Unorthodox Campaign Beginnings

[Captain Impulse]

Post your ideas for interesting, unorthodox campaign starting points!

1) The PCs "wake up", one by one, feeling groggy and very stiff. They find themselves in near darkness, but even the faintest light seems extremely bright for some reason. Hovering over them is an individual they do not recognize, pouring some strange concoction over them. It smells awful.

The individual quickly introduces himself, but explains that "there isn't much time". He informs you that you have been turned to stone by the creature that lurks in this dungeon. He has no idea how long and of you have been in stone-form (the PCs most likely came into this dungeon separately, potentially days, weeks, months or hundreds of years apart from each other or more). The individual tells the PCs that he needs their help to slay the creature (it could be a Medusa, Basilisk, Gorgon or some other creature), but for now he is unprepared for the battle. The PCs need to flee the dungeon with him, pool their skills and knowledge, and return to the dungeon better prepared to face the creature!

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I'll post more when I remember them...

[Smilin_Bandit]

Dude! That is a really keen idea for starting an adventure. I think I may use that sometime.

~Smilin_Bandit~ :top:

[Delta]

I had my PCs start once, standing in at the edge of a cliff, covered in ashes, with no money and only very basic gear. Everybody's waterskins/bottles of booze were empty. They did not remember how they got there and had no memory of travelling together beforehand. They were missing about two years worth of memories. They were soon attacked by random wilderness encounters and banded together at least until they got to the nearest city.
There, some random guy (a street actor in this case, with quite a crowd around him) starts yelling at them along the lines of "how dare you still show your face around here after what you did in **insert place of choice**!" and flies at them. Later they find that that place was a large forest-area that was completely annihilated a little over a year ago, with next to no survivors. (The characters started at level 1.)
During the course of the campaign I dropped more hints to the characters, or least people that looked an awful lot like them, committing atrocities all over the globe. Followers of Nerull are very kind and happy with them.

It worked better than I'd intended, and much better than the regular tavern approach. The players actually stuck together and actively tried to find out what the hell had happened.
Usually they sit on their asses in the nearest bar and drink till they fall over and brawl, and only railroading gets them anywhere, and they tend to go their seperate ways after an adventure or two.

Of course the actual story behind what happened during those two years is kind of interesting as well, but not relevant at this time.

[MidnightReign]

I'm loving both the ideas posted so far, and kicking myself in the #@$ for not having thought of that earlier. Of course, you can boil the principle down to something said during the pilot episode of Lost:

"Guys, where are we?"

If you can generate that kind of mystery, confusion, and tension from the get go, and have a planned resolution way down the line, it could make for some of the most intense gaming sessions ever. Trouble is, there are only so many ways to start out your story with the players together and unknowing of what's going on, and you can't do it with every campaign. So here's an idea...

Start the game In Media Res (In the Middle of Things), the way some novels begin. The very first thing you say is something like:

"You are being charged by a small unit of kobolds. They are fiercely determined to take the ground you control. What do you do?"

Quite literally begin a few rounds into a combat, with skirmishers dead on both sides, and only the party remaining. How they make it out alive is up to them, and where they go from there can be determined by how they made it out.

[Sunfist]

I'm loving both the ideas posted so far, and kicking myself in the #@$ for not having thought of that earlier. Of course, you can boil the principle down to something said during the pilot episode of Lost:

"Guys, where are we?"[/b]
Heh.

The last campaign I started began with the party waking up on a beach in the middle of a shipwreck. Dead bodies around them in places.

As they awoke, they realized they had no memories and decided to band together.

Of course, they were wearing uniforms. And amongst the party were three different types of uniforms, clearly from three different units of soldiers.

Why they were together on the ship and what happened to their memories is all part of the plot. And they are definitely banding together to figure it out.

[MindForge]

Sometimes, I just give a long narrative on how they have come to be in the company of one another. Many times they are just travelers headed in the same direction that have joined because it is a dangerous road and there is safety in numbers. I prefer my group to start off together, I do not care about backgrounds in a game - I let the character use a background they have created to integrate it into the future of the game.

Some Ideas;

* Characters just start together and have traveled together for a few days. They all have their own reasons for traveling as I detail in a handout made for each. So all of them have a goal, sometimes the goals are similar - sometimes they are not. But they are together and they are on the road.

* Characters start the game in the midst of a great battle of a war. It is the last of such battles and the evil overlord (for your game) has finally forced the people into submission after the conclusion of the battle. I let the characters win their battles with easy encounters and fights but in the end they must choose to run or die. This sets the stage for opposing the antagonist and lets the players witness his evil first hand.

