You all start in a....

[Dannyalcatraz]

Here's a jailbreak-themed intro.

"You walk into the toolshed to pick up your gear for the day, the watchful eye of the guard behind the property-master seeming to burn a hole in your forehead.

After being issued your gear- a belt, a pick, a small tin cup and a helmet, you fall into line for a cart, and begin your long descent into the mine.

You think to yourself, 'Perhaps grabbing the slumming merchant's daughter (poorly) disguised as a trollop in order to give her the thrill she was obviously seeking wasn't the best idea...especially since the Court's Verifier could tell that I knew who she was.'

That lapse of judgment has cost you 5 years in the salt mine.

Trying to hurdle your defender's desk to get to the Justicar who rendered that just sentence got you another 10.

You work for hours in the hot and dark, the only light coming from the everburning light rods that, thankfully, don't ignite the occasional methane pocket encountered here.

Where you are, it is relatively quiet- only your pick's strikes echo here since you're digging an exploratory shaft.

*chck*
*chck*
*chck*
*chck*
*chok*

Wha?

A few more gentle blows, and you realize you've broken through to a subterranean cavern. Poking your head through, you see it is vast, and a small river runs down it. You also hear a sound not unlike rain striking crystal, as water drips down from multiple stalactites onto the stalagmites below, feeding the river.

You also note that there is a large boulder that looks like it could be dislodged quite easily, sealing the hole.

A plan forms...all you need is a few supplies, and a few key allies.

The lunch siren sounds, calling you to your mid-day meal. After getting your bowl of thin stew and a slice of bread, one of your closer mates sits down next to you.

Can he be trusted? More importantly, can he be of use?"

 

[fba827]

You wake up, face in the dirt road, feeling the heat of fire near by and the stench of burning flesh in the air. As you stumble to your feet, you look around and see the city destroyed and only a few other survivors scattered about..

Thanks to the huge bump on your head, your head is throbbing and you can not remember the events of the last 24 hours...

 

[dramamine]

This was an opening for a single player who played a rogue. It works for male characters much better if they have alignments outside of Lawful, but never Evil. It's poised to let the player try and fix a problem his previous problems caused with a chance to save his hide. I had similar openings for the other 3 players, but I can post them after this one. I'm including the plot and plot devices afterwards so can alter/use what I had planned (and worked out quite well!). The player for this opening was a rogue human.



You wake to the sound of heavy, yet distant thuds. Your eyes open, yet all is black around you. The air is heavy and still, but the slight smell of wildflowers and moist earth linger in the musty darkness. As your limbs regain feeling, your body seems numb and sluggish, but as you go to rub the beads of sweat mounting on your brow, your arm collides with a suprisingly loud knock against solid wood.

A few futile attempts to move your hands to your face create a bit of clamor in what you've come to realize as a really well built wooden box. You try your feet with a similar result. The distant thuds become a little louder whilst your ability to breathe and stay concious start to lessen.

Then it dons on you and you remember everything! The mage you bribed to fake your death. The large gambling debts you owed. The pregnant noble's daughter who ratted you out. The faces of the beggars you paid to... That's what that noise is! By <insert Luck-related god/dess' name>'s <insert previous deity's favorite weapon>!

With the desire to live life out to old age, you begin to pound and scream at your rescuers. The thudding stops and you swear you can hear voices. Your hope renewed while trying not to panic, you rest back in the cheap coffin, awaiting the kind beggars (ignorant of your deeds) who so willingly decided to help for so little coin. How desperate they seemed for those few pieces of silver.

A few minutes pass and finally, the sounds of Brisby the Crooked fumbling with the pry bar you had donated for the cause. The lid opens and small amounts of loose dirt rush in to flood the empty space. "Sorry, lad!" he calls softly into the coffin as he works off parts of the lid. Just as the lid comes off and Brisby's aged and mangled face comes into view, so does the faces of the other beggars present with your hired hero.

Sitting at the edge of your unmarked grave, Brisby recounts the events over the past three days since your 'death'. He tells of the bribed mage informing the guards of your arrangement, the guards planning to exhume you in less than a day, the noble's family catching wind of your treachery, and the loan shark killing off Slow Toddy to cover 1/10th of your debt. Brisby states his fear of other beggars being killed off in the comming days to bring you out of hiding.

Your escape plan has failed miserably and in ever terrible way imaginable. However! Brisby the Crooked offers a solution. He and his beggars could help you escape the city limits under one condition; Locate Slow Toddy's corpse and deliver it to Bishop Farnel within the next 48 hours.

The miserable life you lead before as a womanizer, gambler, and over all cheat hasn't quite died out like you planned. Such is the luck of a handsome <insert class> who took too big a bite out of the pie. Brisby the Crooked and his friends look onto you with some sign of acceptance. He knows your freedom from this places means everything to you.

<insert character name>, your new life awaits you in the lifeless body of a beggar. Brisby the Crooked shifts nervously, knowing the watch will be making patrols soon and needs your answer.

What do you do, <insert class>?



In this instance, Slow Toddy has information about the noble's daughter's pregnancy was actually caused by your loan shark thus why he (Toddy) was killed. It could clear your name, but the city's justice system works akin to the Salem Witch trials. Someone says you're guilty, you are.

If you choose to get Slow Toddy's to Bishop Farnel, he asks you to wait while he brings him back to life (thus Slow Toddy thanks you for your kindness and stutters out the information above in repayment).

Bishop Farnel is a celestial cleric(pick one) in disguise who then places a geas (greater/quest) upon you. In the name of <insert non-Evil god/dess' name>, you're to discover the cause of the anti-magic field that recently appeared over the ruins of this city's previous incarnation.

