Dungeon Master Tools – Session 0

What Is A Session 0?

A session 0 is your first session of your RPG campaign, kind of. Everyone gets together, like you would normally to play the game. But instead of just playing the game, you instead are getting ready to play the game. Players don’t come with rolled up characters or anything like that. This session is for chatting, talking through your character ideas and rolling up those characters.

Why Do A Session 0?

We know what a session 0 is now. The better question might be, why do a session 0? Is there a very good reason for doing it, or is this just extra work for everyone and you should just jump right in? I’ll give you a spoiler, it’s a good thing to do.

Players Handbook

One of the reasons it’s a good thing to do is because not everyone has a players handbook. And that is a bit of an investment for a players handbook that in all fairness the fighter might not really need 99% of the time. So it makes sense to share the players handbook around the table so everyone can create their own character. If even one player doesn’t come to that first playing session without a built character, you’re going to spend most of the time making the character, so might as well have everyone do it at once.

Player Conversation

Beyond that practical reason, it’s great to have players talk and bounce character ideas off one each other. You can do that via an e-mail, but if someone is waffling between what stats to make strongest, a couple of different character backstories, things like that, the Session 0 is amazing for players to work together and create their party that can work cohesively. The example would be the rogue and the paladin. How do they work together, well, if they are created together to be in the same party, the players can talk through that.

Dungeon Master Benefits

And for the Dungeon Master it is great as well. You see what the players want to play. And as part of the conversation, you know what elements are the most important to the players. Is the background an urchin, but the backstory is really focused on the fact that they were a noble who got lost and lived as a urchin? Well, now I know all of that if I am part of the character creation process.

What Else Can Be Done in Session 0?

So, I talk a lot about character creation. And I think that is going to be the bulk of the time that is spent in a session 0. But it is also a chance for players who maybe don’t know each other to get to know each other. Because I find that I often pull in from different groups of friends to play in a campaign. So they might not know each other at the start of the campaign. A session 0 is a great way for people to get to know each other.

And as the Dungeon Master it is a great time to workshop other ideas. If you want a list of NPC names, have the players right down five each. If you want locations, let the players create some of the locations. This is a chance to flesh out some of that stuff that I think Dungeon Masters often try and do themselves for the campaign. Take off some of the load and share the fun and frustration of some of that creation on the fly with the players.

Finally, it is a chance as the Dungeon Master to pitch more of the tone of the game. This might be in giving the elevator pitch again. Or it might be adding to that pitch as you’ve planned a bit more, or integrating things from what the players are talking about. But this somewhat goes back to character creation. If someone is creating a character that doesn’t fit the tone, you know ahead of time.

Final Thoughts

This is a really useful tool. I think, and I don’t want to over emphasize it, but also don’t want to under emphasize it, it’s a great chance to socialize. Even if it’s a friend group, it is going to let you set the tone for the time and keep that focus on the fun of the game. Though every session is going to have tangents and things like that.

But for a new Dungeon Master or even someone who knows the game really well and has run many campaigns, this is very nice to use. Especially because you get to know the characters and see that work done collaboratively. It immediately cuts down on potential party friction if someone believes that there character should work in one hyper specific way that goes against what the rest of the party wants. And yes, this is something that happens.

So what is coming up next?

• Session 1
• Story Arcs
• World Building
• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you. And this one is really that first step that you can take before you even start to think about the other elements.

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Dice Set – Now, I am going to primarily suggest that you get the normal 7 dice set which has a D20, D12, D10, D10 Percentile, D8, D6, and D4. These are the most common, and for games like D&D and Pathfinder. If you play other systems, you need to look at what dice those games use. The Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPG and Genesys use specific dice that you can use normal dice for, but having a couple of sets of those dice make the game easier for everyone as well.

Dice Tray/Dice Tower – These are not something that you need for playing an RPG, but they can be useful. Both of them are basically something that can add for rolling dice. It’s nice if you have a wood table or something like that to use a dice tray as they are often padded so it makes rolling dice less noisy. It also keeps an enthusiastic roller from rolling them off of the table. A dice tower doesn’t make it any quieter, but it does the rolling for you. And it’s kind of fun to hear or see it bonk down the dice tower until it’s rolled.

The Core D&D Books – This is for someone who is getting into RPG’s and wants to run a game, the core D&D books are going to be great for getting them up and running. You get the Players Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide. That’s enough to run as many games of D&D as you want. It’s possible that they already have some of them, but you can buy them separately or as a bundle. If they don’t have them, the bundles sometimes have cool covers. I wouldn’t spring this on someone who hasn’t expressed any interest in DM’ing though, because they might feel like you’re pressuring them into DM’ing.

