D&D 5E Session Zero Question.....

[Zaukrie]

I'm going to be running a campaign for new players, starting tomorrow. I've already sent them the first two documents (found by following links if you want), now I've added a session zero outline. As we go, I'll be adding a ton of Phandelver content, which I'll probably link otherwise.

What should I be adding to session zero, in your opinions? One of the players is my oldest (adult) son, and he's been playing for some time. The other 4 have never played, but have played RPG-like video games......thanks in advance for any advice.

Session Zero Plans for Lost Mine of Phandelver - Mike's Thoughts

This is my plan for session zero for Lost Mine of Phandelver. We'll start with some rules for how we all behave, house rules, and character creation.

mikesixel.com

 

[Prakriti]

Looks like a good outline. I asked a similar question recently and got some good responses:

Session 0 Tips -- What are your favorite session 0 questions/activities?

 

[Zaukrie]

Looks like a good outline. I asked a similar question recently and got some good responses:

Session 0 Tips -- What are your favorite session 0 questions/activities?

awesome, thanks!

 

[jgsugden]

If you have any concerns at all about players having any sensitivity, I recommend the following free book: https://www.montecookgames.com/consent-in-gaming/. There are questions best addressed in session 0 that are not in your outline, and some things that they make recommendations to handle differently.

If you do not have any such concerns, reevaluate.

 

[Zaukrie]

Yup. I own that. I think we're good....

 

[Shiroiken]

One thing I didn't see (or at least missed) is ability score generation method. This is kind of important, since rolled characters can be more powerful than standard array or much worse. If you allow rolling, are you going to insist that everyone keep the rolled scores, no matter how bad? For new players, I'd suggest forcing everyone to use standard array (they don't have to math out point buy or take the risks of rolling).

 

[Nebulous]

As DM, you're going to want to put a lot more time into Roll20 in-between sessions. It's a great program, I have learned a bunch in a few months, but it's a new skillset and it takes practice to get a game to run smooth. I think if you can know more before Session 0 you will be in a better spot to answer player questions. Like, even something as simple as the DM having to create a character sheet for players to use is not immediately clear.

 

[Zaukrie]

As DM, you're going to want to put a lot more time into Roll20 in-between sessions. It's a great program, I have learned a bunch in a few months, but it's a new skillset and it takes practice to get a game to run smooth. I think if you can know more before Session 0 you will be in a better spot to answer player questions. Like, even something as simple as the DM having to create a character sheet for players to use is not immediately clear.

Ya. I've got a friend to walk me thru it more, and I've been playing with it a lot.

 

[noko]

I'm going to be running a campaign for new players, starting tomorrow. I've already sent them the first two documents (found by following links if you want), now I've added a session zero outline. As we go, I'll be adding a ton of Phandelver content, which I'll probably link otherwise.

What should I be adding to session zero, in your opinions? One of the players is my oldest (adult) son, and he's been playing for some time. The other 4 have never played, but have played RPG-like video games......thanks in advance for any advice.

Session Zero Plans for Lost Mine of Phandelver - Mike's Thoughts

This is my plan for session zero for Lost Mine of Phandelver. We'll start with some rules for how we all behave, house rules, and character creation.

mikesixel.com

It all sounds excellent...and faintly creepy. No doubt this is the difference between the internet and the actual face-to-face game but I never need to ask people to speak up when they feel uncomfortable. I'll get around to just asking them.

My session zero is usually over a meal (every game starts with a meal..maybe every game starts with session zero) and a slow natural segue onto actual gaming. I do not really plan this out beyond a general framework and that may be the very thing that bothers me, what you propose is such a list of things to check off and get through. I would be running through what needs to be done internet-wise after I talked to the lot of them on general subjects and picking up on subjects that float by asking what they think or asking a player to pick the background music. Or, honestly, asking all the players what they think happened the last session and either correcting false impressions (maybe) or re-evaluating my plans based on that.

What I would not want to do is ask them to fill out anything resembling a questionnaire. "Do you feel unwell? Please speak to the management."