History Main / YouAllMeetInAnInn

Compare YouAllMeetInACell. Contrast ClosedCircle, for when the DM wants to keep you in the tavern.

!!Examples

** In some cases, coffee houses got such a reputation for being dens of anti-establishment dissent that the government actually tried to suppress them. Naturally, this only added fuel to the fire in a lot of cases.

* Then there's the Pixar Lunch, where after finishing ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', several key members of the Pixar team got together to discuss future films, which would later become ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', and ''WesternAnimation/WallE''. [[PowerUpFood You have to wonder just WHAT was in the food there.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** In ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickOnTheOriginOfPCs On the Origin of PCs]]'', Roy attempts to recruit party members on the street unsuccessfully. He is greeted by Elan, who says that to have a reasonable chance of finding willing party members, he must not only be in a tavern, but also sit in the corner, stare sullenly into his mug of ale, and wear an eyepatch. The back cover blurb reads "Like all good stories ever, this one starts in an inn!" and in a fit of undoubtedly intentional irony, the book actually ''doesn't'', and the inn scene quoted above happens near the end of the book.
** In ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'', [[spoiler:Right-Eye]] meets Eugene in an inn to attempt to convince him to resume carrying out his BloodOath against Xykon. When Eugene mentions he doesn't have a party to take Xykon on anymore, [[spoiler:Right-Eye]] shouts "Hey! Who in this tavern is an adventurer?", and everybody else in the room raises their hand, even the waitress.

* Also abused in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' proper: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0357.html #357.]] To get rid of a troublesome pest, all Belkar has to do is post a sign promising gold to the problem-solver on the door of an inn, and out come the adventurers. (No, the target's not Vaarsuvius.)

* Sharon Shinn's ''Literature/MysticAndRider'' begins with the main characters saving a NaiveNewcomer from a tavern brawl, evidently so they'll have someone to whom they can [[{{Exposition}} exposit]].

* The short story "The Most Precious Of Treasures" by Desmond Warzel. It's only two people meeting there, and it occurs because one has left a note for the other, but it's still an example.

* The eponymous Drogans of ''LetsPlay/DungeonsAndDrogans'' meet several new members in a number of inns.

* Literature/TheNameOfTheWind

* WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb: Played with in the episode "Excaliferb". Phineas and Ferb-alot receive their quest and get their first ally in their own backyard. Then they go to the Inn of the Prancing Platypus to hire some muscle (and have a great taco salad). There they meet [[CanisLatinicus Bufarbalus and Baljeetalus]]. Only then does the adventure truly begin.

-->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick: On the Origins of [=PCs=]''

[[folder:AnimeAndManga]]
* ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'': Played with. Keith Shadis brings an apparently amnesiac Grisha Yeager to a tavern for drinks, where Grisha meets Carla; his future [[spoiler:second]] Wife. It is played with in that this is at the tail end of Grishas' own journey before he would become a doctor, marry Carla, and have a son together: Eren Yeager.

** In ''On the Origin of [=PCs=]'', Roy attempts to recruit party members on the street unsuccessfully. He is greeted by Elan, who says that to have a reasonable chance of finding willing party members, he must not only be in a tavern, but also sit in the corner, stare sullenly into his mug of ale, and wear an eyepatch.\\
\\
The back cover blurb reads "Like all good stories ever, this one starts in an inn!" and in a fit of undoubtedly intentional irony, the book actually ''doesn't'', and the inn scene quoted above happens near the end of the book.
** In ''Start of Darkness'', [[spoiler:Right-Eye]] meets Eugene in an inn to attempt to convince him to resume carrying out his BloodOath against Xykon. When Eugene mentions he doesn't have a party to take Xykon on anymore, [[spoiler:Right-Eye]] shouts "Hey! Who in this tavern is an adventurer?", and everybody else in the room raises their hand, even the waitress.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' volume ''World's End'' takes place entirely in an InnBetweenTheWorlds. The coincidence that contrives to bring together so many dimensional adventurers and agents also keeps them there, telling stories that in some way involve The Dreaming and The Dream King.

* The Adventurer's Guild in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' started out as a favored watering hole for adventurers between quests to eat, drink, and swap stories. Because adventurers between jobs often hung out at this one bar, people looking to hire adventurers went to that bar and wait for people they could hire to show up, and adventurers learned that prospective employers would go there, and visited to look for work. Eventually the arrangement became formalized and the guild was created to bring adventurers and job listings for adventurers to one place.

* ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'' has "you are all called into the briefing by a handler" (sometimes phrased as "You are cordially invited to a night at the opera"), although there's much fun on HOW you are called. Part of the impetus for the creation of the setting was to give a reason for surviving player characters to repeatedly get new mythos creepiness to investigate, and for dead player characters to be replaced.