Adventure Modules – Now, it might be that you have someone who likes D&D plays, as a player, fairly often, but is intimidated by running their own game from scratch. This is where you can use the adventure modules. The starter kit would be a great one to get them, but there are a lot of other adventures. Curse of Strahd is generally the best received one, and while I didn’t have the best time running it, I think that it is put together well and that my issue was more the group than it was the module itself. But you have a ton to choose from, so if you want dragons, you can get that, demons you can get that, or giants, that’s out there as well. This is where I’d encourage someone who likes D&D a lot to maybe thing about DM’ing by giving them an adventure module.

DM Screen – This one is definitely for the person who is the DM in you game, otherwise there’s no real need for it, but if they have a makeshift DM screen, get them an official one or a cool one off of Etsy. The basic one from Dungeons and Dragons/Wizards of the Coast is fine, and I have it and I like it, but there are some custom CNC cut wood ones that are amazing out there and if you want to bling out your game, a custom DM screen, some with built in dice towers, but those tend to be a bunch spendier.

Adventure Zone Comic Books – What, this isn’t an RPG, no, but it’s RPG related, and with all the RPG podcast information out there, and all the people who are doing them, even me for a while. But this takes one of the actual play podcasts that is extremely popular and turns it into a comic. Definitely good for someone who likes the podcast and got into D&D because of the podcast, or just loves the podcast. I’ve looked a little bit at the books, but the artwork is nice, and definitely looks like a fun time.

Legacy of Dragonholt – This is often put into an area between choose your own adventure and RPG and board game, but I think that it’d scratch the itch for people who like the ideas of RPG’s but aren’t ready to make the leap. The character creation is simple, the role playing piece is low in it, but it’s story driven, and you have a character that can do things. It works simply on you either being able to do something or not. It is also a game that can be played solo, so if there is someone in your life who doesn’t have a group or who can’t play as often as they would want, this would be a solid option as well, though, a serious min/maxing player will find this way to light.

There’s so much more out there. There are a lot of indie RPG’s that people can check out as well that give you more specific settings than fantasy. And I talked only about the basic Dungeons and Dragons books and adventures, but there are other books that add in more monsters, more character options and many other things. Overall, there is a ton out there for RPG’s right now, and it’s a hobby that is growing still, which is cool. If you have someone who you think might like an RPG, you can also just give the gift of running a game for them, maybe you have a relative who they are their friends want to try and RPG, but none of them want to run it, you can give the gift of running a few sessions.

What would you want for your pen and paper RPG collection? Is there something on the list that looks really cool?

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So how do you go about doing that?

I would recommend starting small. Think about what you want the tone and feel of the game to be and create your first session from that. Are you looking for high adventure, make the characters have to chase some goblins into a woods and explore or get your characters onto the high sea. Are you looking to create a mystery? Someone in the town whom everyone loves died in mysterious circumstances or maybe there are people who have gone missing. Are you looking for a dark game? Have the adventuring party stumble across someone who was hung in the old windmill or maybe someone is being burned at the stake for being accused as a witch.

None of those things above are a full campaign, but it gets the story moving and it gives you the feel that you are looking for to set the tone for your game. And for a lot of people, that is where you should stop in planning. There is a great desire to come up with 20 more moments that you want to have in your game when you are prepping the very first session. There is one unfortunate problem with planning like that, your players are going to ruin  your plans. Another issue is that your players are going to help set the mood. It’s important as the DM to set the mood and even prior to the game set the expectation for the mood, but if you have a dark and gritty game and all of a sudden your players aren’t quite in that mood, maybe they are looking for a more practical answer to your mystery than the terrifying one, you might need to adjust on the fly.

Once you have the first session done you’re going to start to see what your players like, and that’s what you build your next session on. Maybe you focused on the Wizard in the first session, now the second one is built for the rogue, and so on, but it all is tied together. You don’t need to  know your big bad guy right away, you just need to know how the story progresses for the next session. If you are taking notes and spending some time planning you can keep yourself from having to retcon something, but the more you build it does make that harder and you will probably end up contradicting yourself.

There are some people who do it another way though and that is building it backwards from your big bad guy (BBG). If you know that you want to have a Lich be your big bad guy, and not just any Lich, the Lich who was the former head of the religion that your Paladin character is from and who that player looked up to but is now bent and saving everyone through helping them into the afterlife before a meteor that he predicted comes to hit the lands and kill them all, you know kind of how it is going to end. It’s going to end with the BBG facing off against the group, probably trying to turn some to their side and then battling them. So work backwards from there, what are the big moments that you want, maybe you want them to actually face off first against one of their henchmen, maybe you want them to think that it’s a cult that is doing this, maybe it’s both, hit your plot points from end to beginning and then start your first session there. But with this method, don’t plan it out too much, and don’t plan on a perfect timeline and pacing because your players are going to miss some clues that you lay down and glom onto and your story will go down a different tangent. You are looking for the few major beats when planning it this way. Think of it more as them reaching point X at the half way point of the game or where things will shift, don’t think out specifics when you do this.

