How do you bring all of the player character's together to start a campaign without it being "you are all in a tavern"?

How do you bring all of the player character's together to start a campaign without it being "you are all in a tavern"?

The party wakes up at a campsite, all around this big ol' campfire in sleeping bags and no recollection of how they got there.
The party wakes up in separate prison cells for reasons that they've decided with the DM.
The party is watching whatever athletic activity is popular in the setting at a stadium when Plotâ„¢ happens.
Or you could just, y'know, have the players discuss their backstories with one another so that they be introduced cohesively.

The funniest part about this movie is that Gamora has smaller tits than Drax, Quill, and even Groot.

>the party wakes up in a dungeon
>everyone is in black leather g strings
>the female party members have skimpy black leather bikini tops
>the party all has black leather boots that come all the way up their legs to the tops of their thighs
>the party is all chained to the walls of the dungeon via metal leashes and metal collars with black leather on the inside so it doesn't cut into their skin
>the party all has their hands bound behind their backs with metal shackles encased in black fluffy fur
>the door to the dungeon opens
>in walks a female Drow

On a scale of 1 to 10. How screwed is your party?

Not only that, but she's also the second shortest person on the whole team. Isn't she supposed to be some kind of Amazon Space Warrior? Which means at the very least the same height as most of the guys?

>You're all roommates in a really shitty flat in the really really shitty part of town.

The party come too with ringing ears and a bit of blood in their eyes. They're in a crashed car, the Driver is slumped over the wheel and a duffel bag full of cash has split in the backseat. Police sirens aren't far behind.

these are all great suggestions, but what about for a comfy, not necessarily high fantasy idea?

I'm playing a male Drow. This is what I like to call Tuesday.
Just remember to breathe between hits. You'll know what that means in a minute,

Tell the players of the outcome of two or more of them meeting. Then, ask players why and where that happened. Repeat until all of them are together.
The characters are drawn to be in the crowd of some sort of spectacle. Things happen and they are now together.
The characters are seated near each other for the free food part of a political rally. Discussion starts.
The characters all meet at a crossroads at the same time. The Deity of Chance shackles their fates together.
The characters have either been bought, coerced or ordered to be at a certain place.
A mischievous imp has swapped the [right arm/left leg/genitalia/head] of random people. It so happens that all the characters are swapped with each other.
Someone is blackmailing the characters in the party. Both separately and poorly. The characters happen to meet when they are all about to storm this ne'er-do-well's hideout simultaneously.

In my opinion there isn't actually a good way to do it because the idea of several people, none of whom know any of others, meeting spontaneously at once is inherently awkward and never happens naturally in the real world.

>''You are riding a carriage as part of a caravan.''

>PRISONBREAK

>''You have found work over the citys billboard and came to the town assembly hall to recieve your task and sign a work contract.''

>''You've been tracking a band of bandits to their hideout... Problem is there 3-4 other dudes who did as well. Might as well cooperate.''

You need to get out more. I've seen this happen several times. Granted, I'm the bartender, but it still happens.

You all already know each other, of course.

Usually before the first session, which hopefully is a bit of time after they've made their sheets, I'll kinda set some small events for everyone's character's in motion Individually that all lead to kinda one point mid-session and from then on you know the rest. Obviously if people had some backstory together they might even have been traveling together, or meetup before the others.

Plus if im playing with new players i kinda think it helps players understand how their character fits into the world as these small 'events' i'll call em' are tailored to the character.

Start them just outside of the tavern. The moment one of them touches the door to go inside, the tavern explodes.

Roll initiative.

I like you, user.

She doesn't need to be tall to be able to kick ass, especially not in a space setting. Dex builds are a thing and also there are guns. Plus, even if she was taller than Quill and Drax, Groot being about a torso taller than everyone, including the bad guys, kind of makes everyone else's height irrelevant. She also can't be Quill's love interest if they're the wrong proportions to cuddle and shit.

Seriously though Drax's mantitties are absolutely egregious, I think he might have the biggest chest in cinema right now.

You'd be hard pressed to find someone as tall as Pratt and Bautista. They even cast Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser only because he's 6'7"

>Dex builds are a thing and also there are guns.
And she's superhumanly strong anyway

>Dex builds are a thing

2nd movie confirms beyond any doubt that she's STR

It's a good practice when the characters are created to require each of them to know at least one other character, preferrably two.

>You are all in prison
It's like you are all in a tavern but with more FUCK YOU to it.

