So anyone who has played Temple of Elemental Evil is familiar with those, if you haven't:
Starting vignettes were little stories that acted as openers, and there were different ones for the nine DnD alignments (Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil etc.). They served as an introduction to the game and led to your first quests, thereby also giving you some direction without holding your hand.
I'd love to see this idea picked up, possibly by P:E. DnD alignments are derpy of course, but a theme for the party that "explains" how it came to be is a nice roleplaying element (and possibly more).
Some possible themes:
- an unemployed mercenary company
- a band of vicious bandits
- a flock of humble pilgrims
- a group of travelling scholars
I know P:E doesn't start out as a party game, but I think a single character works fine as well.