Starting games

[LostOne]

What about starting a game out like the SAW movies? You awake in a room that is pitch black. Then a dim light turns on and a tape begins to play... "I want to play a game."

Followed by the GM getting crates of books thrown at him.

[Looonatic]

Here's an interesting one that just popped into my evil little head(borrowed from Douglas Adams): How about the various PCs are gathered from their various places in space and time by a powerful evil dude who claims to know them all and wants revenge on them for something they haven't done....yet. Come to find out that by plucking them out when he did, he actually ended up putting together the team that would be destined to kick his ass in the future.

[Juce734]

What about starting a game out like the SAW movies? You awake in a room that is pitch black. Then a dim light turns on and a tape begins to play... "I want to play a game."

Followed by the GM getting crates of books thrown at him.

I don't want a crate of books thrown at me!

Here's an interesting one that just popped into my evil little head(borrowed from Douglas Adams): How about the various PCs are gathered from their various places in space and time by a powerful evil dude who claims to know them all and wants revenge on them for something they haven't done....yet. Come to find out that by plucking them out when he did, he actually ended up putting together the team that would be destined to kick his ass in the future.

That sounds kind of interesting. I like that.

My campaign that is starting in a couple of weeks I have gone back and forth with what I want to do.

I am going to play DOANE from Rifter 53, and 54. I'm going to start the game with the players being friends with a mutant in Chicago that is a mutant rights activist. He will have Energy Expulsion, APS, and 2 other minors. He will end up missing a couple of days before the actual DOANE game starts in the books. That is what brings the players here. The common mutant friends powers are inspired by that campaign too. If you have read it you will know how this can tie into it.

Also because my players and I don't want their whole campaign in Chicago so this allows an out after DOANE ends.

[Cyrano de Maniac]

I seem to recall an RPG, probably a free online one, where it was suggested to start with one player describing their character, in character, and how they came to be in whatever place you as the GM have placed them. After they've gone on for a while, interrupt them and bring in the second player, asking them to describe themselves, how they happened to be here, and most importantly how they know the first character (e.g. their sibling, their bookie, best friend, coworker, next door neighbor, etc). Eventually interrupt them, and get the third player to introduce themselves likewise. Don't railroad the backstories or relationships between the characters, just let them say what they want to say, though possibly doing some minor backstory editing later to make everything gel -- with the caveat that you may need to change a few items right on the spot if the very nature of them really screws up the entire story. Though in the case of a such a conflict you might want to say "You know, that's good, but unfortunately it really conflicts with some necessary story elements. Can you try some other idea or angle on that instead?". That way the player has some ownership of the story/relationship even if it has to be changed.

This has the benefit of making the players think about their character and their backstory, if you let each person go on long enough it should give you as a GM a bunch of hooks to be used later, it lets the players weave their relationships together from the get-go, and relieves you from the burden of figuring it all out on your own. Oh, and if done well it should engage the players to start thinking "in character" right off the bat; get them role-playing instead of roll-playing.

Or if you want to use a variation on the bar/jail ideas:

"You're all sitting in your court-mandated (AA|anger management group therapy|community service intake) session well all of the sudden..."

Or...

"You were each convicted of a major misdemeanor or lesser felony in court earlier this week, and you've been sitting in jail awaiting sentencing. But just a few minutes ago the jail guards rounded up the four of you and brought you down to the dining hall, where you found the judge, your attorneys, the prosecutors, and a mysterious man clad in a dark suit all waiting for you. After you were seated, the judge looked up from a binder he held in his hands and said 'An interesting proposal has crossed my desk, one which could earn each of you a commuted sentence, should you successfully complete a sensitive, umm, mission, on behalf of this gentleman standing here.'"

Or...

"You're aboard a flight/ferry to (insert destination)." Now have each player come up with a reason they'd be on the flight. "About halfway through the flight/voyage you hear a loud bang, the aircraft/ferry shudders, and you notice the eerie lack of any sort of engine sounds." Now throw some sort of emergency (mechanical failure, rogue pilots/crew, terrorists) at the players which calls upon each one's particular skills/background to safely help get the (plane on the ground/ferry to shore) and set it up so the players have to work together to make it happen. The mechanically inclined can try to get the airplane/boat working again. The fighters can subdue the terrorists/panicking guy. The doctor can treat the wounded or the lady whose heart failed due to panic. The pilot can try to help the cockpit crew. The bard can be thrown overboard to sate the wrath of the sea-god.

