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

[Seramus]

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.

A mix of mechanical decisions AND character concept, personality traits, etc. I always have plenty of ideas, but deciding which one of the many ideas is the "right" one for the campaign is like a series of pauses while my emotions sort themselves out.

Session Zero always helps, of course, since it narrows down the list based on what the party would strongly benefit from. But even narrowed down, it's still analysis paralysis.

None of this applies to one-shots and mini-campaigns mind you. Just normal campaigns where your choices stick with you for months/years.

 

[TwoSix]

Absolutely, although sometimes it will be conducted over email or Discord rather than in-person.

But each of my games differ in starting rules allowed, tone, level, stat generation method, etc., so I like to get people on board. Plus I like to do some kind of activity that fosters connections between PCs and maybe even changes how the character is made.

Hopefully next game I can finally do my RL fantasy stat draft!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've never found I've needed more than ten minutes or so for the equivalent of a session zero (I expect players to bring characters or use pregens). I find expectations can be worked out on the fly, generally. As can party cohesion and other details. This probably comes from the fact that I either play with my long-standing group (where it's probably not necessary), or in 2-hour demo slots in-store (where there would be no time for anything like a session zero) or online here, where session zero is worked out in recruitment threads.

Also because I find that very few plans ever survive contact with the players, so IMO there's not much reason to plan. Better to always be open to negotiation and Rule Alpha: Play Nice with Others.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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

So I voted “true”, but I will say that it is more informal the more established the specific group is, and often spans multiple weeks of discussions via group chat and the like.

 

[TwoSix]

So I voted “true”, but I will say that it is more informal the more established the specific group is, and often spans multiple weeks of discussions via group chat and the like.

Agreed. The best character creation sessions are in groups where the players really enjoy discussing and modifying new character concepts.

 

[John R Davis]

Absobloominglutely we do.

Full session of chat, setting, parameters, expectation etc.

Is PC death a thing.
How much individual goals we doing?
How Lone Wolf can a person be?
What " certificate" we playing?
What campaign length we thinking?
Is everyone in the same " zone".

 

[J.Quondam]

Yes, I've done a session zero pretty much every time (though it might really just be a partial session).

A brief amount of time is usually spent on table rules, social contract, house rules. A fair bit more time is typically spent on PC relationships and fleshing out PC ideas if they're not already decided. For a really short campaign (eg, a one-shot adventure, rules test-drive, etc), we might leave it at that and jump right into the game, so session zero merges with session one.

But IME, the most useful goal of session zero is to establish genre expectations so everyone is on the same page. For that, it's been helpful to do something like watch an inspirational movie, or play a related boardgame, or a world-building exercise, or run some pregens through a one-shot adventure using a micro-lite system. Basically just something quick and self-contained to get players thinking in the right mode for the game.

 

[Lanefan]

True, but it's split into two parts:

For each potential player there's a session -1, where I pitch the game, explain the rules etc., and if there's interest, invite them in.

Then there's what amounts to session 0, which is roll-up night and is also usually the first time that group is together* at the same time. By now the players are in theory already committed, or else they wouldn't be there. If roll-up goes smoothly, session 0 can morph right into session 1.

* - as a gaming group; odds are they already know each other from elsewhere as I only run for people I know.

 

[Shiroiken]

No, but that's because my group plays on Roll20 using Discord and Google Docs. There's no specific Session 0, but everything that would normally take place during it occurs over the course of several weeks leading up to the start of the campaign, keeping us from losing any precious game time. The DM will create a folder for the campaign and put in the necessary handout stuff, and a channel will be created for the campaign. People will text on the channel ideas and discussions, and often upload final character sheets.

 

[el-remmen]

We average about 2 hours for character creation.

Yikes. Ideally, I want character creation to take about 15 to 30 minutes (leaning towards the low end) once ability scores are determined (however we decide to determine them). Maybe I need to craft a poll about this.