You All Meet in an Inn...

[zeone3000]

What's your favorite way or most memorable means to gather a group of characters for an adventure? Do you like getting the together all at once or a little one-shot for each of them? Gathering some Intel before I kickoff my next one.

[hakootoko]

My favorite way is for the PCs to have known each other before the game begins.

 

My most memorable is "You all wake up tied to chairs..."

[cailano]

I’ve done the meet at the inn opening before, which can work well depending on the group. My favorite, especially in PbP, is to write down a couple of paragraphs about how they met, and start the game at the door to a dungeon. It saves weeks of IRL posts about what sort of drinks everyone is ordering.

[yxanthymir]

1 hour ago, hakootoko said:

My favorite way is for the PCs to have known each other before the game begins.

It is mine also.

 

The most memorable is when there is a shock value right from the start, like a hanging of old friend or the assassination of your recruiter right at the first scene.

[iantruesilver]

Depending on the group and the storyline involved, I've found that the effectiveness of various methods will change.

 

In my two current running games, I've started one off with a quick call to action after a short meeting in a tavern; and the other I started in media res with the group as captives in a cult lair, after a special "dream state" encounter I concocted to briefly foreshadow some lv 20 awesomeness.

 

Whichever way the initial parts is done, I do think it's important to instil a sense of purpose in the group, that seems to me like a good way to encourage them to organically produce the "glue" they need to draw them together and propel them forward.

[Malkavian Grin]

I like a combination but I prefer if the characters have a bit of backstory with each other. They just completed one previous adventure together (kind of like how Fate does it during character creation) but still don't really truly know each other. I start with them in an inn-like situation, whether that's a literal tavern or a headquarters or a vehicle, and then start the adventure media res style; the wall explodes from a rocket or an earthquake shakes the building apart due to a low-orbit object in the sky or a gang of motorcycles opens fire on the car for no apparent reason. From there I work backword; why target those PCs? Do they have a thing someone wants? Does one of them have a rival? Are they the chosen ones that don't know it yet?

I tend to run that opening scene like a mini-adventure that often has nothing to do with the the next one. It's just impetus to get the story moving forward and give people something to react to. Once their blood is pumping, then you hit 'em with the real adventure.

I really like the way the Mörk Borg adventure Vaults of Torment opens up--you are snatched up on false charges, taken before a corrupt king, poisoned, and sent into a prison with "no escape" and must figure out what to do. It's a little bit of sandbox and a little bit of predetermined adventure--but now everyone has at least one big main goal in common: escape!

In general, I prefer the in media res style of beginnings that really throw people together whether they want to be or not. Come together or don't survive.