DnD 5e. To DM's or knowledgeable players, I'm having

Talk to your players. Tell them how you'd like them to start it and give them the challenge of coming up with a (simple) reason their character is there.

You don't even need to go into too much detail. Hell, pull a leaf from the Elder Scrolls games and say "Your character is in the dungeon beneath a baron's keep. Tell me what they did to get thrown in there."

>>50418499
Have some players consolidate their starting stories if they are at all comparable. Maybe two or three of the like minded characters already formed a group, that can then be used to further rope in other characters. For instance if you have a few left over characters you can give them their own sort of solo start, and then use their backstory/motivation to create a hook that can draw them to the party. Maybe the avarice consumed thief joins the party because he sees them bragging about how much money they made off the last job while they are at a shop, or something along those lines. Since characters usually want to get into a party even if you don't pull it off perfect they'll probably cooperate to the best of their ability.

I'm not a DM or very good at story crafting, but that is how I imagine you'd want to go about it.

>>50418499
They're all captured by X.
They're all known for something that makes the quest giver contact each of them.
They are fighting on the same side of a war.
They are the members of a mercenary gang masked as a musical band
etc

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They're all conscripted into the same "volunteer" regiment.

They're all staying at the same inn the night the Pixie Mafia burn it down for underpayment of protection money.

They're all independently given the same quest because the old man who sent them has dementia. The quest in question was completed decades ago.

They're all lined up outside your mom's room at the brothel when the authorities arrive to shut it down for being an affront unto morality.

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In most cases I would say create joined backstories where possible. Otherwise, pull something out your arse.

>Your characters find shelter from a particularly vicious storm. You soon find this cave is not as empty as you thought.

> The town is under attack by pirates/bandits/the local tyrant. Band together with the local militia to evacuate/fight back.

> Each of you wakes up bleary eyed and nauseous and with no memory of the night before. The town casts dirty looks and whispers as you pass by. Roll to see what snippets you can remember.

> Today is the annual farmer's market. Roll to see who can eat the most pies. Also stop the goblins trying to steal the cows. (If nobody throws a pie ditch that group).

>The city guardsmen are investigating the cause of a violent murder in broad daylight. Since the whole group is carrying a suspicious number of weapons and/or magical foci they're taken in for questioning.

> From across the town you see black clouds rising into the sky: a group of barbarians are setting the village alight. Fend them off before they reduce the whole town to rubble/join in on the looting you edgy shit.

Depending on your DMing style you may want to write a handful of things like this down, or if you feel more comfortable just come up with one on the spot. Don't be afraid to get a bit outlandish, as players have a helpful tendency to make their own fun out of any situation. Trust me your instincts are 100% spot-on, taverns are boring as can be when you're in a high fantasy world like DnD so just go nuts and your players will do all the heavy lifting.

before the game: hey this game will be about this, make sure your characters have a good reason to be at this place with a motivation to save the princess/dragon

characters might be connected personally or not, but they should already be connected to the game you're playing

>>50418499

I usually spend part of my session 0 with two activities "how does each pair of characters know each other," followed by going around the circle and asking everyone to name their character's favorite group member and least favorite group member.

Then I make an actual social graph out of it that is worth its weight in gold, especially for stuff like this. When one player bites on the hook, one player goes because they're that players IC "hired muscle," and a third is going because they're not going to let said hired muscle hog the glory, you're already 60-75% of the way there, and a quick glance at the chart should give you the keys to getting to 100%.

>>50418499
they are all on a caravan heading to the same place for various reasonS WHEN THE CARAVAN IS ATTACK BY BANDITS/ORCS/THE UNDEAD/SCIENTOLOGISTS/ETC

everyone is in same town, needs work. town cryer announces job available or they see a bill posted in the market they meet an agent, a landlord work available at.. someone hires them to guard 'x' on it's way from 'a' to 'b' but 'y' happens because of 'z' and now they're off to 'c' and hoping to not get the 'd'. or have them be related distantly 'hi, i'm cousin gayelfname, yoou prob don't mind me but uncle drunk died and left you a book, here it is, fancy a pint? hey lets go chat the to guy over there who looks like he's looking for something to.. porno music

>>50418499
The PCs are marooned on an island and must work together if they're going to survive.

>>50418499
I once was told starting campaign should be like removing a bandage. Before I start a game I ask who knows who in game and encourage players to sort it out. I prefer to have characters get right into the action rather than mess about in taverns and inns, too many times has it turned into burn down the town and escape the guards. Have the party enroute to the plothook and ask why their character would be doing this? Those who are playing neets and cowards may have a hard time coming up with a reason. After this quest let the world open up.

