Thats a pretty awesome start to a campaign i have to say. lol when. Some really awesome DMs coming up with good intros. I think the standard starting in a tavern to be so boring.
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Have you had any fun intros to a campaign.
- Thread starter Phyon
- Start date
Thats a pretty awesome start to a campaign i have to say. lol when. Some really awesome DMs coming up with good intros. I think the standard starting in a tavern to be so boring.
That's pretty cool. I was hoping to do something like this. Have you personally experienced any PC backlash?
"My character would never join a caravan. I'm a lone-wolf."
Sparky
Registered User
Similar to the caravan opening, I had the players create their PCs with a reason for them to be on a ship. They could be crew, passengers, anyone at all. They came up with great backgrounds and this was the opening:
Memories stir, aching and sluggish... A dark ship on the horizon... a terrible storm, screams... a crack like the earth splitting apart... and water... so cold...
Over a leaden sea, the sun rises red and pale, already disappearing behind thick, dark clouds. Winds shriek over the water, tossing foam and driving waves against the cliffs of a desolate, rocky island. A narrow break in the cliffs shelters a beach of dark sand dotted with worn pillars of stone, stunted trees and stubborn sea grass. Along the waterline, gray figures rise from the waves, empty eyes ablaze, clothes hanging in tatters, their cold, clammy hands reaching greedily for the warmth among shattered timbers and torn sailcloth.
...Sorrow's Plenty... the ship... the last one out of... pain lances, ending coherent thought.
A cry of horror pierces the air sending a wrenching stab of consciousness to those lying among the wreckage.
OOC: Roll for initiative!Over a leaden sea, the sun rises red and pale, already disappearing behind thick, dark clouds. Winds shriek over the water, tossing foam and driving waves against the cliffs of a desolate, rocky island. A narrow break in the cliffs shelters a beach of dark sand dotted with worn pillars of stone, stunted trees and stubborn sea grass. Along the waterline, gray figures rise from the waves, empty eyes ablaze, clothes hanging in tatters, their cold, clammy hands reaching greedily for the warmth among shattered timbers and torn sailcloth.
...Sorrow's Plenty... the ship... the last one out of... pain lances, ending coherent thought.
A cry of horror pierces the air sending a wrenching stab of consciousness to those lying among the wreckage.
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
You are all in a tavern in a busy southern port city, though you don't know eachother. The tavern is quite busy with many travelers.
All seems normal until you hear an odd shriek on the wind outside. Then a rumble. Then the ceiling comes down around you. Chaos ensues as the people in the tavern scramble to get out of the way, some dying under the weight of the second story coming down on them, some impaled by splinters of broken wood.
When the dust settles, you realize what caused the destruction...a massive dragon has crashed through the roof of the inn. Its scales are flaking off as if diseased. Clutched in its front claw is an egg and with its dying breath it whispers to you, "Protect my egg!"
All seems normal until you hear an odd shriek on the wind outside. Then a rumble. Then the ceiling comes down around you. Chaos ensues as the people in the tavern scramble to get out of the way, some dying under the weight of the second story coming down on them, some impaled by splinters of broken wood.
When the dust settles, you realize what caused the destruction...a massive dragon has crashed through the roof of the inn. Its scales are flaking off as if diseased. Clutched in its front claw is an egg and with its dying breath it whispers to you, "Protect my egg!"
I started off one campaign with 2 PCs in a tavern when a brawl broke out- one serious enough that the watch got called out. The twosome found themselves cornered in a back alley while trying to escape, so they dove into the sewers.
Then I did a cutaway to the thief pulling a job...and triggering a trap which sent him into the sewers.
Now a triad, they stumbled through the sewers and came upon some smugglers who had someone tied up in a cloth sack in their pirogue. Smugglers defeated, the three became four as they released the captive from the gunnysack- yet another PC.
Etc...
I did this for the entire party, so the "intro" was a running fight through the sewers that ended up in the basement to a different tavern...which they accidentally blew up.
Which got them arrested.
Which, because of the skills they had displayed, got them the option of repaying their debt to society by serving on a D&D version of The Suicide Squad (the one from the 1980s).
********
Another one featured me letting everyone wandering around an island city-state- think something like Ancient Crete- having a good time at a massive wedding celebration that marked the end of a war by joining the 2 warring sides via the matrimonial ceremony.
On their way back to the mainland, the ship that the various PCs were on- not a party yet, for they had not met each other formally- was attacked by a black, steam-powered ship that appeared from out of an interdimensional portal. The PCs fought the raiders (Anthro Felines of various big cat types) and aaaaaaaaalmost beat them. Eventually, though, they were knocked unconscious...
And awoke- NAKED- on the beach of some island in another dimension. They are told that they are honored with the opportunity to be prey for the upcoming hunt, and are told to run to the jungle...or end up like the cabin boy: spitted and rotating slowly over a fire about 20 yards away as some of the anthros played instruments and sang songs.
They were told that their equipment had been scattered all over the island, in order to give them a chance.
