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YRM_DM
Sergeant
901 Posts
    
 | | 12/08/2006 5:44 AM |
| It's tough to get your PCs hooked at level 1. They're not real familiar with their own PC yet, but they're expected to introduce themselves to a bunch of other PCs who aren't familiar with themselves.
Why should they adventure together?
Why should they care?
Oh no... it's another tavern with one empty table, and, oh no, the mayor is calling for heroes to help stop orc raids. Everyone is looking at the PCs.
Most DMs are beyond something as cliche as what I just described, but, really hooking the PCs in, early on, is something that I don't think you see done well very often.
In my last campaign, the PCs had signed up for a mercenary army (this allowed motives of greed or valor), and I started them out with a drill sergeant-like pep talk where the PCs were picked for a special squad and, initially, forced to work together. (because this is the one thing that most DMs do have to railroad their PCs into)
That was ok. I got them interested quickly, but, I could have done better in hindsight.
Here are some things that I think would kickstart a campaign and hook the players right away.
1 - Criminal gangs/guilds are causing problems in the town, and the townfolk call a meeting. The PCs and some town NPCs are in the meeting.
Try to quickly establish some sympathetic NPCs and have the gangs/guilds hit the meeting, perhaps taking the doors, locking everyone inside, and trying to burn down the building. This fight should happen within the first hour of game play.
The more NPCs that die, the better.
2 - Work with the PCs ahead of time. One of them should post a letter about forming a party to do X, Y, or Z... which leads to a typical meeting somewhere.
But work with one or two of the other PCs ahead of time, and have them start out with a different character than the one they actually want to play.
Some unknown (to this point) enemy assassin hits the meeting. He's going to be tough enough to virtually guarantee kills, and you use him to kill the PC that had another PC set aside. Once that PC is dead, the town guard show up, and the NPC bolts.
You still do all the rolls and such, but, at low levels, it's very, very easy to design an encounter where you can predict the outcome.
At this point, the PCs do not HAVE to find out who that assassin was, or get revenge, or react. But if done properly, the surviving PCs will have a common cause to work against within the first half hour of play.
3 - Another way to start a session might be to tell one of the PCs that he wakes up to the sound of battle, and realizes he was part of a caravan, and he was knocked out briefly (stunned). The PC looks around and sees dead caravaners everywhere, but several figures are still fighting, he'd seen these people in the caravan, but hadn't known them.
At this point you get initiative, and you have all the PCs, and a few NPCs in combat (probably vs something that doesn't hit hard, but lots of them... like goblins or kobolds). An evil looking commander standing in the distance retreats away when the battle goes against his forces.
This starts a campaign with action within the first five minutes.
After the battle, the PCs are free to investigate the attack, proceed to town, etc. Try to put some clues and hooks in any direction. If it doesn't seem like they care enough yet, have a small, but similar group ambush the PCs in town.
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Everyone knows how to push their player's buttons. I know that if I start off every session with heavy roleplay that leads to combat, it gets predictable and boring.
I do like to have action within the first hour of a session, even if it's just something small. This gets my players focused.
You can't do the same thing every time, but, ultimately, if you know what gets to your players, and you set up a plan that tries to achieve that, when your plans work, the PCs are hooked, and when they don't (due to dice or PC tactics) the PCs feel successful.
I love hearing different ideas about how a DM started a campaign. This is the one area where more railroading is acceptable, since it's mostly the DM's job to start the momentum in a certain direction, and the PCs can help guide it more and more from that point forward.
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Completed good trades with Demagogue, PigSnot, DoB, and Alepulp.
I know you can hear MY thoughts... Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow... | |
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Zoons
Underboss
1028 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 6:38 AM |
| | This is always a tough one to start with. If you're running a homegrown campaign, and let your characters develop their own background, they can be too diverse to mesh nicely (into the story that is). Fortunately, many PCs are willing to suspend their disbelief for integration into the story and begin at whatever point the DM suggests, and react to whatever circumstances they begin in. | |
Never teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and it annoys the pig.
Champion of the Blink Dog. | |
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Snappa
Sneak
77 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 6:42 AM |
| My players are fond of starting a campaign already knowing each other. For Red Hand of Doom, they were all members of the same unit in a mercenary company hired by the lord of the region to look into a growing humanoid threat. Prior to that, in a homebrew campaign, the original 3 players played members of the same religious organization who had just 'graduated' from their training and were sent out together to seek further life experiences in the name of their god.
