When starting a new Campaign

[Edgewood]

Over the years of DMing many, many, many campaigns, adventures, one-shot side treks and a what not, I have always tried many different ways of introducing the game in a way that isn't seen as run of the mill or cliched. You know the the type.

"you enter an inn and the place is crowded except for one empty chair at a table occupied by an elf were-shark/bard/puppet master, a human half-vampire/fighter/rogue/barbarian/, and a gnome rogue (ah 3.5....).

or this tried and tested opening.

"You wake up with an immense headache. You look around and you find yourself in a dark room which is locked. there is an elf, a human, and a gnome in the same room with you, all unconscious, AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER HOW YOU GOT THERE!! Dun Dun DUUUUUNNNNN!

How do you start new campaigns from the start that seem original? What sort of beginning do you like to present to your players? Do you prefer to have everyone start off as friends who know each other? (my preferred way to go BTW) drop them in the middle of the action? Or have things build up? I would like some ideas as I am starting a brand new campaign soon and don't want the same old, same old.

 

[fba827]

It depends a lot on what the campaign's over-arching plot will be.

If it is something that will force the PCs to stay together, then I have the PCs not know one another and I start with a short roleplay of the morning and them (individuall) doing their normally morning thing. And then they end up at the same area where some action/combat/encounter happens and puts them in the joint situation for the plot.
(my last campaign started with the PCs doing their morning thing at the market square, getting breakfast, eating, just crossing through on the way from point a to point b, when a combat drew them all together.. which pulled them in to something larger that is the thing forcing them to stay together... they don't necessarily trust one another, but they're roleplaying that out over time since they have to deal with one another. It's actually a little fun to see _players_ learn to adopt their tactics to group tactics as the characters themselves would as they get to know the strangers)

However, if the campagin plot isn't going to be strong enough to force them to stay together, then, yeah, it does make it easier if they know each other or have some connection otherwise why would they bother trusting each other.

Sometimes, if a hook can be given without giving away too much, I have the players purposely design how that hook would appeal to them in their character background themselves. For instance (to use the most general example) I can tell them that the campaign will be starting in an ambandoned ghost town as they are going to be ask to investigate. And then the game will basically start as each of them are (individually, or together depending on how streamlined I want to make it) going to that town to investigate. Or maybe I just say the campaign will start on a ship so make some reason as to why you're on the ship (crew, passenger, bodyguard, etc)

But, yeah, I have done the "old stand bys" many times too -- wake up with no memory, walk in to a tavern and find an old man with a quest there... or even just "you're all part of a mercenary guild and pulled this note from the list of open assignemnts"

so, really, my point is, it's a campaign-plot related decision.. my method varies based upon the details of the plot.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

A couple of the beginnings I have used:

-Each of the players are rounded up by the Inquisition during a theatre show. Their thrown into prison and must work together to get out. So they end up knowing eachother as well as developing their character abilities.

-The players each receive visions of some manner of "Spirit Raven" that leads them into meeting eachother and witnessing a murder.

-The players are refugees making their way across the wilderness in a large refugee caravan. I allow some scripted and also random events to unite the PCs together as well as NPCs as one complete whole.

-Each of them learn of everyones past in a series of connected psychic visions.

-Each of them have already been travelling for months. The campaign start as their being chased out of a village, framed for the murder of a priest.

 

[Imaro]

I think one of the best ways I've begun a D&D game, after reading the Sorcerer rpg by Ron Edwards (yes it's forge stuff, so sue me) was with kickers and bangs.

Each of my players (during our character creation session), after designing their character, created a kicker. A kicker is basically a problem (in a broad sense of the word) that the player is trying to solve. It could be as simple as rescuing a prisoner from the temple of Vecna, to acquiring a herb from the forest of Bonewood, to reforging their fathers broken sword.

Once they've given me the kickers, it lets me know what the players are interested (at least in a short term way) in accomplishing for their particular character. During the week before actual play, I design bangs around these kickers. Bangs are basically the obstacles, choices and challenges they will face in achieving their kicker. When doing this I pay especially close attention to ways in which I can intertwine the kickers and bangs so as to organically weave the characters into a cooperative state. Using the example above...

Perhaps the herbs are held sacred by the cultist of Vecna and thus they consider it sacrilege for an unbeliever to pick them, thus when the character tries to retrieve them, he runs afoul of the Vecna cult.

Or maybe the player who is searching for the prisoner taken by the cultist, discovers their temple is actually in the Bonewood forest, and that the prisoner is the daughter of the greatest blacksmith in the Town...thus the player who wants his father's sword reforged would be tempted to help in the rescue to gain favor with said blacksmith...and etc.

Finally on game day, each player starts the game in pursuit of his/her kicker, and actual play tends to weave the PC's and their individual goals together.

I've only used it a few times, but it's worked great each time. One thing I will say is don't be afraid to stretch these goals out for a few sessions, a tier, or even a whole game depending on how lofty the players goals are, or how interesting the story becomes as it progresses.

Another thing is, if you get stuck for ideas during your campaign, and the PC's have accomplished their original kickers, just let a few weeks pass in game time and have the PC's create new kickers, rinse and repeat...you'll be swimming in plot hooks and since they are created by the players they'll be more invested in the game...or at least that has been my experience.

