Character Introduction

The following suggestions for how the characters meet owe some inspiration to David Morgan-Mar (http://www.dangermouse.net/gurps/reject/tavern.html). There are basically these variations:

The characters already know each other and are an established, current group of some kind, such as a military, police or Special Forces unit, ship’s crew, group of freelance troubleshooters, group of friends who get together regularly, relatives, co-workers, or people who live in the same small location.
The characters know each other from the past (perhaps having gone to school or been in the military together) but they have been out of touch for some time. They are reunited by an event such as a funeral, a planned reunion, attacks upon others of their number, their old commander calling for help against an enemy…
The characters are strangers to one another, but are in similar or complementary lines of work or belong to the same organization. Someone assembles them as a team to perform a project or mission or to staff something like a ship, fort, house or enterprise, either by approaching them individually or by advertising.
The characters are strangers to one another and meet by chance, while traveling on a ship/train/spaceship etc., in a trade caravan, in an accommodation place, at a pilgrimage site, at a conference or simply in the public square or street. A crisis (accidental or engineered) throws them together.
The characters are strangers to one another but are all victims of the same person, who has shanghaied, captured or imprisoned them.
A combination of two or more of the above (some characters join the group in one way, some in another).