The Adventure Starts... NOT At A Tavern (Patreon)

It's a really common trope. I've used it many times myself. The PCs are all at the same tavern when a mysterious stranger comes looking to hire adventurers. "The Adventure Starts At A Tavern" is so well known some adventures just shrug and tell the Game Moderator to go ahead and get the PCs together that way.

And there's nothing WRONG with that... except when it's seen as so overused by a group that it results in eyerolls and groans. Now, maybe the groaning players should get over themselves and accept that if they want to play in the game the GM is running, they should accept whatever the initial plot hook is.

But it can be nice to have alternatives. Options to not just have adventure be laid out before the PCs on a silver platter (which they will no doubt loot), but to gather the PCs together for their FIRST adventure together. Here are twelve quick alternatives, so your adventures starts NOT in a tavern.

1. The PCs are all on the same boat when pirates attack. The pirates turn out to be looking for the last piece of a map, which is a tattoo (on a PC if that makes sense, on some NPC otherwise).

2. The PCs are all in the same caravan when bandits attack. They have been hired to steal a beginning spellbook from a junior wizard (one of the PCs, if that makes sense, or some NPC otherwise). The bandits don't know why, but it turns out one of the spells in the book has extra information which could unlock a huge secret. (Or just make it a treasure map, whatever.)

3. The PCs are all on the same ferry when thugs looking to bust the ferryman's guild come to beat up all the customers, telling them they SHOULD have taken the more expensive Free Citizen's Ferry, run by a local oligarch.

4. The PCs are all on the same ship when it's wrecked at sea and they wash up on a desert island, with no obvious way off.

5. The PCs' first meet at the newly-build crier's post in the center of the small town sitting at the border of the Banelands. As the town crier steps up to announce freelance adventurer jobs, marauders move in to kill the crier and everyone present, declaring they now own the town.

6. All the PCs are getting supplies at the same general store when assassins break in to kill the owner... and the assassins don't want to leave witnesses.

7. Though the PCs aren't together yet, they are all close enough to a specific ally to hear someone in the ally screaming for help. No one else seems to be helping.
If the PCs do help, they are rewarded, earn a Patron, and are given a lead on further profitable adventure.

8. The PCs are all caught in the same storm, and head to the same cave for shelter. Then the cave has a vulturebear in it, or the back of it collapses as storm zombies stagger out, or an NPC also driven to the cave by the storm turns out to be a highwayman who wants to slit the PCs' throats and take their money during the night.

9. The PCs are all caught in the same flash flood, and all head to the same piece of high ground. Then the hill has a hawkbear on it, or turns out to be a cairn that flood zombies burst up out of, or... you get the idea.

10. The PCs all read the same help wanted ad in a local newspaper and answer it. This doesn't have to be complicated. (The Acta Diurna or "Daily Acts" were ancient Rome's daily public records, arguably the world's first newspaper, started by Julius Caesar around 59 BCE. So, this isn't crazy for a fantasy feudal setting.)

11. The PCs are all kidnapped and put in a game preserve to be hunted for sport by evil oligarchs. Or aliens that theme themselves after predators. Or a opposing political faction. Sometimes, it's fun for things to be complicated.

12. The Temples of Alaina, Hero-Goddess of Righteous Adventurers, have an annual Vigil, where adventurers (or prospective adventurers) are paid to guard the otherwise-empty temple. No one can stand Vigil twice, so new adventurers are constantly sought out for the honor. The PCs are all brought together from the surrounding region with the promise of good pay for one night's Vigil. But they night THEY stand Vigil, the wicked warlock Balantrodoch decided to defile the temple and slaughter its defenders to appease his patron.