ITT: "You all meet in an X"

I've heard a lot of GMs criticized for overuse of 'you all meet in a bar' or 'you all wake up in prison'. So let's brainstorm some alternatives.

>You all walk out of the worst performance of Othello you've ever attended

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>You're all queuing in a bank

You all meet in the same brothel, seeking the 'favor' of the same prostitute. You've all frequented her before, though never on the same night, and she's been the best fuck of your life, regardless of your gender or species. For some reason, each of you was gathered to her bedchambers all at the same time, each of you armored to your classes contentment; something about a kink you both agreed to try out next time.

Roll for initiative...

You are all participants of the lottery run by beverage company. With your winning plastic caps, as per instructions, you gather at the gates of a warehouse (some half an hour before appointed time) and wonder why aren't there more participants
Warehouse opens...

"You are all about to meet in a bar when the wall explodes, and suddenly, zombies!"

>you're waiting in line to the loo at the club

>You wake up in your bed.
>You wake up in a ship, a dark skinned person stands nearby.
>Your character(s) are part of a small terrorist cell on a mission with various other NPC(s) who get split from the character(s) early on.
>The characters start in a class at school/academy/on a training field/barracks.
>The characters start in a Bakery.
>The characters are all farmhands who got hired on for the summer and are all nearing the end of their contracts.
>The characters are all riding a coach, together.
>The characters are all in a bath house, together.
>The characters are all in a whorehouse, together.
>The characters are all independently hired to hunt a wolf/bear/cyclops worm of death and meet on the trail.
>The characters are all hired independently to braid a giantesses hair before her big date night.

> You all sit at the Don's table, bellies filled with good food cooked by his mother and fine wine from his cellars (Except for your character, Porky Jackson, who is a tea totaller, yes I read your sheet). He dabs his mouth with a napkin, puts his hands together and looks at you gravely, then speaks in a thick bostonian accent.

"Im proud of each and every one of you. You have done right by me and my family. I'm sad, no, distraught to see you leave us in these dire times, but I understand and will honour our arrangement. But before you leave, theirs just one last thing I'd like for you to do for me..."

I prefer to mix it up on how I start campaigns, but I like the most to just put all players in the same disadvantageous situation by gently imposing something on their story.
Basically, I'll say "write your story however your want, but do note that you must end up in X town on day Y of year Z".

Then, when it starts and everyone is in X town doing their own business (passing by, in the inn, buying some weapons, selling merchandise on the street, w/e) suddenly BBEG army attacks town. Guards die left and right, the resident wizard gets curbstomped, the infantry is just around the corner. What do?

You're all average people who browse the internet because they have nothing better to do. A fellow user makes a thread about alternatives to "You all meet in/at _____" so you come together to provide your own ideas

There are snakes on your plane.

You're all making extremely meta posts on Veeky Forums, when Hiro-san sends you an email asking for your help. He's been monitoring your shitposts for some time, and he has contacted others like you - only you have the meme power to change the course of history before the corporations take control.

I'm distraught.

You're all in maths class un a japanese high school.

In*

WE'VE GOT MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES

>You all wake up in the same bunk-bed

You're all on the bottom bunk because the skeleton on the top isn't willing to share.

You all wake up in the body of another PC.

In my experience, parties with no prior link tend to fall apart way faster, with players backstabbing each other because "it's what my character would do".
If the GM says "You're all working together towards goal X, now you're at the inn / you wake up in prison after a night of excess, session 1, take 1, action", it works much better.


Also, mandatory "You all meet in OP's mom"

>You all don't wake up. Surprise, bitches, we're playing Ghostwalk.

You're all invited backstage after a concert by the lead vocalist.

>You all meet in an ex

>You all meet up at a Phil Collins concert

You're all sitting front row at the opera. The lead actress goes into her big solo and suddenly the people around you begin to burst into flames.

You're all on a school trip to a historic fort.

You all meet at a book signing
The author is two hours late

>You wake up in your bed.
I've actually had a campaign start this way
>You wake up in a ship, a dark skinned person stands nearby.
"You were dreaming. Not even last night's storm could wake you. I heard them say we've reached..."

Some of my own ideas:
>You wake up in a coffin
>You open your eyes for the first time
>You come to in the middle of a large crater, naked and with no recollection how you got there. It's very hot and smoke and dust heavily limit your sight. All around you hear screams of pain and what sounds like barking orders, all in a language you don't understand.

You all walk in to a seedy loan sharks office, intending to open your own tavern.

A personal favorite is
>You've all book passage in the same caravan/ship/train and now it's come under attack
It gives you an immediate threat to bring the party together

>You all meet at the most awkward wake you' ve ever attended. None of you can place how you knew the deceased but apparently each of you was known by name and valued by someone you knew directly.

>you all meet at a gathering of the juggalos. Having taken a series of ill-advised shortcuts and misadventures. Now, trapped by a swelling tide of insanity your first task is to escape by force, guile or stealth.

Or Kult. I start a new campaign next week and the first words will literally be "you all wake up dead"

You all get together for a bachelor party.
You all get stuck on I-95 at rush hour.
You're the last passengers on a bus when it breaks down in the seedy part of town.
You all meet at the funeral of a mutual friend who died mysteriously.

