How do you like to start a campaign

[TheSword]

Bang is good. There will certainly be a bang in that scene. One of the travelers is badly wounded and there are things out there that can smell blood.

I think it all depends on how well the players know each other and the setting. If you go too disruptive for new players who don’t have a familiarity with either the world or the group you confound their expectations before they even know what those expectations are. For folks that have played together a lot and are jaded on taverns, then blowing one up sounds like a lot of fun. It is subverting expectations.

I think it’s cool for characters to know each other but certainly not essential or necessary. For me the first scene is still about introducing and showing their characters off to each other. I also want it to set the tone of the campaign and the world. If the hook is good and the world engaging I don’t think it needs to be artificially forced.

 

[DarkCrisis]

“In the beginning there was nothing and then the DM said let there be light and there was light. Players roll for blindness as the universe bursts into existence and light.”

 

[Retros_x]

I like to start in media res and with some relatively isolated single adventure at the start so the characters and players can explore their relationships and characters without to worry about "the big picture".

 

[GuyBoy]

I intend to start my upcoming Call of Cthulhu (1920s) campaign by sending players details of the world in 1925 and also full pen pictures of an influential English aristocrat, his extended family and his staff.
Players will be asked to create their own contextual backgrounds for 1925 and to include a link to the aristocrat and/or his connections in such a way that "a letter from Lord Danforth requesting your assistance will be slightly surprising, but not shocking, and you are likely to be favourably disposed to either help him, or at least to listen to what he has to say."

 

[Hriston]

I like to play generic D&D with the campaign starting at the mouth of a dungeon.