D20 Ways To Begin Your D&D Campaign OTHER Than In A Tavern

1. You are a criminal awaiting execution in a prison cell. Outside, the city is under siege. A
canon ball crashes through the wall. Begin.
2. You wake up on a cold dungeon floor. You have no armor, weapons, or equipment. The
room is illuminated by glowing fungus. From the darkness you hear a menacing roar.
Roll for initiative!
3. One day a chapel of evil rises out of the swamp. The doors are open wide and beckon
you…
4. You are hired to guard a coach carrying a spoiled but beautiful minor noblewoman to
her arranged marriage. As you round a bend bandits attack! Roll for initiative!
5. You are rowers on a slave galley. Your ship is rammed and begins to sink. Roll to swim!
6. You have been all selected by annual lottery to be sacrificed to the monsters of the
labyrinth. Of course you have no armor and a single knife.Begin!
7. You inherit the family manor house—and the secret dungeon below…
8. You are soldiers in a company of mercenaries. Your wizard fireballs the front gate and
you rush inside. Begin!
9. You are member of a militia. Your town is under siege by mercenaries. The front gate
explodes in a fireball and soldiers begin streaming through. What do you do?
10. The local lord sends troops to the town to draft every healthy young person—including
YOU into the army. War is coming.
11. You wake up on a battlefield. Every solider except the player characters are dead. In
front of you stands the open gate of your objective: the castle of Malkin the Vile.
12. You are in the town square on the night of the full moon with the rest of the able-
bodied young people. The mayor announces to the crowd, “Tonight—we’re going to
track and kill this damned werewolf once and for all!”
13. You are the last survivors of a zombie attack, barricaded in a church. You’ve decided to
flee via the secret tunnels underneath.
14. Everyone is having a great time watching the fireworks are the midsummer festival.
That’s when the goblins attack….
15. A local inventor and his daughter disappeared into a dread manor considered to be
haunted by the local townsfolk. The characters pick up their torches and pitchforks and
head inside to rescue them from the beast who is rumored to live inside. (Ben Hilcz)
16. On his death bed, a nobleman orders his children—the player characters—to make
peace with his neighbor and end a five generation feud. Upon arriving the nobles ushers
them into the feast hall and sends for his special mugs. The rival tells you the silver
skulled drinking mug was their grandfather and the other their great uncle. They made
fine steins. The fun ensues. (Michael Ceranko)
17. You witness a tax collector threatening to evict the widow of an adventurer from her
home unless she can pay her back taxes and fines. She says her husband is off on an
adventure and hasn’t returned. The tax collector gives her 10 days. (Michael Ceranko)
18. You wake up shackled over a pit. Deep inside, the monster begins to stir… (Michael
Udell)
19. Ciffhanger—it literally begins with the player characters fighting enemies on a cliff. (Guy
Royce)
20. You’re standing in from of the charred & smoking remains of what USED to be favorite
tavern. Tracks lead into the forest.