Session Zero

I think the hardest part of anything is the ending, but the second hardest part is the beginning. The first episode of a TV show, the first chapter of a book, and the first issue of a comic are what’s supposed to hook the viewer or reader and make them want to keep going.

The beginning of a campaign isn’t very different. A lot of campaigns have a reasonably stable player base, but I’ve left enough campaigns (and had enough players leave my campaigns) in the first few sessions to know how important it is to hook people, set the stage for the plot, and let the players know what they can expect for the rest of the campaign. A great Session One can go a long way toward a great overall campaign.

I think I’ve come up with a solution for problematic Sessions One: have a Session Zero. Before a campaign starts, I have a session with no plot, no role-playing, no actual dice hitting the table unless it’s to roll character abilities. The whole point is to have everybody gather and get a feel for each other, their characters, and the setting.

There are a couple of things I like to go over:

• Character Generation – I prefer to roll character abilities, build characters, and discuss the party dynamic as part of Session Zero. It turns out a lot of players don’t like this, preferring to build character by themselves rather than by committee, but I still think it’s important to have everybody somewhat aware of what roles they’re filling in the party. It also lets players ask me or each other questions about things they’re having trouble with, like picking languages or figuring out how to spend their starting equipment budget.
• Setting Discussion – Session Zero is a great chance for players to ask questions about the setting of the campaign and add their own notes to it. “I figure I was in a war ten years ago. Who would it have been with?” “Is there a problem with me playing a goblin?” “Are Eastern weapons or firearms available?” And so forth.
• Survey Results – I have a campaign survey that I like to send out to players while I’m designing the campaign, and Session Zero is a good time to go over the results. I’ll go over my survey in a future post, but I’ve also tried the Same Page Tool that Left Oblique gushed over a while back.
• Player Meeting – It’s nice to have everybody meet face-to-face before the campaign starts. I’m not worried (any more) that two players are actually mortal enemies that I won’t learn until they see each other across the table, but it makes everybody a little more familiar with each other.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about Session Zero is that the players have to treat it like a real session. My first Session Zero was optional, and half the party didn’t show, which sort of defeated the point. My second had players come in and out at different times, so while I was there for five hours, I never had more than three players there at once, and I ended up explaining things three or four times. When I started making it as mandatory as a real session, it finally had the impact I’d always wanted. The Session Zero for my current campaign was almost perfect.

The whole point of a Session Zero is to get the players interested, unified, and ready to dive right in for Session One. A good one can all but eliminate the mechanical, table-based problems with a first session (which leaves the DM with only the in-character, story-based problems, but every little bit helps). It’s kind of like giving your campaign a trailer, letting everybody know what they can expect coming in far better than you can by giving the same campaign pitch four or five times.