* ''Film/{{Stalker}}'': Stalker, Writer, and Professor start off in a bar.

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], the Special Children meet in a haunted ghost town called Cold Oak.

** In ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' , there's a BadGuyBar Broken Drum in which adventurers meet and fight each other.
** In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', a group of "businessmen" meet in even worse BadGuyBar, answering the call of BigBad Teatime. They mostly know each other and are on edge because Teatime is late to meet them and tell them what their assignment is. Then, it turns out the place never had waiters... Cue OhCrap moment.

-->"You all meet in the local tavern, because that's where every good stock adventure starts."

* In ''Film/NorthwestPassage'': Towne and Marriner meet Robert Rogers in a tavern while running from the redcoats.

* ''Film/{{Ronin}}'' has a tavern as a pre-arranged meeting place for the team of mercenaries. It's even the [[BookEnds first and last scene]].
* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' movie, ''[[Film/{{DungeonsAndDragonsTheBookOfVileDarkness}} The Book Of Vile Darkness]]'', after the main hero's order is slaughtered, this is how he meets up with the unsavory band he's infiltrating to get closer to the ones that killed his companions and kidnapped his father. A blatant and unapologetic ShoutOut to many a classic D&D campaign start, as stated in the trope description.
* ''Film/{{Stalker}}'' - Stalker, Writer, and Professor start off in a bar.
* ''[[Film/TheMerryWidow1925 The Merry Widow]]'' with evil Crown Prince Mirko and his devil-may-care cousin Prince Danilo meeting at an inn, where they encounter the lovely Sally O'Hara, a dancer with a theater troupe. Romance ensues.

* [[Film/ANewHope The original]] ''Franchise/StarWars'': While not all the characters met there (Leia is already held on the Death Star by this point, the droids had met Luke after being bought, and then they all go to meet Ben Kenobi to find out if the droids belong to him), the meeting with Han Solo and Chewbacca in the Mos Eisley cantina does represent the first time the main hero (Luke) is set to interact with the outside universe, and since the meeting is where the mission to Alderaan is planned that will link them up with Leia and set the plot for the rest of the movie (as well as set all the events of the trilogy in motion), it certainly counts as where the main adventure starts.
** In Episode VII, Han and company go to a similar establishment, a thousand-year old watering-hole run by his friend, Maz Kanata. Here, Finn, deserter from the First Order stormtroopers, takes the opportunity to flee to the Outer Rim by getting himself hired with a couple of guys on a different ship.

* ''{{Film/Mythica}}'': The party meets in a tavern. It's somewhat justified as this is frequented by mercenaries, and Teela comes in hoping to hire some that will help rescue her sister and retrieve the Darkspore. Also the owner was a mercenary, who acts now as a sort of broker for teams to pursue such missions.

* The Adventurer's Guild in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' started out as a favored watering hole for adventurers between quests to eat, drink, and swap stories. Because adventurers between jobs often hung out at this one bar, people looking to hire adventurers went to that bar and wait for people they could hire to show up, and adventurers learned that prospective employers would go there, and visited to look for work. Eventually the arrangement became formalized and the guild was created to bring adventurers and job listings for adventurers to one place.

The stereotypical opening to an adventure in tabletop [=RPGs=]: the protagonists are all [[JustForFun/HowToGatherCharacters gathered by prior intent]] or a [[ContrivedCoincidence "coincidence" of authorial fiat]] by the GameMaster in an inn, bar room, or other common public meeting spot. Once there, Messenger some mysterious stranger or {{NPC}} of varying dubiousness will approach them with some job offer or plea for assistance. These strangers tend to seat themselves in the darkest corner of the tavern [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings for some reason]] (probably to make themselves seem even more mysterious). Thus do our heroes receive their [[CallToAdventure ticket to board the plot]].

* Then there's the Pixar Lunch, where after finishing ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', several key members of the Pixar team got together to discuss future films, which would later become ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', and ''WesternAnimation/WallE''. [[PowerUpFood You have to wonder just WHAT was in the food there.]]

* Justified in the ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' novel ''Dream Carvers'', based on one of the author's campaigns. Baron Treeden was specifically looking for [[TheDrunkenSailor Capt. Salvatore]], one of his house's {{Privateer}}s, and Sister Annarisse in turn was trying to find the baron, to whom she'd just been assigned as a confessor.

* Spoofed in ''Webcomic/{{Exiern}}'' in an [[http://www.exiern.com/?p=43 entire arc]] where Tiffany (and several background characters) are just trying to have a quiet drink without being bothered by the stereotypical adventure seekers, fortune tellers, and quest-givers (they fail).