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Starting a new campaign: Session zero
- Thread starter OnlineDM
- Start date
Yes that worked. And I was trying to link from here and getting the error message.
Last edited:
tuxgeo
Adventurer
It works now -- thanks for whatever you changed!
Any time I do a face to face game I want a char-gen session. The point is to get everyone on the same page. Make sure everyone understands what's expected for the campaign (its tone, etc). To get players to generate their histories together. A group collaboration.
Char gen at the table with the group takes a monstrous amount of time. I like that you found a way to circumvent that. But.
The problem with sessions like this is that players want to play the game. THey don't want to come and make characters and leave without doing something. Any time I have ever tried to do the above, the players complain that they want to get started, can we please do something?
So I think having a computer (if not more than one) equipped with teh character builder might be good idea. To get those characters out faster. A better idea would involve having pre-generated characters, and play a sort of mini-session, a prologue/flash back/whatnot to foreshadow your campaign. The players are not playing their PCs, but are doing something relevant to the campaing itself, and something that can be accomplished in a short amount of time.
Char gen at the table with the group takes a monstrous amount of time. I like that you found a way to circumvent that. But.
The problem with sessions like this is that players want to play the game. THey don't want to come and make characters and leave without doing something. Any time I have ever tried to do the above, the players complain that they want to get started, can we please do something?
So I think having a computer (if not more than one) equipped with teh character builder might be good idea. To get those characters out faster. A better idea would involve having pre-generated characters, and play a sort of mini-session, a prologue/flash back/whatnot to foreshadow your campaign. The players are not playing their PCs, but are doing something relevant to the campaing itself, and something that can be accomplished in a short amount of time.
I tend to run the first few sessions like the pilot of a TV show. Essentially, the characters are all there, doing what they will be doing for the rest of the run, but some details are still subject to change. The group discusses what classes everyone is rolling beforehand and gets to know the setting, but that's pretty much all that is done before the first session. Once we start the actual play and connections to the world/characters in the world come into play, the players are allowed to catch some 'background hooks', some of which I suggest myself.
I allow endless retraining of feats/powers as well as background retcons while the campaign is still getting started. Someone with an urban background might change the exact city they are from or someone else might change some of their history. I find this to be similar to the way TV show pilots are related to the rest of the series - the characters might have family mentioned in the pilot, later to be established instead that they were an orphan; someone's age might change slightly in order to work better with the upcoming plot arcs.
It has just felt natural to do it like that since the beginning. It gives a lot of freedom to the players in order to make the world work better and also gives openings for some running jokes about retconned backgrounds.
I allow endless retraining of feats/powers as well as background retcons while the campaign is still getting started. Someone with an urban background might change the exact city they are from or someone else might change some of their history. I find this to be similar to the way TV show pilots are related to the rest of the series - the characters might have family mentioned in the pilot, later to be established instead that they were an orphan; someone's age might change slightly in order to work better with the upcoming plot arcs.
It has just felt natural to do it like that since the beginning. It gives a lot of freedom to the players in order to make the world work better and also gives openings for some running jokes about retconned backgrounds.
.5 Elf
First Post
Hi Rechan,
I agree it can take time and it's funny you should suggest that because its one of the things I actually had planned. Check my site if you want to see how I have it all laid out.
If you want the details of how I actually intend to to do it as in the "one shot encounter" then let me know via email and I will discuss. I wont discuss it here however for fear of spoiling for future players.
I agree it can take time and it's funny you should suggest that because its one of the things I actually had planned. Check my site if you want to see how I have it all laid out.
If you want the details of how I actually intend to to do it as in the "one shot encounter" then let me know via email and I will discuss. I wont discuss it here however for fear of spoiling for future players.
OnlineDM
Adventurer
[MENTION=54846]Rechan[/MENTION] I agree with you that the players will want to do something other than character generation at Session Zero. That's why we played a one-shot game with pre-existing characters, wrapping up the careers of their previous characters.
I suppose another option would have been to have pre-gens for the new campaign setting available, but first of all I didn't want to have to create a bunch of new characters beforehand, and second, I didn't want the players to have to learn the pre-gens and THEN learn their own new characters.
We actually did have three laptops at the table, and they were passed around a little bit so that people could use the Character Builder, but I had no interest in everyone taking time to sort through all of the feats and powers for all six characters. We left that for between Session Zero and Session One, and I think that's the right choice.
Like [MENTION=6667124]ffy[/MENTION], I allow total freedom in tweaks and retraining for the first few sessions with new characters. If someone plays a session as a Bard and says "Yuck, I think I'd much rather be something else now that I've seen this in action," I'm fine with that.
I suppose another option would have been to have pre-gens for the new campaign setting available, but first of all I didn't want to have to create a bunch of new characters beforehand, and second, I didn't want the players to have to learn the pre-gens and THEN learn their own new characters.
We actually did have three laptops at the table, and they were passed around a little bit so that people could use the Character Builder, but I had no interest in everyone taking time to sort through all of the feats and powers for all six characters. We left that for between Session Zero and Session One, and I think that's the right choice.
Like [MENTION=6667124]ffy[/MENTION], I allow total freedom in tweaks and retraining for the first few sessions with new characters. If someone plays a session as a Bard and says "Yuck, I think I'd much rather be something else now that I've seen this in action," I'm fine with that.
In that case I would also make sure to note sometime later in the game, when they hear some horrible music 'That sounds almost as bad as you did in your short-lived bard career!'
I prefer a pre session where characters are made. It gives everyone a chance to discuss what they want to play. I have found that if it is done separately you often end up with people stepping on other people's toes.
I also usually don't like to run a game where the party is made up of complete strangers who are forced together. It has been my experience when that happens you start running into the issue of why are these people still together after the thing that brought them together passes. So having a pre session lets them come up with a way they know each other.
Now in my current game two of the players knew each other but the rest were strangers. Basically what I did was they were all called my Bahmut and if the accept his call they found a magical ring on their finger that drew them to a specific location. They all chose to join Bahmut in his quest to overthrow the spawn of Tiamat and the followers of Hextra and Ohad-Hai. So even if they are strangers they have a common cause.
I also usually don't like to run a game where the party is made up of complete strangers who are forced together. It has been my experience when that happens you start running into the issue of why are these people still together after the thing that brought them together passes. So having a pre session lets them come up with a way they know each other.
Now in my current game two of the players knew each other but the rest were strangers. Basically what I did was they were all called my Bahmut and if the accept his call they found a magical ring on their finger that drew them to a specific location. They all chose to join Bahmut in his quest to overthrow the spawn of Tiamat and the followers of Hextra and Ohad-Hai. So even if they are strangers they have a common cause.
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