My 1e DM did this with every character before they joined the campaign. We didn’t call it “session 0”, but he made it clear what the campaign was, and what was/wasn’t acceptable.

@Arnsteel634

9 ай бұрын

They make a big deal about having a session zero. It’s really just a 5 minute description of what the setting is about

@NoHandle678

9 ай бұрын

We did something similar with character creation session. I think this idea goes back to early years (I started in 78). Especially with a new group, the DMs house rules presented so expectations are all understood.

@Kylora2112

9 ай бұрын

@@Arnsteel634There's more to it than that though. It's about setting expectations, comfort zones/levels, getting everyone's characters to work with the DM and the rest of the table, any house rules that will be used, and introduce the players to each other (especially if they've never met before).

@Arnsteel634

9 ай бұрын

@@Kylora2112 really don’t play with strangers. It’s always been maybe a players brings over a new friend he has. So I can see how this doesn’t really apply to me. Even when i go to the LGS in my town we are all the same culture and background so even there it is a non-issue. This is probably important to people in communities with diverse backgrounds and large cities. Especially around strangers.

@Thorn99855

9 ай бұрын

​@@Arnsteel634My own session zeros are interviews where I get the players to deepen their characters and I as the DM get to plan things from my notes such that the characters make the most sense in the world. It sort of contours some of the locality around them. Ie: we pick job locations/hideouts/manors or whatever based on backgrounds; strengths and flaws of the characters are fleshed out that way characters are flavor-rich right from session 1, the characters already have ties to factions and history within the world, a sprinkling of relatives and friends are given homes within places in the world that way each character is not an island, etc etc. I develop a list of questions both challenging and mundane and we get to adding detail beyond just the backstory they have written. Most importantly, thusfar, session zeros have been very very fun.

Session 0 can be handled via emails, discord, text or in person yes. As long as everyone is on the same page when the game starts it’s all good.

I had issues understanding how to run a session 0 (despite all the descriptions and advice) until I found online a group of people streaming their session 0 for the story they would later stream. I would love to see more examples of actual session 0s.

I literally just brought this up! I love this idea so much it helps the overall campaign so much. Keep up the great content!

there are a bunch of game systems that kind of incorporate a session 0, or at least parts of what you covered, in their gameplay. Quick example that come to my mind: Traveller: Players create their charactery by taking turns and rolling on life events. During these events connections between characters are being build. The Sprawl: before character creation, the party actually builds the world together. That inculdes creating organisations that WILL be antagonists, creating characters and their connections to each other. It kinda feels natural to incorporate any other session 0 topics within these steps.

I agree that talking with your players about the theme and setting of the Campaign beforehand, discussing PC ideas and figuring out if they'll work in the campaign/setting the DM wants to run, making sure you understand the lines and limits of your players (if you already know them and have played before, these usually stay the same and likely won't be needed for subsequent campaigns.) And get input about PC backstory and ideas to incorporate them if both parties want it. And sure you can do this in person or grouped up in a discord call, but that's not needed. It can be as simple as a group text chat. Also, I'm sorry but... Your suggestion of "Some light roleplay, introductions, maybe even a combat"... That's not a session 0 dawg... That's just flat out session 1

@davidmc8478

8 ай бұрын

lol, yes. My other pet peeve is people using the word “downtime” to describe a session with social interactions and maybe some combat. Dude, that’s an adventuring session.

You have a really great camera presence. Excellent delivery and engaging content. Great job!

Great video! Also, your cat has great comedic timing. I enjoyed the girlfriend/fiancée quite a bit as well. Congratulations on the engagement! Please keep up the exceelent work!

@BonusAction

9 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

Love the vids jeep em coming! Also ive been so curious on the origin of session 0 but been to lazy to research it myself lol

Good to see you doing good work in the gaming space 😀

Sounds like the perfect excuse for a couple pints round the fireplace at my local a week or so before the start of the campaign. I'll actually be doing a session-zero for the campaign im working on which should work especially well since we will be starting at level 6-ish and all the characters will know each other in game even if it's by reputation alone. We will be discussing classes and races ofc but just as importantly character appearance and origins etc. It will also allow us to put together a well rounded group of adventurers, sure if the group want to run with 3 Wizards and a pair of Bards then crack on, however as DM I will be describing that the challenges the party will encounter will be varied and sometimes... _unusual._

Session 0: Agree on what system to play; if the system has several campaign worlds, agree on which campaign world to play in; agree on the overal plot genre of the campaign (horror, high adventure, low adventure, political, crime mystery, etc...); agree on starting experience level or character construction points (depending on what character creation mechanics the system played uses); state any races or classes prohibited in the campaign; state any races or classes required for the campaign; state any houserules affecting character creation.

On the origins of session zero, I think it's interesting that you found a 2003 source, as I was going to bring up the Dungeon Master's Guide 2, a 3.5e book from 2005. It has a section called "The Pregame" that essentially describes a session zero. I imagine it's been an unofficial part of D&D culture going all the way back to the beginning, but it's because more formally codified in more modern versions of the game and the community as a whole.