If you're referring to the scene with her firing ship gun, don't forget they're on Ego, which is Moon-sized and likely has similar gravity
he's still inhumanly strong, just not insanely so.

Also, in the first movie, right before that lineup, they show that she's cybernetically enhanced

You mean "more ELDER SCROLLS to it"

You don't ever see them jumping around like astronauts on our moon so I'd imagine the gravity is comparable to earth if not the same.

Campaign will start [there] in [that] context, bring something that make sense

"The Tavern is within all of you. Some dick ass wizard thought that'd be a great idea. You should probably see about about getting that removed before the Barbarians run out of beer and start beating on your colon."

I always loved the idea of psychics or wizards or jedi who could be bound up in this type of situation and still threaten their captors with their lives to free them. She walks in, wizard looks up through his brow and she just slams against the wall. You needed a better prison to protect you from me, bitch.

Totally stealing this idea.

Start in medias res, and let "how the party got together" be a problem for the players.

The last option is the right way. I really like how Fate makes this part of character creation. I have DM'ed too many forced starts, and was part of too many groups that got together just because the players were sitting in one room.

Our group plays dresden files fate, which requires that everyone knows at least two other people beforehand.

there is nothing wrong with meeting in a tavern, it's literally just the springboard for the story to follow

Amoral wizard tinkering with an ancient teleportation relay accidentally zaps the party members into a dungeon he has set up shop in. He either flees while his minions busy the party and they must then work together to escape and navigate the unfamiliar region they emerge fromthe dungeon together in.

A Dragon Airship captain is looking for volunteers for her crew. The characters all sign up and meet aboard her ship. It quickly sets sail for fun

Have a town full of devil/plant/something worshipers kidnap them and begin with waking them up, have a town be attacked. Its not that hard

I'm gonna be running a campaign in september, been laying a lot of the groundwork over the summer.

Currently I'm going to have them get summoned by a skeleton wizard from another world, toss em right into a dungeon

The party awakens without memory atop glowing platformer slabs in the middle of a mouldering temperate complex. They find statues of themselves and damaged mosaic friezes depicting an them on an urgent quest to prevent calamity befalling the world at the hands of an ancient evil. Upon finding the only exit intact, the party emerges atop a mountain overlooking a ruined landscape: the Calamity has already occured. They are then immediately beset by the small tribe of cannibals who have been farming the newly reborn chosen heroes everyday for who knows how long.

So, what you're saying is... You all meet in a tavern

PCs already know each other and they work together for some time. Any other way is wrong, players are going to be in a party, there's no sense wasting time introducing characters to each other.

You're all taverns.

You are running. You are holding an egg. Your party members are also running. They are also holding eggs. You are screaming. They are screaming. Behind you, a very large mother is screaming.

Run checks!

>a very large mother
You mean like a fat old lady or a Rok?

Probably a roc.
I mean, you could always stop to look.

Are you saying I can't glance back for a split second while running? I do that while monster huntingtm all the time, what's the worst that could happen?

You incur a roll to see if you fall over like a person in a horror movie.

It's relatively low DC, though.

If my character is black do I get a penalty to my rolls or do I have to have had sex or did drugs instead?

You all got the clap from the same whore

The campaign starts as they wait in line for the needed medical creams

>Post pic of "you all start in jail"
>How do you avoid you start in tavern?
...well, follow your pic related

Nah, it's too early in the mo-er, session for you to have the black penalty yet.

Though I -will- need to know if and when you have sex or do drugs.

You all start in a murder hobo's anonymous meeting

>you start in a tavern that's inside a jail
>you start in a jail that's inside a tavern

Yes, and now you know why people complained about the casting choice, well, add to that the fact that she didn't have a muscle and didn't even train and you have proto-wonder woman.

>So for hulk we're going to pick Michale Cera
>You mean for banner...
>No, for Hulk, he doesn't need to be tall to be able to kick ass, Dex builds are a thing and also there are guns

They meet in the queue while waiting to get their Adventurer's Licence, which they need for permits to carry anything larger than a knife within the city limits.
It also allows them to offset their equipment budget (including spell components), repair bills, medical fees, resurrection insurance premium, etc., against their income for taxation purposes...

>The tavern has a large cell in the cellar where the barkeeper throws people who are too drunk to walk out the door without immediately eating shit
>You all wake up with strong hangovers when (Insert crisis here) happens and wakes you from your mead induced comatose state

Did someone just say a prison with more elder scrolls to it?