I did this for a modern setting game where I had all the players be temps hired as mercenaries for a mad scientist. They were sent out to solve his problems/ mistakes. In the first session I descibed them sitting in a waiting room and handed them print outs of a form to fill out. It had questions like "Are you attached to your limbs?" And "Would you betray your fellow temps or boss for money, goods, and/ or services?"

>>50418499
My game don't usually "start" until level 3. I do 1 on 1 sessions with my players until I can get them to wherever I want them to be to start the story. I feel like knowing who your character is before the game really gets going is important. One of my players is a monk so he spent a session training and studying in a monastery to establish what being a monk is like in my world.

>>50418499
Forced to share a table in a busy bar

All arrested by guards for various crimes

All passengers on the same ship, or press-ganged crew

All employees of or travelers in a caravan

All summoned by specific invitation sent from a wealthy patron

All friends of a dead NPC meeting at a funeral

All travelers who shield in the same cave during a horrific storm.

All attendees of a seasonal festival

>>50418513
Bad idea.
>>50418540
Ultimate-shit idea
>>50418588
Half awful, half a starting point
>>50418644
Almost there...
>>50418825
First sentence is the total-shit idea, but then the rest is getting it right.

The game starts with an intro blurb that introduces them to why they are all where they are, doing what they are, together. Figure out what the intro adventure is and why all your players should want to take it up, as well as why it might be appealing to characters of their level. Do not make any assumptions about their characters beyond "you are all adventurers looking for work and hey, here's either work or a situation in-which you, as adventurers, are called upon." Then assume that if you had given them a choice whether to start the adventure, they would have.

And if anyone complains that an introductory blurb is "railroading," then stop playing with idiots from /tg/.

>>50422045
Ultimate-shit idea turbo edition

>>50426542

"and on the left folks, we have the NARP in his natural environment. Because of their lack of genital size or role play experience they often resort to marking territory by smearing the walls with feces, much like you just witnessed."

>>50418499
Make the players do the work. Take a poll on what kind of game they want to play (only give options you are actually willing to run). then when they pick something you just think of the sort of bare bones scenario that starts the campaign and tell them to make characters that already know each other and would be in place X at time Y and all have motivation for following plot hook Z.

>>50426576
All "incorporate backstories and let the players decide how they start" in D&D is objectively inferior to "so this is how the first adventure starts." Every time.

The next campaign I run I'm gonna have the players claw their way out of their own graves.

Players are all guarding a merchant caravan which is actually a slaver and cronies in disguise, they drug/knock out the players in their sleep. You wake up sold to a gladitorial slave fighting ring and you all have to fight to the top to win freedom or rise up in arms against your wrongful imprisonment setting forth the other enslaved gladiators upon your masters.

>>50426595

Is there a (you) shortage in your country or something or are you actually an idiot who only recently learned the word "objectively" recently and hasn't gotten the hang of it yet?

>>50418499
Make em fight an owlbear, the ones who survive are informed they're a party

If its a tpk, the owlbear is now the party

>>50418499
They're a group of people with related professions and shared interests. Of course they are going to network in the local social venue.

What's the issue here? If it was a game of Shadowrun they be in the same chat room in the dark web. If it was a game of vampire they'll all be in the same hot topic.

>>50427195
Switch systems to Everyone is Owlbear. The ghosts of the fallen party are now in control of the cursed Owlbear.

Unrelated to the thread but are there any D&D novels that follow Tempurans/describe the ins and out of how they worship/battle etc?
Any guidance would be appreciated, trying to create a Tempuran battlepriest and want some insight.

Fuck this shitty thread, where is the 5E general goddamit?

>>50426542
Your opinion is objectively bad, to the point that I'm not sure you aren't baiting.

>>50418499
I find it easiest to have a player make a goal such as "destroy the Ring in Mount Doom" or "kill the Emperor". Then everyone makes characters who generally agree with that goal and make up reasons as to how they got attached to the first player. My current game:
>traveling scholar, wants to find bones of ancient dragons
>bard is friend
>get their ass kicked at some point by a group of thugs, but when the thugs go too far and attempt to sell the bard and scholar into slavery, the newest gang member (rogue) helps them escape.
>group on the run from the gang, find a tribe and plead for help. Tribe agrees, kills gang members, and the group hires a ranger and barbarian from the tribe as bodyguards.
>"Untold shenanigans" happen for the next couple of weeks to leave an opening for new players and characters.
And thus the group is made.

