I have been a part of some session 0 as a player and as a DM and I have mixed experiences. How have others done it. Is there such a thing as divulging too much or too little for the players to be TOO prepared or not adequately prepared for your campaign? Do you drop hints or give a major theme? etc.
Players need clear guidance as to what the scope of the campaign is. They need to know the theme and where it takes place, so they can write a proper backstory. The players' job is then to come up with characters that will fit into the campaign, so that the DM can incorporate their backstories. If the DM is specifically forbidding anything-- which is perfectly within his right to do-- he MUST say so beforehand. The more fitting and believable the backstory is, the more easily the DM can use it. Players will only be too familiar with the campaign if they are reading the adventure-- also known as CHEATING. Whatever they know beforehand, players need to be able to act like adults. Likewise, the DM shouldn't just be going verbatim from the campaign. All campaigns should have some replay value.
- ROLL STATS! I know WotC is pushing for mediocrity in every aspect of character creation, but players who have the same shitty scores will not have a good time. Players who prefer standard array or point-buy will be envious of EVERYTHING another players has, which they do not. Never play with "That Guy." If somehow a player rolls as badly as standard array, the DM should probably let him scrap it, and re-roll the whole array. This can be done with several apps, if the campaign is played remotely, or by the honor system if you're familiar with the players. Do not have them divulge their scores to one another, but make sure that all players are satisfied with their beginning scores before starting. Playing characters with no potential is no fun.
- A Session 0 should hopefully include a brief non-lethal (or rather, less-than-lethal) starting adventure, where the players can be introduced, and come up with some reason to adventure together. Both players and DMs share this responsibility.
- Always be on the lookout for "That Guy" (and this can also be the DM). One or more of them, and it's best to reorganize, or find a completely different group.
I think the more important things to discuss on session 0 are the meta-game elements. Are any classes/races/feats (or really anything) going to be restricted; how lethal will the campaign be; expectations for table behavior (are there any issues that someone might find personally troubling, swear words, eating and drinking), attendance, that sort of thing. And this should be a conversation, not just the DM setting down rules. This is the time to figure out if everyone wants to play more or less the same game and head off conflicts before they start and ruin everyone's fun.
The campaign world stuff, should also be a conversation, but I think the DM should have much more leeway here. Maybe the DM doesn't want elves in the world, but half the players really want to play an elf, this is the time to work that sort of thing out (either the players just agree not to, or the DM allows them or they make some exception for inter-planar travelers, whatever works for that table). I think it's also useful to tell the players a bit about where the game will take place. If its all going to be on a tundra, you don't wan the ranger picking mountains for their favored terrain. If its landlocked, you want the player to have a reason why their pirate background character is there (or to re-flavor it as a bandit or something).
Other details about the world, to me aren't session 0 so much as a short gazetteer given to the players once everyone is on the same page for the broader stuff. It should describe the general outlines of the world (events, major figures, important places), with greater detail as you get closer to the time and place of the campaign. It's also a good place to drop some foreshadowing about the plot/villian to reward the players who actually bother to read it, which, lets face it, many of them won't.
I first send them a 1 page doc with some of the general info about the specific campaign setting I use (I don’t like Forgotten Realms) so that they have a rough idea. I also send 1-2 pages about whichever specific nation I am using as the starting point for the campaign, stuff about the cultures, religions, histories and politics of that region. A lot of stuff is determined by geography/politics, the names and denominations of the local currencies, even which races/subraces are available to PCs is based on geography in my world. Then I ask them what they are planning and schedule Session 0 for them to come over.
When they get there, I explain a little more about the style of campaign I intend to run, stuff like: Action driven vs. Narrative driven, Serious vs. Silly, Political or not, the possibility of PC death, if people have stuff they prefer me to avoid (like triggers, etc.), basically anything that I think relevant to make sure that everyone expects the same kind of game. Then I help everyone who needs it build their characters.
After that, I tell people I will send them specific information about things that apply to their characters: Rogues and folks with crime related backgrounds can get stuff about the Thieves’ Guilds. Clerics and folks with religious backgrounds get stuff about the Churches. Wizards and the those with academic backgrounds get more about the Schools. You get the idea. Also, the Elves can get a little more about Elves in that world and the Goblin Players can learn more about Goblins, etc.
This way each Player knows a little more about the various parts of the setting, but they don't all know everything. The Elf wouldn't necessarily have any knowledge of Goblin tribal politics, and the Wizard might not even know that Thieves' Guilds exist. I have found this to have several advantages. When these things do come up, verisimilitude isn't broken by accidental metagaming. At the same time, when things do come up, the players can ask each other about this stuff and roleplay out the conversation. They get to actually feel like real parts of the living world I try to create. They don’t have to sit there listening to me hammer on, and I get to sit there and enjoy them playing their characters.