>you escape from the tavern only to find that the tavern itself was but a single cell in a giant prison made up entirely of taverns
>you escape the jail only to find that it was merely the holding cell in the cellar of a tavern
>you soon discover that the entire universe is made up wholly of prisons and taverns

...

I like that a lot of games lately have this built in, especially the new edition of unknown armies. The old edition was a lot of "literally how would these people ever come together to form a cohesive group?"

I'm also (hopefully) about to run a CoC campaign that starts with the characters all as in debt opium addicts whose debts are being called in. Seems like a solid framing drvice.

It's one reason I really like a game based around an organization, like delta green, where it gives disparate character types a reason to be working together.

>A bet between the god of machines, the god of madness, the god of drink and the god of justice results in a massive universe that resembles a large hanging storage facility of infinite taverns and prisons of all possible types, and even some that don't

Zombies coming up through the floorboards. Or an explosion. Or a high speed chase. Depends on the tone of the campaign, really.

Just ask your players how their characters met.

easy, "you are all staying at the inn"

>The characters all meet at a crossroads at the same time. The Deity of Chance shackles their fates together.

shit now I gotta find an excuse to start a new campaign

Your characters wake up in straightjackets at the bottom of the well.

Don't forget your uniform.

>the party is sitting around a table in a cozy breakfast nook in some eccentric philosopher's home
>the elderly man smiles warmly as he sets tea and biscuits down in front of each member
>"Now that you're all here, let's get down to business."

>one by one, give each player a mini-session where they are killed by the same knight-general as they try and fail to defend something important to them
>All eventually wake up in Odin's hall as einherjar, even if they normally wouldn't qualify
>A passing Valkyrie explains that they have a once-thought-eradicated defect in their souls, causing resistance to death; basically, they can reconstitute themselves with an act of will
>only weapons made of an exceedingly rare material can actually kill them
>campaign filled with overpowered enemies that need to be fought with actual tactics begins, basically just Dark Souls but in Pathfinder
>Mythic-Epic knight-general constantly at their heels, trying to find out how to permakill them

>party are in a tavern on fire
>players have 3 minutes to escape or die

cringe

I recently saw a Dr. Who episode where they wake up in a heavily guarded complex together with a bunch of bankrobbing specialists, no memory of how they got there, recordings of themselves consenting to the memory wipe, an encrypted messages telling them to rob the complex, and a promise that the vault contains something invaluable for each of them.

Seemed like a good premise for a Shaowrun one-off or something.

This one only works every once in a while but...

> A volley of arrows blots out the light.
> You narrowly dodge blow after blow but your superior skills bests the towering brute infront of you in time to avoid the archer's onslaught.
> Etc. etc.

Bascially put them right in the middle of a fight first thing and make them deal with it. It builds a bond and they already know each other.

The party meets in a library/guardhouse/prison/mansion/brothel/brewery/smithy/tea house/saloon/bank/weapon store/mine/wizard's tower/barn/vault/shrubbery/fishing boat/museum/town hall/hole in the ground.

There are more places in a town than a tavern. Markets, ports, gates, etc. Sure, they might all want to head to a tavern eventually, but at least two PCs met each other on the meanwhile.

Easy. They've all signed up for the same job and are on a transport there.

Sometimes, I have a specific idea, like "you were all brought back to life centuries after your deaths by a magician that wants something from you".
And sometimes I just roll on this table for each of them.

you cheeky cunt, I didn't check the thread to see if someone already posted that

>without it being "you are all in a tavern"?

>pathfinder

dropped

Party travels on same ship that crashes, is attacked or mutiny happens(which inconvinies every player)

Meta-start: party are old, and start remembering their adventures letting you jump from one to another.

Players are in same village. While it is attacked(fucks over them) by neighboring Lord/Necromancer/orc/elves

Players are all gathered in office of governor - he personally requested them due to their skills.

Party are members or military, rebels or other common group.

Each one of them went separately yo explore the ruin or cavern. Now they are stuck.

Tavern gathering - goverment official is reading a request for brave adventurers.

Campfire. By pure coincidence they are all in same caravan. As guards, scholars, hunters, traders, whatever - you don't have to lump them in single job.

One party member lies hurt, other good willing member stumbles upon him, and moves him to the nearby house (belonging to 3rd player) who runs to get a someone with medical skills(4th player) etc.

Party meets at gathering of evil society's fledgling members. They get a common task. Let them cooperate or fight.

Npc does something that makes players all look guilty, and you can hear guards coming.

Players are all summoned to parallel world, mage is pissed, and teenage, because he wanted succubus. Gets punched by ruff member of party.

