Session 0. Pro/Con telling players the theme

[Whit]

What are the pro and con of explaining before character creation that the module will be old ones, undead, elemental, fiend, giant, drow etc etc based.

[Witty Username]

I think it depends on how specific you want them to be prepared, but I would call out genre most of the time, Horror, Comedy, that sort of thing. Also, you may want to mention things if you expect them to be common knowledge for whatever reason, If undead are commonplace for example or if dragons have been sighted in greater numbers.

[KorvinStarmast]

What are the pro and con of explaining before character creation that the module will be old ones, undead, elemental, fiend, giant, drow etc etc based.
Part of session zero is finding out whether or not that matters to the players.

[Keravath]

I would tend to describe your world and the types of creatures that could be encountered rather than going into details about the actual campaign setting. Try to stick to information that would be relatively common. For example, there are rumors of creatures like giants, dark elves, and undead. Many races are represented (then give an idea of the demographics - which races are common, which uncommon, is there any prejudice in the society that might affect creatures of particular races?).

Basically, give the players some context for the character choices they are making but don't give away significant elements of your plot line unless that is what you specifically want to do. Is the party specifically being formed to root out undead? Then perhaps the players will choose characters that will be more effective against undead.

[micahaphone]

I really think you should at least mention the rough themes or enemies. Let ranger players know roughly what they should take for Favored Enemy so they don't have a useless core class feature. Prevent a wizard player from making a mind manipulation focused character in a campaign focused on fighting undead. Let players know what they're getting into.

If you're not going to tell them what they're investing their time and attention into, you should at least give a teasing warning, some level of "I've got some surprises in store for this next campaign! Allowed races are x,y,z, other mechanical notes, etc". Then as a player I at least know to prepare a character who's good in a variety of scenarios, and I won't bust out my pyromancer sorcerer only to find out we're in a devil-themed campaign.

[Samayu]

While we don't want the players to design their characters specifically to beat our campaign, we also want them to be effective enough that they enjoy themselves. I think GM's should make sure that everyone has something their effective at, or their special talents come in handy. Or their backgrounds are worked into the plots. So if they create their characters in a vacuum, you'll have more work to do to make them feel relevant.

[DrKerosene]

While we don't want the players to design their characters specifically to beat our campaign, we also want them to be effective enough that they enjoy themselves. I think GM's should make sure that everyone has something their effective at, or their special talents come in handy. Or their backgrounds are worked into the plots. So if they create their characters in a vacuum, you'll have more work to do to make them feel relevant.

This was my main thought.

I’d hate to be a desert terrain ranger in storm kings thunder (assuming I wasn’t intentionally choosing to be such an odd-duck).

It’s probably good for calibrating expectations too. Would be a shame if a Player just ghosted because they didn’t mention their extreme arachnophobia, and you didn’t mention the focus on drow. Or other potential trigger type subjects (like with Curse Of Strahd).

[Safety Sword]

While we don't want the players to design their characters specifically to beat our campaign, we also want them to be effective enough that they enjoy themselves. I think GM's should make sure that everyone has something their effective at, or their special talents come in handy. Or their backgrounds are worked into the plots. So if they create their characters in a vacuum, you'll have more work to do to make them feel relevant.

You can out-DM any character build if you need to. Let your characters be effective and then throw them curve balls. That's some of the best fun you can have as a DM.

[MrStabby]

Yes, telling a theme is generally good I find.

I like it both as a DM and as a player.

Firstly, it lets you craft a background that will fit with the world. A backstory that gives you the motivations to explore ancient ruins is cool if there is the right kind of exploration pillar for that. If it will be about gang warfare in a city, then a tie to people in cities is likely to be more relevant and more useful to the DM in providing plot hooks.

Mechanically, it can help to avoid making some choices that will ruin fun. If you are adventuring in the city of brass then your red dragon sorcerer or light cleric idea is possibly less good. If you are mostly fighting fiends then I wouldn't whip out a bard (personal choice).

Recently I backed out of a game that I didn't like the theme/setting for. Best for everyone as I freed up my time and freed up a space at the table for someone who would enjoy it more. Rarely is good communication going to diminish fun at the table.

[Monster Manuel]

I always, always, always tell players about the theme ahead of time. I'll also tell them about the theme, but warn them that there will be surprises that disrupt the theme, without giving specifics.

That doesn't mean you have to outline exactly what opponents and challenges they will be facing, though. That's not the theme, really.

What you give the players in Session 0 is something along the lines of "This is a campaign about hardy treasure-hunters pushing into hostile, dangerous territories. You'll be facing a tough slog through the underdark, mountain citadels, and ancient ruins, as you unearth horrible things from ages past, and deal with the consequences" This lets the players know what kind of roles they should fill, and lets them figure out what specifics they should prepare for. Underdark? Bet we'll be fighting Drow. Unearthing Horrible Ancient things? Maybe I'll go GOO Warlock. Sounds like dungeons, but not a lot of water, so maybe I'll skip my Triton Tempest Cleric for this game.

