The method that my co-DM and I use when starting a campaign is: The DM decides what your character is doing at the outset, but you get to decide why they're doing that. This strikes the right balance between ensuring a cohesive campaign structure and allowing player agency.
Some examples:
The PCs all start out as prisoners in the local jail; the players are free to decide why they were locked up.
The PCs have all responded to a call to join the Church of St. Cuthbert in dealing with an outbreak of undead; the players all get to decide why their PCs are willing to go on such a dangerous mission.
The PCs are all members of the same sailing crew; the players get to decide how long they've been part of the crew and what led them to take up that profession.
We DMs let the players know well in advance of the first session what the hook will be (and the general theme of the campaign), so they can bake it into their characters at creation.
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"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"
I was but a wee lad when I was first introduced to D&D when we asked the older brother of one of my friends to teach us. It became a weekly thing for us. My mom would never buy me the books, so I had to borrow my friends books. And then AD&D hit the market and we were off running with it. Some of the things everyone has said here has given me some ideas. I know what direction to model my game after now. It's a little unorthodox, but I think it will work.
If you have ever read any Piers Anthony, specifically his Out of Phase books, then you already know my outline.
My group started as coworkers mixed experience and all being fairly new to 5E and three being new to D&D just in general. As a group, we've finished Tyranny of Dragons and Hoard of the Dragon Queen (we failed at the end--I was a player) Lost Mines of Phandelver (I DM'd it heavily modified) and are now getting to close to the end of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (I'm a player). The DM has played since 2E or so, I've been around since 4E, but read a lot about 3.5, two were brand new to D&D during the first campaign, one joined when I was DM'ing and was completely new, and recently one joined who played back in 3.5
In all the games, everyone had to make a backstory with a general knowledge of what the campaign would be about and the basic setting. DM's then communicated with each person to place them into a starting point.
First game everyone started during the dragon attack, except me. I started playing the second session, so they encountered me outside the town as I was on my way into town to fight, having seen the smoke and being a wandering barbarian. Second campaign, I DM'd and everyone arrived as an escort, per the book again. The current one started with most of us in the tavern, and joining or watching the fight as we desired, while the other character was encountered at our new tavern squatting at the property. One player left the campaign--took our saved up money--and the replacement player showed up a few sessions later as someone roped into one of our adventures.
With the campaign I'm planning, one person is starting out as a depowered local hero (they don't know it yet) who barely survived being resurrected, and the others will start either being called out on their first assignment, with the hero assisting, or encountered a little later as part of a team that has been ordered to assist as the situation becomes more important.
One of the new players has gotten their family into D&D and is now DM'ing their own campaign. His wife paints some of our minis. Another is talking of DM'ing for his friends.
I recently played in a campaign which started our characters meeting in a way I have never experienced before and it was loads of fun. Each player had gone through their backstories with the DM. Our session 0 ended with a little mini story. Each of us got part of our story narrated and we played the final encounter. I ended up escaping from some where and wandering aimlessly. Through the hunger I ate the first thing I found and ended up passing out. The next player did his origin story and was sent out to gather supplies and he found me laying there. The whole party kind of organically met up and was very tailered to our characters. By the time the main campaign hook started we all felt like we knew those characters and we were an actual party of adventurers.
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The method that my co-DM and I use when starting a campaign is: The DM decides what your character is doing at the outset, but you get to decide why they're doing that. This strikes the right balance between ensuring a cohesive campaign structure and allowing player agency.
Some examples:
We DMs let the players know well in advance of the first session what the hook will be (and the general theme of the campaign), so they can bake it into their characters at creation.
"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"
I love this discussion!
I was but a wee lad when I was first introduced to D&D when we asked the older brother of one of my friends to teach us. It became a weekly thing for us. My mom would never buy me the books, so I had to borrow my friends books. And then AD&D hit the market and we were off running with it. Some of the things everyone has said here has given me some ideas. I know what direction to model my game after now. It's a little unorthodox, but I think it will work.
If you have ever read any Piers Anthony, specifically his Out of Phase books, then you already know my outline.
Oh... this is gonna be fun. >:)
Peace, love, and nuclear weapons!
My group started as coworkers mixed experience and all being fairly new to 5E and three being new to D&D just in general. As a group, we've finished Tyranny of Dragons and Hoard of the Dragon Queen (we failed at the end--I was a player) Lost Mines of Phandelver (I DM'd it heavily modified) and are now getting to close to the end of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (I'm a player). The DM has played since 2E or so, I've been around since 4E, but read a lot about 3.5, two were brand new to D&D during the first campaign, one joined when I was DM'ing and was completely new, and recently one joined who played back in 3.5
In all the games, everyone had to make a backstory with a general knowledge of what the campaign would be about and the basic setting. DM's then communicated with each person to place them into a starting point.
First game everyone started during the dragon attack, except me. I started playing the second session, so they encountered me outside the town as I was on my way into town to fight, having seen the smoke and being a wandering barbarian. Second campaign, I DM'd and everyone arrived as an escort, per the book again. The current one started with most of us in the tavern, and joining or watching the fight as we desired, while the other character was encountered at our new tavern squatting at the property. One player left the campaign--took our saved up money--and the replacement player showed up a few sessions later as someone roped into one of our adventures.
With the campaign I'm planning, one person is starting out as a depowered local hero (they don't know it yet) who barely survived being resurrected, and the others will start either being called out on their first assignment, with the hero assisting, or encountered a little later as part of a team that has been ordered to assist as the situation becomes more important.
One of the new players has gotten their family into D&D and is now DM'ing their own campaign. His wife paints some of our minis. Another is talking of DM'ing for his friends.
I recently played in a campaign which started our characters meeting in a way I have never experienced before and it was loads of fun. Each player had gone through their backstories with the DM. Our session 0 ended with a little mini story. Each of us got part of our story narrated and we played the final encounter. I ended up escaping from some where and wandering aimlessly. Through the hunger I ate the first thing I found and ended up passing out. The next player did his origin story and was sent out to gather supplies and he found me laying there. The whole party kind of organically met up and was very tailered to our characters. By the time the main campaign hook started we all felt like we knew those characters and we were an actual party of adventurers.