I tell everyone that they can have more generic info upon request, such as: Calendar/Holidays/Horoscopes, agriculture, other resources, just general "everybody knows this” stuff if they want it, but their characters are generally assumed to know this stuff.
Then I schedule Session 1, send everyone home and tell them to send me a backstory for their characters before next session starts. It doesn’t have to be long, maybe a paragraph or two, but just something for me to work with. I like stuff to use as ways of bringing their characters into the story, but I also like a little room to develop things too. If they send me 3 pages, I don’t complain, but I personally prefer something a little more succinct. If they just send me an outline with bullet points I also don't argue, but I personally prefer something a little more fleshed out.
I also tell them that I present adventure hooks based on that stuff. If the first player to send me a backstory is playing the Cleric, the first adventure hook might be a job working for their church or something. That gets them motivated to actually work on it. 😉
You don’t have to do it my way. You do whatever works best for you and your group. I just wanted to include this information in case some of what I wrote earlier didn't make sense at the time.
As a side note, I do not use the massive multi level Adventure Modules from 5e. I prefer the smaller, more generic, older modules. That way, I can shuffle them together how I like and the party gets to have multiple quest options at all times. I don't write/dictate the campaign, they write the campaign through the choices that they make.
I can do that because I have a rich world with multiple continents each covered in numerous countries all with different cultures and languages. In all of those places I have numerous NPCs that each have their own agendas and motivations. I don’t need to “write a campaign,” I just have to let them know what is happening at that time in that place that they are aware of. If they aren’t aware of it, and the thing still happens, the repercussions still occur.
As an example, maybe there’s an evil Baron who has been doing something evil, and they hear about it. They might decide to see what the evil Baron is up to, and then dealing with “what he’s doing” becomes part of the campaign. They might choose to ignore the Baron in which case he still does his thing anyway. They might then decide to to go deal with “what he did” at that point. See how the campaign changed drastically?
I can run D&D that way because I have been using the same world for my campaigns for over 25 years so I have all of that information. I regularly have to go look some of it up from time to time, nobody can remember all of that. But I have it. You might not, have all that, that’s okay. You don’t need it. But if you keep going and keep taking notes and saving them, and you keep using the same world, eventually you will have all of that too.
I have been a part of some session 0 as a player and as a DM and I have mixed experiences. How have others done it. Is there such a thing as divulging too much or too little for the players to be TOO prepared or not adequately prepared for your campaign? Do you drop hints or give a major theme? etc.
Players need clear guidance as to what the scope of the campaign is. They need to know the theme and where it takes place, so they can write a proper backstory. The players' job is then to come up with characters that will fit into the campaign, so that the DM can incorporate their backstories. If the DM is specifically forbidding anything-- which is perfectly within his right to do-- he MUST say so beforehand. The more fitting and believable the backstory is, the more easily the DM can use it.
Players will only be too familiar with the campaign if they are reading the adventure-- also known as CHEATING. Whatever they know beforehand, players need to be able to act like adults. Likewise, the DM shouldn't just be going verbatim from the campaign. All campaigns should have some replay value.
- ROLL STATS! I know WotC is pushing for mediocrity in every aspect of character creation, but players who have the same shitty scores will not have a good time. Players who prefer standard array or point-buy will be envious of EVERYTHING another players has, which they do not. Never play with "That Guy."
If somehow a player rolls as badly as standard array, the DM should probably let him scrap it, and re-roll the whole array. This can be done with several apps, if the campaign is played remotely, or by the honor system if you're familiar with the players. Do not have them divulge their scores to one another, but make sure that all players are satisfied with their beginning scores before starting. Playing characters with no potential is no fun.
- A Session 0 should hopefully include a brief non-lethal (or rather, less-than-lethal) starting adventure, where the players can be introduced, and come up with some reason to adventure together. Both players and DMs share this responsibility.
- Always be on the lookout for "That Guy" (and this can also be the DM). One or more of them, and it's best to reorganize, or find a completely different group.
I think the more important things to discuss on session 0 are the meta-game elements. Are any classes/races/feats (or really anything) going to be restricted; how lethal will the campaign be; expectations for table behavior (are there any issues that someone might find personally troubling, swear words, eating and drinking), attendance, that sort of thing. And this should be a conversation, not just the DM setting down rules. This is the time to figure out if everyone wants to play more or less the same game and head off conflicts before they start and ruin everyone's fun.