I thought the hook to bring the characters together in the new Dungeon adventure path The Savage Tide was pretty clever. During character creation, the DM asks each character to detail some act they performed recently which could have attracted some attention in the city and marked them as heroes or adventurers. Then, each of the characters receive a letter from a noblewoman which praises them for the deed they performed and asks them to meet for dinner in order to discuss a job opportunity. Presto, you have put the characters into a stereotypical 'thrown together' situation in a non-stereotypical way.
One of my long-running 2nd edition campaigns began with the characters' village being attacked and overrun by a vastly superior force. The 1st level pcs quickly saw they were overmatched when the highest lvl NPC in town (and the PC wizard's mentor) was struck down by a single spell by one of the invaders. They were forced to flee, spent the next few sessions dodging the outriders sent to look for them, and then the rest of the campaign consisted of them getting powerful enough to go back and liberate their families and friends.
I also am pained to admit I have used the group-amnesia route, with the party coming to their senses along the road, with no recollection of how they got there, or anything else from their past. They have a faint recollection of each other, but that is limited to their names and professions, and the fact that they have obviously traveled together for some time.
I think the tone and theme of the campaign is important when planning the initial introduction to the campaign. If it's to be an epic fantasy search for a lost artifact, beginning the session with a stirring epic poem or story read aloud to the PCs which foreshadows the story to them ahead of time may be more important than how the characters get together. Likewise, if you're shooting for a campaign of Machiavellian politics mixed with Lovecraftian horror, you may want to work with each player on their own background and how they fit into the story, and only then introduce them to each other, keeping each character's background secret from the others until they choose to share it.
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thekidxii
Sergeant
367 Posts
No Yack. I said.. we need a DM not BM!
| | 12/08/2006 7:39 AM |
| All I can say is WOW! As an old(1st/2nd ed) player just getting back into things, I personally don't mind being rail-roaded in the DM preferred direction.(espesially in a short module) That said, I would LOVE to have had a DM who cared engouh to think it mattered to me. Any DM putting that much into a "hook" would be a blast to game with!
Wind me up and watch me go, as it were...I can figure it out when the DM needs/wants the players to go a certain way, and don't mind at all. (call me easy, but you gotta buy me a drink too  ) | |
Champion of the dire hippo.
Audi Vide Tace
"Nothing matters but the weekend, From a Tuesday point of view" -Diamond & Zero | |
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YRM_DM
Sergeant
901 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 8:21 AM |
| | We have beer at our sessions usually... generally something good & rich. | |
Completed good trades with Demagogue, PigSnot, DoB, and Alepulp.
I know you can hear MY thoughts... Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow... | |
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 12/08/2006 12:40 PM |
| Beer's a good one, gotta remember that.
Most of the time the PCs will have a couple of conections based on their background, like a couple have grown up together, went to school, etc. The best I've seen is in the Ptolus campaign I'm in, where there actually is an adventurers guild so people can come together not knowing each other looking for a group to dungeon delve with.
But I still miss the calssic of the old mage sends you a message while you are in a tavern.  | |
Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
Champion of Radiant Sevant | |
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IanB
Commander
3112 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 2:37 PM |
| One of my current games is basically the exact same setup that you describe with the mercenary company, etc. And I thought I was being clever!
One I've always wanted to do is start the characters all standing on a gallows together for the opening scene. | |
Anson on WotC boards | |
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Oryan77
Sergeant
951 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 3:27 PM |
| I will sometimes play each PC in a solo game first, or play 2 PC's together before joining in the rest. This is always fun to do because it makes them feel more special when they meet the new PC's and each guy already has his own backstory that's related to the current plot and they can share it with the others.
One example I did was in Sunless Citadel. One PC already went into the first couple of rooms in the dungeon with some NPC backup. During a different session, 1 other PC & his NPC buddy got attacked by raiders while camping. The NPC died and the PC was left alone to continue travelling down the road. This was when he met PC #3 who was working with a merchant in the nearby town. They were just coming back from a trip on their wagon when it was attacked by another group of raiders. PC #2 walked upon the battle and helped save PC #3 & the merchant.
At the next session where all the players would play together, PC's #2 & #3 arrived back into town. Another NPC hired them both to escort her through the Sunless Citadel (I stuck a portal at the end of it in order to begin my Planescape planehopping campaign). Once inside the Citadel, the PC's found signs of other people down there. They eventually ran upon PC #1 who's NPC buddies just died. They explored the citadel together until the NPC who hired them pissed them off and they attacked her. She escaped, and at the end of the adventure they chased her into the portal which began my planar game.
