D&D 5E Session Zero/One Page for BG:DiA

[Talltomwright]

My group of first-time players are finally nearing the end of Princes of the Apocalypse and I've started to drop hints at the next campaign, which I'm planning to be BGiA. They've been playing the pre-gens from LMoP so this will be their first time creating characters and even though we've not rolled them up yet they're imagining ahead and expectations are getting high (not helped by the end of PotA becoming a big of a slog, despite me trying to shake it up a bit.)

I'm very interested in running a session zero with them, or giving them a Matt Colville style one page to manage expectations of Descent into Avernus but am not sure how much info to give them without it being a spoiler (they're very good at not going on forums and getting spoilers.) I'm thinking that asking their backstory to have ties to Baldur's Gate (Gotham) and Eturel (Metropolis) would be a good idea, saying that good characters with shades of gray would work well and that they will be fighting fiends and that the campaign won't feature a lot of downtime as they are on the clock. Is that too much? Too little? What info have you all/would you give so that they can build appropriate PCs and have fair expectations of the game ahead?

 

[Coroc]

Just make them look at some source material about Baldurs Gate, ahm why Metropolis? Is this some homebrew? Well I would have pointed you to FR Wiki or such but now I am unsure if a Batman comic would be more fitting. Tell them to consider at least one of their alignments being neutral and select classes accordingly and to play true to that alignment. Do not tell them the downtime thing, make them learn this the hard way. Do not tell them they will be fighting fiends either.

 

[Talltomwright]

Just make them look at some source material about Baldurs Gate, ahm why Metropolis? Is this some homebrew? Well I would have pointed you to FR Wiki or such but now I am unsure if a Batman comic would be more fitting. Tell them to consider at least one of their alignments being neutral and select classes accordingly and to play true to that alignment. Do not tell them the downtime thing, make them learn this the hard way. Do not tell them they will be fighting fiends either.

Sorry that was me being confusing - the parallel with Batman cities is how I was going to quickly explain how those two places are different (they are newish to the realms.) But yeah, cutting and pasting from the FR Wiki would be just as useful.

Thanks for the other tips!

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Are you planning on telling them that they will be venturing into hell? I'm also planning on running this campaign soon and I've already given my players the elevator pitch that once they are done in the city they will be travelling to Avernus in order to save the city. I tend to err on the side of giving them more at the beginning of a campaign. It sets expectations right out the gate but I can see why you would also want to preserve the surprise. At the very least it might be worth it to tell them that the adventure will heavily feature devils in case they want to lean into that. For example a wizard PC that is a scholar of fiends would be an interesting background. Fiend pact warlocks would also be very fitting.

You could also bring up to the group if they would be interested in using the dark secret option presented in the adventure where all the characters are tied together by their involvement in some kind of shady business. It will take a bit of involvement on your part as the adventure by default doesn't utilize it much, but I will definitely be wanting to implement it.

 

[Talltomwright]

Are you planning on telling them that they will be venturing into hell? I'm also planning on running this campaign soon and I've already given my players the elevator pitch that once they are done in the city they will be travelling to Avernus in order to save the city. I tend to err on the side of giving them more at the beginning of a campaign. It sets expectations right out the gate but I can see why you would also want to preserve the surprise. At the very least it might be worth it to tell them that the adventure will heavily feature devils in case they want to lean into that. For example a wizard PC that is a scholar of fiends would be an interesting background. Fiend pact warlocks would also be very fitting.

You could also bring up to the group if they would be interested in using the dark secret option presented in the adventure where all the characters are tied together by their involvement in some kind of shady business. It will take a bit of involvement on your part as the adventure by default doesn't utilize it much, but I will definitely be wanting to implement it.

Yeah, I really like the dark secret for the way it gives the party some history but was disappointed that it never got a call back in the actual adventure. Still, I'm very happy to change the adventure as I go to make it more bespoke to my party (that's been the most fun part of PoA for me.) I'm guessing the Dark Secret is there thematically so the PC learning to forgive themselves and become heroes echoes Zariel's possible redemption so I can lean in to that.

Really torn on 'spoil twist; vs 'give everyone clear expectations.' My group are getting a bit 'why do WE have to be the ones to defeat all these cults?' in PoA currently, where we didn't have a session zero because they were just figuring out what D&D is or can be. Now I feel like I need to get them signed up at the beginning to avoid moaning if the story drags in a couple of sessions later on. (While also doing my best to make sure it doesn't drag.)

 

[Talltomwright]

Ah, bless the internet! Someone's already made one: here

Seems pretty comprehensive. Sets up the themes but not the details of the story.