WHY YES TAVERNS

People do start at taverns for a reason though, right? Like, functionally. One part home base, one part bulletin board. A gathering spot for different walks of life. Taverns have versatile themes: rowdiness and intrigue. Coins, cups, and curiosities all in motion. Laughter and sorrow alike.

WHY NOT TAVERNS

So why not a tavern? Mainly, because it has become cliché. But we also want to avoid campaign openers with too many moving pieces too. One that become too slow, aimless, and random. Yeah, nothing stalls a game faster than having too many inconsequential-yet-approachable NPCs.

Taverns by their nature have a lot of complex but disconnected and largely unimportant things going on, dozens of do-nothing townsfolk just looking to kick back after their daily copper. The DM can give a snapshot glimpse of a commoner’s life but playing that out quickly becomes boring. Luckily, we have many more options.

STRUCTURE GOALS

Mechanically, a DM only really wants four things from a campaign opener:

1) A coherent narrative structure which supports player buy-in.

2) A gathering space where parties of diverse backgrounds can bond.

3) Structures that develop and connect character backstories.

4) A potential lower-risk gameplay tutorial for newer players.

Optionally, you might also want a failsafe in your scenarios, not quite a deus ex machina, but something that can help alleviate a possible Total Party Kill (TPK) situation.

A Note: campaign openers #3-4, #5-6, #11-12, and #13-14 all likely include de facto item scarcity, and thus fit well with low level parties, or higher level parties starting out in situations of unusual scarcity. #1-2 and #7-8 can support higher level parties having their inventory intact, while #9-10 and #15-16 can go either way.