The Practical Application of Session 0

Something we talk about alot in this community is Session 0 and how important it is to running a healthy, safe and enjoyable game for everyone at the table. It is a thing that as a collective we leverage to continually improve the dynamics at the table and with each other. I see it talked alot in the abstract or broken into items that need to be discussed. When I first started doing Session 0's it was a little hard to know how to move through it in a way that made sense and was actually useful to my table. So this rant is all about just that - making the Session 0 work for you with a useable guide on it. But first, just what does a Session 0 mean?

Well a Session 0 is a meeting of the group you will be playing at before any actual game play will be happening. This is before that time where the characters meet and start adventuring, before any dice are rolled, and before things have begun. Think of it as a dress rehearsal before the big day. Except that up till you have a Session 0 you aren't really sure if everyone has been reading the same script or if they are even in the same play.

In steps the Session 0 to save the day in several ways. This gives us the time and space to really talk to the group not just about the campaign itself but of everyone expectations of the game, their expectations when interacting with each other, and the agreements that we all hold. Sure you could go off and assume that you are all on the same page because of all the messages or talks you have had piece mealed across your communication medium of choice. But I have find that often times that assumption of being on the same page is just going to make an ass out of everyone at the table. I've mentioned before that we are all different at the table, we bring our own experiences and life into things that color the game for us. Even if we might we working in a similar color they will always be slightly different shades. Understanding that and using the opportunity provided though we can take the time to align what that means for the game. Knowing that I'm working in royal blue and you are working in sky blue helps us to avoid conflicts when we both start interacting with things.

Now sometimes characters will purposefully have odd understandings of the world for in game reasons. That's perfectly fine, I love it. Have a character who sees the world through rose colored glasses and has toxic positivity if you want. BUT the players behind those characters have to have understandings of things going on. They have to know how to work together in the space in a safe and freeing way that is only possible with a Session 0.

That's waxing philosophical is all well and dandy JustKay but you promised us actionable intel here and all I see is wordy gobbly-gook. Well thank you for that reminder you weirdly targeted self extension for story propulsion. Alot of things could possibly go into Session 0 that just depends how you as a DM feel most comfortable running your games and how well you know your players. What we are going to do though is divide it into what you SHOULD ALWAYS DO and some options you COULD DO.

First up on the SHOULD ALWAYS DO list is of course safety tools. These come in alot of flavors but should always come with an agreement from everyone at the table to respect each other, respect the issues that may pop up at the table, and to be open to working together to solve anything that pops up that wasn't expected. Sometimes we don't always know something will be a triggering event for us or not till we are in it. But alot of great tools exist out there for this so I am not going to be reinventing the wheel here but suggest instead you check out - https://twitter.com/ttrpgsafetykit

Next following up in the SHOULD ALWAYS category we have a decision on the kind of game that will be run. Talk about genre of the game, tone of the game, things that you will be tackling as concepts, and style of play. Newer DMs might not know the answer to all of these or even how to identify them in their games, especially when it comes to something like style of play. That's perfectly fine! A good place to start is with allegories to entertainment that is a little more universal for examples. For instance a game that fits the genre and style of Terminator is very different then fits Wild Wild West. Okay so those are in completely different wheelhouses but you get the idea. When you are having a hard time trying to describe these things to bring them up for discussion instead use examples to help express what is in your head about the game to the rest of the table. Use books, movies, shows, plays, comics, etc. The more you can give the clearer it will be to everyone about the kind of game they are agreeing to be involved in.

Lastly on the tour through SHOULD ALWAYS DO list is the rules and agreements portion of the session. These include table rules, expected behaviors, and yes even the homebrew rules that will be happening in your game. For instance I always do the flanking rules + potions are bonus actions. Bring up each set of rules, read through them and discuss as needed. Make it very clear that agreeing to play the game means that they are agreeing to follow these rules/agreements that will be in place, which means that breaking them will have consequences and repercussions that may include being asked to leave the game.

Now on to the most longer list of things that COULD BE in a Session 0 if you have the time, or like the idea for them to help with your group. One thing that I like doing at the table during Session 0 is to have the players write down 3 rumors, at least 1 of them is true and 1 of them is false. Then I take these shuffle them and deal them out so that all of the characters have heard at least something about each other character. It builds a sense that the world is living and that they don't live in isolation from each other. In addition to this I will also use Relationship Strings similar to other systems like Monsterhearts, Questlandia etc where you asking questions and have each player answer it in relation to one other character at the table (which the other player agrees to). Things like who has your character worked with in the past? Who does your character have a grudge against? Who does your character have a crush on? Who does your character owe a favor to? You could do as many or as few of these questions as you want but make sure that each player has to answer at least one of them. This is a quick short cut to helping players build existing relationships and makes that 'how the group got together' way easier for the DM.

The classic COULD DO is to have an open time for people to finish building their characters. I've met alot of players who prefer to not build their characters in a vacuum, they like helping balance the group by knowing that others are playing. Or they want to talk to other players about ways their characters could interact. Provide the time and space for this to happen and it will encourage discussions about character relationships along with all the mechanically crunchy bits.

Following the character building right along with world building. I mentioned this in the Collective Consciousness post but you can have a set of papers with titles of things in game, give players sticky notes and let them contribute to that item. Lay down a paper with 'Religion' on it and let people contribute aspect or things to it. Discuss everything that gets laid down so that you all understand it and are on the same page. You can do this with as much or as little as you want, it not only provides you with the short cut you might want to fill out the world. But it is also an engaging tool that helps determine what your players are really interested in since the more sticky notes there are is a pretty good indicator of that.

