You Meet In A Tavern...

[Error]

Man, the people on this forum love to make it harder on themselves, I swear, and will literally argue with anything...

I'm not saying planning a meeting before PC's are decided upon is impossible, just harder. The one putting the cart before the horse is the OP.

I usually wait until I have everyone's character types in mind to set up a series of events that results in their meeting.

You can create something beforehand, and it could be either slightly modified or completely shattered by the PC's your players choose. I prefer to avoid the "completely shattered" part and just wait a little while longer. That doesn't mean I stop thinking about it, I just try to prepare for every eventuality.

Also, arranging a first meeting is not arranging a campaign.

I still say: Find out what they're playing and go from there; it'll save you time and hassle in the end, I promise.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[Urban Spaceman]

Everyone has their preferred method, Error. No right or wrong as far as I'm concerned. Sorry if you feel I'm arguing.

I used the method of starting the campaign that I outlined earlier as I knew that the players would want revenge on the people that set them up, effectively giving them their own "boss battles", giving me several different antagonists and stories as soon as the game started.
By the time they'd gone through their list, the characters had bonded and didn't even think of separating off.
I also had two players who weren't experienced with RPG's, so giving them a little guidance about character types really helped (as do the templates, of course).

Like I say, everyone has their own preferences. My only point of disagreement was that you said "you can't possibly think up a scenario that would explain the presence of all of them at the same time". Which isn't true.

I have tried doing something more along your lines before, and that worked too, so I'm certainly not saying it doesn't work or is a bad idea.

I really think it comes down to if you as the GM have a strong idea of what kind of campaign you want to run, or if you are happy to go with the flow a little bit.
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"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

[garhkal]

Of course we love arguing. Otherwise this site would be bland
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Sutehp]

[Urban Spaceman]

[Error]

Yeah sorry if I came off like a d*ck. It can happen... But no I don't think you're arguing, but I probably did when I read it last...

I certainly admit the existence of other ways. Generalized scenarios tend to work for everyone too of course, but need to be well thought-out, which I hate doing.

I contend that knowing the PC's types cuts down on the footwork and detailing necessary for that first adventure, at least for me. If you want to stash something for them to find nearby you can be more specific if you know the types too. I don't always do that but it can be fun to start them off with good weapons or armor or lots of money.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[garhkal]

[Whill]