There may not be any better advice for any GM than “run a session zero”. A tabletop gaming session, running 2-6 hours for everyone at the table, is a big investment of time. A campaign can span a handful of these sessions, or turn into years of weekly sessions. Every time we’ve started a campaign without a session zero, we’ve regretted it. Nothing creates deeper wounds for a GM than losing a player or friend 4 months into a game because of misaligned expectations or having a campaign simply dissolve from a lack of cohesion. All the prep, effort, and story potential forever sits unrealized.
If you’re new to the concept; a session zero is an important step in tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) where the players and game master (GM) collaborate to establish expectations for the game. What expectations do you establish? Well, there is about a million different way to run a session zero, so no two will be alike. Like being handed a handful of Lego parts and four wheels, the concept will be roughly the same, but you’ll have a different version from everyone who tries.
While there is plenty of advice about this topic out there, lists of questions to include, and blog articles about safety tools, we came up empty when we searched for an all-inclusive process, start to finish. As a GM, you’ll have hundreds of opportunities to hone your approach to playing an NPC. If you typically play in campaigns, you may not get more than a handful of opportunities to perfect your approach to a session zero. Our goal was to share only what we find crucial in a format that you can immediately use and adapt.
That’s why we built this guide in a way that it can be customized and adapted to your evolving style. We’ve included everything we think is crucial to a great session zero to get you started. The topics are broken down into organized categories, and give you an idea of how long they will take to cover at the table. This is our way, but with Notion, you can copy both this guide and the connected survey to make it yours.
Table of Contents
Avoid potential social conflicts.
Games and even friendships can implode days, weeks, or months into an epic campaign simply because two people disagree on what “the game starts at seven” means. Or because you go down a story path that truly disturbs someone at the table. Covering some basic expectations may feel a little odd at first, but it might save everything down the road.
Avoid potential gaming style conflicts.
You might plan what you think is a brilliant and thrilling bit of adventure, only to have the players respond like you’re trying to teach them tax law. This has led many GMs to burn out because it feels like a waste of prep when you half-expect a bored response. Laying out preferences in a session zero can lead to much more engaging sessions for everyone, and in some cases, even help determine if a group is a good fit in the first place.
Acknowledgements of great systems.
This is an adapted version of many similar systems, consent, and session zero questionnaires that have come before it. Find the one that is right for you and your table. Our inspiration came from absolutely incredible tools like:
by James Introcaso, Hannah Rose, and the MCDM Team