File: 1355263976397.jpg-(300 KB, 1300x819, 1314875934501.jpg)

>You are all pallbearers at the funeral of someone very dear to you.

>You are all captured by hobgoblin slavers. The slave-caravan is heading towards the Spider Kingdom.

>A dragon attack has burned down your river town. You all escaped with what little you could grab.

>You are all trying to get into a thieve's guild. The initiation is to make at least 300 gp in a week through whatever means you can. You are in a large city. Go.

>There is a fantastic play being shown in the city park's amphitheater. You are all there when something on stage goes wrong and a demon is accidentally summoned.

>Thieve's have taken something valuable from all of you. Find the gang, recover your goods, and see what else they've stolen (kinda ties into the one above).

File: 1355265053468.jpg-(94 KB, 609x1500, 1303203946166.jpg)

>At the unveiling of a new kind of spell, the wizard's assistant and his gang of thugs make off with the spellbook! Track them down and claim your reward!

>You all are close friends with a local innkeeper. You hear a knock on your door at the wee hours of the morning to find the innkeeper, bloodied and bruised, begging for help. The innkeeper collapses at your feet. Go.

>You have all just completed your first quest! Emerging from the mountain cave, scraped up but at full health and with your new treasure, you look down and see your peaceful town just in time for a firestorm to consume the entire valley in less than a minute. Go.

>There's a serial killer in your small, mining city. Someone, or something, is killing people and carving a strange symbol into their bodies.

>One of you receives a very cordial and polite message from a notorious assassin saying that he will kill you in three days.

File: 1355266140736.jpg-(50 KB, 400x572, 1341720312781.jpg)

>I find disasters are a good way to unify a group. Kinda how it works irl too. Flooding, storms, plagues, shipwrecks, fires, earthquakes, dragon attacks, its all good.

>You have all been hired to work for a young lord who has been gifted his own castle by the king. The caste, as you discover on arrival, is still a bit haunted/dungeon-y.

>Heading downriver is a long journey made shorter by taking a barge, but not necessarily safer. Get through the untamed wilds of the river lands and to the city that awaits you!

>You are all at an auction, either working or in the crowd, when a valuable painting turns up missing!

This isn't the first time I've seen a creativity thread by GaySkull that's got no attention. Bump.

>A blizzard has trapped the PC's and a half-dozen others at a large farmhouse. Not everyone is as they seem and there are...things walking in the night.

dis one

>You have all been hired to work for a young lord who has been gifted his own castle by the king. The caste, as you discover on arrival, is still a bit haunted/dungeon-y.
>A dragon attack has burned down your river town. You all escaped with what little you could grab.

one of these would be good

bump

>>21997046
>You all have the same, crazy, noble, ex-girlfriend/stalker. Upset with all of you, she has used her powerful father's influence to run you out of town.
All-bard campaign? I can dig it

File: 1355274926051.jpg-(156 KB, 750x600, 1353991223677.jpg)

>>22000232
so did we all rail her at the same time or something?

>>22000329
could be a small group of friends who she blames

File: 1355275168629.png-(498 KB, 1008x1015, genealogy_holy_war.png)

The best campaigns begin with bandits kidnapping a beautiful woman... and end with the party trying to stop a dark god from being summoned.

>A party of miners disappeared, as did the Miner's Guild party sent to search for them.

>The election of a new city leader is approaching, bringing political backbiting and scheming with it.

>Racial tensions are ratcheting up over a variety of issues, including wealth, religion and cultural differences.

Horror adventure openings!

>You all wake up in a room with missing memories. There's a few stitches on your body you don't remember getting. Shit gets weird.

>Somebody vanishes in the woods/jungle/inner city/New England small town. Go search for him/her.

>Your floor is covered in blood and everyone is unconscious. Wat do?

>>22000232
I say this one, only make it like one bard

There's always the classics.

>There's a fuckton of treasure being guarded by this huge and hard-to-defeat enemy a long way away! Go steal it!

>That artifact you picked up? Yeah, it's a McGuffin. Stop it falling into the wrong hands and find some way to destroy it or put it back where it belongs before Bad Shit happens.

>The princess has been kidnapped by Bad Guys! Are you bad enough dudes to rescue the princess?

>So, a hysterical dame walks into your black-and-white office with a huge wad of money...

One that I've been wanting to run:

>You are hired by the King to recover his daughter, who was kidnaped by 'a rakish young rogue.' Turns out the rogue is the princess in disguise, who is running away from an arranged marriage. Who do you side with?

>>22000460
Those are kinda lame

>>22000566
And that's why I don't DM.

