Getting the most of a pre-campaign meeting

[Dragoslav]

How have you folks gotten your players prepared for an upcoming campaign at a sort of "session 0" meeting? As a player, what have you found most helpful at these sorts of meetings?

My gaming group just wrapped up a D&D campaign, and we're going to start playing this indie RPG with me as the GM. One of the players (our DM from the last campaign) thought it would be great to have a character-creation session before we start the campaign, and I agreed. In general, I think it's a good idea because it would get players to plan their characters outside of a vacuum and to brainstorm, and in our situation I think it's wise because we're using a very unknown system.

My plan right now is just to ask them to talk about their character concepts; we have a few players who have read some of the rulebook and have some ideas, and a couple players who haven't put as much thought into it yet. Once we've got those pinned down, I figured we'd go through the process of character creation step by step together. I printed out character sheets for everybody for their convenience.

This is an interaction-heavy game, so I also want the players to think about: 1) their PCs' families, and 2) their PCs' connections to the other players' PCs.

Beyond that, I figured I would just show the players a little bit about the map of the world and some key features, then just field any questions from the players about the rules or setting.

I can't think of much beyond that, but coming from an educator's standpoint I feel like I'm missing a potentially great learning opportunity. I'd be delighted to hear how others have done character-creation sessions, or what players in campaigns have found most useful during such sessions.

 

[Storminator]

I'm about to start a new branch of my ongoing campaign. It goes back to part of the campaign we more of less abandoned 4 or 5 levels ago, with new PCs.

So I'll have a similar session, where we basically ground the new PCs in the setting. I have the following questions/prompts planned:

• Describe your PC
• What is your connection to the clan? (they're all part of a goblin clan)
• What is your job at the embassy? (they all work in new embassy in the capital)
• What are your connections to other PCs?
• What are your connections to NPCs? (I'll let them make up some NPCs here)
• What are your goals? (both player and PC)
• What is your artifact? (everyone gets an artifact or item set at some point in the campaign)

We've had a bit of email discussion to get things started, so I can have some fairly pointed questions.

My plan is to go around the table and have everyone discuss each question before we move to the next one.

Then we'll start the next adventure.

PS

 

[Gilladian]

It would be a good time to discuss things like the overarching game theme, the tone of the campaign you want to run, the goals the players have for this campaign, etc...

It doesn't really work if YOU are planning to run a high-intrigue, romance and chivalry campaign where death is not on the table and fail-forward is your method of handling setbacks, but two of your players think it is going to be a grim-and-gritty deathmatch game of "outwit the DM" and two others are in the mood for a wuxia-flavored world-shaking epic.

Also, this is a good time to give each PC some rumors, some plot threads and some potential enemies/allies in the campaign. But DO NOT paint yourself too far into one corner - you want to be able to shift gears if things go ways you're not expecting; if you've set up a marvelous intrigue-based thread focusing on the rescue of a lost heir, and the PCs kill your best potential heir in the third scene when they get sick of his whining, you've got to have room to find a new heir, or a new plot arc!

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I'll start running a game of Song of Ice and Fire with a new group anytime soon. I relegated the pre-campaign stuff - mainly building a noble house for the PCs - to e-mail. This way the discussions amongst the players are kept on file and I can use it later on. Much better than moderating a session 0 in which I outline the campaign and have to answer hundreds of questions.

I also enjoy an addtional bonus: the investment each player shows in this phase probably is a metric for his investment in the game later on. I'll try to use the active players' ideas more than those of players who scarcely participate.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I find Fear the Boot's group template questionaire to be very helpful in building a group that works well from the outset. In particular I think questions 6 through 9 are important checks to make sure the group is cohesive.

1. Does the Game Master need our group to be something in particular for his/her plot?
2. In brief, what will our group be when the game starts?
3. When and how did the characters first meet?
4. Are the character located in the same place or willing to travel to a common meeting place? If the characters be brought together for the game?
5. What major events have they shared in their past?
6. On a personal level, what keeps the characters together?
7. What goals are shared by all of the characters?
8. Is there enough moral agreement among the characters to keep them from abhorring each other?
9. Is there any potential conflict between character personalities, goals, or ethics that could become plot will fizzle out or players will be excluded?
10. What plot elements are in the group's history the Game Master can use in his/her plot?

http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/wp-content/uploads/resources/2_GroupTemplateQuestionnaire_Example.pdf