* Start the game during some crazy catastrophe like an earthquake and the characters helping people - this works great in a good campaign and sets the adventure to find out what caused that to happen because it wasn't natural in nature and some dark force is behind it in some manner.

* Start in a Tavern and then drop the characters in the midst of a city turf war. Turning the Tavern into a contested point. I did this in a game and players thought it was going to be a run of the mill start in the tavern game. It was a good 2 session starter. I really tried to make the characters think I was starting an adventure in the tavern - with a bar brawl and all. Next thing you know, the characters are hip deep in gang warfare and wanted criminals in the city with enemies watching the walls and gates... it was 2 sessions - the characters chose a side, did a quest - found a way out of town and escaped. They were of course pursued by the Lawful Neutral knight that wanted to bring them to justice... and they still are.

[Lapis Lazuli]

These aren't very original ideas,but things i've played in various video games...

1- the land needs heroes for some important quest,so some competions are held,hopefully in the end its the players gathered before the lord or lady.They are then geared on the nobles dime,supplied and sent forth on the appointed task.
-these could be olympic events that are almost little adventures inthemselves like Braun..I mean, Herc's 12 labors.these mini-mods would give the characters time to forge a history together.a bit of history in the making so when they travel its..oh hey arent you the argonaughts?

2- everyone is invited to a stately manor by a mysterious benefactor who gets them into a "clue" like rpg. They don't know the first thing about the mysterious host or each other,but he may know of them. Of course he gathers some npcs as well to thicken the stew.
-But why are they there? well maybe he was told by somecrack-pot wizard/prophecy that they were destined to ruin him and he plans their murder [the whole house could be deathtrapped with secret passages and scooby doo monsters lurking in the dungeons or walls!].
-Maybe they were just the most capable mercenaries around and he needs them to quest for him.they get some adventures under their belt and realize he might either be on the up and up a good man,or a villain using their skills at no risk to himself to accomplish these tasks,like ridding himself of the local competition or gather material components or treasures for him.
-maybe it's not even his home,but the home of a rival lord or wizard and he gathers them forging what he believesto be a party of adventurers capable of indiana jones their way through the real owners defenses and robbing him of his spell book,other treasures,ect.

3- Shang-hai,welcome to the foriegn legion [hopefully not the orc legion!].

4- one day the dryad that made slaves of them all is slain[or whatever],much like the petrified origin,they end up in a wilderness enc. nightmare with next to nothing but each other for protection...

5-someone mentioned they stared in the same militia? well what if it begins all action movie like with them being last the last surviors of a keep siege/gorge massacre,whatever.they are pushed back to back and ..well hopefully they make it out alive!
-want to really shake them up,start it that way,trapped in the gorge/keep massacre,the orcs keep coming [orc or whatever].its the alamo! they will expect salvation,only the surprise is there is none.they get to go out in a blaze of glory and begin the adventure risen from death and indebted to the local temple.to pay it off they are forced to task till the debt is paid.gives good strong ties to a church ect...
-another variant of this is they are all historic heroes ressurrected to stop the villain of your plot.maybe even give each a local legend about the character,this guy did this and this guy did that.

6- Jail break,if a less than lawful party.or maybe heroes escaping a villains dungeon.like baldyrs gate 2,its a dungeon crawl in-reverse,you arent breaking in,youre breaking out!

7- Summoned by a random monster summoning spell .the plot defies the duration of course,and our heroes all the same lvl [hd] were just popped into a friggin mess by some npc caster.the mess can be anything,but should be a dungeon or something forcing them not to just wander off after the fights ressolved.If some smarty mentions the duration,it could be pointed out that he might have critically failed the summons when he lost concentration during his beating or panic whatever.any escuse will do.

8- cursed to never enter another tavern as long as they lived [perhaps by the same old gypsy],these few desperate adventurers end up on the same bridge pondering suicide...when misadventure strikes !

