What's the most amazing start to a new campaign you've ever done?

[blargney the second]

This one actually came from EN World - I had a few hours to prepare a new game, and started a thread here. Everybody came through in spades

The PCs were part of a small mercenary squad heading south on their way to a contract. They came across a ship that was foundering on a reef in bad weather at night. Upon boarding, there were dead bodies everywhere. They went belowdecks to the rowers' level, and were attacked by a chain devil. Emerging beaten but alive, they found a massive seaweed monster on the top deck that looked very hungry. (I used my green leather dice bag to represent it) Their weapons could barely harm the regenerating plant, so they ended up setting the sail on fire and making it and the spars fall on the monster.

-blarg

 

[Joshua Randall]

I've played in the slaves-on-the-ship game, and it was good.

I've DM'd the players are gladiator-slaves in the arena, and it was good.

I really like the idea of starting the PCs as high level versions of themselves. Although I might put a twist on it. Start the players in control of high level enemy NPCs, and let them come to the brink of achieving some eeeeeeeeeevil goal (freeing the imprisoned demon, or whatever). But, just then, the door bursts open and...

Abrupt cutaway, to... the 1st level protagonist PCs, some months/years in the past, who must become the heroes who will stop this terrible event from happening.

 

[Turanil]

I really like the idea of starting the PCs as high level versions of themselves. Although I might put a twist on it. Start the players in control of high level enemy NPCs, and let them come to the brink of achieving some eeeeeeeeeevil goal (freeing the imprisoned demon, or whatever). But, just then, the door bursts open and...

Abrupt cutaway, to... the 1st level protagonist PCs, some months/years in the past, who must become the heroes who will stop this terrible event from happening.

Exactly what I did for the very first D&D3e gaming session I ran. I had a great plot in mind, but unfortunately the campaign didn't go further than a couple of sessions. So:

1) The PCs (who begin at 12th level) awoke in a large cavern with huge quartz crystals all around. They don't know who they are and what they are doing here. They explore the place and find two important things:
-- In every quartz crystal are embedded people, some very well defined, others but translucent silhouettes, but what's most important, it's variant of themselves.
-- There is three tunnels going outside, each guarded by a monster. Each tunnel leads to the same place, but each is slightly different in some way. They soon discover these are alternate realities of the same world.

2) The PCs try to fight one of the tunnel guardians, and already one PC dies... and his body disappears! Finally, in breaking one of the crystals, the PCs manage to get a new version of the dead party member, but slightly different.

3) The PCs go and adventure outside, and seeing the world out there, remember they come from it, although with some changes. Then, some people recognize them, greeting their return, and telling that the region has been subjugated by demon worshippers and the horrors they released on the world. All of this thanks to an artifact and dreaded ritual performed a few years ago, when "the PCs were somewhere else".

4) Despite being 12th level, the PCs quickly discover they cannot undo the ritual. All they could do would be to go back in time. But then, they find documents left by themselves telling them that they are actually forward in time to see if a dark prophecy actually happened.

5) So PCs must go back to the cavern and kill themselves, which ends the special Astral Projection spell that forwarded their spirit in the future, through the "Cavern of Ages". Once back at their normal epoch, they are but 1st level characters. They have yet to hear about the dark prophecy...

 

[Sandain]

Here are a few starts to campaigns I DM'ed.

The group were all first level and grew up in the same small village. They had heard about herd animals going missing so went to a farm to investigate. They found traces or Orc activity so started to track the orcs into the mountains.

Then a gigantic dragon came and captured them all. The PC's were terrified! The dragon took them back to its lair - a large cave complex in the mountains. And gave the PC's to his daughter as pets. The group had fun being dressed in dolls clothes (real clothes but the male fighter was dressed as an elven princess, the wizard dresses as a dwarf king etc). They broke out of thier cage but were chased by the daughter dragons Cat - a giant sabretooth tiger. They fled behins some crates right into some giant spiders. They decided the cage was safer.

There was also a son in the dragon family who has some toy soldiers. These were Orcs and he delighted in making them fight each other, and then the PC's.

Eventually they went up a level and the Wizard learned to speak Draconic. All of a sudden the dragons were all wtf these hairless monkies can talk! The group had just experienced my worlds first meeting between humans and dragonkind.

The next was a game meant to explore the Epic rules and the PC's started at level 18. I had them wake up choking on oily black water, emerging from green metal sarcophagi.

Surrounding them were Mordenkainen, Rary, Robilar, and Tenser - who had readied timestops and lots of epic nastiness ready as they had no idea who or what was going to come out of the coffins. The PC's all had amnesia (the black water was from the headwaters of the Styx) and they could only figure out bits of thier history. It involved Moil, Orcus, Vecna, and Fraz.

 

[Nyaricus]

Oh man, this thread had better get archived once it's had it's day. There are just some awesome stories here

 

[pogre]

Someone already mentioned this, but I had a slight twist:

I started my long-running WFRP campaign off with solo adventures for each fo the PCs. Using their backgrounds I created tasks that would require the talents of one or two of the other characters.

All of their adventures ended in the middle of Nuln with the PCs staring at the big tree with notices posted on it and trying to figure out how to make a connection. They start talking and soon they are off and running and I had four or five adventure plots built in.

 

[exile]

Pogre,
I like that idea a lot.
Chad

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

PCs get chased up Ayer's Rock by a horde of skeletons before they flee through a portal into a different world which promptly closes behind them and traps them there.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Exactly what I did for the very first D&D3e gaming session I ran. I had a great plot in mind, but unfortunately the campaign didn't go further than a couple of sessions. So:

Wow, great start. I like it.

 

[Turanil]

The last D&D campaign I ran, I wanted some idea to have so different people (the PCs) join to adventure together, and that it wouldn't involve meeting in a tavern. As such, I slightly modified their backgrounds, and designed an adventure to that end. So:

1) I decided that all the PCs came from the same mountainous region, held by a clan-like community (i.e.: a Scottish clan, something like "Mac Leod"). But as the characters were much different, I said they were from remote parts of the valley, and thus were unknown to most people in the community. Then, the gnome illusionist PC would be a wandering peddlar and his wagon who happened to be there at that moment.

2) The plot was that the clan leader was too old (according to clan's laws) to continue being the chieftain of the clan, and would have to resign and designate a successor during a clan's meeting. However, he didn't want to quit, and thus had told that his son would soon come back home and would be designated as the new leader.

Unknown to all however, was that the son had left for good, not wanting to have anything to do anymore with his tyrannical father. The clan leader knew that fairly well but didn't care, for he had instead ordered a set of Elixirs of Youth from an alchemist. He truly intended to become youth again, pretend to be his own son, and be his own successor.

Unfortunately the alchemist had been attacked by brigands who had stolen the magical elixirs. So, the clan leader had to ask some people to help him recover them. And so he did choose the PCs for they were unknown to most people in the community, were from remote parts of the valley, weren't too much experienced (2nd level), and so could probably be easily get rid off after they would bring back the potions.

All of this may appear as a weak plot, but the point was to have an excuse for putting the PCs (who didn't know each other) into adventuring together. On the other hand, the reason for the clan leader believing this ridiculous scheming would work, was that being too old he was also becoming senile...

3) Long story made short: the potions would not be found. The brigand leader had consumed them, and as a result become a young boy again. Now as he had been a bully with his men, those took revenge on him as he had become a helpless child. It's when the PCs intervened, killed the brigands, and saved the helpless child, protecting him during all the adventure thereafter. This was real fun when the PCs eventually realized who this strangely vulgar boy was, and that the potions were lost forever. Plus the old clan leader died from heart attack in learning it.