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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1227363" data-attributes="member: 13098">I'm dropping a little bit of filler space so if any of my player's lurk here they can bow out gracefully.  OK, I am starting up a new campaign and I am trying to avoid any railroading.  However, I am having a difficult time finding a non-cliche reason why they should be adventuring together.  I have been hoping that the players can provide a common thread that will work, but they seem a bit hesitant.  Basically, I think we are all in that pre-campaign doldrum where they aren't sure how to grab the reins and are simply looking to me to give them a starting place.  Let me give you a little information about campaign.  Initially, it will be focused around a wealthy City-State.  Once the group gets a feel for individual goals, they can go anywhere.  Or, they may decide to make the place their home base.  I am looking to begin introducing strong political elements into the game, because I have never done that.  I think it will be fun.  None of the characters has very much political clout in the city at this time.  Most of the characters are journeying to the city from a far-off land.  Most of them have interesting goals, but there is very little overlap so far.  The characters include the following:A Rogue who is very self-serving.  She isn't a legitimate citizen of the city.  Her basic schtick is that she is a city guide.  A Martial-Artist (Beyond Monks) that is on a quest to find hidden holy texts for his order.  He is a foreigner.A Wizard that is basically one step above being a serf to his wizard's Guild.  He is hoping to get a little adventuring success under his belt so he can move up to a journeyman status and have a little more freedom.  (Long term goals are significantly more ambitious, but that is for later in the game.)A Shaman (The Shaman's Handbook) that is on a personal quest to find his true place in the world.A Wanderer (Swashbuckling Adventures) that got tired of the psuedo-pirate's life he was leading and has headed someplace where nobody knows his name (yet).A Cleric of a Sea God that washed up a few months ago.  I don't have his full history, but from what I can tell, he isn't quite sure who he is yet.  (Possibly an amnesiac.)A Ranger who I don't have much history for yet.  A Psionic Warrior that has left his homeland, and their constant war with the Yuan-Ti, to make a better life in a new land.Right now, I am thinking that the city guide might work as a hook to get all the characters to meet.  But, then it still boils down to the "you all meet in a tavern" thing.  I am looking for something a little more creative and I think I am probably too close to the problem to see a nice workable solution.My initial adventure hooks that I am thinking about dangling out there are as follows:- A conversion of the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh series.  (Check out the haunted house, find out it is a cover for smuggling operations, etc) This will take place in a nearby town.- A Faerie dragon that is having fun at the expense of a local tribe of goblins.  Unfortunately, this is causing some ire to build up as the golbins have no idea who is responsible for the problems they are encountering.  All they know is that one of their holy stones keeps ending up in a nearby vinyard.  These goblins actually work for the City-State and cannot be simply eliminated.  The local lord of that area wants the goblins to be happy and is afraid that somebody above him will decide he is souring relations with the goblins.  I like this one because if gives the PC's somebody that will owe them later if they succeed.  As well, it makes them interact with goblins beyond the pointy end of a sword.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />- A conversion of the Lost Island of Castanamir.  (Go find out why nobody has heard from this powerful wizard in a while.)So, does anyone have any ideas how I can start off the campaign without too much railroading or a cliche meeting?</blockquote>

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