Dungeons and Dragons

I did one where everyone started in the same town during the resurgence of dragons -who were more like a dangerous pests than an unstoppable force.

Half the PCs were from a previous campaign, so I had everyone tell me according to their back story what that person would be doing independently in a medium sized town.

(1 was working at an orphanage, 2 were staying in the local tavern, 1 was out all night partying)

The town was attacked at night forcing all of them to respond. Some of them ended up fighting together. The rest were folded in when the city guard thanked everyone who helped.

Unfortunately this was an impromptu one shot, so we didn't get very far.

...

As DM I don't enjoy trying to corral PCs into a storyline. I prefer to give people an open world that responds to their actions accordingly.

The BBEG is always on the horizon, never in the middle of the road. Random Encounters are not forced or used to move the plot forward. I try to directly attach as much of my world building as possible to actions taken by PCs.

I'm all about rule of cool. I want my PCs to believe they're going to die without killing them off. I fudge every number except d20s because I want people to focus on the narrative and the role playing over the numbers.