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How do you start your new campaigns? (kbin.social)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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How do you guys normally start your campaigns? Classic tavern, or something unique each time?

I've been thinking of starting my next one with a surprise DMPC.
He'll be mid-high level and over the top, inducting the players into his party because despite his power, the contract he has specifies it must be accepted by a party. He'll want them to do nothing but stay out of his way. I'm thinking the contract will either be a bounty or goblin clearing task. The target either way will be in a small fort with only a rope bridge for access. He'll tell them to stay with the horses, go off on his own and promptly have the bridge cut out from under him, dieing to the fall.
If the party want the payout, they'll have to both get the contract from his corpse and then complete it on their own.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@Jocarnail @TwistedFox I really like this approach—having the group formed or with knowledge of one another—as it makes for a smoother start but still with room for differing personalities.

One thing I have started doing is telling the players what the call to adventure will be. “There’s a job notice to meet at a shady bar and deliver a shady package to a shady place. Build a character that would answer the call.”
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

@EmpyClaw @Jocarnail @TwistedFox With Traveller, everyone starts with links to each other so that they have some reason to work together. Since character gen in Traveller is a game in itself, having everyone do it together helps a lot.

Sometimes I start things in media res, in the middle of some action scene with the adventure already started.

But generally telling the players what they're going to be doing, and asking them to design characters who will want to do that, helps.