Yes, I am the same guy who wrote about five places to start your D&D campaign that are very much not a tavern literally yesterday… but it got me thinking.
There’s gotta be a reason that so many epic adventures begin around a beer-soaked table in the middle of a rowdy inn. So much so that it has become a literal cliché of the game for a DM’s opening words to be a description of some bar.
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And after giving it some though, I realized that it does make a lot of sense for the humble tavern to be the spawn point for so many would-be heroes.
Here’s why:
It’s a natural place to be
No one needs any sort of intricate backstory excuse to explain why they’re at the tavern. “They were thirsty,” is reasoning enough.
If a DM tries to start the party in jail, or as pre-hired mercenaries, or even just on the road, the DM and players alike have to do some backstory bending to accommodate the new reality that the characters find themselves in.
At a tavern? Not so much.
It encourages mingling
One of the most important things about Session 1 is that the characters all come together to form a party of adventurers. There aren’t very many places in the world (our world, at least) where going up and talking to strangers isn’t king of weird… but after a few drinks at the bar? It checks out.
This allows your players the chance to chat with each other a bit as though they’re just regular patrons, and get to know each other’s characters in that context before the inciting incident occurs.
It works as a home base of sorts
…Depending on where the story plans to take the party, of course. If the plan is to have them make a name for themselves by handing orc raids or wrymlings around the outskirts of town, then the tavern where they first met can act as a home base that the adventurers return to after a hard day of hacking, slashing, and casting.
Most people can relate
We may not have all been chucked into a prison cell, but I’d gamble that most people reading this have been to a bar at one point or another. And while D&D may be about experiencing things that you can’t do in real-life, starting things out in a tavern allows the newer players the chance to roleplay in a (somewhat) familiar environment.
NPCs are easy
You’ve got your witty bartender. You’ve got you affluent owner of the establishment. You’ve got the huge yet quiet half-orc security guard. On top of those NPCs, you have an easy, believable reason for any other important NPCs to just happen to be at the tavern on the very same night that your party members are there.
Because, again, no one really needs an excuse to be at the bar.
It’s classic
Yes, sure it’s a bit of a cliché these days, but there’s just something epic about starting off your very first D&D session (as a player or as a DM) the same way that so many before you once did.
But that’s just my two coppers.
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