They, of course, ran for it.
After about 20 minutes of table time the PCs spent running through the jungle and finding the occasional piece of gear, I pressed "play" on my stereo system's CD player: Kodo's theme to [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Hunted-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B000005D8L"]The Hunted[/ame] came out of the speaker, announcing the hunt had begun...
Then I did a cutaway to the thief pulling a job...and triggering a trap which sent him into the sewers.
Now a triad, they stumbled through the sewers and came upon some smugglers who had someone tied up in a cloth sack in their pirogue. Smugglers defeated, the three became four as they released the captive from the gunnysack- yet another PC.
Etc...
I did this for the entire party, so the "intro" was a running fight through the sewers that ended up in the basement to a different tavern...which they accidentally blew up.
Which got them arrested.
Which, because of the skills they had displayed, got them the option of repaying their debt to society by serving on a D&D version of The Suicide Squad (the one from the 1980s).
********
Another one featured me letting everyone wandering around an island city-state- think something like Ancient Crete- having a good time at a massive wedding celebration that marked the end of a war by joining the 2 warring sides via the matrimonial ceremony.
On their way back to the mainland, the ship that the various PCs were on- not a party yet, for they had not met each other formally- was attacked by a black, steam-powered ship that appeared from out of an interdimensional portal. The PCs fought the raiders (Anthro Felines of various big cat types) and aaaaaaaaalmost beat them. Eventually, though, they were knocked unconscious...
And awoke- NAKED- on the beach of some island in another dimension. They are told that they are honored with the opportunity to be prey for the upcoming hunt, and are told to run to the jungle...or end up like the cabin boy: spitted and rotating slowly over a fire about 20 yards away as some of the anthros played instruments and sang songs.
They were told that their equipment had been scattered all over the island, in order to give them a chance.
They, of course, ran for it.
After about 20 minutes of table time the PCs spent running through the jungle and finding the occasional piece of gear, I pressed "play" on my stereo system's CD player: Kodo's theme to [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Hunted-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B000005D8L"]The Hunted[/ame] came out of the speaker, announcing the hunt had begun...
RangerWickett
Legend
Landing on the beach of (fantasy analogue of) Normandy.
lobsterGun
Explorer
This one isn't mine, but I always thought it was a good one.
The group wake up in a cabin. They all have near total amnesia. The windows and doors are heavily are barred from the inside. They pry off a slat and look outside. Two things are remarkable. 1) The cabin is in the mountains. 2) The cabin is surrounded by acres and acres of zombies. The zombies notice the activity in the cabin and begin to claw at the doors and windows.
Investigation of the cabin reveals a mysterious lever on the floor of the attic. Pulling the lever releases a large balloon from the roof and the cabin floats off into the sky.
The group wake up in a cabin. They all have near total amnesia. The windows and doors are heavily are barred from the inside. They pry off a slat and look outside. Two things are remarkable. 1) The cabin is in the mountains. 2) The cabin is surrounded by acres and acres of zombies. The zombies notice the activity in the cabin and begin to claw at the doors and windows.
Investigation of the cabin reveals a mysterious lever on the floor of the attic. Pulling the lever releases a large balloon from the roof and the cabin floats off into the sky.
Sparky
Registered User
I forgot one intro for a campaign with an Egyptian theme where I had all the PCs start out mummified (organs intact). Each PC had somehow run afoul of a nefarious NPC who killed them off and then, seeking to turn his dark deeds into profit, sold their bodies off to a religious order that provided servants to the wealthy dead - this meant that they were mummified and entombed. The PCs each awoke in cramped darkness, bound head to toe, naked, eyes and skin stinging with fragrant embalming salves.
Outside the sarcophagi an exarch of one of the Gods had performed a ritual to raise the PCs. This ritual had thre effects:
1. Restoring the PCs to life (with the death penalty)
2. Sapping the exarch of his lifeforce (he became a frail mortal minion)
3. Triggering the tomb's warding magic (undead-a-palooza)
Good times.
Outside the sarcophagi an exarch of one of the Gods had performed a ritual to raise the PCs. This ritual had thre effects:
1. Restoring the PCs to life (with the death penalty)
2. Sapping the exarch of his lifeforce (he became a frail mortal minion)
3. Triggering the tomb's warding magic (undead-a-palooza)
Good times.
ReeboKesh
First Post
I love threads like this one 
Intros I've used/experience:-
1. The player characters are all 1st level and don't know each other. They become the victims of a different version of the Summon Monster spell and they are summoned to a desert by a wizard who orders them to attack a large group of goblin nomads. The summoning spell compels them to obey so they do and succeed in killing the goblins.
The wizards thanks them and tells them that they will return home as soon as the spell expires. He himself teleports away.
The PCs wait and nothing happens, they're stuck in the middle of the desert.
2. The PCs wake up in a monastery in South America, their wounds being tended by a group of heavily armed nuns. They have no memories of who they are or how they got there. The nuns tell them they found them at the site of a plane crash in the jungle and each was carrying a number of weapons, the weapons a group of Shadowrunners might carry.