An option which works for my players is adding it to your discord channel or website. This way, players can view at their leisure and if their are any questions they can ask. This seems to work best considering I use VTT's for my games. As for themes and settings I include this so that only players who are interested stay. It saves a lot of time and aggravation.

Different groups with good DM's zero sessions prior to starting a campaign in the 80's before the name zero session. I'm pretty sure the first time I heard of the catchy name Zero Session was in the early 2000's with 3rd Edition.

Nice format

Another old fart here - being doing this for 40 years (excerpt we didn’t call it session zero - we basically asking questions about the the setting and who was playing what - to be fair no safety flags, but in our day vegans weren’t morons) You know what else we did - when we went rock climbing of spelunking we ask groups members what they feel comfortable with, what was there skill level, and major diving or climbing events we should be aware of, and agreed a safety signal when it was getting too concerning. We were up a mountain or down a cave so to be fair, hard for someone to get up a take a breather

FATE RPG (which was published in 2003) actually had a similar thing, basically a "build the world and characters" session. Two chapters in the book revolve around the "mechanics" on how to do that. E.g., there exists a "game creation worksheet" for recording the ideas regarding the setting, and there also exists a process for coming up with a bit of background story while at the same time tying in other characters. It basically goes like: * "Hey , tell us a short story where your character does something that's typical for him." * ", BTW, your character was also there. How did he interact with the character of ?" * ", your character was also there. What did he do to make situation worse? Or did he resolve it?" I love that process, since you get to know the other characters quite well before the game even started. And when it's actually time to play, you can already refer to stuff that happened in the past. And yes, since this is pretty much system-agnostic, we also did that for our DnD characters.

The first session zero I witnessed was for Vampire The Masquerade, back in the 90s, in a store. The White Wolf rulebooks have always insisted on having a private session with each player, to explain the game and the Chronicle (Campaign) and to create a detailed character for the player and the relative NPCs. It certainly came from Ars Magica, an old participatory role-playing game from the same author as Vampire. I had read some rulebooks but never played. Looked like a perpetual zero session or a group worldbuilding game.

That cut was hilarious: "Session 0 can prevent Session 0." 😳😳

So I learned something. The first place I encountered this was the prelude from Vampire the Masquerade, though that was for each individual player. Which itself does have a place in any game.

Loved this video! So useful and your personal experience tidbits really helped ground the tips for me. I will be sure to do you proud!

0:58 THANK YOU, GOD DAMN THANK YOU

This concept was the default since I started playing (early 80s), not sure why it seemed to be forgotten…maybe the explosion of new players and DMs after CR made it popular.

@RichardChappell1

8 ай бұрын

Exactly. The difference is that back then people were offended by fewer things, so it was typically about game mechanics.

@nvfury13

8 ай бұрын

@@RichardChappell1 Yeah, it was less about “offended” than about home brew and avoiding phobias…no need to cause nightmares and add fuel to the Satanic Panic fire.

Hummmm ... My introduction to session zeros came from playing the TTRPG Vampire: The Masquerade where the session zero is baked into the rules for starting a character in all the White Wolf games. This was back in 1991, so it is not that new a concept.

Just happened to watch your video after one from BECMI Berserker and couldn’t happen to notice how your voices and pronounciations are similar (to a non native speaker they do actually seem the same!): are you the same person? Just wanted to comment to show my support (and attention to the details) 😊 Keep up the good work!

9:00 damn bro it’s windy outside your house lmao

I feel like the concept itself may be a case of simultaneous invention but then someone gave it a fitting name that stuck

Naruto trained me to cry from that music too well

Displacer Beast appears on the window sill at 10:05. XD

I know that I have used the term already back in the Noughts, and always assumed they are something that was thought up in the Forge. Probably because I have seen it used in some games which had been clearly influenced by the Forge or have been directly developed there.

Holding the lav mic like that must make balancing the audio levels of all your clips in post a nightmare. Just clip it to your shirt or get the little Rode lav mic that plugs into that receiver.

@BonusAction

8 ай бұрын

Its not actually been too bad to be honest, but I do clip the mic in other videos, depends how I am feeling on the day!

i know a ginger when i see one (I like the video)

I want to run a game where the players are vikings, running around raiding harder and harder villages and towns. Although… 😬… the vikings did some pretty terrible things, and I definitely plan on a session zero to communicate that we won’t be exploring those things.

Heya! I just checked out your patreon, because I love these videos and would love to chip in. Unfortunately, the €6.50 a month are a bit too much for me to commit to monthly, as I really need to watch my budget. I would love a simple €1 tip jar tier, no rewards required. Or perhaps a Ko-Fi tip jar I could donate to.

@BonusAction

9 ай бұрын

Oooh I will look in to this! Thankyou

Mustard yellow is much lighter in shade. That's closer to orange. Session 0 is not necessarily a session, it's a setting of expectations before playing the game. It can be an email or a web site. Not just house rules, but also cover optional and variant rules that will be used, especially magic items and multiclassing. It's also a good idea to cover things like starting level, character creation methods, character death, how to handle absent players, XP or milestone leveling, settling rule disputes, and if PVP is allowed.

