…And decide to form an adventuring party. A mysterious old man with a long white beard approaches you and offers you a job…
The first session of a role-playing game starting with all the player characters meeting for the first time in a tavern (or inn, or bar, or noodle shop) is a well-known cliché in the role-playing game community. The player characters all just happen to arrive at this particular tavern that day, decide that these other guys in particular seem like nice enough folks and they should all get together and risk their lives fighting dangerous creatures for treasure. Conveniently enough there is also a non-player character there in that same tavern who was looking for just these kind of people to do a job of that sort for him!
By the time I entered the hobby, this trope, while widely known about, was generally considered a poor way to start a game, typically associated with novice game masters and novice groups. To be honest, I’ve never been a player or a game master of a game that started in a tavern. But I chose this trope as the name for this blog because it is something that I closely associate with role-playing games. It is a phrase that brings to mind, a small game among a close group of friends. A game that’s just to hang out and have a good time, and really, while I am sure I will write about things like characters and story, that’s really what I think games are all about!
You All Meet in a Tavern 