10 Ways to Start a New Campaign
Header Art: Forest Tavern by Edward Barons
I wasn’t feeling especially inspired to write this past weekend, so I decided to write about one of my favorite things about RPGs - actually starting a new campaign!
1) In Medias Res
We are going to begin this list in medias res. It means ‘in the midst of things’ and is a quick way to get the party to work together. They might be in the middle of an epic fight against kobolds, dealing with a sudden outbreak of undead, and so much more - it not only gives the party a chance to introduce themselves when their turn in initiative is, but it also gives them a chance to show off all their cool abilities that they first get from their class… except for fighter because they never get anything cool.
2) Imprisoned
Whether in a jail cell, kidnapped in a drow raiding party, or waking up press-ganged on a ship, you have a lot of flexibility with an imprisoned party. Not only does it force the party to work together to overcome their jailers, but it strips them of their gear and they have to get creative with finding weapons, finding spell components, and more.
3) On the Journey
Instead of beginning in a place as cliche as a tavern, you instead begin the campaign with the party mid-journey. This could be on the way to a wizard’s tower on the other side of town or to Mount Doom a world away. This allows you to give backfill quest information without that one player berating the quest-giver for more money when you are just trying to get the game going and not roleplaying a tavern for 4 hours and still not have the quest out yet.
4) Magical Shenanigans
Well, looks like fate, or the gods, or a strange snafu in the multiverse has conjured the players to all appear in one place. Luckily, almost everyone that was magically summoned to a single place will likely survive long enough to become a hero, and for that one person who falls, a suitable replacement will be found within a few hours.
5) Meeting a Big Name
While this cribs slightly on meeting a quest-giver in a tavern, in this scenario, the party is meeting someone big and important. This might be the king of a small kingdom, a powerful thieves’ guild boss, an eccentric wizard that can destroy a portion of the world by sneezing, or anyone else that is far above the party’s own power that it forces the character to be respectful towards them. This throws the party on the backfoot - just why were they chosen by this person to do a task?
6) They’re Dead
Look - I have this wonderful idea for a campaign that I’ll probably never run where the party is made up of ancient heroes who died thousands of years ago, but through the powerful prayers of a cleric during a great time in need, they are brought back to the world… but at level 1 instead of level 20. This means that they get to explore the history of who they once were, get a say in the history of the world, and have a chance to right any wrongs they did back then or were unable to complete during their first life.
Then again, maybe they do wake up in the plane of shadows where they are supposed to be dead, but they clearly aren’t and now they have to make their way back to the world of the living.
7) Amnesia
Who knows where they are, why they are there, and how they got there. The party might appear in an asylum that drifted into another reality, woke up in the back of a cave with no clothes on, or in the middle of the field with the distinct impression of alien spaceships. This type of rediscovery means that their cluelessness unites the party together while they discover who they once were. Perhaps they double-crossed a powerful being who didn’t appreciate them having knowledge of their secret plots to do… well, probably not good things to the world and multiverse at large.
8) Intro Scenes
Instead of beginning the campaign with all the characters meeting at the same place to talk to a single person that will unite them as a party and them slowly talking through some awkward roleplay as they try to find the voice of their character, you instead have an intro scene for each character where you describe just how they got pulled in front of the city guard’s commander who has a job for them. One might’ve been a thief who the guards ran down an alley after a failed job thanks to a shady partner, another might be a prized knuckle fighter who knocked out a guard in a fight (and all their guard buddies took the fighter in), and the wizard just arrived in the city and the city guard was looking for ‘adventurers’ fresh off the ship that they can throw at a dangerous problem.
9) Festival Intrusions
The adventurers were just trying to enjoy a nice festival with no bloodshed or violence. They get to take on festival games, using their various talents and skills to excel and beat all the ‘peasants’ and then a big event unfolds. People die, demons are spawned, and now the characters have to escape the event and regroup somewhere else, trying to avoid any trouble along the way.
10) You Meet in a Tavern
The tried and true way of beginning any campaign, meeting in a tavern might be cliche, but it is still wonderful. I love it and you can do so much with it. You could have the party, as separate characters, meeting a mysterious quest-giver, have the party be looking for someone, introduce an established party to the personalities of a town, have the tavern attacked at night by monsters, and more. You can’t go wrong with this location.
11) A Different Way?
What are your favorite ways of starting a campaign? Please share them down below so that I can shamelessly steal them for my future campaigns! …. err…. I mean… inspire others to begin their campaigns in new ways… yeah… that one…
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