How do you get your characters involved?

[Blake_Alexander]

I've recently been looking over some of my past campaigns/senarios and it's caused me to wonder how some of the rest of those who run games on this board get their characters involved in their camapigns, especially the very first adventure when the PC's first meet.

Personally, I've tried to stay away from having my PCs start off as part of a qabal or other group that is seeking out the minons of the Red Death/supernatuaral creatures. I know that several DM's that I've encountered use this devise, but for my tastes it takes some of the fear out of the encounter if the PCs know that such creatures exist.

Some of the more successful senarios that I have used in the past include:

1. Someone close to the PCs has died and they are present for the funeral, or have come to settle their estate. During their stay the come upon clue that lead them into a confrontation with Minions of the Red Death/Supernatual Creatures.

2. The PCs accidently uncover and release some imprisioned creature that they then feel obligated to keep from killing innocents (in this case, they were in Northern California, and freed a Russian Vampire who has been in hibernation).

3. The PCs are at the wrong place at the wrong time and get caught up in something supernatural.

What plot elements do the rest of you use to bring the PC's toghter for extended campaigns?