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<blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 2252231" data-attributes="member: 19675">Options I used other than InnsHave the party meet in prison after a big riot like after you'd see when a sports team loses the big championship.&nbsp; Essentially, they're in the &quot;drunk tank&quot; for a day to think about their bad behavior (whether or not they were actually guilty- they were in the wrong place at the wrong time).&nbsp; Then something happens in the prison...a mysterious death, a prison break by someone else...&quot;The Snowball&quot;- takes work, but its worth it.&nbsp; Start an encounter with a single PC...a mugging, a brawl, or working on a thief job, buying something in the market, whatever...&nbsp; As the single PC progresses through the encounter, introduce the second PC into the mix, repeat ad infinitum until the entire party has met.&nbsp; Think of it as a running adventure.&nbsp; The first time I did this, it started with an arm-wrestling competition in a bar with 1 PC, who won but was accused of cheating- PC2 was in the bar watching the match.&nbsp; Brawl broke out, PC1 and PC2 wound up fighting back to back.&nbsp; The city Watch barged in to break up the brawl, and the 2 PCs went out the back.&nbsp; As they fled the Watch, they stumbled over PC3 who was coming back from a hot date.&nbsp; Watch sees them and charged- all 3 flee in the same direction.&nbsp; They busted through a door in a dead-end alley, only to encounter PC4 (a thief) trying to do his Indiana Jones impression with a statue.&nbsp; The invading 3 set off the traps that PC4 had avoided, and everyone got dumped into the sewers via a trap door.&nbsp; They start working their way out, only to encounter PC5 being kidnapped- bound and gagged in a smuggler's boat.&nbsp; After a fight with the smugglers, PC5 got rescued, and they worked their way out of the sewers (past some sewer-dwellers) into the town square, where they encountered a mysterious stranger who was recruiting for a job...&nbsp; In the process of the adventure, everyone gets introduced, everyone gets XP, and the entire evening is rapidly paced.When I ran that first &quot;Snowball,&quot; the recruiter was hiring for a caravan.&nbsp; I like caravans.&nbsp; They work just like Inns, except they can also fill the role of the adventure itself.&nbsp; Each day of travel, you can have random encounters.&nbsp; You can have the party be assigned outrider duties- where they encounter brigands or a dungeon or an &quot;abandoned&quot; keep.&nbsp; You can have a murder mystery where someone is killing members of the caravan.&nbsp; And if/when the caravan reaches its destination, you can do it all over again.A combination the &quot;Snowball&quot;/Prison/Caravan is the &quot;Pirate Attack.&quot;&nbsp; All of the party are aboard a single ship as passengers.&nbsp; Pirates attack the ship (I used Interplaner Raiders who wanted slaves/prey last time), and all hands must fight to fend off the pirates.&nbsp; If they lose, they're taken captive and get sold into slavery (see Prison above).&nbsp; If the party wins, you still have the issue of whether either ship is able to make it back to land, and you can have the Voyager/Maqis situation where pirate and party must cooperate... Heck- PCs could be on either/both sides of the attack!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dannyalcatraz, post: 2252231, member: 19675"] [b]Options I used other than Inns[/b] Have the party meet in prison after a big riot like after you'd see when a sports team loses the big championship. Essentially, they're in the "drunk tank" for a day to think about their bad behavior (whether or not they were actually guilty- they were in the wrong place at the wrong time). Then something happens in the prison...a mysterious death, a prison break by someone else... "The Snowball"- takes work, but its worth it. Start an encounter with a single PC...a mugging, a brawl, or working on a thief job, buying something in the market, whatever... As the single PC progresses through the encounter, introduce the second PC into the mix, repeat ad infinitum until the entire party has met. Think of it as a running adventure. The first time I did this, it started with an arm-wrestling competition in a bar with 1 PC, who won but was accused of cheating- PC2 was in the bar watching the match. Brawl broke out, PC1 and PC2 wound up fighting back to back. The city Watch barged in to break up the brawl, and the 2 PCs went out the back. As they fled the Watch, they stumbled over PC3 who was coming back from a hot date. Watch sees them and charged- all 3 flee in the same direction. They busted through a door in a dead-end alley, only to encounter PC4 (a thief) trying to do his Indiana Jones impression with a statue. The invading 3 set off the traps that PC4 had avoided, and everyone got dumped into the sewers via a trap door. They start working their way out, only to encounter PC5 being kidnapped- bound and gagged in a smuggler's boat. After a fight with the smugglers, PC5 got rescued, and they worked their way out of the sewers (past some sewer-dwellers) into the town square, where they encountered a mysterious stranger who was recruiting for a job... In the process of the adventure, everyone gets introduced, everyone gets XP, and the entire evening is rapidly paced. When I ran that first "Snowball," the recruiter was hiring for a caravan. I like caravans. They work just like Inns, except they can also fill the role of the adventure itself. Each day of travel, you can have random encounters. You can have the party be assigned outrider duties- where they encounter brigands or a dungeon or an "abandoned" keep. You can have a murder mystery where someone is killing members of the caravan. And if/when the caravan reaches its destination, you can do it all over again. A combination the "Snowball"/Prison/Caravan is the "Pirate Attack." All of the party are aboard a single ship as passengers. Pirates attack the ship (I used Interplaner Raiders who wanted slaves/prey last time), and all hands must fight to fend off the pirates. If they lose, they're taken captive and get sold into slavery (see Prison above). If the party wins, you still have the issue of whether either ship is able to make it back to land, and you can have the Voyager/Maqis situation where pirate and party must cooperate... Heck- PCs could be on either/both sides of the attack! [/QUOTE]

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