>>50428181
Seriously half the fun of the first session is making up the back story. It really draws the players in if they get to make it as a group, and helps players share the spotlight since they tend to be more generous with backstory than with gameplay.

>>50418499
Don't.
Make your players explain how their characters are already a cohesive unit.
If they can't, then they should probably stick to organized play.

>>50418499
Simple.
Have them make characters as normal.
Then tell them to erase their equipment, start at half hp and a level of exhaustion.
They're all bound up in the belly of a slave caravan bound for Urik where they will be worked to death in the obsidian mines if they don't manage to escape.

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hey /tg/ i need your help. I just let my party have a nightmare foal. I was inspired by the Baby Bestiary and it seems like a cool idea to use the nightmare for some interesting side quests. Now... I want to make him playable. Like a party member they can control. Can you help me with some stats ? i mean... its still small but i want the nightmare to be capable of hitting back. They all are level 3 in COS.

My go to shitty transparent adventure starting scenario is as follows:

>You all stand outside some random ass dungeon I came up with on the spot, having been promised monetary reimbursement by an NPC for doing the thing that needs to be done in said dungeon.

Then I proceed to toss concurrent plothooks at them that encourage teamwork 'till they grow attached to each other as a group.

Generally the quest to find a quest is boring and awkward so I skip straight into the part where they've already formed the party because everyone was after the same thing for whatever reason.

>>50418499
I would just do the most obvious, being that they are all meet while traveling on the same road. They are all adventurers, it is only natural they meet on the road. Then while they are traveling, throw something at them. That's the start of their campaign.

It makes sense, obviously. They're going to be hunting down a thief lord? One of his minions appear in the night, taking one thing each from them, and leaving a taunting note.

A war? They are conscripted while on the road to a city, then forced to fight in it's defense.

A necromancer? Undead spring from the bushes, shambling and a mess. Given the mostly intact bodies, these were fresh summons and likely near. (The hunt begins!)

Nothing is more organic than meeting on the road.

0 sess. Ask them what they want to do for that.

If you're playing with ok people/friends, they'll talk it out amongst themselves.

If they are assclowns they'll all want to be unrelated special snowflakes.

If they're brand new and ok, I just have them start out as a small group of adventurers. Let em pick a name and shove em out the door

>>50418499
Here are a few i played and ran, in no particular order:

The Characters meet when they all seek shelter in the same cave far away from civilisation. Of course, the cave turns out to be already inhabited by something.

The characters are hired for a simple job that turns sour, either by bad luck or by their employers design.

The character already know each other causally ( from seeing each other around the adventurers guild, for example ) and now they work together for the first time.

The characters are in a typical whodunit scenario and they can give each other alibis. (You can combine this with the last one aswell, further fostering trust.)

They could be working on the same problem, but for different reasons. (For example, one could want to fight the necromancer because he's stealing bodies from the graveyard, one because his dark energies are tainting the forest and one simply because nobody will condemn home invasion, homicide and robbery if the victim is an evil necromancer)

Another fun one if there is a NPC who's friends with all the PCs, and something happens to him, giving the characters a reason to work together and to trust each other.

How bout they all meet each other at a bus stop

Aside from all of the typical "yurp durp, look at this one-in-a-thousand perfectly chance meeting!" scenarios being proposed...

I like to give my players a pre-existing hook and ask them to write their back stories up to that point.

For instance, the party has all signed a contract with X mercenary company, and are shipped out to Y city, they're on the same boat and assigned to work together, then the attack happens...

They're all childhood friends, come back to their hometown after decades apart because an elder/friend NPC has requested them all to come home for some purpose... (insert quest here).

The players for a reason of their own have all come to Z city, and find themself out by the tollgate waiting to be let in. Some social event happens, but nobody in the crowd speaks common, so they must interact.

I'm normally quite honest with my players when I begin a campaign. I ask them firmly but politely to please work with me as a GM and not intentionally try to be difficult. I don't allow special snowflake loner edgelords, so normally most people are more than willing to help "push" the party together and immerse them self in the group mentality, without you rolling out the "okay yeah you all meet on a road/in a cave/at a tavern".

All in all, having your characters have impact on WHY they're at the campaign beginning is a great tool for giving them a feel of immersion.

Prison

How bout they each meet each other at lunch