The good ol’ fashioned “You all meet in a tavern, answering a poster offering gold for help…”? The action-scene, “You’re all engaged in mutual mundane task, when suddenly a band of thugs/goblins/whatever bust in looking for the plot coupon and chaos breaks out”? The “Elder Scrolls classic” - all being prisoners thrown in together? Tie it in to a character’s backstory and let them lead the other party members in?
What have you found interesting or successful, and why?
Ever since I played Neverwinter Nights: Hoardes of the Underdark, I have tried to incorporate needing to die in order to do some stuff, the way you must travel through the Hells by killing yourself in the CRPG. I just really liked that concept lol