[jograce]

I was part of a campaign where my party woke up in a room with no knowledge of our identities. We only remembered walking into a room, a blinding light, and then waking up here. The DM gave us each like little lists of clues on our person as to who we were; I had a blood crusty Hextor coin, a couple of small daggers, potions of change person, and a list of names. I thought I was some sort of bad ass assassin heading out to '86' some folks. Every major battle we would discover a little more about ourselves, bringing us to the truth of what brought us there. My whole party kept running into people who knew them, either in a protagonistic or antagonistic manner. The most I ever got was a you might look familiar. Can't be to sure though. It only enforced the idea that I was an assassin or even a hardcore rogue. I ended being the hired help. I was a performer (bard) and the names were people who had hired me. The coin of Hextor was a fake; Used only for dramatic effect during performances, same with the potions of change person. It was purely coincidence that I ended up in the room with the rest of the party. I was lost in the manor and looking for the bathroom and I walked into the wrong room. When I questioned my cheesie ending, the DM reminded me that I questioned him at the beginning of the campaign on how we were going to do this with just our stats, BA & saving throws? He usually isn't so mean when you roll the one until you roll three of them, not this time. And because I didn't roll them often, he made it worse. But still... The idea kind of works for me. A lot of work on the part of the GM, but it could work for you too.

[Lapis Lazuli]

What if they all begin as part of a pilgrimage,like a wagon train to the frontier,or survivors of a pillaging.the party is on the road with the last remenants of thier village,staying one step ahead of the horde that burned thier homes as they adventure cross country toward ...whatever.They become the only hope vs disease weather and randomn enc.s for the straggling refugees...or something of the like?

[jdthor]

The Quest compitition is a favorite of mine, but I also use raised together in the town or orphanage, the benofactor, answer the add, and shanghied. Very very rarely use the tavern.

One game I am curently running has the first player waking up in the middle of a forest naked save for a tiny gold ball stuck in the center of their chest, It is infact the only visable part of a ring of regeneration. Unknown to the charactor, they had been completely destroyed save for a few cells that the ring kept alive untill the proper things happened that set it to regenerating the body many years later.

Player one makes her way to a town steals some clothes and meets up with player two who had been frozen in ice and unthawed buy a mage who is trying to form a party to hunt for a lost treasure. Player two has been enthralled buy the mage and is being used not only for her skills, but also as a sex slave. she befriends player one who finds out about the enchantment and breaks it, then together they off the mage. Unable to prove their inocent of murder they have to flee the country.

Player three, the daughter of a powerful druid, is turned to stone by her father when their grove is over run, to save her from sure death. she is freed a long time later buy a group of druids reclaming the grove. She leaves insearch of her self and info on her father only to be capured by slavers. PLs 1 and 2 on the run, fall asleep in the woods in the same area and fall victum to the same slavers. The theif, (pl2), frees her self and PLs 1, (monk), and 3, (druid), and they work together to defeat the slavers and free the rest of the captured women.

The towns folk that were rescued tell the party of a great wealth they have heard of in the mountains not to far away but guarded buy evil. They head out and defeat the guadians and find the treasure???, the "treasure" turns out to be a lifesized metal statue of a young woman. Disapointed the 3 figure maybe they can sell it for art but individualy or in pairs they can't budge it, the thief looking for other things of value finds a plaque that says the maiden can only be made to move when touvhed by 3 women who have no self knowledge of their past. the three touch the statue and whalla player 4 comes to life, (mage).

The 4 have no real knowledge of their past only skills they don't know how they know, and some bits and peices of rumors told to them by others, now they set out together to discover them selves and make their fortunes in a cruel world.

[Barrok]

I'd like to start an adventure or campaign where all the PCs "wake" in a dreamscape and have to escape it before they can actually meet in person in huge montage of planes walking - typical mid to high level fayre

[RafeIxeian]

My usual way of doing things is to let my players be involved in the world setup process (not so much that they know everything, but enough that they have a limited idea of what the world is like, and what kind of backstory makes sense). I've never liked starting when all the player knows are "I am a mage and these are my stats." Instead, I usually give them a general area I want them to be in, and they decide on race/class/stats then nationality, why they'd be there, and some extra info. Then, since they've all got a reason for being where the story begins, the rest falls into place.

In cases where they can't be as involved in the first bit of world creation, I give them a couple of pages with a basic summary of what they would have known if they had been. This is usually limited to a map, and a bit about each country, and current events, as well as on occasion a legend or two. In these cases, I've also experimented a bit with giving some players a bit of different info, or even conflicting info. IE different versions of a legend, a description of a war that is biased towards one side, etc. You can end up with some interesting starting points this way.

I only rarely use the "I don't know who I am" story, since that makes things a bit less fun for the players (unless they specifically request it).