>"As discussed at chargen, you all know each other from way back."

>As the mist clears, you find yourselves with your weapons at each other's throats
>The job was simple, but it seemed other parties were involved and had hired their own muscle
>The bids were climbing, but there was no way in hell any of you would let someone else walk away from the auction with that [insert quest mcguffin here]

>*record scratch* You all wonder how you got here

You're all riding the last train of the night when...

kek

>After the rogue tried to rob the bard, and the drunk fighter tried to intervene, and accidentally knocked out the wizard, the cleric has come to the cell you were all thrown in to hear your confessions

>you meet at a furry convention

"You are all on an air plane traveling to meet Hiro-san when...."

parasite eve?

"Attention! This is captain. We're losing i...*static*"
What do you do?

Teleport to the nearest pizzeria for lunch, then go to the park to turn duck into geese. If I see myself on the plane as it flies past I'll wave.

>turn off the mic, chuckle lightly and maintain course

youtube.com/watch?v=sf8FAqOQUq4

>you all gather for the customary battle royal vs your ex's new suitor

>game starts
>you wake up in a clearing surrounded by dense jungle
>small fires burn all around you and in the centre of the clearing are the remains of some oddly shaped metal structure
>you have no memory of how you got here and look around to see the rest of the party waking up with the same look of confusion on their faces
>it ain't me starts playing

>You all meet in a dream

>you meet at a furry convention
>all but one pc is armed to the teeth
>the other one is in a fursuit

>The characters are all riding a coach, together.
Where are you from, horse thief?

>you all have to escape from a mustard gas attack

>You all meet in a karaoke bar.

> All of the above.

Nice, I start digging, x marks the spot.

I did "you all meet in purgatory".

Had players write down how they died on their sheets, had the goddess of death reveal their final destinations, and they bargained with the goddess for a second chance.

She obliged and gave them their overarching quest of tracking down a powerful necromancer who had been stealing souls from the outer planes.

>Everyone is John

You all meet in a line to use the only atm in this backwater town

I snort it.

I like the
>You're all in the same regiment, fighting against a neighbouring country, when suddenly, all the rest of the soldiers die, and get resurrected by a necromancer

Cuz u know, gives a feeling of companionship, and also introduces bbeg

Sounds like an Earthbound campaign.

Each of you is separately hired by a mysterious group of benefactors to retrieve a sacred artifact. While on this quest the group gets pulled into greater events affecting the world, but eventually finds out that the benefactors are themselves from the future, and they have to figure out how to hire themselves from the past and close the time loop or cause a universe ending paradox.

Once ran a WW2 game where all the players woke up in a mass grave. First session was them trying to sneak across the occupied French countryside back to the Allied lines.

One PC very nearly got mauled to death by farm dogs because he thought breaking into a farmhouse was a good idea.

That was a fun con.

A Nord's last thoughts should be of home.

You have heard about (NPC) looking for help with (quest) and have accepted because (reasons that differ from character to character). When you arrive to speak with (NPC) about (quest) you meet (other PCs) who have also come to help for whatever reasons they may have.

You all find each other's phone numbers scrawled on a truck stop bathroom with the message "to have an adventure, call XXX-XXXX"

One I like to break out is the player characters all reading the same notice on a town's board. Alternatively, the action comes to the players, like getting caught in the middle of a bandit or greenskin raid. Starting off with a "tutorial" battle and letting them build characters during the fight is fun.

You all meet in a tavern. As you conversate amongst each other, you begin to notice the ripples in your drinks.

The trolls are back. And they brought friends.

>You all meet in an insane asylum.

>You're all contracted for a job.
>You're sent to a Waffle House to meet the contractor

>You all meet on Veeky Forums

>building characters during the fight

Tell me more, oh, Wise Sage.

Waffle House does not have good sign maintenance. Long story short, you're meeting at Waffle Hose.

I dun geddit

'You are in Town X when it gets attacked by the forces of Darkness' is pretty played out.

Why not all be soldiers embarking on the final push of a long campaign, then run a set of skirmishes followed up with a big celebration and a pay off? Then the intrigue kicks in.

>they win the final battle at the begining
>"so, what are we fighting fir?"
>slowly over the course of the campaign, they learn of their terrible war crimes.
>rape, burning babies, throwing innocent people into a pit and shooting them one by one.
>they feel terrible about what they did
>set out half way through the campaign to right the wrongs they commuted

I know the next campaign I'm running!

You all happen to be in the same passenger car of train. Suddenly, the carriage screeches to a halt. Illithid banditos have sabotaged the tracks, intent on stealing the train's cargo!

- and the cargo is people!

>you all wake up in a sauna

>you all wake up in a hot tub
>that was a close call, you almost all drowned in a hot tub

A military intrigue campaign would be cool, just for how it'd redefine the game map.

You could replace most of the usual fantasy towns and cities with castles and army camps, and replace dungeons and wastelands with enemy bases or territories. Then the map could change during the course of the campaign as the battle lines shift.

But it'd be cool if most of it took place in occupied territory and focused on intrigue more than strategy - like the allied generals were all conspiring against each other or something.