D&D: Five Ways to Start Your Next Adventure
Need some help getting the party moving on your next adventure? Here’s five ways to kick things off
Every adventure has its beginning. But, as Princess Irulan would say, in David Lynch’s adaptation of Dune, the beginning is a very delicate time. When you’re stuck on how to actually start things, before the party ends up in the dungeon, here’s five ways to bring the party together begin your next adventure.
A Mysterious Vision
A classic adventure opener. The members of the adventuring party have been troubled by strange dreams and other visions of late. Whether hearing mysterious voices in their heads, or seeing visions of falling stars and impending doom – you needn’t wait for a Divination Wizard to kick off a little ominous portenting.
In fact, the adventure When a Star Falls begins with the players experiencing visions of a future yet to come. It doesn’t always have to be doom, either. Whatever you decide, having premonitions of things to come is a great way to signal that an adventure is here and you’ll get the amazing payoff when the players finally see the thing from their visions.
A Letter of Summons
Another classic adventure opening. The letter from an old friend of the party’s. Now you might be thinking for this to work, the party has to have a friend in the first place. But no! Even if your party is full of anti-social adventurers, the letter can come from someone powerful who maybe has taken note of them and now they’ve been called upon, with adventure literally knocking on their front door – well, the courier carrying the letter, at least.
You might have seen this same trick in Skyrim, where quests often begin with a letter from someone whom you’ve helped or who has heard of your reputation. Steal it for your games. Get the players feeling like someone in the world is paying attention to them, and you’ve got buy-in building from the start.
A Special Occasion
Many adventures start with some kind of dramatic happening during a special occasion. A dwarf princess is kidnapped on her wedding day. Goblins raid the town while the pie festival is happening. I like this adventure opener for many reasons.
One, it helps establish the world you’re playing in a little more. What’s the occasion? Someone’s hundred and eleventh birthday party? A political wedding to try and defuse diplomatic tensions? A festival with food and games?
You get to spend a little while having relatively “quiet” character moments. That is, you don’t start rolling initiative or talking about the upcoming quest, but instead get to talk about what kind of games your Tiefling Rogue excels at. Then, when the time is right, adventure comes calling, usually followed by a roll for initiative.
Ambush
Of course, sometimes adventure finds you. And often on the road from one place to another. An adventure can begin with an ill-fated ambush on the party. But it’s fight that the players are meant to win, so they can then discover the notes and other clues on the ambushers that reveal that these attackers were sent to deal with the adventuring party.
If someone wants the party dead, that’s often a great hook to get player characters interested.
In Medias Res
Finally, you can always start in the middle of things. Have everyone sit down, roll initiative, and tell them that they’ve been fighting these foes for a couple rounds already. Or they’re just outside of the door to the inner sanctum of the cultist’s headquarters.
Not only does it start things moving right away, but it also piques a player’s natural curiosity, hopefully inspiring them to try and discover what it was they were in the middle of!
How do you like to start your adventures?
