I'm sure some variation on this thread exists somewhere already, but I figured it'd be better to start a new thread instead of necro an old one.

Anyway, we all know the classic "You all Meet in a Tavern and take a job" start to an adventure, but what are some alternatives? I'll start with the two my DM created for my group in the two long campaigns we've played.

In the first campaign we were all attending a fair. The party had entered a competition, and we were expecting a short tournament arc, but instead an earthquake opened up and swallowed us into the Underdark where the party was captured by a Drow Priestess and cursed, required to complete a task for her or the curse would kill us. It was a good way to force a group of disparate characters of wildly different alignments and motivations to all work together.

In our second campaign we all met at the funeral of a mutual friend... an older human adventurer who we all got to know in our backstories. Our DM actually originally pitched this character to us as someone we knew in-world and prepped us for plans to meet and hang out with him, so it was a bit of a fun blindside to reveal that his death was the start of the campaign.

The last campaign I started the PCs all individually heard town criers advertising a job for a local church and they all met at the job interview.

You could meet in a fancy restaurant. Enormous variation on the tavern trope. 

you could meet at an opera during intermission 

Following their background stories the Moon elf Oath of the Ancients Paladiness of Sehanine met the Firbolg Moon Druidess prior to the events happening in my campaign. Following their personal goals, they joined a caravan for strength in numbers travelling. The same caravan was joined by the Fallen Aasimar Shadow Sorcerer, who was travelling in the same direction to follow rumors about the Necromancer whose magic lead to the "fallen" part of the Aasimar.

The caravan was ambushed by goblin raiders and the first encounter was that battle. Some Goblins got away with loot and the Merchant owning the caravan offered the heroes rewards for retrieving the stolen goods.

That lead to even more hints and hooks, that lead to some interaction with the local captain of the guard in the next town, adding the Soldier Monster Slayer Ranger to the party for investigation of the increasing Goblin raids in the area, followed by even more hints and hooks.

The four of them bonded well together, having a common goal now.

Quote from JoeltheWalrus >>

You could meet in a fancy restaurant. Enormous variation on the tavern trope. 

 Or an outdoor cafe.

Or goat yoga. That would be novel.

I started a campaign with each player being kidnapped from a standard fantasy world (High magic, low tech) and waking up on a train in a homebrewed world based on ebberon(took the players about 5 min to figure out that the room they were locked in was a cargo car). Then having them make rolls for things like pulling the emergency brake since their characters had no idea where they were or how tech works.  After the first session I had a short time skip for the characters to acclimate to the world because being clueless was a fun gag for 1 session but would have been obnoxious for much more.

find a severally wounded person laying on the ground - the last one of his adventuring group - it passes on the quest and then either dies or just throws in the hat once the info is relayed.

someone from the past sends them a paper bird (and if you're playing at a regular table, you can throw it at the player)

In the current campaign I setup a few minor things for each character to tackle before joining the game so the players could feel out the characters a bit after our zero session. The initial meeting place for most of them was during a trip for one group to appraise a few relics that a nobleman had recently acquired and was unsure of. Some party members were there to appraise it. Some, steal it. the first session ended with them all running for their lives from an invading army to the region. 1 Whole session, started with a casual RP and heist and within the first bit quickly went to them being harrowed through the woods with no stops, and no time to catch their breath.

Sometimes I find it the best option to get players to any level of hegemony is to directly threaten the characters just after introducing them to one another.

Over simplified explanation of course, but direct threat is becoming my favorite method when done in reason.

In one of my campaign the characters met in the town square of a city that had been destroyed a decade before. They were the last survivors of a clan that had been nearly killed off by half-orcs 10 years prior. It was from there they had to choose a location to begin the hunt to exact revenge. So technically they "knew" eachother, being related, but obviously they had to meet up somewhere to start.

 This is actually how it started (i cut out the backstory since it's not important to the discussion)

"On a cold October day, you have gathered in the heart of the despoiled city with your friends, who have gathered from far and wide for this occasion. A chilling wind seems to flow through the town, whispering and moaning like trapped souls. There is a feeling of sadness in your hearts as you once again witness the desolation of your beloved town. You remind yourself of your oath to remove all the participants in this heinous deed from the face of the earth. Bleached skeletons lay on the ground and the sides of the road. You reach the old town hall, You enter the meeting chamber .Then, Tim the wizard speaks "Where to now?" and unfurls a map of the territory. (Options include anything on this map I have made... These half-orcs are notorious in these lands and others, Pick a location and you will travel there, uncovering clues on the whereabouts of these foul foes)

https://inkarnate.com/maps/jyQxZpM3WrK76bl1kB4JVLPjb56AODvoEdgaYzGXw0enP258/MTU4NzM5MzA2MjE1NA==

If you have any questions about the locations, just ask me about it. The location with the most votes from the characters is the one that will be traveled to. Cities and commerce hubs will contain more information, and possibly bandits, Smaller towns and rural areas may have fresher news. POI's may have tracks or they may be a bust."

