tom timsum said:
I’d like a table of campaign starters. Perhaps one with 2 or 3 columns, either explaining the relationships/background of the pc’s and where the adventure begins, or one giving adventure/quest ideas.
roll d100 | How the PC’s Know (of) One Another | Where they Are | Local Events | Regional/Global Events |
01-02 | army buddies | tavern! | coronation | coronation |
03-04 | grew up in same orphanage | church or temple | revolution | revolution |
05-06 | common employer | tea or coffee house | book burning | war |
07-08 | owe money to same bank / gangster | brothel | tournament | civil war |
09-10 | created by same wizard | tournament | festival of st. whoever | election |
11-12 | fishing off same bridge / pier | public hanging | execution | religious reformation |
13-14 | secret society | festival | raiders! | renaissance |
15-16 | betrothed to same woman | battle | assassination | floods |
17-18 | from same town/village | fire! | circus / carnival in town | tornados |
19-20 | members of cult or church | foxhole | lord/mayor in danger | famine |
21-22 | found a dead body when kids | legal court | death of prominent citizen | plague |
23-24 | related | prison | plague! | an empire has taken over region |
25-26 | same tutor or academy | ship | famine | war between pc races |
27-28 | by reputation | grand ball | floods | new technology discovered |
29-30 | backed same candidate | royal court | earthquake or volcano | adventuring fad booms |
31-32 | have been spying on one another for years | well | fire! | adventuring fad fades |
33-34 | all named in a will | the road | new road built | magic persecuted |
35-36 | part of travelling caravan | city gates | monsters in sewers | religion persecuted |
37-38 | hunting witches together | ashes of town/city | city walls crumbling | apocalypse |
39-40 | part of same acting troupe | bath house | giant attack! | great evil has won |
41-42 | members of council or guild ruling body | coliseum | meteor strike | great evil was defeated |
43-44 | held hostage by daimyo | pit trap | traitor caught | new gods have appeared |
45-46 | gladiator school | gallows (noosed next to one another) | monster captured | ruler dies without heir |
47-48 | customers of famous blacksmith/jeweler/bank | garden | local ruler dies without heir | meteor headed for planet |
49-50 | rival snake oil salesmen | zoo | raiders caught | portal to other planes discovered |
51-52 | explorers for rival nations (reputation) | bank | price on pc’s heads | death has taken a holiday |
53-54 | claiming same discovery/patent simultaneously | forge | spaceship has landed | magic is not working |
55-56 | same scientific/magic/academic field | hobbit hole | explorers from afar have landed | magic working 2x power |
57-58 | escaped capture together | armory | expedition to foreign lands returns | all citizens ordered to home town for census |
59-60 | remember one another from bardo state between lives | docks | oracle dies | great wonder under construction |
61-62 | shared in a dragon kill | guild house | oracle announces dire fortune | slavers invade |
63-64 | dog or horse show | safe house | hobbits settle nearby | influx of slaves from war |
65-66 | all described in mysterious tome | mine | influx of immigrants | barbarian hordes |
67-68 | all have same exact face, no idea why | warehouse | many residents emigrate elsewhere | dead are walking |
69-70 | all appeared as characters in famous play / bard song | charnel house | megadungeon discovered | great canyon opens, divides kingdom |
71-72 | suspects in same murder / crime | graveyard | wizard’s tower collapses | mirror universe invades |
73-74 | met climbing same giant beanstalk | physician’s house | famous native returns | ice age beginning or ending |
75-76 | in love with same woman / man | artist’s workshop | infamous native returns | desertification beginning or ending |
77-78 | root for same sports team | giant’s shirt pocket | national sport championship | plant growth unnaturally spurred |
79-80 | quarantined together | mountain peak | new art form premieres | flying carpets invented |
81-82 | same forced migration / march | undersea temple | assassination attempt on noble family | war with faerie |
83-84 | work camp | sub-marine ship | lake has frozen over in summer | universal nightmares |
85-86 | part of a crackpot’s prophecy | ether sailing ship | new vermin has taken over | mega tsunami |
87-88 | jury duty | munitions dump | many ghosts reported | drought |
89-90 | university | deserted island | great maze completed | birds disappear |
91-92 | were in an audience for show | in their respective dreams | children disappearing | did you see “tremors”? those things. |
93-94 | applied for heraldry at same time | in genie’s bottle | caravan arrives! | two days of lawless carnival |
95-96 | families are rival houses | torture chamber | heavy snows | solar eclipse |
97-98 | don’t know each other at all | a whale’s belly | mining accident | solar eclipse that didn’t end |
99-00 | seen one another somewhere, not sure where | in a dungeon | legendary big fish caught | moon explodes |
99-00 | seen one another somewhere, not sure where | in a dungeon | legendary big fish caught | moon explodes |
A day earlier and I would have totally used this, lots of good tasty brain food here. Next party wipe, I’m yours.
Sorry I was late. My schedule has been rough this last month or so. Still, I’m sure what you came up with yourself will serve your players well.
Example:
78 PC’s first met when quarantined.
44 Begin in Pit Trap
28 There have been floods lately
92 There have been those ‘Tremors’ things in the region
The PC’s were quarantined by a border garrison when fevers had been breaking in the cities (merchants were blamed).
During the quarantine, hordes of tunneling creatures appeared and started attacking caravans and small towns.
The players were released from quarantine when the guards all died of a fever (thus the players are not privy to the news).
The locals have tried diverting a river into these creatures’ tunnels, but only succeeded in flooding their crops and their town.
Play begins as the party is in a pit trap–a sinkhole left behind by the creatures to trap food. They are tired, muddy and hear a thumping noise nearby.
“What do you do?”
Sweet! Thanks!
This is awesome. Tried it out and got:
5 – Share an employer
57 – They meet in an armory
4 – Revolution
8 – Civil War
Perfect!
4 characters who know of each other through a common employer (maybe a merchant who hires them for mercenary duties) meet in the local guard armory during a city-wide uprising. The city can be the capital of an empire, or a perhaps a smaller city which hasn’t yet been touched by a nation (or empire) wide civil war. During the chaos, the characters rush to the armory to either defend the city against the rebels, or help them out (or some of both!)
This is good stuff, sounds like it would make an excellent beginning for a campaign rife with political intrigue and backstabbing!
Cool list. I will refer this to our next DM who is currently planning his adventure.