It's rumored that there's a <insert one of the PC's classes> and a <insert another one> who're treasure hunters looking into delving into the depths and need someone of your skill to help. Bishop Farnel offers to arrange a meeting for you if you desire. You know from common knowledge that the place is infested with living dead and seedier people than you'd like to think about, so going alone isn't an option. (Continue on to what have you.)

If you choose not to get Slow Toddy's corpse to Bishop Farnel, Brisby offers to house you reluctantly against what his friends start suggesting in the abandoned hag's shack at the far end of town.

When the word gets around that you're alive, a bounty is put on your head and Brisby the Crooked narcs you out for a paultry 7g. You're put in jail with the other PCs (which you make up various reasons why they're there) awaiting your real execution.

Bishop Farnel learns about your situation after speaking with Slow Toddy's corpse and decides to bail you and the PCs out because he alone can't get near the desicrated ruins. He charges you all with the geas above, but promises a reward once you've returned.

*looks over all of this* Well crap, I meant to only type up a little bit, but I forgot how long-winded I can be. ^^; If you really like this, I'll post the other three point of views I had for this scenario.

 

[Lwaxy]

You stroll through (insert city name) market, amazed at the scents, sights and sounds of the place. Exotic species, sentient and animal, including some you do not even know the name for! Clothing so colourful it can hurt the eye, women who wear so little that in your homelands, they would be arrested by the magistrate's men. And now you realize that there are men who wear almost as little. Cooked and fried foods, spice displays, sellers who shout out their wares and services... all in cramped quarters, as the market is hardly big enough for all the vendors.

As you squeeze yourself through the stalls and try not to bump into too many people, you hear a squeaky voice calling out louder than any other. It must be magically enhanced, you think. Looking behind you, you can see a being looking like a giant rat reading from an announcement. "The Overlord (insert name) needs capable men or women to do a little task for him. He offers (insert appropriate currency) to everyone who agrees to help out, and twice as much if you are successful."

No one seems to particularly care for this offer; indeed you see some strongarms and a cleric hiding away behind stalls. Something must be wrong with this offer. But before you can continue your train of thought, the rat being points and you and a few others. "You, you, you and you - you look capable enough to me. Strong, experienced travelers, yes? Maybe even with the ability to use some magic? Ah, how thoughtful of you to volunteer!"

You are unable to protest much, your remarks about not having volunteered for anything drown in the surrounding noise, and everyone not involved makes a point to look the other way. It truly seems you and the other unlucky new arrivals have no choice in the matter...

 

[ZzarkLinux]

You start around a kithen table.

The kitchen itself isn't cramped, but the only seats available are piles of books and boxes.
Candles on the table provide decent lighting, but you can smell their smoke.
You can also smell incense, herbs, and mold...

Your host is a middle-aged wizard.
This wizard has been been telling stories ever since he invited you in "for-a-snack".
When walking in, he started rambling about the time he turned his brother's hair blue for a week.
And he hasn't stopped talking since then.

As you munch down the last crackers, you wonder if the wizard does this to all delivery people.
When you delivered the Fel-Hay and Wetbar supplies, you expected monetary payment.
You didn't expect an earful of history.

Just when you think your head will explode, one of your friends interrupts.
After suggesting you have other errands to run, the wizard's face darkens.
He stops chatting, and moves towards the main door.
He hurries you outside, tosses some coins, and without so much as a "goodbye" closes the door behind you.

Well, at least he paid.

The night is still fresh, and you don't have any chores or tasks that need urgent attention.
You might head back home to play cards.
Maybe you'll venture to see those "purple-lights" that people keep mentioning.
Or you could go to Crazy Taffe's house and toss rocks at those cats.

The night is yours.

 

[fba827]

You and your highschool friends go to visit the local fair. While at the fair, you take a ride on the Dunegons and Dragons roller coaster ride. But something strange happens, on the ride as you pass over a curve, you seem to all get transported to a magical realm. There you are greeted by a short squat man in a mumu calling himself "the Dungeon Master" and bestows each of you with magical equipment and abilities... warning you of the many dangers that lay ahead...

 

[weem]

You and your highschool friends go to visit the local fair. While at the fair, you take a ride on the Dunegons and Dragons roller coaster ride. But something strange happens, on the ride as you pass over a curve, you seem to all get transported to a magical realm. There you are greeted by a short squat man in a mumu calling himself "the Dungeon Master" and bestows each of you with magical equipment and abilities... warning you of the many dangers that lay ahead...

Haha, you shoulda just posted the video

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjhQ1Oi_3k]YouTube - DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS Cartoon Intro[/ame]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That, and/or add a little "Guardians of the Flame" fun, in which one of the PCs gets gutted in the first few minutes of transitioning...

 

[kitsune9]

Hey we're up to 19! One more to go.

 

[Gilladian]

You are standing in the street outside a building, staring up at it, wondering if you should go in. The sign hanging outside the front door is brand spanking new, and reads "Adventurer's Guild".

In your hand you clutch a letter, inviting you, as an adventure-minded young person, to come attend the first meeting of the newly chartered Adventurer's Guild. You wonder how in the world anyone got your name, and what an AV even does, anyway...

And then you see the others begin to arrive... a beautiful elvish woman, with startling silver hair, a tiny frog-man, with minature javelins tucked over his shoulder, a halfling darting suspicious looks over his shoulder every few feet... and a voice then hisses out over your shoulder, "Hmmm....I wonder if thisss issss a wisssseeee choisssss...." and you turn to see a VERY LARGE lizard man standing just behind you.

That was the start of a short-lived play-by-post I started to run early this summer.