Finally there is the dream way. The dream way is to build out your whole world, towns, cities, NPC’s, planes of existence, and so much more ahead of time. You know everything about everywhere that they are going to go, what people will say to them when they see them, and nothing your players can throw at you will ever stump you. Sounds amazing, also it’s impossible. Do not try this way, you will go crazy creating everything prior to even playing your first session.

So, how would I go about doing this? A little of first and second way. Early on in a game, I story by creating just for that session and figure out what the players are finding as fun. I let the world grow naturally that way. Then after the story has started and we’re getting an idea that there is a BBG somewhere in the world, t hat’s when I build them and start building out moments of importance or story beats I want to hit leading up to the BBG. You’ll need to figure out what works out best for you. Maybe it is planning more, maybe it is faking it, but it’s up to you and your style to determine how it goes.

Next week I’m going to talk about different types of stories and what some hooks are for those.

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So now you are starting your campaign, how do you run a game that has good balance, good flow, and doesn’t end up with you accidentally getting your big bad guy killed quickly or killing off your whole adventuring party?

There are two different grooves that we are going to talk about here, your story groove and your session groove.

The story groove is probably the easier of the two. You just have to come up with the little bits of information that the players are going to be getting and keeping them motivated. But you also need to be putting into your mind the story that is happening around what your characters are doing. What’s going on in their home town while they are gone? It’s very possible that the answer is nothing, it’s been a boring time at their home time. But the bigger question is what is the bad guy doing? Your players shouldn’t be chasing around the BBG (Big Bad Guy) the whole time, it won’t allow them to really level up naturally. So what do your players need to do while they are waiting to be strong enough to face the bad guy, and what is the BBG doing to taunt, cause trouble, or increase the need for the players to go after him, while the players aren’t able to?

The harder of the two with the session, how do you keep your players involved in each session. It is made more interesting by the fact that your players will want different things. Some players are going to be really interested in roleplaying, talking to the tavern keeper and expect every character to have information on what they are looking for. Some players are going to be a bit more of a murder hobo and they are going to want to think about combat and will want to fight something every session. Some players are going to want it to spend the whole time creating a story.

So how do you balance out all of those things?

Try and get some of all of those things into your game is the first thing. Use your roleplaying and combat to help tell the story is fairly important. And another big thing is to keep the tension on in the game. Now, that doesn’t mean that their aren’t down moments, they can have a peaceful night and an easy combat, but more often than not, you need to remind your players that their characters might die. The world that you are in should be dangerous, and there should be people who are scheming and doing things. If their characters fall into unconsciousness, it’s something that the players remember. They remember the sessions where the stress is higher, especially if it is something that is related to the story.

You also don’t have to just have a monster that is really tough for them to try and kill. Plan various other types of conflicts as well, maybe an NPC doesn’t want to do what your players characters want them to do. Or maybe there is a situation where they are getting hit over and over again, but there is some puzzle that they have to figure out to survive. Or maybe, like early on in Dungeons and Flagons, they have to try and stop something from happening. Killing the bad guys is important, but you want to stop them from getting away with what really matters, and that’s why you are trying to kill them.

So, try and have some balance in your sessions. But try and keep everything progressing forward somehow and you can try and teach your players a little bit on what to expect or not expect. For example, in Dungeons and Flagons, they go up a tree and find themselves in the Fey Wild. Now, there was nothing up there for them. I knew I could do a little bit with Nimrose’s backstory in the Fey Wild, but there wasn’t going to be anything there to help them in the main quest that they were after. Was it bad that they explored there? Nope, not at all. But was it needed for them to go there? Nope, not at all. I gave them a bit of a story there, but not the story that they were hoping for.

So now, get your story running, get your game flowing, and finally, be willing to change what you were thinking a lot. You don’t need to change the big part of your story, it can still be the game BBG, but if your players come up with a better idea or are going in a different direction, adjust what your BBG is doing, adjust where they are going to find what they need to defeat him. Adjust how they are going to get there. Be willing to create the adventure that your players are interested in. Now, that can be really tough to do if you really love some piece of your story, but you can run another game, another time, and use it when your players are ready for it, or when you find players who want to get to that. Create a notebook, document, or something with the stories that you haven’t been able to use, and then adjust your adventure that you are playing now, and everyone will have more fun.