Do THIS before starting your D&D campaign

when done right session zero can prevent campaign-ending conflicts bring you and your party closer together and ultimately deliver a more satisfying game so let's talk about how to do it right for a long time session zero wasn't an official part of d d there was nothing about it in the dungeon Masters Guide so if you weren't involved in the wider Community you might have never heard the phrase but in 2020 Wizards finally included a section about it in Tasha's cauldron of everything thankfully I have this nerd hanging around who loves reading out loud from books

so she's gonna help me out today also she told me that if I did her job she would smother me in my sleep I was joking I joke now I was told it would make me more likable yeah I'll let you know if that happens just read before making characters or playing the game the DM and players can run a special session colloquially called session zero to establish expectations outline the terms of a social contract and share house rules that makes it sound super boring so I feel the need to say ideally session zero leaves

everybody feeling really pumped about the game not all the things you do will be fun necessarily but the overall Vibe of a good session zero is excitement and anticipation a big part of that is making sure that it's a conversation not a monologue there's definitely some information that the DM will have to provide but the more collaborative and interactive this session is the more invested and excited players will get now you'll note that the book specifically says before making characters or playing the game that's why it's called session zero because it comes before session one

but I also want to note it's never too late to do a session zero if you're already playing and think it would benefit your table maybe you didn't do one up front or maybe you did but you've been playing for so long now that you could all use a refresher and a chance to discuss the game there's no wrong time to do one of these if it would be helpful so how do you know if it would be helpful let's talk about why you would even need a session zero making and sticking to these rules

can help ensure that the game is a fun experience for everyone involved sounds like a novel idea to me oh no was that a book pun it's not my fault if you don't get it Tasha's really only mentions why you might do a session like this in passing but I'm just gonna say it easily half of the problems I see people complaining about in d d communities could would have been prevented by a session zero my DM won't let me multi-class I feel like my character doesn't fit into the party my players aren't interested in

my main plotline it's near impossible to schedule sessions my DM's house rules nerfed my character on and on and on scroll through a DND Facebook group or subreddit and you'll see problem after problem that only exists because the group didn't communicate around expectations up front session zero gets everybody onto the same page and if you don't all want the same things it gives you a chance to either compromise or part ways before anybody gets too invested now every session zero will be a little different when I start a new campaign with lifelong friends whom I've

played d d with before our session zero can be really casual and there's a lot that we don't have to explicitly cover because we're already aligned about it but when I prepared to run a short campaign for paying strangers for d d in a castle I had to be more formal and more thorough there are lots of session zero checklists out there and I think those can be useful tools but don't feel like you have to methodically go over every think that someone on the internet says you should cover in session zero and that includes

this video ultimately you are the best judge of what your specific table needs use this video as a resource but don't let it restrict you okay time to get into it Tasha's splits session zero into three sections the first character and party creation there are so many ways to handle this logistically you could have folks come to session zero with a character idea or two already Loosely in mind you could have them show up empty-handed and brainstorm characters during the session which they can then flesh out afterwards on their own time you could even build

characters together during the session this might be a good idea if you have new players who aren't super confident putting together their own character sheets yet however you go about it this is the time to fill players in on basic information like starting level what method you're using for ability scores whether or not you'll allow races or classes from certain books stuff like that this is also your opportunity to put some guard rails in place like so as the DM you can help players during the character creation process by advising them to select options that

will serve the adventure or campaign that awaits this is a good lens through which to evaluate character choices does it serve the campaign I think there are good and bad reasons to ban character options or veto player characters you can't play a gnome because I think gnomes are annoying is a pretty bad reason but you can't play a gnome because gnomes being extinct is a key part of the World building is a much more reasonable objection likewise it is completely valid to forbid evil characters or characters who are anti-social loners if you feel that party

cohesion is important to serve the campaign this way not only do you get Veto power over characters that you don't think would be a good fit for your table players get guidance a solid foundation to create from and confidence that the work they put into their character won't be rejected by their DM but it's not just mechanics that should be covered here session zero is a great opportunity to work together on backstories so you can weave player character histories into the fabric of the campaign give me an example books if a player chooses the criminal

background one of the options for a character's bond is I'm trying to pay off an old debt I owe to a generous benefactor if that's the character's Bond you should work with the player to decide who that generous benefactor is and build relevant story lines into the larger campaign obviously not all of this is going to happen real time at the table during your session zero but a little brainstorming and back and forth up front can make it a lot easier for you to tie everything together in the long run don't forget about party formation

I was getting there what does it say it can be helpful to assume that the characters know each other and have some sort of History together however brief that history might be and then there's a list of questions that you can ask players do you want me to read them don't worry about it people can look it up good because I don't have time I'm fully booked oh my God I could read them though if you want no you've said enough anyway I think it's interesting that Tasha skips right over the classic you meet in

a Tavern option and just straight up advises that the party have a relationship before the game even starts I totally agree with this by the way I think a pre-existing Bond makes the game feel fun much faster and encourages better role play Tasha has a rolling table for party origin with stuff like a funeral brings the characters together or the characters grew up in the same place and have known each other for years Smiley Day to you what's the only thing better than friendship it's dice of course and what better way to show off your

