Starting Points

[crretin]

A present is delivered to your doorstep that says that it's from a dearly loved relative of yours. When you open the present you only find that relatives smiling head.

[sir_pudding]

In the middle of the Antarctic winter your Research Station loses all contact with the outside world.

[robkelk]

You receive an invitation (with plane tickets, if you don't have your own transportation) to a hunting party on a wealthy recluse's private island.

[Rocket Man]

You suddenly realize that the night clerk at the women's shelter, who stepped out on a "quick errand," has been gone for the last hour and a half.

(This actually WAS the starting point for a campaign I ran. Possibly one of the best I've ever run.)

[sir_pudding]

You wake up in an alleyway with no memories of previous existence. You appear to be an artificial construct of some kind and you have the ability to speak and know how to fight, but not much else. Once you step onto the street you see a few other constructs of your type and nobody treats you as especially unusual.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by robkelk

An oddly-dressed person approaches you and says, "Please help me! I come from another world, a world under threat of destruction, and only one person can save my people! Here's a picture of him, tell me, have you seen him anywhere?"

If you reply in the negative, the person gives you a gold coin for your trouble and approaches someone else nearby; if you reply in the affirmative, the person gives you a gold coin for your help and asks your help in meeting the supposed hero.

Bonus Points if The Photo is of Art Bell ;)

[sir_pudding]

Your team has been inserted into a neutral country bordered by a nation in the middle of a civil war. Your mission is to capture or kill the leader of one of the factions in the war who is operating from the neutral territory. You must do this without alerting the neutrals or causing an international incident.

[Agemegos]

There is a huge political noise. Pirates have raided the castle where the Queen was being held, and they have carried off the Princess Royal. There has been a huge blow-up in the Curia Regis as a result, with the King and the Opposition leaders trading blame and insults. The outcome of that is that the King has declared that he will grant a noble estate to whomsoever rescues his daughter, and the Lords have resolved that they will allow him to raise that person to such a noble rank as he would be fit to marry her, each on condition of the other.

The Princess the King's only child, and given the state of his relations with the Queen there isn't going to be another—not a legitimate one anyway. She is sixteen, and has been living since shortly after the end of the last war of succession with her mother and amazon guards in a castle on an island on which no men were allowed. She is sixteen now, and although she hasn't been seen in public or at court since she was eight, it stands to reason that she must be beautiful.

So. Who gets to marry the heiress to the throne? One of the King's officers? Some nobleman's favourite? Or you?

[Blarg]

You fall asleep after an ordinary day. You awaken handcuffed to a chair with several humorless security types interrogating you with the standard "Who are you and who do you work for?" questions. You appear to be dressed in a military or SWAT uniform.

A male takes a pregnancy test as a joke. As you may have surmised, it is positive.

A woman uses a home pregnancy test. Instead of the usual positive or negative reading, "help us" appears in the result window(s).

You buy a cheap toy katana at a discount store. A powerful and wealthy Japanese family contacts you about returning their ancestor's sword. They send an expert to examine it; he pronounces it as genuine. Everyone else treats it as a real katana and appears to be taking this situation completely seriously.

[adm]

Originally Posted by Blarg

A male takes a pregnancy test as a joke. As you may have surmised, it is positive.

Actually, this is a positive test for testicular cancer in males.