I have a theory that the reason some of my games work well, and some take a while to get off the ground, is all to do with how easily the players can sit around in a safe area. I think there’s a bit of an instinct to go shopping, even if you never start with any money? So I’ve been putting together a short list of adventure starting locations that are fundamentally “unavoidable” i.e. any safety must be found and fought for.
- Poling a raft down a jungle river at dusk
- Awaken in the middle of a megadungeon, optionally beneath a pile of corpses
- Enjoying a drink in the tavern when a pillar of fire descends from the skies, flattening most of the town
- That mountain just exploded, and demons are pouring out of it
- Captured and forced to fight in the goblin coliseum
- Failed to get into heaven, not sinful enough fo hell, so reincarnated in purgatorial middle-earth
- Religious ceremony, can only leave the dungeon once at least one of you has died
Any others come to mind?