Session Zero: What to Cover

As mentioned in my previous post about table etiquette, session zero is a very important meeting that I feel many DMs don't take advantage of. There's a few things that can be done during a session zero that make your life as a DM and your friends' lives as players much easier throughout the campaign.

In this post, I'll describe the different steps I'd recommend taking during a session zero to get your campaign rolling in a great way.

Play Style

The DMG describes playstyle on pg. 34, and splits it into three general categories: Hack and Slash, Immersive Storytelling, and Something in Between. To describe all three simply, Hack and Slash is a campaign with aspects some would deem similar to retro video games, with a focus on the combat and rapid scaling of power that comes with it. Immersive Storytelling is more akin to modern day RPGs, where the story and the world it is told in is paramount. The players want to really feel like they're denizens of a living, breathing world. Something in Between is, well, something in between.

Making sure that you and your players have the same play style in mind is very important, as it can lead to disappointment and boredom down the road.

Campaign Flavor

"Fantasy" is an extremely broad genre, and campaign flavor is used to specify just what feel the campaign is going for. The DMG gives examples of several types of campaign flavor, but I like to use the "Like ___ but with ____ and ____" template. There is no better way of describing a fantasy world than by comparing it to fantasy worlds your player already knows. For example, I would describe my current campaign as follows: "Like Skyrim but WoW-like high fantasy and a bit of Warhammer grimdark." This tells my players three things - the grounded feel of the world itself, the high amount of wonder and magic in my world, and that there may some mature or serious themes involved.

Establishing a campaign flavor during session zero will help players as they create their characters and also helps you with an overarching theme and feel for your world.

Table Rules

I talked a lot about table rules in my previous post titled Etiquette at the Table - What's OK? Check it out!

Homebrew Mods

"Homebrew" refers to rules or content that was not created by the official D&D developers. It is usually the norm to ask your DM's permission before using homebrew in your character, and vice versa. Make sure to establish any homebrew races, classes, or rules that you want to use and get the OK from all the players at your table before using them.

Character Knowledge

This one will take the longest. As DM, you need to educate the players on aspects of the campaign world that their characters would know. This can vary character to character, depending on each one's backstory. As such, I'd recommend doing this one-on-one with each player and tailoring it towards their character's backstory.