>The party meets in a dark corner of the local tavern I seriously

>>44834066
There are worse ways, especially with a newbie gm/players. Simple and decently effective, so long as you can segue into the plot quickly.

>>44834066
Is a bright corner okay?

>>44834066
That's fucking dumb, OP.

How could the whole party fit in the dark corner when my GMPC is already sitting there?

>>44834066
All taverns should be well lit and round

>>44834066
I have started countless real-life adventures with complete strangers in a pub.

>>44834066
Of course not. No clear lighting means fire exists and posted emergency procedures won't be clearly visible. Fire safety is no joke.

File: 1351206866885.png (219KB, 471x361px) Image search: [Google]

219KB, 471x361px

>>44834066
>Doing anything ironically

>>44834066
>the hacker party meets on a node of the local dark net

>>44834066
>not having all the party in different shadowy corners
>not having the first plot hook being them all getting accosted by the lurkers guild for being freelancers

>>44834066
>The party meets in a dark corner of the local brothel

Better?

File: 1441658909689.png (201KB, 603x895px) Image search: [Google]

201KB, 603x895px

>>44834078

No. They must meet at the brightly lit center of the circular room the alcholic anonymous meeting hired for the evening

File: 1390004967069.png (53KB, 625x626px) Image search: [Google]

53KB, 625x626px

>>44834275
>The elf rogue is a prostitute
>The bard is a pimp
>The fighter is a bouncer
>The cleric specializes in STD removal

In every larger city there is a tavern belonging to a franchise started by a party of retired adventurers. Every tavern is always called "The Dark Corner" and is unofficially recognized as the go-to place for hiring mercenaries or finding adventuring job.

>>44834275
>brothel having dark corners
>not having secluded but brightly lit areas that are separated from the rest of the brothel by curtains and/or low walls.
What a low rent dump, first quest must surely be to escape without being seen in such an unrefined establishment and go to a better brothel.

>>44834066

>The party meets in a jimjilbang.

File: 1398934426319.png (48KB, 656x734px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 656x734px

>>44834405
>14 AD
>Not meeting in a bathhouse

File: thermae_romae-06-lucius-marcus-onsen-hot_springs-bath-romans-steam.jpg (142KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 1280x720px

>>44834405
>>44834418
Meeting in an Onsen is clearly the best option.

>>44834418
I actually, seriously, want to do that at some point. But I'd have to find the right players.
I really want to get the group I played with in Seoul back together. There's nothing like playing D&D in a bar with a Korean guy, an Irish guy, an Australian guy, and their Korean girlfriends.

But now those days are behind me and I'm living in Madison WI, where you have to sign up for a fucking raffle just to join a group with a bunch of clueless millenials that have never been outside the country but think they know everything because they live their lives on the internet.

>>44834318
This.

Guild of Whores is really letting its standards slip.

>>44834443

It'd be a great way to kick off a Shadowrun campaign, with everybody unarmed with their cyberware and tattoos in full view.

>>44834289
This is genius.

>>44834548
>>44834289
'Yo, I've heard about "Tail-to-Tooth" ratio, but that's just ridiculous. You got a support crew of three for only one ho'.

>>44834479
Can't a shadowrunner have no piercings and tatoos at all?

>>44834570

One ho', three holes.

>>44834609
Sure, if they really don't want the yakuza or the orc gangers to take them seriously.

File: 165498651461.jpg (262KB, 600x650px) Image search: [Google]

262KB, 600x650px

>>44834635
It's fine, talk is cheap anyway.

>>44834405
>The fixer is called 'Jimjilbang Jimmy'.

>>44834066
>You guys all meet in a dark corner of-
>"I set it on fire."
>"How?"
>"I bought like, six flit and tinders."
>"Okay roll to-"
>"Hang on I can just cast fireball"
>"No don't do that, we'll all die. Just cast MAGIC MISSILE AT THE DARKNESS!!!"
>"lol"
>"lol"
>"Goddamit guys, okay, so, this old man comes up to you-"
>"Rolling to pickpocket - natural 20! I steal his pants."

>>44834731

What is the problem with this? Sounds like you have a good and light-hearted group and you have a metal railroad track up your DM ass.

>>44834751

The old man's pants were to turn out to be the only thing containing the ancient evil.

So now everyone's got to roll for initiative against LAVOS at lvl. 3.

>>44834751
Because that game will grind to a halt the moment the players run out of randumb things to do and references to quote, and it it will shit on the work DM did and on the fun of every other player who happened to want a more serious game.

