D&D 5E "When Starting Up a New Campaign I Always Have a Session #0" (a poll)

[el-remmen]

First the premise:

True or False: "When Starting Up a New Campaign I Always Have a Session #0"

Now there are a couple of things I want to establish before you vote. . .

By "always" I don't mean literally "always" or else I'd be asking if you've ever not had a session #0 for a campaign, and my guess is most of us some time in the past have not had (or even heard of) a Session 0, but I mean since adopting the notion of the session 0.

Though of course, if you have never adopted it at all, the answer is false.

I also don't mean only with new groups or new players - the question is if you begin each new campaign (or AP or whatever) with a Session #0

 

[payn]

I've taken to always doing a session zero. I like setting expectations among the group. I find it helps me as GM plan the adventures for the PCs in ways the players are interested. Also, its a good time to sit back and do character roll ups and relax before diving into the game.

 

[Stalker0]

I used to, but my players generally know me and my style by now, so I don't always find need to do one.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I voted True, with the understanding that it's not necessarily a single session. More often than not the pre-campaign info will be given out in bits and bobs to those of my group who will be part of it, and character creation might be individual, or in pairs or the like. They all fall within the definition of 'Session Zero'... there's just not one single session we would number it as such.

 

[Vaalingrade]

True. Even though our group has played together for years, there's still the premise of the campaign to hammer out and seeing who is in or out for it.

 

[delericho]

Yes, mostly. The one exception is when I'm running for brand new players and using pre-gen characters - in that case I find it's better just to dive straight in to the game. But for established players, I like a session 0 to set expectations, generate characters and build the party, and generally get ready.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'd never heard it called a 'session zero' before I started hanging out on ENWorld. We always called it a "rolling party."

The players and I would all get together to roll up characters, and I'd be taking notes about their characters' backstories and goals so that I could incorporate them into the campaign. While I had everyone's attention, we would talk about what sort of game everyone wanted to play, what they could expect, etc.

 

[el-remmen]

We always called it a "rolling party."

 

[Guest 7034872]

"Always"--that's the word I'm struggling with. This is my first-ever campaign as DM, so sure, my current batting average is 1,000, but our n here is 1.

 

[payn]

I used to, but my players generally know me and my style by now, so I don't always find need to do one.

Dammit, now my vote should be false. If I was going to run DCC for a summer, or whatever, I wouldn't do a session zero for that.

 

[Charlaquin]

"Always"--that's the word I'm struggling with. This is my first-ever campaign as DM, so sure, my current batting average is 1,000, but our n here is 1.

Off to a good start!

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes for me. If nothing else, I at least want to go over the campaign pitch with everyone, inform them of any house rules I want to employ, and brainstorm character ideas. If there’s potential for sensitive content that I don’t know whether someone in my group will be cool with or not, I’ll bring that up as well.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Yes for me. If nothing else, I at least want to go over the campaign pitch with everyone, inform them of any house rules I want to employ, and brainstorm character ideas.

That was something I found awfully helpful: letting players know how I intended to DM, which optional rules I'd use and which I wouldn't, and so on. It made a bigger difference than I'd expected.

 

[Seramus]

I'd never heard it called a 'session zero' before I started hanging out on ENWorld. We always called it a "rolling party."

Takes me a whole week to make a character!

 

[Charlaquin]

Takes me a whole week to make a character!

When you say “make a character” are you referring only to the mechanical decisions (race and subrace; background and characteristics; class and potentially subclass; spell choices if applicable; ability score assignment; starting equipment)? Or are you also including stuff like description, backstory, etc.

 

[tetrasodium]

I try but my efforts seem futile these days in 5e. Either the players know my style & it's not really needed beyond the pitch or the players don't & I would need to teach them how to work together in character creation or somehhow filter out the budding novelists itching to finally "tell your story" with a few sidekicks

 

[prabe]

These days, there's a chance Session Zero is both loose and conducted via emails or something. There is a discussion of what the premises and expectations for the campaign are, and of people's characters (or at least their character concepts).

 

[CleverNickName]

Takes me a whole week to make a character!

We average about 2 hours for character creation. The first hour starts with me asking "okay, tell everyone about your character," and the second hour starts with "okay, roll 4d6 and drop the lowest..."

 

[LordEntrails]

It depends. New players to the group? Yes. Same group as last time and we've agree how the next campaign is going to go? No.

 

[billd91]

It's not always a formal session to start the campaign off, but I usually do have a series of conversations about what we're playing, what sorts of characters fit into the game we're planning, and so on. Some may be as the whole group or subsets of the group. I do like having rolling parties where we all get together to roll up the PCs.