My last suggestion for now in the COULD DO section is one that I honestly always do if there is time - a pilot session. What do I mean by that? Well TV shows often have a pilot episode which is a test of their concept. Sometimes the pilot can look drastically different from the rest of the show, sometimes there are just minor tweaks or growth between the pilot or the show and sometimes the terrible pilot lets you realize you should scrap it all together. But this isn't just a pilot test of your game concept its a chance for the players to take the theoretical for their characters into the actual. Alot of times little tweaks or mistakes made in character creation will pop up or the player maybe assumed something in the mechanics that doesn't quite match either the reality of the mechanic or how the player wants the character to be. Give them a chance to test it out. The test is all good and all but couple it with something actionable like a mulligan for something that might be wrong with a character. Obviously they'll have to talk over what they want to change with you and get the okay to do it, but let the players know you will work with them after Session 0 if their character didn't quite work the way they thought.

I have tossed alot of things you can do in your Session 0 but we are missing an important part of this whole thing. How do you structure the Session 0 in a way that is functional and actionable. Right now I have handed you an armful of building blocks clapped you on the shoulder and told you to go at it champ. Well I did promise to make this a guide so I'll go through how I would run it, for that I'm going to assume all of the items I have mentioned above fit with my game. I often run longer games especially when they are in person and set the expectation that Session 0 will be about as long but that we might end early if we get through everything. I'll also state that if the players need it they are more then welcome to stay longer or to ask additional questions that Session 0 isn't me kicking them out but rather letting people go and respecting the time we agreed to if they need it.

Everyone is present and at the table so its time to get started with your Session 0. I start off with introductions both character and player, then a 5 minute elevator pitch of the campaign that they've all heard before at this point. We will have questions and discussions about the concept which I'll often use leading questions to engage the players with if need be. Ask them what they are excited about, concerned about, where they think their character fits in, etc. Conversation at first will be a little rough as everyone is feeling each other and the dynamics out so keep at it!  After everyone has had time to talk about it I'll remind them we can come back to any of these things if any questions or things pop up for them as we continue along, and that the same goes for anything we discuss during Session 0.

Rolling right along its a good time to go into matching expectations on the game with everyone. Its time to talk about genre of the game, tone of the game, things that you will be tackling as concepts, and style of play. Not just your own though but those that the players have. Ask about the types of media they enjoy and what they enjoy most in games. Talk about which tones, genres, etc the players want to explore and which ones they'd rather avoid. Style of play is a hot button topic in TTRPGs mostly because no one can decide on the classifications enough for the community to come to a consensus to identify their own styles of play. Most of it at the moment is guess work, magic wand waving and equating what we do with TTRPG to different gaming areas. That isn't a bad thing, we are a continuously growing community but it does make the discussion of it hard. Think of it in terms of how you want to interact with the pillars of play - combat, exploration, roleplaying. These are often scene as intrinsically tied to D&D but they are true for any TTRPG system even if they aren't explicitly stated in their system books.  How much of each do you like? How much of each do you want from your game? Which one or two will be the focus of your game? Which ones most excite you and your players?

At this point depending on how the conversation is flowing I'll either go into the Safety tools and how we will be using them or the agreements/rules portion. Which ever one I do first the other one will follow because I want it to be clear where we all stand. These will be brought up again at the end of the session before I release them back into the world to return to their adulting duties. I could honestly write a whole post about just how to do the safety tools and agreements portion of things. Thankfully if you do some googling you will find a ton out there with different approaches to help out.

I'll follow this up with the rumors and relationship strings, get the players thinking about how their characters will interact with each other. Some of this may take more leading questions and poking and prodding to get the players rolling on it. You can even gamify this by giving everyone 2 tokens that represents inspiration that they have to give to someone else as they develop the relationship strings. It makes it fun and encourages the interactions while giving them a fun thing to start the game off with. This will often get paired with a world building session if I have anything I want their feedback on or I want them to kind of take ownership of. A company they work for, a guild they are involved in, a town they are based in, etc. If you know that people need to finish building their characters I'll often do that here as well since the relationships and mechanics may inform each other.

Lastly I'll run a micro session with some RP, some combat and a bit of world lore in it. This will let the group work together for the first time in game, to kick the tires on their characters, and is just a fun very interactive way to end the Session 0. Make sure you have a debrief afterwards and if you want to explain how the mulligans between Session 0 and Session 1 for characters will work. I also like providing a way for them to ask questions about anything talked about before Session 1 by doing check ins with each player. There is also always an open door policy for anything they might have questions about in game. Everything we went over, agreed to, and discussed will also be sent out to the group after Session 0 just as a way to record it and something to reference again down the road if needed.

Whew that was a whole lot and this is probably going to be one of my beefier posts but I think we all needed it to be honest. It is great to see the information for it all in one place and I hope that it is a benefit to any DMs out there who haven't been too sure how to run a Session 0. It is like a muscle like anything involving running a game though so don't worry if it doesn't go perfect the first few times. You'll get your DMing legs and feel out the best set up that works for you and your flow. In the meantime you've got your buddy JustKay here giving you this great blueprint on how to run a Session 0 that will set you and your group up for success in the long term when it comes to a happy, fun, and safe game for everyone at the table.