How do you guys normally start your campaigns? Classic tavern, or something unique each time?
I’ve been thinking of starting my next one with a surprise DMPC.
He’ll be mid-high level and over the top, inducting the players into his party because despite his power, the contract he has specifies it must be accepted by a party. He’ll want them to do nothing but stay out of his way. I’m thinking the contract will either be a bounty or goblin clearing task. The target either way will be in a small fort with only a rope bridge for access. He’ll tell them to stay with the horses, go off on his own and promptly have the bridge cut out from under him, dieing to the fall.
If the party want the payout, they’ll have to both get the contract from his corpse and then complete it on their own.
I like to start my party off immediately after they failed their first quest. Session 1 is explaining the consequences of that failure, what that quest was, and how it went wrong.
For example: “Two towns hold us responsible for the bridge that collapsed in our fight with the troll, who escaped, because we didn’t burn the body. We’re at worst fugitives, and at best in extreme debt. The adventurer’s guild is pissed that we failed, too, and is demanding their cash advance back.”