You All Meet in a Tavern...

by David Morgan-Mar.

How many campaigns have begun with these immortal words? Probably too many. This conceit has been used so often to introduce PCs to one another and begin a campaign that it has become a cliche.

Characters meeting for the first time at the beginning of a story is a classic device in literature, cinema, and television. These sources give inspiration for vastly more possibilities than meeting in a tavern, however. Another approach is to assume that the characters are known to each other before the campaign begins, either by reputation only, acquaintance, long friendship, family ties, or even rivalries.

Either way, a campaign has to begin somehow, usually by gathering the PCs together and giving them a common goal. Here then are some different ways of assembling characters, either strangers, friends, allies, or enemies, into a group with a common motivation which can be the foundation of a campaign. These are deliberately vague, and can be developed in many different directions by considering them in the context of a desired genre.