Gradually each member starts having flashbacks of a mission when certain visual/audible clues are experienced.
3. PCs are slaves on a flying slave ship. The ship is attacked by Sky Pirates and crashes. The PCs can either wait for the Sky Pirates to land to thank them (possibly being captured again) or flee into the woods with a small amount of equipment found on the crashed ship.
4. The PCs wake up in the bodies of a completely different adventuring group in the middle of a dungeon. Backstory - a poorly worded Wish by the NPC party had their souls swapped with the nearest adventuring group instead of being teleported out of the dungeon.
5. The PCs are a group of undercover spies working for the campaign setting's Evil Empire. The are sent to the opposing "good" kingdom to spy and eventually must decide if the are working for the right side.
6. The start of the Ravenloft module (Roots of Evil?) had the PCs killed by the Headless Horseman and wake up as heads in a lich's lab who agrees to stitch their heads on to new bodies to do his bidding.
7. Another published adventure had the PCs as 0-level commoners shipwrecked on an island and trying to find a way off it before a deity decides to wipe the island from the face of the world. Over the course of the adventure the PCs actions begin to determine their class choice and alignment.
I've found most of our games involve the PCs meeting on the road, in a tavern or being in the employ of someone right from the start.
Reebo
Intros I've used/experience:-
1. The player characters are all 1st level and don't know each other. They become the victims of a different version of the Summon Monster spell and they are summoned to a desert by a wizard who orders them to attack a large group of goblin nomads. The summoning spell compels them to obey so they do and succeed in killing the goblins.
The wizards thanks them and tells them that they will return home as soon as the spell expires. He himself teleports away.
The PCs wait and nothing happens, they're stuck in the middle of the desert.
2. The PCs wake up in a monastery in South America, their wounds being tended by a group of heavily armed nuns. They have no memories of who they are or how they got there. The nuns tell them they found them at the site of a plane crash in the jungle and each was carrying a number of weapons, the weapons a group of Shadowrunners might carry.
Gradually each member starts having flashbacks of a mission when certain visual/audible clues are experienced.
3. PCs are slaves on a flying slave ship. The ship is attacked by Sky Pirates and crashes. The PCs can either wait for the Sky Pirates to land to thank them (possibly being captured again) or flee into the woods with a small amount of equipment found on the crashed ship.
4. The PCs wake up in the bodies of a completely different adventuring group in the middle of a dungeon. Backstory - a poorly worded Wish by the NPC party had their souls swapped with the nearest adventuring group instead of being teleported out of the dungeon.
5. The PCs are a group of undercover spies working for the campaign setting's Evil Empire. The are sent to the opposing "good" kingdom to spy and eventually must decide if the are working for the right side.
6. The start of the Ravenloft module (Roots of Evil?) had the PCs killed by the Headless Horseman and wake up as heads in a lich's lab who agrees to stitch their heads on to new bodies to do his bidding.
7. Another published adventure had the PCs as 0-level commoners shipwrecked on an island and trying to find a way off it before a deity decides to wipe the island from the face of the world. Over the course of the adventure the PCs actions begin to determine their class choice and alignment.
I've found most of our games involve the PCs meeting on the road, in a tavern or being in the employ of someone right from the start.
Reebo
Desdichado
Hero
My best start: You know how in a show like The X-files or Superntural that some poor schmuck of an NPC is killed by the monster of the week in the opening sequence before the titles run?
I did that once. Handed out some pregens and let the players play them for about... 45 minutes, maybe? before they got nastily killed. When their actual players encountered the NPC who had killed them... the look on their faces was priceless.
Best two that I've not done, but have heard about: #1) Players start in a tavern. Kobolds or goblins or someone has been tunneling underneath the tavern, though, and while the PC's are there, the entire tavern collapses into the tunnels, bringing the tavern to the dungeon, so to speak.
#2) Players start in a tavern. An old man comes looking for adventurers to help him out. He picks his group and heads off to adventure. The PCs were the ones who were passed up, not the ones who were picked! However, they later get a hint that the other group is heading into a trap, so they've got a chance to redeem their smarting pride by proving themselves more heroic than the "heroes" who got picked first.
I did that once. Handed out some pregens and let the players play them for about... 45 minutes, maybe? before they got nastily killed. When their actual players encountered the NPC who had killed them... the look on their faces was priceless.
Best two that I've not done, but have heard about: #1) Players start in a tavern. Kobolds or goblins or someone has been tunneling underneath the tavern, though, and while the PC's are there, the entire tavern collapses into the tunnels, bringing the tavern to the dungeon, so to speak.
#2) Players start in a tavern. An old man comes looking for adventurers to help him out. He picks his group and heads off to adventure. The PCs were the ones who were passed up, not the ones who were picked! However, they later get a hint that the other group is heading into a trap, so they've got a chance to redeem their smarting pride by proving themselves more heroic than the "heroes" who got picked first.