 

[Mark Hope]

Kickers and bangs - great idea. Lots of interesting ideas in Sorcerer to steal for other games.

I generally try to ensure that characters have some kind of bond during character creation. My current homebrew had the characters all being part of the same warband in a barbarian tribe, with some being brothers, others being cousins etc. With this kind of set-up it's easy to get them on the road to adventure.

In my upcoming Dark Sun game, the players all made characters on the same evening. We started out deciding on an area of play (the city-state of Nibenay) and the bounced ideas around while the characters were being made. All the players made an effort to ensure that their characters could function together, with some creating close connections, and others leaving the details less defined. We ended up with characters employed by or affiliated to a large dynastic merchant house. The first adventure will play on those bonds, with the plot following suit (hopefully)

Anyway, I tend to think that a "character generation session" is a good idea, if you can find the time. Place some of the onus on the players to come up with a cohesive group and make it clear that you don't want to have to spend half og the first session convincing them to join up (unless such an undertaking is what you're after, of course). We have limited time to play these days, and the less time spent on chasing our tails the better .

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Yeah, all my games start with a Prologue-game, it can either tie into the main plot or be separate but it is all about getting the party together, figuring out party dynamics, etc.

 

[cougent]

A few things I have used:

> All the party are potential graduates from an academy that taught them their craft, but they have team excercise to complete to actually achieve graduate status. They set out and complete the exercise and return to find the academy totally destroyed and all there dead or gone. A kittle examination finds clues to the campaign arc.

> All the PC's are related and something bad / unjust / unfair / has happened to the family and they must seek revenge / restore honor / find retribution / etc.

> The PC's are mercenaries for hire and some nobleman / town / wealthy merchant has put out a notice to hire and they are responding.

> Shared vision / dream brings them together

> All the players write back stories with 1 DM required great misfortune that has happened in their past. I edit the misfortune to make them all have a common thread and then disclose this to the players along with a starting clue for them to follow to the enemy. This does not have to be the same clue for each, and they may start separately, but the clue will ultimately unite them in one place at one time.

All of these have both worked and failed, it depends on the players desires for what they want to do at any given point in time. The mercenary start was one I actually created on the fly because my players essentially wanted to play mercenaries for a while,

 

[Kzach]

I've tried a lot of different tacts over the years but lately I've come to several key conclusions that are influencing my current methodology.

Mainly, I find that forcing any kind of character relationships never really works and always seems, well, forced. Often players just don't imagine other powerful characters in their own character's back stories. PC's conflict with other PC's image. So when you go in and say, "Oh, btw, how do you know each other?" it becomes an after-thought that is almost always pretty weak.

Instead, what I'm doing is saying to all the players that their characters have to be essentially good adventurers. They can have dark pasts, be moody emos, or even have a penchant for doing nasty things to bad people, but fundamentally, at their character's core, they have to be heroes. There has to be something internally consistent about the character that makes them want to get out and change the world and make it a better place.

With this as a primary, driving motivation for the character, instead of the generally selfish, lone-wolf stereotypes I find are way too common, as a DM I can use that for a lot of plot-hooks, playing upon the decisions between good and evil, and rewarding good choices and punishing evil choices.

And that plays into how the group meets. It becomes a more organic process They may meet at first and hate each other and bug each other up the wall, but they have to stick together to reach mutual goals, and eventually they begrudgingly respect each other. That to me is the best way to go about it, because it's far more natural.

As an example, the start of my next campaign will have the PC's all doing their own thing in a busy port city known for its lax policing and mercenary opportunities. They will all be within shouting distance of a young boy, dressed in ceremonial plate armour and wielding a rather shiny longsword. He is going to loudly proclaim the arrest of a very burly, gruff looking man, who has a bunch of friends. The boy is obviously in over his head and about to get his butt handed to him, neatly chopped into convenient bite-sized chunks. The boy realises this too late and calls out that he's willing to share the bounty for the person's arrest.

Now, previous groups where I've just said, "Create whatever character you want," they would've probably ignored this and just kept going about whatever they were doing. Either that, or you'd get the, "Oh, ok, this is the plot-hook guys, let's help him out," kind of behaviour. But by saying from the get-go that PC's have to have some sort of driving ambition to do the right thing, even if they do it in all the wrong ways, or rail against authority, or whatever little 'dark' quirks people seem to like giving their characters, at least they have it in-built to *want* to help this poor sod.

At least, that's the theory. We'll see how it plays out in a couple of days time

 

[Fifth Element]

Kickers and bangs - great idea.

Sounds like an English breakfast to me.

 

[Emirikol]

I've found the following to work really well:

1. Have a campaign sourcebook: Emirikol's Warhammer D&D Campaign Sourcebook

2. Have a background for the PC's to work with that get's them started in the world. Give this to them online before the first session.

3. Let all players know online what everyone else is playing and have everyone post their background in relation to the world ONLINE before the first game session.

4. BEFORE the game starts, have each player post online a thought or two on WHY his character is travelling with the others in his party.

5. The party meets however the scenario starts: encounter, tavern, you're hired (by the person who later tries to kill you to be surely cliche'), at a church function, etc.

6. In any case, there should be some natural role-playing going on established and made up by the players. WHY you get along is much better than: "here you're thrust together and artificially just stick together but you don't know why..oh, and here's your first encounter.""

jh

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