Let's begin at the beginning with...
And that makes me think...how do you begin campaigns?
You all meet in a bar
All of us involved in the RPG hobby have started a campaign...somewhere. That is to say, every RPG campaign and one-shot has a beginning, a first scene, an opening sequence as it were.
The most common way to get started, to the point of it being cliche, is to have the Player Character group meet in a tavern or spaceport bar. Very likely they'll be approached by a mysterious wizard or wealthy patron looking to hire someone embark on a perilous adventure.
As they say, cliches are cliches for a reason. The most common reason is that they have been enacted over and over across a vast stretch of time. Meeting in a bar isn't what every Gamemaster does every time (except maybe D&D Dungeonmasters - Ha! I kid, I kid) but it was used as an introduction enough times by enough people that it became the go to, almost assumed, beginning for a vast number of RPG campaigns.
Even so, we can definitely use to shake things up a bit.
Avengers Assemble
Sometimes the PCs are brought together by an outside individual or organization. Perhaps a top ranking government agent puts the team together. Maybe they are summoned into the presence of a magical or cosmic entity who has chosen the PCs to save the world/galaxy/universe. What if the first session is simply the latest assignment given to the Player Characters who all work for a vast network of operatives and this is just the first time this group has worked together.
Starfleet Officers meet in their campaign's first session when they're assigned to the same ship. The Watcher intervenes by assembling a group of Superheroes from across space and time in order to stop a threat to Earth 616. A Megacorporate Fixer calls upon his closest contacts - the PCs - to perform a particularly difficult and extremely profitable run.
En Media Res
Perhaps my favorite way to begin a campaign is right in the middle of the action. This one can be tricky if your players aren't adept at 'going with the flow' and the improv technique known as 'yes and'. When you drop the party into a later chapter of the story at the very start, they need to be flexible and adaptive enough to be OK with not knowing what happened in the earlier chapters. That and/or they need to know how to work with the GM and each other to establish what happened before as they play. A third option is to not worry about what came before at all and just treat the moment as yet another in the life of these characters.
What's interesting about this sort opening is that the characters are assumed to already know each other. In a sense, these PCs never 'meet' but have known each other for a long time. Basically they met offscreen some time in the past and are depicted as friends and allies from the get go.
Forged in Fire
I thought I'd point this one out as I've used it a few times to great success. This idea can easily cross over with the previous two approaches but I felt it deserved its own write-up.
In a 'Forged in Fire' opener, the PCs are forced to gather to survive under some sort of stress or duress. Things may actually begin calmly enough but at some point a cataclysm strikes and the PCs, as survivors, must team up to get out alive. The PCs may be connected to each other in some way beyond dealing with the tragedy of course.
Imagine the PCs are all prisoners being transported to a prison or penal colony. Maybe they are indeed criminals or perhaps they are good guys captured by an evil government or villainous organization. On route to its destination, the prisoner transport is damaged and the PCs must escape before the transport is completely destroyed. Maybe they are on a spaceship and it was fired upon by Rebels or Pirates. The ship is now out of control and careening toward a planet or star. Maybe they are on a seagoing vessel that struck rocks or it was attacked by a sea monster.
I remember one game where the PCs were soldiers on a battlefield under bombardment by enemy forces. While none of the PCs knew each other (coming from different units on the same mission) they were all there for the same reason. Now they were also all there to save their allies and get themselves out of the situation.
Anyway, just some ideas on how to begin a game a little differently than meeting in a bar. Though every once in a while, bring that back just to shake things up after numerous alternatives. It will seem fresh or at the very least give the veteran players a nostalgic feeling.
What were some interesting beginnings to campaigns you've played or ran?
AD
Barking Alien
BONUS FEATURE: Day 1 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:
No idea. Possibly the Japanese TRPG 'Mamono Scramble' but I'm not positive that wasn't December of last year. Haven't bought much new in a while other than that.
Such a thought provoking question. *Eyeroll*
"Imagine the PCs are all prisoners being transported to a prison or penal colony. Maybe they are indeed criminals or perhaps they are good guys captured by an evil government or villainous organization."
ReplyDeleteExactly how the main characters in Blake's 7 get acquainted.
These are all great ideas.