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might be the most important part of session zero and the way it's written about in the book supports that d d is first and foremost meant to be a fun for all experience if one or more participants aren't having fun the game won't last long it then goes on to list several serious sounding bullet points that basically amount to the following you'll respect players they'll respect you players will respect each other and if any of that doesn't happen you can give the problem player the boot unfortunately sitting around a table and agreeing to respect each

other is not terribly actionable a lot of the things that fall under the heading of a social contract are things that need to be explicitly discussed for example scheduling what do you do if one player can't make it do you cancel reschedule play without them what happens to their character if you play while they're gone this is the section where I think a session zero checklist can be most useful you might not think to talk with players about whether or not it's okay to eat during the game or if you should bring food to share

or whether or not alcohol is allowed is it okay for players to use a laptop or tablet to access a digital character sheet where will you meet to play how often how long is this campaign expected to run this is the nitty-gritty that isn't going to be fun but it will prevent a huge number of conflicts in the future nobody wants to miss a session for a doctor's appointment or their Grandma's birthday and then come back to learn that their character died in combat or that the rest of the party leveled up without them going

over these eventualities in advance sets expectations so nobody gets an unpleasant surprise and now the part that always gives my block button fingersome exercise safety tools the book says hard and soft limits yeah same thing it's basically store brand lines and veils a line or hard limit is something that shouldn't come up in the game at all a veil or soft limit is something that can happen off screen or in moderation or with warning but should be treated carefully and not be Central to the game these limits aren't just for sensitive players or players with

trauma like I sometimes see people implying online they're for everyone every member of the group has soft and hard limits and it behooves everyone in the group to know what they are Tasha's includes a few examples like sex slavery and violence against animals among others but often people who push back against safety tools tell me that their games don't contain any adult themes so they don't need to use them this is a common misconception and I want to address it the whole point of asking players about their limits is that you might not be able

to predict them even with people you know well I have a friend who has childhood trauma around dental injuries describing a tooth getting knocked out during combat might seem like generic descriptive flavor to a DM who doesn't know about that limit I once ran a game with some heavy themes of grief for some relative strangers including a player who had just lost his father knowing about that made me cautious when describing grieving NPCs and allowed me to stay aware and check in with this player to make sure the game wasn't going too far in short

you can't know unless you ask and since the subject matter might be sensitive how you ask also matters make sure everyone at the table is comfortable with how this discussion takes place players might not want to discuss their limits allowed around the table especially if they're new to role-playing games or haven't spent a lot of time with certain other members of the group it goes on to suggest having players write their limits on index cards for example you can also have players private message you or even use an anonymous option like Google forms if anonymity

makes your group feel more comfortable and of course once everyone has identified their limits they need to be shared with the group so everyone knows what themes to avoid and to be cautious of every table has different needs I am not here to tell you that you must use an entire Suite of safety tools or you're a bad person who doesn't care about your players but isn't it better to know what someone's boundaries are before you cross them it would really suck if one of your players quit the campaign because they didn't feel comfortable at

the table and the problem was completely avoidable yeah don't be Shelf ish get it like a bookshelf you get it just start the next section ah yes game customization in addition to shaping the game around the characters in The adventuring party you should be prepared to customize the game to suit the player's tastes this is a very short section in the book first it points you to the know your players section in the DMG which offers up some player types based on what they find interesting like acting or optimization or problem solving most parties will

be interested in a few of these things and it's not necessary that those interests match up perfectly between players as long as there's some overlap it also lists a few questions to ask like how players would like to level or whether or not they like humor in their game those are both good questions but I admit that I don't know if I think that they were the most important ones to print in the book they have limited space they're bound to miss something I can feel my brain cells dying every time you make a pun

not as fast as they'll die when I'm smothering you with a pillow what was that just a joke a hilarious joke okay I'm locking the bedroom door tonight anyway I can think of a few topics that are more important to address like how you plan to handle character death or whether or not you allow PVP or what kind of roleplay style players can expect you may also want to go over whether you're planning on using maps and minis or a theater of the mind and whether you plan on using any specific house rules I also

think this is the prime place to talk about the tone and setting of The Game although it really isn't mentioned anywhere in the whole session zero chapter if you already have a setting in mind or you're planning on running a particular module or using a world that you've been home brewing it's really important that players know about it this can help inform their character builds but it also ensures that they know what to expect from the game if a player expects A Game of Thrones style gritty political Intrigue game but you were planning on more

of a Whimsical Terry Pratchett type of thing they're going to be confused and maybe frustrated now there are lots of ways to handle the decision of the overall campaign premise from prescribing the type of campaign and telling players to take it or leave it to creating a campaign entirely around what players want and a million options in between I don't think any of those is inherently bad many DMS start a campaign because they want to use a certain world or concept so if it turns out that their players want something totally different maybe it's just

not a good match regardless the bottom line is what's fun for everyone this is your chance to identify whether or not the whole group agrees on what makes a great game and if they don't agree it's better to know before you dive into a long-term campaign sounds like session zero has a storied history these are terrible did you just look up a bunch of book puns no just like any other dungeon master skill running a session zero is something you'll get better at with practice you'll learn what your own preferences are and you'll get your

own experience in figuring out what works for players just like your first gameplay session or combat encounter wasn't perfect your first session zero won't be perfect either but at least it'll be better than having a textbook read to you by a bad comedian who's threatening to suffocate you oh if I did murder you would I get sentenced to life in prison sentenced sentence get it say you get it say you get it