Where to begin?

[Trakx]

When you're starting up a new campaign, how do you start your players off? Do you have all the characters all ready knowing each other or do you have them meet?

Also, do you have players speak in-character, or do you merely have them tell you "I ask the bartender if..." sort of lines?

[Tommy Brownell]

Just depends, really.

The former depends on the characters and what the players have come up with, and the latter is dependent on how comfortable the players are at a given time.

[silverlion]

Depends on the campaign concept as to how they meet/greet, I usually like to get them tied together in character creation, but am not above big Loki-esque plots to force them to band together.

I prefer them to speak in character, it make it feel more real.

But its not something I'll "force" upon them as a Gm.

[Trakx]

What if you have some players acting/talking in character, and others acting in third person ("I tell him that I'm okay, and to go and help Jane.")? In such cases it feels like it is taking away from those players who are in character, and eventually, at least in the games I've played in, discourages the in character players from playing in character.

Along the same lines, I tend to put a lot of detail in my characters and feel like it was all a waste when the other players don't. I can't ask them, in character, how they learned to fight so well, or what made them decide to become a druid, because if they have no idea, certainly their characters don't! "Um, I just did." Genetically engineered for your job. Wow.

[Tommy Brownell]

Haha.

I usually at least cover the major background points (how they got to where they are) with my players, so that's not usually a big problem.