A New Start

...Not in a Tavern.
The tavern has become a bit of a cliché location in which to begin a new campaign. "You meet in a tavern." is a useful opening referee line, but one that will often result in jeers and eye-rolling from our veteran players. The "borderland keep" is almost as cliché as is an abandoned mine or ruined tower and its dungeon. For something different let's say we start our new campaign in a vineyard.

"Seated around a warm stove on a chilly winter night sipping fresh wine and drawing slowing on a good pipe, you wonder whether to break out the cards or the checker board."

Frontier and mining towns have their appeal as locations of potential drama, but they are certainly not the only source of rumors, supply and sanctuary for our soon-to-be-imperiled adventurers. A sleepy little valley and some local vintners will add a lot of color to the game as our home-base and combined with a bit of classic intrigue can form the basis upon which a good RPG campaign can be built.

A place to put one's feet up and consume the local wine will also provide a convenient place to meet others, hear rumors and encounter interesting strangers. Competition between the local wine producers will provide some usually "friendly" rivalries and the opportunity for employment. The presence of an aristocrat will link the locals to more regional intrigues. Add a church or two, perhaps an abbey or monastery, any of which was originally attracted to the area by the rich soils and willing servants and has subsequently become a major player in the local wine trade, and we have divine competition for the souls and a resource for our party of stalwart would-be heroes in need of healing. 

The lime-rich local soils and valley geography suggest the presence of limestone caves to be found among the surrounding hills. Caves are notorious for housing bandits and worse. A bit of thinking on our fictional valley can yield a lot of possibilities.

How does our wine travel to outside markets? Perhaps our valley is located along a navigable river or canal? In the automotive age of today, we mostly travel and ship goods by road, but in the pre-industrial era, water transport offered the best means to move especially bulky goods. Waterways are also a convenient way for a referee to manage the next destinations and potential travel routes when compared to wilderness trekking cross-country.

At some point the player characters are likely to ask, "Where does the wine go? What lies further down river, or over the far hills?" It is precisely this sense of wondering that can lead to further exploration and adventures in a meaningful context. By starting small, the referee "worldbuilder" can have something manageable as their beginning point, and yet by following the connections hinted at rather than those deliberately pre-planned in laborious detail, the campaign setting can go where-ever the players lead.

Ours is an imaginative hobby. By applying a bit of creative referee thinking, it can remain fresh and alive. By creating a shared sense of "place" our fictional setting takes on more meaning and can be the basis for even more entertainment.