>>22000533
The last one makes me want to create an eccentric noble who demands everything he sees be in black and white, to the point that every morning before he wakes up a team of make up artist sneak into his house and paint him in greyscale before sneaking out themselves. He'll eventually try to kill the party for ruining his black-and-white world.

>>22000566
>>22000596
There's nothing wrong with these at all. Actually, they could be really good. What's more important is how you build the atmosphere pull off the rest of the adventure.

I recently used:

Its on fire.
>What?
Its on fire. Roll a fortitude check.
>FUCK ME WHATS GOING ON
The room, is on fire. Roll me a fortitude check again. You're choking from the fumes.


It put them in the right mood. Their ship was being blasted by a horde of savage pygmies. They got jumpy and nervous, as its right and proper.

Also:
>So I was on this shipwreak because... [why was I on the ship, GM?]
Welp, I dunno. Why were you, man? Its your character, not mine.

They made lame excuses. I hoped someone actually told me something in the vein of "Well, I was smuggling a small fortune in opium but those blasted pygmies fucked it good".

Due to a recent law from the King himself, all unclaimed ruins, dungeons, castles, and similar buildings will become the property of the first party to make it "safe," as verified by a notary who will inspect the premises to ensure the absence of monsters.

You seized this opportunity, establishing a business in dungeon-flipping.

>>22000460
>A local mother has asked for your help in finding her lost child. His friends returned without him one day after playing in an abandoned mine; though a child rarely gets lost in the mine, every child who returns from inside it seems to unconsciously use unearthly words from then on.

>>22000792
I can just imagine it now...

Notary: What was that?!
PC: Hm? Oh, that? Must be the druid's animal companion.
PC: *rolls Bluff*

>>21997551
>>You have all just completed your first quest! Emerging from the mountain cave, scraped up but at full health and with your new treasure, you look down and see your peaceful town just in time for a firestorm to consume the entire valley in less than a minute. Go.

I so want to do this.
Once the party consolidates as a team, I'm going to change their main base to another city. Before getting there, they'll see it in the process of being razed to the ground by savages.

Will they be bad enough dudes to save the city?
And what places will they save first?
The armory? They'll need weapons.
The city hall? The city will need organization. The granaries? The citizens will deal better with the cold season if the granaries are there.
The temple? Perhaps they'll need magical support someday.
The market? Their access to supplies will be severely restricted without it.
The barracks? Commerce will be low if there's no way to capture thieves. Also, city guards.

Well, whatever you want to save, FIGHT FOR IT, YOU FUCKERS.
And what you didn't get to save, FUND IT!

>>22000899
Honestly, I made it up to introduce a female friend to the game. Not only does she get to do the classic "kick in the door and stab monsters" schtick, it's followed by interior decorating and landscaping!

> You are stranded on a crippled sea vessel in the middle of the ocean. At night a sudden chill permeates the air and the night winds only make it harsher. The cool air creates a night time fog and only the lapping of waves smacking your boat can be heard. As you stare out into the grey fog, suddenly a massive ship appears, far taller than your own breaking through the waves, its looming prow threatening to split your lesser ship apart! There's no course for escape as the larger ship breaks your own vessel, grinding it slowly into the waves and the depths of the ocean. Your only hope is to find a way to climb this mystery ship before your own sinks into the unforgiving abyss.

File: 1355276870554.png-(192 KB, 384x400, Fallout-Guy-psd35652.png)

>You are bound on a slave train. There are two heavily armed guards in the car with you. The train will be arriving at the station in a matter of thirty minutes. At this point, you will be sold off to whatever local warlord thinks he needs the grunt labor, and will most likely die within a month in the local drug wars. Just above the roar of the train on the tracks, you can hear the centuries-old radio sing out a song. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2335WwU_-y0
>You notice that the ropes binding your hands with the others are loose enough for you to untie your hands

>A meteorite hits the earth in a nearby cornfield, and soon rumors start to spread of strange, skeletal figures stalking the fields of your small farming village.

>The guild of wizards has hired all of you as servants for their Summer Solstice Feast, but the party turns sour when the Arch-Wizard is discovered dead in a bowl of stew. Other wizards being to die in strange circumstances, yet the guild refuses to allow anyone to leave the celebration.

>A rainbow crushed your party's horses.

>>22000981
>but the party turns sour when the Arch-Wizard is discovered dead in a bowl of stew
Face down or actually in the stew, like shrunken and bodily drowned?

>>22000952
That's so sexist! It's also what I'd love to do. But to fortify the location! That makes it manly, right? Right? I'm not really looking for an affirmative answer.

