Things to establish before session one

[jasper]

1. monsters want to live too. Or the dm will cut the monsters some slack if he cutting the pc slack.
2. Sop or no SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. Ex. Thief is always checking for traps on doors. No need to roll until a real trap is there. But if an SOP exist; the player must step on the land mine. And it sucks if he rolls low.
3. Party Leader/ Group Caller. PL is Peter Paladin when talking with city folk, Mike MU when talking spell casting types. GC is Bob he decides if the party goes left or right at the fork in the road.
4. Who keeps notes/treasure lists. Just because Bob is keeping the treasure list does not mean his Theo Thief has the portable hole.
5. as Pentius said. No arguing. If I make a minor rule mistake during the game so what. If I discover I made a Major Rule mistake after the game. I fix off board just before the next session. Ex. Hey Merric you were right about x rule. You got your head back on and it wasn't the head of venca. You are a live and take 1234 xp for the session.
And if Bob pipes in "but we sold his magic items."
The dm replies well he has them back and the +1 dagger you also sold. The party keeps the money also.
And if still Bob pipes "that does not make story sense etc"
The group replies "It is a Game!"
6. How is treasure divided. By the night or adventure.
7. How is players not being there handled? As I gotten older I quit punishing players for not being there. They got same or near same xp as the party. Enough to keep them with the party level. Magic items came from the group's bank/kitty or in some cases dm generously.
8. Game stop time aka the wife rules. The game will end at x time.
9. Everyone helps clean up after the game.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

But the OP seems to be suggesting that the group he is playing with is one that does not have a lot of collective experience. In that situation, I would probably not bog them down with that kind of stuff and just go into some expectations or some general themes and tones of the game.

She. Not he.

But yeah, that is why I don't overwhelm them with details.

 

[Quickleaf]

My group was almost entirely introduced to roleplaying by me, so the first few sessions I didn't really establish much in the way of "this is how we're going to handle levelling up", or "this is how we'll handle character death", etc. I didn't really want to overload them with details since they were new. Rather I helped them through some character creation and threw them into a few simple games to get them used to the mechanics.

That's a wise move. All new players are absorbing a ton of information, and some people get overwhelmed by that. Us older gamers can loose sight of that.

I think the most important (and most contentious) stuff has been mentioned: player absence, PC death, treasure, rules disagreements, "no lone wolves", alignment & "play nice". Really that's all you probably need to address sooner than later.

That kind of "administrative" stuff (for lack of a better word) can really kill the enthusiasm of more casual players, IME. So the way you're doing it, just getting into play and bringing this all up when you think about it, is probably best.

See, you're accidentally awesome.

There is only One Rule that truly matters: The DM never should have to pay for beer. Players, bring beer, and make it good beer.

He who bringeth Goode Ale shall prosperith in the Lands of Yore...

I've broken that rule. With a nice trappist white ale too.

Fortunately the next night one of the players brought a peat-smoked irish whiskey, another brought chinese plum wine, and a couple brought a riesling that was great chilled. We aren't a heavy drinking group, but that was one night where dice were definitely falling off the table.

 

[steenan]

I run many games, with wildly differing styles. For this reason, I find it very important to discuss with players what to expect and what is expected from them. Many problematic situations during I encountered in game were results of bad communication and could be easily avoided if common vision was established before play.

Things I see as most important to discuss:
1. Is the game focused on striving for success or not? In other words: is it more about optimized characters and good tactics, or more about interesting characters and interesting behavior?
2. Are PCs expected to work together, to follow their separate goals or to work against eachother? Should conflicts between PCs be avoided or are they a normal part of play?
3. Does the game have a pre-planned story? Is it based on PCs and NPCs pursuing their goals and interactions that result from it? Is it improvised around the PCs, without anything fixed and pre-planned?
4. Should players follow the story as presented? Should they set their goals and pursue them? Should they willingly put their characters in difficult situations and make them face hard choices, instead of choosing easy paths?
5. Should players care about keeping their characters alive, because the game will kill if they are not careful? Or should they focus on other aspects of play, because there will be no random deaths?
6. Will the GM always keep to the rules as written? Can rules be ignored for a better story? Can they be ignored for setting consistency or realism? Can they be ignored if everyone at the table agrees that it's a good idea?
7. How do players affect what happens in game? Through characters' actions only? Through narration? Through scene framing? Through setting-defining backstories? Through some kind of system-mediated "dramatic editing"?

 

[Nifft]

1. I am the Lord thy DM. Thou shalt have no other commitments at times which conflict with our games.
2. Thou shall not bow down and worship other systems than whatever we're using now. Edition wars are not fun game time.
3. Thou shalt not take my game in vain. Seriously, prepping is work.
4. Remember the game night, and keep it wholly free of conflicting commitments.
5. Honor thy father and mother and whoever else shows up in thy PC's backstory. I'm not going to off them gratuitously. Sometimes they'll even help.
6. Thou shalt not murder inappropriately. (Appropriate murder is expected and condoned.)
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery on-screen, nor shall thou partake of any other sex act on-screen. That stuff is fine for a fade-to-black interlude, and IMHO actually adds a bunch to thy character if s/he/it is motivated by something more than greed and bloodlust, but we are NOT going to role-play it.
8. Thou shalt not steal from party members.
9. Thou shalt not falsify thy character sheet, nor shall thou lie about what thou hast rolled. This is a game.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy party member's assets, nor shall thine replacement PC expect to receive the trinkets with which thy previous dead PC was surely buried. Wealth is a balance mechanism in some systems. Thou shalt drink deep of party balance and thou shalt like it.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Pilgrim]

I generally have the players get together for Session Zero. This is where everyone gets together to talk character and campaign setting. Any character creation guidelines are put on the table and are open for discussion. House-rules are discussed if there are new players, unfamiliar with how the group runs. Day and time are set for session one, along with any other specifics pertaining to the first session. Etiquette and such are considered to be common sense, but if anyone shows up first session with issues, we address them on the spot. Pretty much everything else is laid back.

 

[The Shaman]

I direct them to this (WARNING: linked post contains profanity).