After losing player & player due to life getting in the way of gaming, and meeting new players who didn't work out and they quit, I got tired of taking the time to come up with elaborate PC meetings. I came up with no less than 12 different scenarios for 12 different players. I just told my current group straight up that they already knew each other and they are being hired to do this mission. It sucked, but they didn't care. I just wanted to get on with the meat of the adventure for once
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YRM_DM
Sergeant
901 Posts
| | 12/08/2006 9:13 PM |
| The one thing I did mix in, last time, to the mercenary army setup, was that each player came up with their PC privately, and I told each one that they had the option, if they chose, of being an evil PC.
If they were evil, they had to play it with some depth, and could game with the group indefinitely, OR, they could work with me, behind the screens, to betray the group by level 4-5, at which point, they'd roll a new PC with no level penalty. (because, I discussed with them that I wouldn't provide the minion resources they needed to successfully win against the party, but would rather be a typical encounter, but they'd run their PC as a foe).
Well, nobody chose to play the evil character, even after several of them were on the fence.
However, one of my better role players played a Tiefling Rogue/Swashbuckler (though none of them had to share their PC traits that weren't visible, and his Tiefling traits were covered by clothing).
He played on the fact that the other players knew that everyone had a chance to pick an evil character, and they knew what I had said to them, if they were considering it... so, initially, the group played together, but didn't trust each other yet.
The Aasimar Favored Soul of Lathander became more and more suspicious of the Tiefling, but, if a PC wrote a character history, I granted them a DM boon, like a feat.
The Tiefling gained DR 2 vs Silver, and Spell Resistance vs Alignment Detection Spells only.
Anyway, the Tiefling did things to mess with the Aasimar's head, and never came out and admitted he was actually Chaotic Good.
During a sequence where the party had been captured by the Cult of the Dragon.
(you can see the building with the link below)
Cult Stronghold
The Aasimar was going to have his hand cut off if nobody stepped forward with information for the Cultists. The Tiefling stepped forward, and was dragged away.
When the Tiefling was returned to the cell, it was actually a disguised cultist assisted by illusionary spells.
My player loved the idea of playing along with this, I didn't deny him EXP for battles he fought with the party as a disguised cultist. The Cultist was there to learn more about the party's plans and about the local government, but, when the PCs escaped, the Cultist went with them to the basement (their gear was stored there, revealed to them by a Cult Guard who'd been blackmailed into the Cult).
Anyway, the actual Tiefling was tied up behind a door with a small window in the dungeon area, so, he could see the fight to retrieve the gear, but not communicate.
During a moderate difficulty battle, the cultist, a low level sorcerer, fired magic missiles at the Aasimar.
Now, the Aasimar player is 13, (son of a fellow player) and he didn't think about the fact that this Tiefling he didn't trust had never displayed signs of magic before. He shouted, "I knew it!" and on his turn, attacked the Tiefling with lethality.
Once the deception was revealed, there was an awkward silence as the Tiefling, who had sacrificed himself to torture and solitary imprisonment for the Aasimar, was rescued and revealed that he "Saw everything."
The rest of the party had judged the Tiefling by his concrete actions, not by any shifty, but harmless behavior or his ancestry. But the Aasimar Favored Soul of the God of Renewal and Redemption didn't give the Tiefling much of a chance.
I had the Aasimar run a solo quest (he missed a group adventure anyway), where he sort of atoned for his actions and saw the truth of the Tiefling's childhood. Now, 4 levels later, the two get along fine and trust one another.
The bonds that the players have to their PCs and each other keep being further cemented as they face a wide variety of crafty and undermining foes.
The PCs are actually stewards of that keep pictured in the above link now. They have a lot of local power, but are reminded fairly often that there are lots of things in Faerun that they can not kick in the door and kill. (Now that they're wandering around Maladomini, there's a real fear that some or all of them will die and lose their PCs... I'm not going out of my way for that to happen, but, if it does, it does... and if they get through it, the group will be even tighter).
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Completed good trades with Demagogue, PigSnot, DoB, and Alepulp.
I know you can hear MY thoughts... Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow... | |
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Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 12/09/2006 9:18 AM |
| For my main current campaign, i wrote a 40-page introduction in which there was a chapter devoted to each of the five initial PCs, plus an intro and a conclusion. Some chapters further included some of the other PCs as third-person outsiders (i.e. the stories crossed at some point). I did this after having asked each player to prepare a background for his PC, so i incorporated the background into the story too without revealing key information to the other players however.
