What should a session 0 include?

[SangoProduction]

I'm running one of my first campaigns that uses a session 0. But, doing it wrong means you might as well not do it at all (as far as the campaign goes, could be a learning experience). Any pointers?

[Honest Tiefling]

Some things I think you should go over:

The tone of the campaign, including expectations of alignment (even if only vaguely), violence, gore, adult humor and how serious the game will be. If your players are into that, also discuss potential themes you'd like to explore.
Type of campaign, so people don't show up with Thoraka, bloodthirsty orc barbarian with the strength of 20 men and the intelligence of 20 mice in a game planned for political intrigue.
Basics of the setting. A print-out or google doc of this is fine, but you should probably still discuss it now. Also time to fine tune any suggestions for the setting from the players, and figure out how their characters fit into the setting.
A consensus on optimization levels. Hard to describe, but it's better to try to address it now.
Agreement on source books used and any house rules in play.


I feel like I am missing something, but that's a good start in my opinion.

[Mendicant]

Some things I think you should go over:

The tone of the campaign, including expectations of alignment (even if only vaguely), violence, gore, adult humor and how serious the game will be. If your players are into that, also discuss potential themes you'd like to explore.
Type of campaign, so people don't show up with Thoraka, bloodthirsty orc barbarian with the strength of 20 men and the intelligence of 20 mice in a game planned for political intrigue.
Basics of the setting. A print-out or google doc of this is fine, but you should probably still discuss it now. Also time to fine tune any suggestions for the setting from the players, and figure out how their characters fit into the setting.
A consensus on optimization levels. Hard to describe, but it's better to try to address it now.
Agreement on source books used and any house rules in play.


I feel like I am missing something, but that's a good start in my opinion.

If you have new or newish players a session 0 is also not a bad time to do character creation imo.

[OldTrees1]

Some things I think you should go over:
-snip-

I feel like I am missing something, but that's a good start in my opinion.

Good list. From here check the clock and if you still have time then move onto smaller details:
Start the discussion about characters, this gives the Players time to construct a cohesive party rather than a random bunch of setting appropriate PCs.

If you are open to bending the rules/adding content, now would be a good time to make that clear. That way the players can ask those specific questions before session 1.

Continue onto smaller and smaller details as time permits assuming to have completed discussing the larger details.

[Rainshine]

Yeah, party composition and general expectations are my usual fare. I usually give players a data dump of info about the world beforehand, but it gives me a chance to bounce questions, build stories together, and get something similar to a coherent party.

[ExLibrisMortis]

For a more inexperienced group, supervised character creation belongs in session 0. Not so much the concept, but definitely the mechanics.

For those campaigns that require it, a party backstory really helps keeping those CN weirdos together.

[Psyren]

For a more inexperienced group, supervised character creation belongs in session 0. Not so much the concept, but definitely the mechanics.

For those campaigns that require it, a party backstory really helps keeping those CN weirdos together.

These are, in my opinion, the best use for session 0. You don't have to put a bow on every single thing, but a little collaboration in the beginning is invaluable. There will be newer players who have trouble with their characters' mechanics, people who are unsure of their character concepts, or both - and having everyone in the same room (physical or virtual) to brainstorm these things will take a lot of the load off the DM's shoulders.

[GilesTheCleric]

If your players don't already know each other, it's a good opportunity for everyone to meet each other. You could do some icebreaker activities. In any case, finding some common ground outside of D&D is nice, since it gives additional motivation for folks to hang out together and improve player attendance.

[NecroDancer]

I wish I had a session zero