The party members already know each other from their backstories

That sounds pretty neat. The system is debateable, but the idea is good.

>Wizard is bound and gagged

Pretty useless without your somatic and verbal components aren't you?

Also, why does it have to start with everybody? Why can't it start with a designated person and introduce people throughout session 0?

The PCs all happen to be in the same town/city for whatever reason. Maybe some are just passing through; maybe some of them live there. They all happen to be individually walking down a street or browsing the marketplace when suddenly the town gets attacked. A giant rock/explosion/lightning bolt/fire/etc...causes a nearby tower to collapse and fall towards the players.

After diving out of the way of the collapsing tower, the players find themselves grouped together within 15 feet of one another, with the path behind them blocked. Suddenly, a group of raiders/orcs/gnolls/cultists/beasts/etc appears in front of the players and tries to kill them. Their first mission together is saving the town from said attackers.

Afterwards, you can give one of the players an adventure hook (a mission he/she couldn't do alone) and have him hunt down the rest of the party and band them together, since they worked so well together that first time.

Never change, you glorious son of a bitch.

Beginning of session 0: 'Do we want an overarching goal to the campaign? What are your characters setting out to do?'
End of session 0: 'We've got our characters made - how do you know each other?'

Because that means some of the party gets significantly more attention during the entire session, ending with the "and then there's ___" that would likely happen when you realize you only have about 30 minutes left and haven't gotten through everyone yet. Also, I think it's far more unlikely that the party would conglomerate so conveniently over the course of a single session like some kind of Wizard of Oz story than just having them already being at the same place at the same time.

A non-governmental organization recruits the player characters either by extending a job offer, contacting a religious organization (for dat divine magic), or straight up black-bags people for Reading the Wrong (or right, depending) Books.

>>Meta-start: party are old, and start remembering their adventures letting you jump from one to another.

>Grandpa Korgoth! Grandpa Korgoth! Tell us the rest of the story! About when you were an adventurer!
>Alright, alright. Sit down, both of you. Now where was I... Oh yes. The ogre dodged my blow, swung his mace down onto my head, cracking my skull in half. And then I died.
>What are you saying, Grandpa Korgoth? You died?
>Yes, and some human archer who was a prisoner in the ogre's cave went to replace me.
>But they saved you, right? They brought you back to life?
>Nah. They all died a couple hour later to the ogre and his pet wolves.
>What the hell, Grandpa

I love this idea, but... that's got to make traditional PC death and TPKs awkward.

It's from the perspective of an old narrator fucking with some kids
I love it

Imagine your pc old and telling his grandchildren about that guy moments

>First I stabbed the ranger in the back.
>Then quickly the paladin and warlock.
>I took their share of the treasure, and that's how I could afford this mansion and a title of nobility.

I had the players meet at their exicution for crimes that they may or may not have commited.

Also had them all be guests at the same red wedding once.

>While those idiots ran off into the front lines and got killed, I turned around and went home to have children and ply my trade as a cheesemaker, like a hero!

To be fair, metamagic exists that can mitigate that. Although I've rarely seen wizards prep silent/still spell in any of my games.

I generally just Reservoir Dogs it

>Each member gets hired for a job
>Job goes bad, they have to work together as a team to survive
>form bonds(for the most part)
>continue working together afterwards, either out of necessity or out of said bonds

I generally do Cyberpunk 2020 games but it works well for pretty much anything. Sometimes special accommodations have to be made for certain characters. Like Cops(Who don't want to be undercover and just dirty), Corporates, Media, or Doctors. It works pretty well for Wild West games and a lot better for fantasy.

Sometimes I mix it up tho, depending on the story. My most recent game has a bunch of people of great skill displaced through time by a secret society to serve them, until they're betrayed and killed by one of their own and he just let's the team go free. They don't know this because they've been brain danced with false memories. I have a Master Thief from the 1800s who was found frozen in an iceberg. A drone operator from current day. A PA Pilot from early in the Brushfire Wars. And a helicopter pilot from Vietnam era. All of them almost died and were saved by this Shadowy Organization to do their bidding and help them get to power. The campaign started with them getting assigned to one of their minions to track down the inventor of a super combat drug in the last months of the Brushfire War. They went through a Brain Dance combat simulation to demonstrate their skills to make the cut, but it was actually an Assassin Creed-esque romp through their old memories.

Currently they're (dirty)Cops for NCPD C-Swat, so the campaign has taken pretty big turn.

We were already together at the start.