Essentially, the PCs all lived in or arrived to a village that was attacked and overrun by lizard folk commanded by minotaurs and dark elves. By the end of the story, half of the village folk have been killed, and the other half, taken prisoner (save a few rare that escaped). The PCs end up together in a rollable cage that leaves the village: the lizard folk's payment is slaves. So all the PCs, plus one NPC, are tied up in the cage, save for the rogue PC who found a way to hide and get away: he's under the cage. That's how it all started.
Sky | |
The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
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Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 12/09/2006 9:19 AM |
| Posted By Oryan77 on 12/08/2006 3:27 PM
I will sometimes play each PC in a solo game first, or play 2 PC's together before joining in the rest. This is always fun to do because it makes them feel more special when they meet the new PC's and each guy already has his own backstory that's related to the current plot and they can share it with the others.
That's a pretty neat idea. I'll have to remember that for future reference.
Sky
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The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 12/09/2006 11:21 AM |
| Posted By Skyscraper on 12/09/2006 9:18 AM
For my main current campaign, i wrote a 40-page introduction in which there was a chapter devoted to each of the five initial PCs, plus an intro and a conclusion. Some chapters further included some of the other PCs as third-person outsiders (i.e. the stories crossed at some point). I did this after having asked each player to prepare a background for his PC, so i incorporated the background into the story too without revealing key information to the other players however.
Wow. That's an impressive amount of work for just essentially the first hour or so of the game. Your players are lucky that you went this far. In retrospect, do you feel the result of this was worth this amount of work?
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Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
Champion of Radiant Sevant | |
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maijstral
Underboss
2105 Posts
| | 12/09/2006 12:33 PM |
| one campaign I started had the players wake up on a beach surrounded but dead bodies and the wreckage of a ship. It beacame quickly apparent they had no memory of the last 18 months,everybody they knew or loved thought they were dead or turned traitor and someone,or group,was hunting them. They banded together out of necessity and formed the group for mutual protection and to find out what happened to them.
Another adventure started with half the characters as caravan guards and the other half as convicted criminals on there way to a forced labor camp. The caravan was ambushed by an overwhelming force,much bigger than the apparent worth of the caravan, and the ensuing confusion the criminals tried to escape but the PC criminals decided to help the guards being slaughtered especially since the raiders were killing everyone including the prisoners, except one in a heavily guarded massive locked wagon seperated from the rest. The end result being the prisoner escaped and most of the caravan guards and passengers were killed the PC's were charged with getting the escaped criminal back and stopping his band. In return they would be pardoned for all past crimes the guard PC were sent to make sure they did the job. | | | |
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Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 12/10/2006 10:57 AM |
| Posted By gss_000 on 12/09/2006 11:21 AM Posted By Skyscraper on 12/09/2006 9:18 AM
For my main current campaign, i wrote a 40-page introduction in which there was a chapter devoted to each of the five initial PCs, plus an intro and a conclusion. Some chapters further included some of the other PCs as third-person outsiders (i.e. the stories crossed at some point). I did this after having asked each player to prepare a background for his PC, so i incorporated the background into the story too without revealing key information to the other players however.
Wow. That's an impressive amount of work for just essentially the first hour or so of the game. Your players are lucky that you went this far. In retrospect, do you feel the result of this was worth this amount of work?
It took a considerable amount of time to write, but i liked writing the story anyway, it was fun.
So yes, it was worth it. Even if the campaign had never played out, i still would reply the same thing, since i enjoyed writing that story. For me, that was not work.
I feel that every DM brings in some of his own personal talents to the table (players too, but in a different manner). Some DMs are very handy and build neat terrain - which i don't do, some have loads of history and sigils and home-made insignias to identify houses - not me either. In my case, i like to bring some occasional literary support, with the main portion being the introductory story up to now. But i send occasional pieces by email, a poem or a story by one of the NPCs, etc...
Sky | |
The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 12/10/2006 4:22 PM |
| | Cool. I had (have) a DM like that who also is very literary. It does add something to campaigns and I bet your players step up their game because of it. Glad you had fun and it went over well. | |
Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
Champion of Radiant Sevant | |
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zenthrus
Commander
4647 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 12/11/2006 1:13 PM |
| Posted By IanB on 12/08/2006 2:37 PM
One of my current games is basically the exact same setup that you describe with the mercenary company, etc. And I thought I was being clever!
