Good character starts

[Nonei]

So, we'll be starting a new campaign in a couple weeks, and a few threads have inspired me to really bring my players into building the world and their characters together with the group. Usually we spend the first session of a campaign explaining the world and the premise, any restrictions or special things, and building characters, but not really building the world and the characters together.

So this time I plan on passing out a few sheets of paper that I have a bazillion and one campaign starts/premises on that I mainly got from a thread on the boards here (I will try to find the link... on my work computer now), and tell them that the only restriction is that their characters need to be linked somehow. Maybe they are all fleeing the same war or grew up in the same town, or even joined the same guild... whether or not they knew each other before the campaign starts.

Then I'll have them tell me what sounds cool from the list, and have them throw ideas out and I'll throw ideas out, and we'll go on to build the world and the beginning of the story from there.

So after all that, let me get to the point of this particular post. The campaign list I have is more about the story and less about the characters. I would love to also be able to share with my players a list of campaign beginnings that focus on characters...

So, how have your characters in campaigns all linked in some way at the beginning, or how have you wanted to start a campaign in this way?

So far I've come up with:
A brutal war is being fought between two nearby kings; the PCs might be refugees (from either side) or from the border town that is being overrun with these refugees and is running out of food and resources because of it.

The PCs are all starting low in a thieves' guild and they work their way up... there would be rival guilds and of course near-impossible tasks to try

Well, my break's over... if I think of more I will post them

 

[weem]

So, how have your characters in campaigns all linked in some way at the beginning, or how have you wanted to start a campaign in this way?

Just answered this on RPG.net, so...

In my current campaign, the players were all contacted separately by the same person via a letter... it simply asked them to meet him at midnight near a tree outside of town (on this one particular day coming up).

They all showed up not knowing each other, and the man who contacted them was there as well as some other NPC's.

He introduced himself to everyone (including the other NPC's who showed up) and told them that a week ago he was attacked by two would-be assassins down by the docks.

He was able to defeat them, and on one of them he found this list of names. During this last week, he had searched for and found everyone on the list... "and that's where you come in" he said, as he passed the note around which was a list of names that everyone present was on, including this man.

"Why are we on this list?", he asked them all.