The campaign was run as a PBP but died out, idk why. I had just recruited new players and ppl just stopped posting.

I have never DMed anything besides official modules, with little changes. As I am extremely new to being a DM, I lacked confidence to homebrew or even change much of the modules.  With that said I now feel like like I have enough experience under my belt and will be running a custom campaign once I finish the one I am running now. 

I plan to start the adventure in the middle of an intensive action. Current ideas that I have bumping around in my head are:

• The party is in the middle of a chase scene, that will require a few skill challenges or turn into a brawl.

• The party is in the middle of completing a quest and the game opens on them arriving at their destination.
  
  • The quest could be that they need to save someone and they have just reached the location that the NPC is being held. 
  • The quest could be that they have to kill/capture something and have just reached the territory or lair of the beast/enemy they need to kill/capture. 
• The party woke up after being kidnapped and has just broken out of their cells. Now they need to find their gear and somehow escaped their captors. 

I am hoping that by forcing the Players and their characters into event that doesn't require much RP in the beginning, it will give them time to accumulate to their characters and surroundings.

I think of RP a bit like writing. You might already have an idea in your head, but once a blank piece of paper is staring you in the face it can be hard to get the ball rolling. 
By having the group already together and having agency in the task at hand the paper is being filled without much thought. Once the initial task is completed, their RP already has half a page they can play off to write more. 

I have been playing with the idea of using a funeral for an opener. There are tons of different ways to do this depending on the background of your PC's. The funeral could be for a mutual distant friend, old adventuring companion, lord who you had aided, mysterious benefactor who left you something in their will, enemy of the land, etc etc. 

Options are endless and can instantly add flavour to your story, set up an immediate hook, and opens up many different ways to bring up your PC's backstory organically.

If you have an organization that has important role in your campaign it offers many ways to open a campaign. Maybe characters are meeting in barracks of local militia? Or maybe they meet in marketplace where they jump into caravan towards next town?

Quote from Hickstar >>

I have been playing with the idea of using a funeral for an opener. There are tons of different ways to do this depending on the background of your PC's. The funeral could be for a mutual distant friend, old adventuring companion, lord who you had aided, mysterious benefactor who left you something in their will, enemy of the land, etc etc. 

 

Options are endless and can instantly add flavour to your story, set up an immediate hook, and opens up many different ways to bring up your PC's backstory organically.

 
The idea of starting an adventure from the will of a mysterious benefactor sounds super fun! The mystery and intrigue of it all, I love it!

My mind also automatically jumps to the best game opening in living memory of Darkest Dungeons that starts with a will. 

I particularly like that one because you can write in any of your PC's into that story without making it seemed forced. Also, if you're starting at mid-levels it's an easy way to give your PC's a magic item right away. You could even make it somewhat quest related. "In order to acquire your inheritance you must rid my estate of the evils within" or whatever  encounter you want to use in the beginning. 

Lot's of flexibility, which to me, makes an ideal tool to use as a DM.

In my current campaign half the PCs worked in the tavern.

Quote from EggKookoo >>

In my current campaign half the PCs worked in the tavern.

 Absolute. Genius.

Quote from JESTDIE >>

Quote from Hickstar >>

I have been playing with the idea of using a funeral for an opener. There are tons of different ways to do this depending on the background of your PC's. The funeral could be for a mutual distant friend, old adventuring companion, lord who you had aided, mysterious benefactor who left you something in their will, enemy of the land, etc etc. 

 

Options are endless and can instantly add flavour to your story, set up an immediate hook, and opens up many different ways to bring up your PC's backstory organically.

 
The idea of starting an adventure from the will of a mysterious benefactor sounds super fun! The mystery and intrigue of it all, I love it!

My mind also automatically jumps to the best game opening in living memory of Darkest Dungeons that starts with a will. 

Yes these avenues are great campaign starters. You could simply just have the PCs be part of a large extended family/network who haven't seen one another since they were small children. There could be a bloody money/conspiracy plot ala this Robert Ludlum novel:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holcroft_Covenant. 

Other movies that delve into these tropes include Knives Out, Clue, and many others. 

Personally, I prefer an intro where the party has already met and done at least one adventure together.  The details of previous adventures can either be decided without rolls during session zero or filled in piecemeal out of context during play. 

I’m also a big fan of the “hot start” where you basically just drop the already assembled party smack dab in front of a dungeon about to walk in. A good pop culture example is the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.