The campaign world stuff, should also be a conversation, but I think the DM should have much more leeway here. Maybe the DM doesn't want elves in the world, but half the players really want to play an elf, this is the time to work that sort of thing out (either the players just agree not to, or the DM allows them or they make some exception for inter-planar travelers, whatever works for that table). I think it's also useful to tell the players a bit about where the game will take place. If its all going to be on a tundra, you don't wan the ranger picking mountains for their favored terrain. If its landlocked, you want the player to have a reason why their pirate background character is there (or to re-flavor it as a bandit or something).
Other details about the world, to me aren't session 0 so much as a short gazetteer given to the players once everyone is on the same page for the broader stuff. It should describe the general outlines of the world (events, major figures, important places), with greater detail as you get closer to the time and place of the campaign. It's also a good place to drop some foreshadowing about the plot/villian to reward the players who actually bother to read it, which, lets face it, many of them won't.
I first send them a 1 page doc with some of the general info about the specific campaign setting I use (I don’t like Forgotten Realms) so that they have a rough idea. I also send 1-2 pages about whichever specific nation I am using as the starting point for the campaign, stuff about the cultures, religions, histories and politics of that region. A lot of stuff is determined by geography/politics, the names and denominations of the local currencies, even which races/subraces are available to PCs is based on geography in my world. Then I ask them what they are planning and schedule Session 0 for them to come over.
When they get there, I explain a little more about the style of campaign I intend to run, stuff like: Action driven vs. Narrative driven, Serious vs. Silly, Political or not, the possibility of PC death, if people have stuff they prefer me to avoid (like triggers, etc.), basically anything that I think relevant to make sure that everyone expects the same kind of game. Then I help everyone who needs it build their characters.
After that, I tell people I will send them specific information about things that apply to their characters: Rogues and folks with crime related backgrounds can get stuff about the Thieves’ Guilds. Clerics and folks with religious backgrounds get stuff about the Churches. Wizards and the those with academic backgrounds get more about the Schools. You get the idea. Also, the Elves can get a little more about Elves in that world and the Goblin Players can learn more about Goblins, etc.
This way each Player knows a little more about the various parts of the setting, but they don't all know everything. The Elf wouldn't necessarily have any knowledge of Goblin tribal politics, and the Wizard might not even know that Thieves' Guilds exist. I have found this to have several advantages. When these things do come up, verisimilitude isn't broken by accidental metagaming. At the same time, when things do come up, the players can ask each other about this stuff and roleplay out the conversation. They get to actually feel like real parts of the living world I try to create. They don’t have to sit there listening to me hammer on, and I get to sit there and enjoy them playing their characters.
I tell everyone that they can have more generic info upon request, such as: Calendar/Holidays/Horoscopes, agriculture, other resources, just general "everybody knows this” stuff if they want it, but their characters are generally assumed to know this stuff.
Then I schedule Session 1, send everyone home and tell them to send me a backstory for their characters before next session starts. It doesn’t have to be long, maybe a paragraph or two, but just something for me to work with. I like stuff to use as ways of bringing their characters into the story, but I also like a little room to develop things too. If they send me 3 pages, I don’t complain, but I personally prefer something a little more succinct. If they just send me an outline with bullet points I also don't argue, but I personally prefer something a little more fleshed out.
I also tell them that I present adventure hooks based on that stuff. If the first player to send me a backstory is playing the Cleric, the first adventure hook might be a job working for their church or something. That gets them motivated to actually work on it. 😉
You don’t have to do it my way. You do whatever works best for you and your group. I just wanted to include this information in case some of what I wrote earlier didn't make sense at the time.
As a side note, I do not use the massive multi level Adventure Modules from 5e. I prefer the smaller, more generic, older modules. That way, I can shuffle them together how I like and the party gets to have multiple quest options at all times. I don't write/dictate the campaign, they write the campaign through the choices that they make.
I can do that because I have a rich world with multiple continents each covered in numerous countries all with different cultures and languages. In all of those places I have numerous NPCs that each have their own agendas and motivations. I don’t need to “write a campaign,” I just have to let them know what is happening at that time in that place that they are aware of. If they aren’t aware of it, and the thing still happens, the repercussions still occur.
As an example, maybe there’s an evil Baron who has been doing something evil, and they hear about it. They might decide to see what the evil Baron is up to, and then dealing with “what he’s doing” becomes part of the campaign. They might choose to ignore the Baron in which case he still does his thing anyway. They might then decide to to go deal with “what he did” at that point. See how the campaign changed drastically?
I can run D&D that way because I have been using the same world for my campaigns for over 25 years so I have all of that information. I regularly have to go look some of it up from time to time, nobody can remember all of that. But I have it. You might not, have all that, that’s okay. You don’t need it. But if you keep going and keep taking notes and saving them, and you keep using the same world, eventually you will have all of that too.
I hope this was helpful.
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These were all very helpful!
Thank you you all for taking the time to write our your suggestions!