>>22001025
In the stewpot, a fresh corpse.

>A thunderstorm forces the various members of the group to take shelter in a cave, when a wall collapses and a tide of rats spill out.

>The party are stuck in a queue in front of the city gates of Valim, while a fat miller is arguing with the guard over some aspect of beureaucratic minutiae. The rest of the crowd is growing restless, and some members are slipping off to find other ways into the city, which is hosting the world's first Inter-kingdom Gladiatorial Games.

>>22001036
I gave her the choice between two adventuring groups in a tavern, both looking for a new member. I did put my favorite characters in the dungeon-flipping party, though.

>>22001025

There's nothing wrong with using Reduce Person a couple of times and taking a soup bath.

>>22001036
It isn't that manly, but I would join you in such a quest.

>Your kingdom is in a war, a raiding party is attacking your home.

>>22001102
Because you know she'd choose it, or because you thought it'd make her choose it?

>>22001117
Time to break out the traps!

>A flock of seagulls stole your hats! Go and get them back!

>You've all been called to the local tavern by a hooded stranger, who wishes to purchase your services for a mission of grave danger and great rewards. Suddenly, the doors are shattered and a tide of armed men floods in. They grab the tavern girl and run out, while the owner pleads with the patrons for someone to save his daughter.

>>22001169
YES!
......
.......
Wait, what kind of traps are we talking here?
I'm all for the killy traps, not the guys who you think are girls traps

>>22001210
There's no time for trapping of the latter kind when we're busy laying traps of the former kind!

>>22001210
They're reverse traps. The best kind of traps.

For example, a reverse bear trap drops a bear cub in your lap. A reverse pit trap catapults you into the air. Instead of shooting darts at you, you get handed darts instead.

>>22001169
A little of both. Mostly to make her, though.

Back on topic and inspired by your post as well,

>The baron has passed away and left a priceless family tiara to his daughter, who wished to wear it as the new baroness. The problem is her dad was paranoid, and so the tiara is kept at the end of a perilous labyrinth full of traps and monsters beneath the castle. Take care not to spill your guts on the imported carpet, though.

>You have all been captured by slavers and tossed on a ship. Suddenly, the ship is attacked, and shrapnel from a nearby explosion severs your chain.

>An army passes through your hometown, and the general demands conscripts.

>The players are hired as messengers to warn the king of a drow infestation beneath a small farm town.

>two caravans have entered your town at the same time, and now they have begun attacking and sabotaging each other at night in an effort to be the only one to leave. Side with one or take the spoils yourself after their battle?

A good Burning Wheel campaign (well, a few sessions then the GM dropped out) got started with the hook:

>You are members of local government, law enforcement, militia etc in a colonial province owned by a distant Empire - which has just collapsed. The last heir to the throne has been smuggled out to your province to avoid the gallows. Go.

File: 1355296234750.jpg-(223 KB, 500x666, Escher Architecture.jpg)

This building has just appeared in your neighborhood. Nobody else seems to able to see it but you, but a bunch of weird shit's going down. Get in and find out what's happening.

>>22005718
Goddamn google earth pictures.

>>22006255
Actually kind of works in your favor.

>All of you have been locked up in quarantine; good news! None of you are infected with the plague; in fact you're all immune!
>Bad news; the Inqusitorial acolyte who just walked in and gave you the mcguffin isn't. He just turned into a warp zombie in front of you.
>And half the staff on call, too. Get the mcguffin to safety!

File: 1355301290001.png-(17 KB, 180x200, <3.png)

>>21999963
Aww, thanks Anon. I was out all night making a Dresden Files RPG character, warms my heart to see all the replies.

One of my favorite campaign openers

>Ok you're all sitting in a tavern. you've all known each other for a while now and consider yourselves close friends and now you're all on fire. go.

>>22006376
Who'd you make?

>>22006510
Marcus Banks, devoted mob geomancer. Was a sculptor who got kidnapped to the Nevernever, Johnny Marcone rescued him, so he swore fealty... then realized what exactly that means. High conviction, discipline, lore, and craftsmanship. Does a lot of security wards for Marcone's safe houses, businesses, etc. Knows feng shui too.

you are a caravan driver, and as you arrive in this new town you notice that your rival has also set up shop in this town. do you attempt to use diplomacy to kick out your rival, go straight to hostilities, or burn the entire town down?