One I've always wanted to do is start the characters all standing on a gallows together for the opening scene. One of my players who occasionally DMs always starts his campaigns out with the mercenary company scenario 
I'm stealing the 'characters all standing on a gallows together" opener. That's a great way to build party unity (we're all equally screwed, now what can be done to remedy it).
One of the most successful campaign starts that I've run was a high-stakes (50gp for 1st-level characters is high-stakes) game of Three Dragon Ante. Physically playing the game helped put everyone into character and it was a good chance to sort out some character details (who cracks under pressure, who tries to cheat, etc) and provided a great opportunity for PCs to be talking to each other.
I've used a variety of openers to bring the party together (at least initially). Sometimes they're each looking for an object in the same region (sometimes the same object, othertimes different objects in the same 'dungeon'). Sometimes I've started them out as pages/squires in service to knights who send them on a joint errand. Sometimes the old wizard in the tavern approach is just fine.
Many successful openers have begun by using racial hooks. The dwarf in the party had recently fallen out of clan favor and was thus sent to locate a lost/mythical cache of dwarven weapons. The elf in the party had recently fallen out of favor for being a pompous pomp and was sent out into the world to learn some perspective (given the task of tracking down proof of the existence of an obscure cult).
Overall, I think I prefer that characters don't know each other before the campaign starts and that there's a somewhat plausible reason for them to be drawn together to work towards a common (or at least compatible) cause.
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Knight Warlord a.k.a. Commander (#32) in only 6 months. Where's my pie?
Champion of Dwarven Thunderlashers
Knight of the Large Dire Chicken
Have/Want List
Trade References | |
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YRM_DM
Sergeant
901 Posts
| | 12/11/2006 5:53 PM |
| Why not take a cliche opening, but then spice it up with a heavy dose of early violence?
"You walk into an inn... there's only one table left, and the innkeeper puts you at a table with... (introduce other PCs)..."
(you set up an inn on your dry erase grid or with tiles or master maze, and fill it with patrons)
Describe some of the other patrons in the room, and have the PCs talk. While they're talking, have them give you the next 4 initiative rolls for their character (just so you don't have to roll them later you say).
While PCs are talking, quietly roll up listen checks, w penalty for distance and noise... pass a note to successful PCs ("You hear some loud shouting outside")
The door to the inn splinters inward as a dead Town Guard flies through the door and into a table.
Two Ogres, armed with weapons and bearing a strange symbol on their hide armor, charge into the room and begin killing everyone in reach...
This gives the PCs some time to wear the Ogres down, and there'd be other low level NPCs involved to eat up the Ogre's AoOs.
Kill as many NPCs as possible, and, don't worry about it if you drop a PC into the negatives. The ogres will die by the PC's hands or run when more town guards come.
The innkeeper is weeping and sobbing behind the bar, "I should have just paid them! It was extortion, but I should have just paid..."
Chances are, the PCs are fully hooked for 2-3 sessions, much more than they'd have been hooked by a sign tacked to a pole. (even better, work with a trusted PC to start with his 2nd favorite PC concept, and make sure you focus enough effort on that PC to take him out... what an impression on the rest of the group!)
Still, the PCs can proceed in two ways... they can try to find out who the innkeeper didn't pay extortion to and go that route, or they can follow leads back to the caves where such ogres (or orcs) may have been recruited.
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Completed good trades with Demagogue, PigSnot, DoB, and Alepulp.
I know you can hear MY thoughts... Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow... | |
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gss_000
Commander
3204 Posts
Baltimore, MD
| | 12/11/2006 6:26 PM |
| There was an Living Greyhawk that started like this. From a friend who played it, he said it was a blast.
I also played a variation of this. Instead of a tavern, half the PCs were "graduating" from training in an organization and the others were low level employees. During the ceremonies, the PCs get jumped by eco-terrorists upset at the organization's mining of the planet's special resource that was used to power steam-punk tech. This was more interesting than the tavern. | |
Completed trades: blackthorne, Drakkengi,Thorgrin, Ironfist Boulderbender x2, ckissee, nasamonkey, Username, Star, Ace13 x3, emontedodger x2, Drconveyor, church, Joeyb, Sir Bozak The Damned, Xeromod, the other guy x2, Qucalion of Celene, Dagaron x2, berus316, qillan_dvra, AshloreDarkShadow
For further info go to My Reference Thread and Trade Interface
Champion of Radiant Sevant | |
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