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<blockquote data-quote="toucanbuzz" data-source="post: 7928317" data-attributes="member: 19270">In Session 0, I take the &quot;hook&quot; to the adventure/campaign and have the players roleplay the story backwards of how they got to the adventure, linking themselves together to explain why they're invested in the setting and one another. If it's a campaign, I'll provide a 2-3 page guide for the setting and any changes in the rules.For example, in a one-shot I recently ran with new players, the &quot;hook&quot; was that the 1st level party arrived at a graveyard to pay their annual respects to a fallen comrade, but this year the graveyard was locked up (Boneyard, DMsGuild). I printed a picture of their comrade with an epitaph rhyme in which the party filled in the blanks (of who his friends were, where he was and what killed him). They made the story up as they went of how they failed to save him and actually caused his death. Full of grief, they gave up the adventuring life for a bit, only donning gear for their annual. In the Curse of Strahd campaign, I started with the idea we arrived in a foreign land through mists, then used the dinner invite &quot;hook&quot; to roleplay how each player fit in the story. By the time we were done, one player was the baronet's daughter, another the bastard son she loyally defended, another their aged mentor who viewed them as his own kids, and the last a woodsman who would be damned if he let any harm come to his old pal the mentor or the &quot;youngins&quot; he helped raise. In other campaigns, I'll provide &quot;campaign backgrounds,&quot; 1 or 2 paragraph unique links to help spur the story on and link to NPCs, future hooks, and so on (such as owning a piece of a treasure map, or having saved the career of a particular NPC). I find having players invent the story and investing in NPCs is a fantastic way to launch any adventure.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="toucanbuzz, post: 7928317, member: 19270"] In Session 0, I take the "hook" to the adventure/campaign and have the players roleplay the story backwards of how they got to the adventure, linking themselves together to explain why they're invested in the setting and one another. If it's a campaign, I'll provide a 2-3 page guide for the setting and any changes in the rules. For example, in a one-shot I recently ran with new players, the "hook" was that the 1st level party arrived at a graveyard to pay their annual respects to a fallen comrade, but this year the graveyard was locked up ([I]Boneyard, [/I]DMsGuild). I printed a picture of their comrade with an epitaph rhyme in which the party filled in the blanks (of who his friends were, where he was and what killed him). They made the story up as they went of how they failed to save him and actually caused his death. Full of grief, they gave up the adventuring life for a bit, only donning gear for their annual. In the [I]Curse of Strahd[/I] campaign, I started with the idea we arrived in a foreign land through mists, then used the dinner invite "hook" to roleplay how each player fit in the story. By the time we were done, one player was the baronet's daughter, another the bastard son she loyally defended, another their aged mentor who viewed them as his own kids, and the last a woodsman who would be damned if he let any harm come to his old pal the mentor or the "youngins" he helped raise. In other campaigns, I'll provide "campaign backgrounds," 1 or 2 paragraph unique links to help spur the story on and link to NPCs, future hooks, and so on (such as owning a piece of a treasure map, or having saved the career of a particular NPC). I find having players invent the story and investing in NPCs is a fantastic way to launch any adventure. [/QUOTE]

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