Just a few ideas from an addled brain...

[tuvermage]

You wake up with no idea of where you are or even what day it is, your head is pounding and the light hurts your eyes and even the sound of the flies buzzing around your head feels like someone hitting you with a sledge hammer. after a few more minutes of throbbing pain you realize the, one you are in a tavern and two, are extremely hung over. After you sit up you find someone offering you a drink, as you drink it down you start to feel a little better. (if a group: you look around and see some other people in the same state as you) you are wearing a banner that says "Hero"

-if the player(s) ask what is with the banner the bartender then explains that they all agreed to deal with <Insert plot> and everyone was so happy that everyone bought each of them a round and he isn't surprised that can't remember with as much as they drank.

[escargotini]

For a new campaign:

The CS military purges the 'Burb where the PCs are living. An NPC manages to pull them out of the rubble and sets up a shelter in a concealed basement. They have a few days mourn their losses and bond while they recuperate. The NPC gives them some equipment he's scrounged (the starting equipment they should already have on their sheets - no vehicles!) He checks for any patrols and sends them on their way when it's clear. Before they leave, he gives them a note for the owner of a hotel in a nearby 'Burb to give them a week's stay on his tab.

I wrote out individualized intros that I read to each character, based on OCC and my own whims. They all end more or less with a building falling on each PC
Once those are done, they wake and the NPC explains that they're the last people he was able to rescue, etc. I've used this once before and it worked really well, so I'm going to use it for another group very soon.

[Shorty Lickens]

POW's or military prisoners would probably have a cool start to a game.

[MaxxSterling]

Never had an issue getting started. And I always ask if the group wants to know each other or be strangers and then work from there. Usually some sort of summoning or meeting for a common goal gets a "teamwork" theme going right away. I have played games where this type of thing didn't happen and the session lasted about 45 mins as the players killed each other on the way to the mission.

[Akashic Soldier]

You have all been kidnapped by a manic scarecrow serial killer (for various reasons explained to each of you in private earlier) and you are now all shackled, naked and caged in separate cells with bars hooked up to jumper cables awaiting to be sacrificed to the Old One Xu. You can see your equipment but you cannot reach it through the bars and each of your are chained together through a wall so if one goes forward you lift another by the throat and they begin choking. For the last few hours you have watched in horror as his two corrupted minions have routinely come down and dragged people away one by one.

It is dark, it is wet and if you do not figure something out NOW any one of you could be next.

So... what do you do?

Not... really... pretty much writes itself.

That is the opening scene for Rifts: Between Disaster and Atrocity. Am I a bad G.M.?
I figured this would give my players a sense of unity that would endure beyond the experience.

[escargotini]

Not... really... pretty much writes itself.

That is the opening scene for Rifts: Between Disaster and Atrocity. Am I a bad G.M.?
I figured this would give my players a sense of unity that would endure beyond the experience.

I thought I'd traumatize my players into working together by taking away their homes and everything they've ever loved. And yet that makes me feel like a total amateur.

[Colt47]

Well, this is how I usually start off a game considering adventurers usually are out looking for work:

1. Tell the players the location they have traveled to and the reason they have traveled to it.
2. Have them get recruited and sit them in a room with potential employer or informant.
3. Run them through a training adventure to get them all the skills they might need for the current one (Think the boot camp adventure) and to get to know each other and possible important local NPCs.
4. Finally run the main adventure.

[Chronicle]

Lately i have been prefering the whole "you guys all know each other somehow either in passing or just good friends" bit..........an intro can take up a whole game night

[Colt47]

Lately i have been prefering the whole "you guys all know each other somehow either in passing or just good friends" bit..........an intro can take up a whole game night

Oh yeah. The GM I have locally lets us RP out the greetings portion after we nailed our character ideas and are writing out the stats on paper. Also boot camp like adventures are usually only necessary if their are new players who might not know what skills they need or the GM couldn't write out some prerequisites before game time.