File: bf0dc664686367c9f60ecd847e933633.png (753KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

753KB, 1000x1000px

The last campaign I started began in a major plaza of a capital city.

Despite me not having alluded to any tavern (or other form of drinking establishment), the first thing that the party did was seek out a tavern anyway.

Is this normal?

>>44834891
If you were gming for me, I'd want to get drunk as soon as possible too.

>>44834909
Pls no bully.

>>44834891
People have internalized the cliche.

Though its a pretty in-character thing for a party of travellers to do, go to a tavern to eat/drink while they discuss things or whatever/

>>44834891
Here's the thing.
You could stand around in a noisy place and getting pickpocketed while you talk business.
Or you could sit down with a nice beer.

>>44834934
ain't bully if it's the truth

Where else are you going to hang out? in the gutter?
Most medieval towns do not have a sewer or a nice little park.
So excuse me for wanting to sit somewhere nice.

And maybe I am not sitting in a corner, because i'm super dark and kewl, but maybe I have thing called mercenary-client confidentiality and I dont want the world know about my business.

>>44834066
My current campaign had players meet at a murder site. The ones I'm playing in had us return the the aftermath of a monsterattack and at an execution.

Thing is, many players like taverns, just as they like nice bars in real life, and they happen to be a good place to meet. It is nice to have your characters spend some time having fun at a tavern before or after an adventure, as well. Making it the crucible of every plot hook is naive and soon gets boring, but taverns in general are a nice, comfortable cliché.

>>44834635
>>44834609
Just play a mage or an adept, or a shaman.

Cyberwear interferes with the flow of essence and hampers your abilities. On top of that, your body is a temple and you treat it as such.

>tfw you will never play a manly physical adept specialising in pankration and dedicated to keeping himself looking like a Greek statue

>>44835461
Tattoos should cause minor essence loss

>>44835480
It's so little that it's barely even able to be registered. I wouldn't worry about it. In fact, there's probably some tattoos that HELP essence flow, like feng shui for your body.

>>44835524
Can confirm. Magical foci can be tattoos. Tattoos in general have a long standing history with the occult

>>44834066
last campaign I ran started with the party already good friends in a local tavern, having a party

But everything changed when the elves attacked

>>44834570
>the elf rogue prostitute is in fact three halfling prostitutes

>>44834066
I ran my first game recently, and it technically started in a tavern... But only as I described how the effects of the war meant a drunk couldn't get the kind of mead he wanted, kicking off a bar brawl, which ended with everyone involved being thrown in the local jail to cool off.

The next morning, I had them introduce their characters as the guard took their names and let them go, telling them to go see how they could pay back the barman for the damage. Bam; introduction, foreshadowing of effects of the war, a reoccurring enemy (The gang that started the bar fight), and a plot hook/motivation. I think I did pretty good, right?

Plus it was an Elder Scrolls campaign, so starting anywhere but prison just wouldn't be right.

>>44834066
What if I do, dork? Huh? What are you gonna do about it? Nothing. Because you can't. Just one more thing to add to your ever growing list of failures.

>>44837661

>each has a different specialisation
>the middle one's is mostly belly dancing

File: costanzabelittles.jpg (7KB, 250x250px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 250x250px

>the party starts off in a prison cell

File: 1409427781913.jpg (7KB, 263x208px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 263x208px

>>44841318
>Their starting gear is conveniently located between their cell and the exit

>>44834066
Nah. We prefer the center table. More room for the orc to order huge feasts and closer to the kegs we drain.

>>44834066
>The party meets in the corner of a local tavern
>Only place to sit
>It's freezing outside due to the magical winter put upon the land by the Witch of the Mountain
>Better stop her, eh?

>>44834080

I actually did this in the generic starting tavern for a campaign. Taverns in that country followed a similar trend in design, and it was eventually revealed that it was a conscious choice by tavern owners in order to discourage bands of adventurers meeting up within their establishments. Questing parties were classically so obnoxious and distracting to have in public establishments where many people just wanted to have a drink and eat a meal that they were forcibly phased out in much the same way that smokers have been in modern restaurants.

I did once. But the players explicitly told me that they wanted an extremely generic dnd game, so blame them.

>>44834066
I did it, but the tavern was in freefall at the time so it was ok.

Everything starts better in media res and in freefall.

THINK FAST!

>>44842031
So, how did they end up in that wacky situation, anon?

>>44835461
There's a JoJo reference to be made somewhere in this post.

>>44842752
The tavern was in a city, and no-one noticed a giant beanstalk growing up under it, and then falling off.

My games tend to be a bit otherworldy.