>>22006543
Very nice. Marcone's a cool guy, he'll treat ya right!
>Cases of mistaken identity are the best.
>You're all strangers, loitering or have otherwise popped out of a local nightclub for some air.
>Suddenly a car pulls up/the back door bursts open, and a man in a sharp suit with a heavy build run turns to you all
>THERE YOU SCHLUBS ARE LISTEN WE'RE SERIOUSLY LATE HERE YOU'RE ON STAGE IN TWO DAMN MINUTES/THE JOB GOES DOWN IN HALF AN HOUR
>He has already picked two PCs up by the scruff of the neck and begun dragging them away. If questioned on any particular point he'll brush it off with "I/The boss ain't payin' ya [a huge goddamn sum of cash] to crack wise!"
>The party either has about ninety seconds backstage to see if any of them has any performing skills, or is left in a room with some very specific tools trying to work out exactly what job they're meant to be doing
>The person whose job it ACTUALLY is is a built-in antagonist no matter what happens next

File: 1355306201785.jpg-(270 KB, 640x640, Olivier Ratsi8.jpg)

>>22005718
If you want more like that, google Oliver Ratsi. He did a whole series of that stuff.

>A group of wise blokes have summoned representatives of various factions in a council regarding the appearance of a new macguffin/ancient-evil/prophecy. The PCs are the apprentices, assistants and squires of the representatives, and are tasked with doing whatever has to be done in response to this new macguffin/ancient-evil/prophecy.

>The owner of a small, forgotten stretch of land has died, and the PCs have inherited his tiny castle. However, things are not as they seem, when ancient prophecies are found beneath the castle's foundations...

>All the PCs wake up in the same room of a brothel, with a massive hangover and multiple dead prostitutes on the middle of a blood-stained rug. All of them appear to have died from having their blood drained

>A dragon raids several locations, each time plucking a PC up to bring back to his lair to break into servants. Thankfully, the dull-witted Kobolds that guard your cage were stupid enough to leave the key in the lock, and the dragon has just departed for his next victim...

>You all take interest in the same Kobold/Thri-Kreen/Gelatinous-Cube/Skeleton prostitute, only to find out said prostitute has been kidnapped!

>You come home from work to discover the building contractor you hired to renovate your basement is missing. His car is still parked out front, but there's no sign of him inside. He's left a mess in the basement, tools everywhere but no sign of him.
>You wait a couple of hours, figuring he's gone to get some supplies or had some kind of family emergency.
>His home phone is answered by his family who claim they haven't seen him since he left for work.
>His mobile rings out, it's only on the seventh or eighth ring that you realize you can hear it ringing from the basement, muffled a little by distance and some drywall.
>As you're contemplating your next move you realize the fresh drywall has been nailed up from the otherside.

>>22000792
The BBEG has constructed a plot to use this law against the King and steal his castle

>>22001025
What's the wizard doing in my stew?
The backstroke by the looks of it

>>22001176
>A flock of seagulls stole your hats! Go and get them back!
This happened to me once. I broke my own skull with a hammer while using the worms in it as bait

>>22007202
>the fresh drywall has been nailed up from the otherside.
Fuck! That's creepy as hell.

>You're all hired guards for a luxury transport vehicle the size of a 3 city block equivalent of varying shape. Bandits, natives, cultists, natural elements, or a dragon, attacks!
>A local temple has posted an adventurers for hire notice, you all get there and find out it's about an old legend from their faith they believe is in fact real, and wishes proof. It's not far from here, and if true, wish aid in building a temple there.
>The town is (under attack/on fire/zombies/infested with gangs/infested with clowns/infested with clown gangs/had a bunch of hipsters show up/is having a celebration gone terribly wrong/is having a celebration with martial combat tournaments/is having a boring celebration that needs spicing up/is under attack by infested hipster clown zombie gangs that are celebrating their self immolation holiday)
>A local lord (has been targeted for assassination and needs protection/is traveling and needs protection/is not liked and needs protection/is getting ready for a whore and needs protection, find him a strong enough dick ward.)
>A local wizard is working on a magical experiment gone terribly wrong! Go go murderhobos! He refers to the group as that.
>The local gang kidnapped the (noble/innkeeper/innkeeper's daughter/innkeeper's wife/innkeeper's mother/innkeeper's mother in law(they can keep her!)/politician/magical items/our hearts/literally our hearts/a lich's phylactery/a lich's heart/literally his heart, he liked that one/some incriminating documents/some scandalous documents/some boring documents everyone is mistaking for incriminating or scandalous/all the horses/all the men/humpty's pieces/family/friends/enemies/nothing yet, catch em in the act!)