Not sure if I really need a session 0, im going to have my 1st session of dnd (I'll be Dm), to be honest its going to be everyones 1st session of dnd at the tables. I feel like I know my mates well enough to not touch on cirtain topics. Its only going to be a oneshot, so massive back stories aren't overly necessary. This sessions design was to dip a toe in the water so to speak. What I may do is talk about expectations and rules for the game. Such as paying attention whilst in play, respecting others, be creative, roleplay is appreciated but not fully required to start with.

@Shepsus

9 ай бұрын

I totally understand that you think a one shot may not need a session 0, but everyone's first time, the one shot will probably not be one session. Looking up rules, understanding things, reading spells, rereading spells, understanding spells, discussing spells will happen. That's not to say that's a bad thing, just keep that in mind. Even if you don't have a session 0 with your one shot, have a session 0 after your one shot when/if your campaign continues. It's easy to forget that session 0 is not just about tone and rules, but about the players characters and allows the players to ask questions. Even if you might not *need* it, it is good to do for everyone. It gets everyone on the same page about tone. It's good to help players (especially new players) pick race and class. It's good to set up characters' pre-existing relationships. It's always helpful. The only thing you're giving up is one session of playing D&D, but it results in a much better D&D experience. Much Love❤

how do you have a sessions zero with people who have never played before, don't know much about ttrpg's, and don't necessarily understand boundaries around role playing and storytelling?

I like your tips. What i probably would do now is running a "danger room" as matt colville does. Its a filler episode with endless monstzrs to get to know the character and get the feel of it. That way the ses 0 is not tied into the campaign but the players get some action already and some time to experiment with their character.

"Not ginger." Lol

@BonusAction

8 ай бұрын

Strawberry Blond

Ranga #gingerpride

I have had to have a literal contract with some players. They forget what was agreed on in session zero or the session .5s where I check in and get mad when they go ahainst agreed upon items. The contract usually states punishments or caveats to be enacted for violating agreements. Case in point: A player agreed upon no slavery with the group but later on they wanted a slave to be edgy. The rst if the party stayed no slavery but this player got passive aggressive but not disruptive. They did keep looking for slavers though. In their contract they agreed I could jail their character for a short period for pushing a boundary that was set. I did that and they flipped out, saying I was punishing them for wanting something fun. Their character was jailed for a day.

NOT GINGER?????????

Ima rant now. Not going to lie, I have DMd for over a decade and the only people who have requested a session zero were the problem players. I don’t believe in catering my game to all my players. Of the games I’ve played, the more they are catered (even to me as a player) the more boring they are. There is a good reason Elden Ring did so well. The designer refused to waver from his vision. I keep watching all these videos of DMs going on about these silly ideas like session zeros. All the while the game struggles to find new DMs. When I first ever played D&D I was murdered by my own party. The irony is that I actually don’t blame them, I was sneaking around stealing stuff all the time. But now a days DMs are expected to just dilute the game so that they don’t upset peoples delicate sensitivities. Quite frankly, when you can’t handle violent and emotional situations, it makes me wonder why you aren’t just playing “Blues Clues the Roleplaying Game”. But go ahead, go cater your entire campaign to your players. Go make a game about anything and everything and soon discover the truth. When you have a game about anything and everything, it just becomes a game about nothing. And the only real content you prep for it will be the equivalent of a corporate America advertisement that has to go through a review board to make sure no one got upset at you for including anything deeper than a child’s cartoon. If you’ve made it this far, I honestly hope you have an incredible week. Thanks for reading. And before you think too lowly of me, just know that I spend 20 hours a week with a co DM preparing a fully battlemapped homebrew experience for my players where their choices matter and the quality is stellar. At the end of the day never let anyone tell you how to DM/GM. Play your game and love what you do.

@BonusAction

8 ай бұрын

Rants are welcome in my comments! I like seeing the different points of view. I think some DM's just prefer having a precedent set from the get go, and a session 0 can really set expectations, since 90% of DM/player issues in D&D are caused by expectations vs reality. But if you do not feel the need to run a Session 0, and your players don't care for it either, then ofcourse, don't force it.

@the11thhour14

8 ай бұрын

@@BonusAction (2/2)My players are hellions, but relatively drama free. I did watch your video and didn't wholly agree with your take, I'm just a ranter by nature. That being said, I've only been asked to run a session zero a couple times partway through the campaign. I think the reason it was from people who were problem players isn't because of session zeros, but rather because people who are problem players are also more likely to try to shift blame onto everyone else. The biggest thing I dislike isn't the session zero, but its the formality of it all. I'm less upset at running them than I am that a bunch of adults can't act decent to eachother.

@the11thhour14

8 ай бұрын

@@BonusAction (1/2)I don't want you to take any of this as criticism though, as I did upvote your content and it wasn't meant to be directed towards you. I actually really respect that you took the time to respond so well to this. I want you to know that I am responding to that by subscribing as well. I'm a big believer that earnest and kind behavior should be treated in kind.

regardless of session that vegan is getting the boot bruh.

Session zero, absolutely essential. Catering to vegan players, absolutely not.