world and had a few "sessions" of solo gaming before being drawn together.

 

[Threedub]

I usually ask the players to figure it out. I give a general outline of the type of game and then I ask them to create character classes that gel and backgrounds that won't disallow them from working together. Other ideas:

Reservoir Dogs
Group is brought together through common NPC to do a job. If this common NPC is a shady character a lot of fun mistrust could be generated.

Titanic
They all booked transport on the same ship. Bad stuff happens to ship and they are the most powerful people on board--and must come together to survive and help others.

Shakespeare In Love
The all happen to land in a role in the local play (for various reasons, the fighter bet he could act as well as any bard, during a drunken argument--he was right). The theater is threatened and they come together to save it.

 

[EdL]

I've used/been in most of the above and they usually work well. Another thing I often do is post a job notice for the PCs to answer. One thing, though, is to make sure that the Players are willing to have whatever characters they come up with play together. As has been said in other threads, it can really mess things up if a Player or two doesn't want his/her character working with the others. On the other hand, letting the Players get together to decide what they're going to play beforehand can, indeed, result in some very interesting character combos! (There was the GURPS game with the two split-personality characters. One of each personality was the protogee (sp?) of the other's...)

 

[JBowtie]

One I used in my last campaign - the players were all members of the king's council. Especially useful for higher-level campaigns but might be appropriate for some people's low-level games.

Crown of Shadow has one group of PCs acting as guides for the second group, who were supposed to negotiate an alliance. Neither side fully trusts the other but when they reach their destination they found the war had beat them there, and they need to team up to survive.

You'll notice I favor hooks where the character's don't have to know one another beforehand; but I certainly don't object to players collaborating beforehand. I just prefer spinning multiple story threads into a campaign.

 

[Rel]

Here's a variant of a start that I used for a one-off game:

Inform each of the PC's that, in addition to whatever other character background he has, that he was confronted with a marauding Wizard who was wreaking havoc on wherever the character was. The character in question confronted the Wizard only to have the Wizard turn on him with his Grey Staff and then...nothing.

Start the campaign with the PC's returning to consciousness in the same room and discover that each of them is standing on a pedestal. What they may or may not figure out in short order is that they were turned to stone some time ago and they all became flesh again at the same moment.

The PC's may be from vastly different places and even times but they all find themselves together, deep inside the evil Wizard's stronghold. The question remains, "Why did we all turn back to flesh?" But that question isn't nearly so pressing as, "What other sorts of nasty creatures were part of the Wizard's collection?" They must band together to battle their way out of the Wizard's lair.

I think this would be particularly effective if they were trapped deep underground or maybe in an unfamiliar or far away land. Nothing breeds a bond between PC's quite so well as having no one else to turn to. And this setup leaves all kinds of questions unanswered. Where are they? WHEN are they? Are their loved ones still alive? Might their friends and family have been part of the same collection?

Tons of possibilities with this arrangement.

 

[Buttercup]

I make the players tell me why they're in a group together. They can come up with good stuff. I especially like it when they team up, such as when a fighter decides he's the wizard's bodygaurd or whatever.

I think this is the best way too. Ground rules are, they have to have a reason to be loyal to each other, and they have to tell you what that reason is. Odds are, you'll get many sessions worth of adventure hooks from what they come up with.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I love the testament idea and Rel's stone to flesh idea. Consider them yoinked.

As for my suggestion, it's basically a variant of Rel's idea.

The PC's suddenly wake up, inside a burial chamber. They are in tombs that surround an empty tomb. They have amnesia but are all marked by the same tattoo. Turns out they have been guarding a very evil person/thing who woke up before them and escaped. They have been asleep / in suspended animation for a very long time, and barely anyone remembers who they are and why they had been put where they were.

When they wake up, the burial chamber is littered with corpses dressed in cultist garbs. They are an ancient cult that was dedicated to the resurrection of the powerfully evil entity that is now on the loose.

The very long suspended animation has greatly drained the character's powers. They were once legends, and now they are but mere low-level adventurers.

AR

 

[Napftor]

The suggestions where the PCs start as part of the same organization are sound. That's how I'm beginning my next planar campaign, as a matter of fact. The NeMoren's Vault one is a cool idea as well. For a twist, add a little Clue to the mix and, when the PCs arrive at the mansion (or whatever destination it is), have their host already dead. When shadowy figures attack the building and the PCs escape (with their respective pieces of the mystery calling), they must band together to figure out what's going on. And who knows? Maybe the host isn't really dead and the shadowy figures work for him/her/it. The mysterious keys each PC holds might need to be used elsewhere and, putting the PCs on the run toward that elsewhere, is what the BBEG is all about.

But, you're not looking for total campaign suggestions.