I've also run a campaign where I would drop the player right into the middle of the action (this is one where I start with the player having very little info). It's my favourite story and I've used it twice (with different players, and different twists, but the start has been the same). It works best for a single layer campaign, but it can be done for multiple players in a couple of different ways. Here it is:

The player starts off in a helicopter being given info along the lines of "wait ten seconds, then pull the string," before being shoved out. While he's descending I fill him in on why he's there. He is a slave for some company researching a variety of lost technology being dug up all over the world (in fact the helicopter is one such technology and only three exist). The building complex he is being dropped over is another company of the sort. He is to infiltrate, find info, and escape to a pick up point in the mountains across the lake. He will be picked up in two days. He has also been implanted with a series of bombs (I used something else but the idea is what matters) that will explode if they haven't been deactivated in 2 weeks. Since technology and medicine aren't very common, his only real option is to have them deactivated back at his company. But when he gets to the pick up point, theres no one there. What he does from there is really his choice, but usually the player decides to try getting back to the company on foot, and you can structure the story around what he learned from the other company, why he wasn't picked up, and so on. After this point, it really branches off and the dm has a lot of options on where to go, and so does the player.

Have fun if any of you decide to use it. (And yes it is a bit more techie than your usual campaign, but that's what I was thinking of the first time I ran it. And make sure you have the whole complex at the beginning planned out, and that you give the players a couple of neat tools to help them survive, since they won't be able to buy any equipment until they're out. Reccomendations: caltrops, some kind of healing item, rope, and maybe two little pieces of something that will either ignite or cause a really tiny explosion either as a distraction or to open a door.)

Again, have fun.

[Mask]

In my current game, I simply got together with each player and told him to make whatever character he wanted, but that character MUST have some strong reason to seek vengeance against a powerful necromancer name Xyxor. I told them that this necromancer has been travelling the world and leaving a trail of carnage behind him in his long quest for greater power and eventual god-hood, so any atrocities they came up with to avenge would be cool with me. Thus each character had a completely different background but all of them had a single unified goal going forward and a strong incentive to work together and keep chugging along towards personal justice.

[mexal]

It's the 2nd time I have used it, but the 'Servants of Kord' D&D game's starting premise is that the characters - who can be any race or class - need to have a reason to either want to take part in missionary activity on behalf of the deity Kord or might be asked to participate by the church. This gives a diverse group with a reason to be together, and it's then very open where they get sent initially (thereafter they will be choosing where to go next) and what will take place on the way...

[Lapis Lazuli]

<span style="color:#3333ff">What if you're all in the same town,or nearbouts in the countryside, when a meteor shower rains down on the town! That's not all,they aren't meteors,they are fire/earth/iron whatever-elementals "From Outer Space!" </span>

Then you get all the heroes running about a burning village trying to stop this strange Invasion.
[Just keeping this thread alive so I can steal all your ideas!]

[Norm]

The last adventure I ran before I moved from my old town had a different start. I had just read a book called coma, or flat line or some such, and basically bodies were kept alive to harvest their organs by the baddies, but it was seen as cryogenics to the general public. Also ties in - I think to the river world books, but I cannot remember how.

I asked all the players to give me their favorite characters who they had played and lost in the past. They duly produced names and I made up character sheets and we started off with the players suspended on wires surrounded by billowing white fog with tubes sticking in their guts, unable to move other that heir head and eyes.

Someone then came and "freed" them from this living hell and the adventure began. with them on the run, weaponless and in the company of diverse people they never met before.
the people who freed them were killed by pursuing guards which left then alone in a strange worls, with a strange sun, and strange mystery to resolve.

The story wasn't too strong itself, but the thrill on the payers faces, playing teir favorite characters once again .... priceless.

[Azireal]

I had done a few perticularly evil, and also situational ones. They were all for characters that joined later

Once, we had a pious monk start captured, and about to be violated by orcs. She killed them.

I also had a half-celestial sorceror. I had him start falling from the heavens, he avoke at about 20,000 ft. He had to use levitate to slow his fall, but slow it too soon and die of lack of air, or too late and not have enough time to slow to a survivable speed.

I also started a party on a sinking ship, They were being held prisoner, so they had to find their gear (and mabye some loot) before finding a way to escape.

[eric]

I was thinking of a dnd game where during the course of an evening,
your character grows from 6 yo (or equilivant) to adventuring age.

You cant chose your family or your social status.

So the GM with a knowledge of the worlds events going backwards
at least the growth span of an elf gives a vauge description of your starting life getting more distinict as you age.