>>22007419
>>You're all hired guards for a luxury transport vehicle the size of a 3 city block equivalent of varying shape. Bandits, natives, cultists, natural elements, or a dragon, attacks!
I like this one, but IN SPACE! with the pleasure craft also serving as the hub of an intelligence agency's undercover activities.

>Werewolf hunting!
>Cult hunting!
>Demon Hunting!
>Hunter Hunting!
>PC Hunting! You got a 15 minute head start.

>There's a cable van parked in your driveway, your front door is unlocked and there's the dead body of the cable repairman at the bottom of your stairs.
>You don't have cable.
>You're about to call the authorities when you notice an external HDD lying on the floor. Curious, you plug it in to your tablet. There's a folder labelled for every room in your house, and each folder contains days of video footage of you going about your life.
>Someone has had you under surveillance, and now one of their agents is dead.
>What do you do now?

WIZARD TOWERS
>A WIZARD TOWER:
(has been on fire for a week. Local wizard admits he don't know/is on fire, the fire is invisible. Local wizard's experimentng./is moving on it's own accord. Wizard blames elementals./is floating. Wizard claims prank gone wrong./is invisble. Inhabitants are not. Wizards are pervs./is weaving like a dancer. Wizard animated it. Admits golem fetish.//
is too full of wizards for the population's liking/has too few wizards for the population's liking//
is infested with monsters/is infested with wild beasts/is infested with magical beasts/is infested with wizards//
is being protested by population/is being protested by church/is being protested by occult slayers/is being protested by rival wizard tower across the road//
is under attack by werewolves/is under attack by occult slayers/is under attack by rival wizards/is under attack by rival tower golem//
is in need of reagent gathering/is in need of spellbook gathering/is in need of artifact gathering/is in need of companionship gathering//
has an abandoned dungeon/has an abandoned lab/has an abadoned dorm/has an abandoned bathroom/has an abandoned alternate planar tower//
needs assistants/needs guinea pigs/needs help/needs love/needs entertainment/needs a friend//
is sentient, hates wizards/is sentient, is lonely/is sentient, wants to perform theatre/is sentient, extremeley aroused by guard tower near the keep//
is a secret entance for a cult/is a secret entrance for a long forgotten tomb/is a secret entrance for the thieve's guild/is a secret entrance for a dragon lair/is a secret entrance for itself//

Wizard towers.

>A domestic terror attack occurs.
>A few hours later, some well-dressed gentlemen from the government knock on your door and ask you to assist them with their inquiries.
>Months later you're still in detention, unsure why you're here or what anything of this has to do with you.
>The government agents come to question you less and less, you haven't seen a lawyer and the guards are curt but otherwise polite, as long as you don't do anything to question their authority. If you do, your life in the detention block can only get worse.
>Other than the guards, there are lots of other people here in the same boat as you, although not as many as there were. Twenty people in your detention block were taken away last week, and now their bunks are being used by new arrivals.
>None of the guards answer your questions about the missing detainees, but they don't seem to be expecting their return any time soon.
>Some of the other detainees are talking about a prison break.

>>22007927
Needs to have a roll table.

I Hate Original Me (Eclipse Phase)
>You wake up in a cheap synth. Not quite a case but close enough.
>Your muse has been reset to factory defaults, with only a bare bones user preference file in evidence and an anonymised mesh access account.
>Shit. That's always a bad sign.
>What's your name?
>Mike Bravo is your immediate response. Okay, Mike Bravo sounds kind of... Shit, the four mesh contacts listed by your muse are Oscar Lima, Juiliett Sierra, Charlie Foxtrot and Romeo Golf.
>Things aren't looking good: Where were you born? What's your favourite food? What's your favourite song? How did you lose your virginity?
>Each question returns with a blank void of remembrance where you know you should have an answer.
>Educated guess: you're some kind of fork, and your original has carefully sanitized your memory. With absolute certainty your realize it's what you would have done.
>What's your happiest moment?
>Surprisingly you stumble upon a vivid 30 second memory of pornographic hijinks. Well, that should keep you warm on a cold night. Your estimation of your Prime rises slightly.
>Your muse intercepts a conference call request, and you answer.
>"Hey guys, you know the drill: you've each retained an area of expertise, each has a role to play and I need you to do your thing to make sure I get out of this alive. As a bonus: you make the rendezvous and you get reintegrated. See you on the other side."

>>22007202
Jesus fuck why

The tricky part about game openings being, of course, that this kind of awesome stuff doesn't actually serve to get the party together unless they're all chillin' behind the wall.

>>22006376
yw OP. I like blushing :3 faces. Also, second bump.