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<blockquote data-quote="guachi" data-source="post: 8336270" data-attributes="member: 6785802">Starting campaigns (or an adventure) can always be difficult. The PCs all have to be in the same place or it doesn't happen. One campaign, I gave the PCs several ideas of how to start. One of them was using N4 Treasure Hunt (where the PCs start as 0-level characters). The entire first act is the PCs getting shipwrecked. They have to get shipwrecked for the adventure to really start.So I decided if that was the way the PCs wanted to start the campaign then we'd just start with the PCs shipwrecked. It's like Gilligan's Island - the shipwreck occurs during the theme song. Tell the players what the outcome is and let them decide how they were on that ship in the first place. With no die rolls it plays VERY quickly and players are forced to engage with each other and the game world. It dispenses with the illusion of choice (that the players have agreed to) and engages the players' imaginations.Campaign before that started by telling the players it was the first of the year and all the PCs had been thrown in jail for some minor infraction (whether the PC did it or not...) and I told the players they could use that &quot;crime&quot; as the means to connect to at least one other PC, if they didn't have some deeper connection.I've found doing it this way is liberating for many players.EDIT: TL;DR - If it's a railroad at least tell the players and let them design the train.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="guachi, post: 8336270, member: 6785802"] Starting campaigns (or an adventure) can always be difficult. The PCs all have to be in the same place or it doesn't happen. One campaign, I gave the PCs several ideas of how to start. One of them was using N4 Treasure Hunt (where the PCs start as 0-level characters). The entire first act is the PCs getting shipwrecked. They have to get shipwrecked for the adventure to really start. So I decided if that was the way the PCs wanted to start the campaign then we'd just start with the PCs shipwrecked. It's like Gilligan's Island - the shipwreck occurs during the theme song. Tell the players what the outcome is and let them decide how they were on that ship in the first place. With no die rolls it plays VERY quickly and players are forced to engage with each other and the game world. It dispenses with the illusion of choice (that the players have agreed to) and engages the players' imaginations. Campaign before that started by telling the players it was the first of the year and all the PCs had been thrown in jail for some minor infraction (whether the PC did it or not...) and I told the players they could use that "crime" as the means to connect to at least one other PC, if they didn't have some deeper connection. I've found doing it this way is liberating for many players. EDIT: TL;DR - If it's a railroad at least tell the players and let them design the train. [/QUOTE]

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