So if as a farmers daughter, you could learn all those farming skills
or if you try hard you could help a village hedge wizard, and later
maybe drafted into a war or be in a natural diaster.

While the character grows the GM assigns skill points in specific skills
given your situation without regard to class.

I was thinking 2 up to age 10, one a year to age 15 and 5 or so more to adventuring age.

This would require several tables, which dnd 2 ed would help with, and I am sure I can find a situation chart somewhere to base it off.

This would allow a character with a richer backgroud and more of a basis and also they might know each other from something as mundane as you went with your knightly father to buy a horse from the local harse mercahnt and got friendly with his son thats your age and you met him 5 years later while fighting off kobolds...

What do you think is this worth working on?

Eric

[PhilZee]

Sure, this sounds like a solid concept. I like the idea that the player can really grow into his character and be forced to have a background by the time he reaches the 'adventuring' age. And, this age growth doesn't have to be contained in one evening, whereas it might be fun for both you and the players to run a couple sessions. I likes it!

[eric]

I was also thinking of stats,
as a kid you start out with a kids stats, and as you grow
and what you do, you can add stats depending on what your
doing... with a bit og gm interferance

farmer can add str and con easily
merchants kid, int and wis
traveling showmans famil chr and dex

making things + dex
very interested in opposite sex + chr

Just more to think about.

Eric

[PhilZee]

Just to let you know, I'm stealing your idea for my table-top game as far as starting in adolescence to adventuring age. Except, they may be grow to be orphans, runaways, or some other such calamity in an urban steamwerks world.

[eric]

Just to let you know, I'm stealing your idea for my table-top game as far as starting in adolescence to adventuring age. Except, they may be grow to be orphans, runaways, or some other such calamity in an urban steamwerks world.

Cool let me know the difficult parts of generation, good luck...

[PhilZee]

You bet, I'll keep you posted in January. I had to postpone my table top games, because I enrolled into school for the first time in over a decade. I got a lot more work than I thought I was bargaining for. Alas, I have the whole month of December to prepare though!

If I get any more ideas to add to this awesome idea of yers, I'll fill you in there as well!

[PhilZee]

Actually, I probably should've mentioned that I am using Iron Kingdoms: Port of Deceit as a basis for the world. I already told the players that they will only be ablt to select classes from Iron Kingdoms and any others I decide to allow them to. Such as Artificer from Ebberon, Pirate from Conan, and I am still researching others. I do have a system for creating custom classes and prestige classes, so they can run ideas by me and, subject to my approval and everyone else's, test em out.

[Grumpy Old Man]

I have 2 campaigns I like to run, 1 is the starter campaign to determine what my players will be in the epic campaign.

The starter campaign premise is these kids are orphans and raised in an academy which trains all around characters in everything from swimming in fast cold icy rivers to changing diapers and cooking for your fellow orphans. Each group of orphans after they get to 12 or equivalent due to racial differences is assigned a cabin where they and their group members become family and consider themselves brother and sister.

Graduation day from the academy comes when they fall asleep in their beds and wake up in a pitch black ice cold room with nothing. No tools, no weapons, no clothing, no food. In my last campaign the girl in the group was blind so she was at a distinct advantage, one was a Drow so he had the advantage of being cold tolerant. Their starting level was '0' and all of their stats were 10, there were no classes.

They were in a large castle like building on top of a mountain near the polar glacier. They had to find light, read the instructions on the wall and then work their way through a series of rooms earning skill points and gaining stats as they went. Each room could only be entered 1 way and you couldn't go back. You had a choice of 2 exits each one taking you to a different room. You didn't have a play over. They only have to clear a certain number of rooms and they will find themselves transported outside, success is not guaranteed.

The last party lost their centaur. Once outside they have to figure out how to open the trunk, read the map, dress and arm themselves and then fight their way off the mountain. Half way down they have to rescue a village of Dwarf miners, (they earn gold, improved weapons and one loses an arm but gains a cursed sword that won't let him die or accumulate money and he goes up 1/2 the rate everybody else does), then make their way down the rest of the way to a town where they are instructed to board a gnome built train and go back to the academy. The train is attacked and wrecked, they are gassed, separated and lose track of each other but keep their stats.

The epic starts 3 years later but now everybody has reached 3rd level in their chosen class and they are called back to the academy for real and the real adventure starts. No more mister nice guy. Playing 4 or 5 hours at a stretch once a week it took 13 months to complete. No way would I try this in a PBP setting.