I recently kicked off a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire campaign using the published adventure in the back of the core book, and that got me thinking about this topic again. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it’s not my favorite and in this case it didn’t click quite as well for me as other approaches I’ve used in the past.
To date my favorite approach has been the PC background-independent pilot, which I learned from the Stew’s own Don Mappin. I’d have used this method for EotE save that my time was short and my familiarity with the system was limited; using a published adventure designed to be the first in a campaign seemed like a decent alternative.
A few days ago, while I was noodling idly about this in the back of my head, Adam Koebel, co-creator of Dungeon World, described his favorite campaign opener on Google+:
“You’re in the middle of the street. There’s a carriage overturned nearby and two dead horses. Someone is bleeding to death nearby. It is very important that this person does not die. There are people around you, shooting arrows at you. It is obvious they want you to be dead, yourself. Only the ruined carriage is protecting you. It is on fire.
Who is trying to kill you?
Who is the dying person?
Who paid you to keep them alive?
Where are you?
and, as always, what are you going to do?”
I love this idea.
It gels with where my head’s been at lately with Meguey Baker’s no-prep indie RPG Psi-Run (which I’m running for my Hangout group): not just in media res, which I’ve done before, but in media res plus collaborative session creation under time pressure. It’s a fantastic approach in Psi-Run, albeit implemented differently and explicitly for a short-form game, and Adam’s spin on it speaks directly to the You Must Try This part of my brain.
It also goes straight into my toolkit of campaign openers. Having a toolkit of options makes it easier to choose a good one for your specific group, campaign, situation, and goals, and there are lots of ways to start up a new campaign — many of which I’ve never tried and, I’m sure, many I’ve never considered (or even heard of).
Which brings me to the question in the title: What’s your favorite way to kick off a campaign, and why do you like it so much?
It might be a while until my next campaign start, but I do try and do something different each time, from starting at a wedding, to a job interview, and next time, under fire in a trench warfare situation. The big difference next time will be that no one will have created a character yet – http://shortymonster.co.uk/character-creation-after-the-first-session/ – instead being dropped into the action so that what they choose to do will influence the characters they will end up playing.
Well that is a ridiculously awesome idea! Chargen post the first session. I’ll be stealing the hell out of that…
I have long had a running joke with my players that I will never ever ever start a serious game in a tavern (or drinking establishment appropriate to genre). One of my players for some reason really wants to. My favourite way to start has to be in media res, I find it helps the players immediately begin thinking in terms of their characters.
To be completely honest, I love the tavern kick-off. It’s hokey and cheesy and cliche, and that’s why I love it.
Oh, I’m similar, I actually like starting in a tavern if the game is not serious, or having fresh faced NPCs in the background of any taverns that are visited. I think by this point it has just become a game (heh) we play.
Same here. Starting off a game or an adventure in a tavern is a fun in-joke.
Don’t make it lame, though. Just saying “You’re all in a tavern together, what do you do?” is lame. There’s no effort there. Work out with each player why their character is there and what they expect to happen.
I also like using in media res to get the story kicked off quickly. I’ll note that the stereotypical tavern scene is only 1-2 combat rounds away from the street carnage example Martin gave. Consider this: “Everyone make a perception check. [rolls] Those of you with sharp eyes notice through the smoky windows of the pub that there is a fire burning out in the street. Those of you with sharp ears pick out over the din of conversation clear cries of ‘Help!’ The tall man in the heavy gold chain necklace you were talking to a moment ago has somehow disappeared from the public room. Your move.”
I really like this. Your example is a great way to get multiple PCs to learn about the problem.
Those characters who are not skilled at perception based skills can still notice the attractive server disappearing or the Man with the heavy gold chain.
Recently, I have tried using public events together the PCs together. For example, in a steampunk campaign, I used the 1889 Paris Exhibition. The PCs need no excuse to be there since everybody who could make it would be there.
I’ve used several, and I tend to prefer different means for different types of games. Still, taverns are fun, if only because it’s safe, cheesy, and often means you can get a good bar brawl to figure out the character and party dynamics before they’re in actual combat. And you don’t even need to force the brawl, the players will 90% of the time start it for you.
That said, most of my games going forward will likely use the Fate approach. That is, they’ll spend a session building characters together, who have some prior history with at least one, if not two, of the other characters. Even completely divorced from the Fate mechanics, this works well for starting a game with characters who have a reason to work together and goals to direct the plot. I’d anticipate the start of the game would be much different every time, and mostly determined by the players and the character creation session, in this format.
I’ve used the in media res before and it’s a pretty effective way to begin. I like it, but I’ve got to have a pretty specific impetus to kick things off in the thick of it. It’s in my tool box, so to speak, but not really my goto.
Usually I like to start the PCs off desperate: broke, hungry, listless, wandering, lost, abandoned, in trouble, or any combination thereof. To my mind, desperation breeds adventure. Plus I think players genuinely like it. There’s something very enjoyable about starting at the bottom of the barrel and chopping your way out.
One of the best ways I started a campaign was one PC getting a mission, and saying that her apprentice (another PC) was ready to take the lead. She knew they would need help. The apprentice then went and collected the rest of the party. He spoke to a friend who knew of a thief that could help on the job (getting a new PC in) and when they needed a guide, it was a great way to bring in a ranger PC.
I’m a big fan of the “teaser” night: jump straight into the middle of a short adventure near the conclusion of events that is designed to show off the strengths and weaknesses of a character(s).
You got me to thinking so much I wrote an article on the subject.
http://violentmediarpg.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-bottom-of-barrel.html
In my previous school campaign, I started the group in an out of the way town in which each had different business. The town gets attacked and set on fire. They gather at the town well to help fight the fire and the town burns to them. They flee into the well. Instant party goal. Get out of the caverns linked to the well alive. It let them sort out things while needing to work together.