Theme is more about what kind of a feel you want your game to have, rather than a plot summary. You want to give them enough that they'll have fun, but not enough to spoil anything.

[patchyman]

Surprising your players is overrated. Nothing that you would normally mention in the overview of the adventure is a surprise worth concealing.

The upside of disclosure is getting characters that are (a) effective; and (b) have a reason to get involved in the adventure; trumps any benefits of not telling the players that the adventure (for instance) is going to take place on a ship and you will mostly fighting sahuagin.

[ZRN]

What are the pro and con of explaining before character creation that the module will be old ones, undead, elemental, fiend, giant, drow etc etc based.

It seems almost unavoidable that you'd tell your players at least the general details of the setting and location, so they have some idea why their characters are motivated to go to the Underdark/Hells/graveyard/etc.

It probably goes without saying that enemy and encounter types should ideally be somewhat varied in a module anyway, so it's not like in a campaign with zombies the Undead Slayer character one-shots every encounter and the Enchanter is always useless.

[ScoutTrooper]

It's more of an interview. Give like a short resume of games ran/run. Give example of style. Communicate about expectations, lay out any house rules you use. Then, say the overall theme of the world, or what kind of flavor genre, where the adventure would take place. If published or home brew. Then ask the Players what they're expectations are, if they know their style. Then walk right into Character Creation and backstory crafting. Sometimes the backstory craft can be entirely left to the player or sometimes it take a bit of collaboration (HERMIT !) even if it's a homebrew world.

I've got a Swashbuckler West Marches adventure cooking, the player's guide is currently 23 pages long (8.5 x 11, 1-inch margins) A good portion of it will be the ship appendix, but going over added items, a few house rules, some of the rules not normally experienced, what hazards of the water might act like, and the rules that constraint that. World Lore for back story & a lot of what I mentioned above.

[micahaphone]

Whit, is there something you're concerned about with a new campaign? Have you previously had campaigns where players metagamed too much for your liking, ruining some of the fun of it? I ask because dnd is a collaborative game, and rarely do cooperative projects improve when you withhold communication. Whatever your concern is, I bet the forum posters here could help you find another solution.

[firelistener]

I think session zero details are great if you don't know the players very well or they don't know each other well, and also great if you want to run a campaign stuck in one specific setting for lots of sessions. Want to do 10 sessions of fighting undead in a desert? Might want to give them a heads up. Planning to just do 1-3 there and then move it to a new location? Not really necessary to plan out that much or share details.

[BoringInfoGuy]

I had a DM that got to the point where he would only tell what house rules he was using from Unearthed Arcana, and how we should build our characters for the game he was planning. It got so bad that one of my fellow players snapped “We know how to make characters, just tell us about your world!”

That level of frustration is no way to start a game.

You can’t get player buy-in if you don’t show what you are selling.

Explaining your theme is something you should be doing BEFORE session zero. That way, you are bringing in players who want to explore your concept.

A player who tells you he does not like your theme and won’t play is doing everyone a service, but you want that to happen before everyone is sitting around your table to make characters.

[elyktsorb]

Never understood this. If I go into a dnd game, I already know about the theme's/story. Why would I wait until session 0 to learn what kind of game I'm going to get into? Maybe this is because I primarily play online games using things like roll20, but in my experience, session 0 is just for people to get help making their characters, and since I usually know what the game is about beforehand, I've already made my character and usually don't show up to them except to introduce myself.

[diplomancer]

I think the least information that the party should know about is a "campaign title" and a "cover blurb"

[Sigreid]

I think the players need to know the theme of the campaign/world so they can build characters that fit into the world as well as characters that will invest in the campaign. If, for example, the campaign you have in mind is a battle against the undead hordes to save civilization, that's helpful information so I don't make a nihilistic eco-terrorist who wants to burn it all down, and if undead will do that for her; well....

[False God]

The pro/con is always that they will make characters more tailored to deal with that situation. Specialization is always it's own double-edged sword, sure you'll be better at killing zombies, but when you have a pissed off treant come after you you've got nothing(or very little).

The pro for you is that you've got buy in. You're not surprising them with something they hadn't expected. You said "Hey wanna play Ravenloft? It's gritty gothic horror!" and they say "yes", when the dice hit the table and they're unhappy you can say "Well ya'll said you wanted to play this."

The pro for them is that they can better fit their characters into the story. If the story unbeknownst to them is about pirates and pirating, and they bring a do-gooder paladin in heavy plate to the open ocean, they might be reasonably upset. They may still make a do-gooder paladin-type, but they'll make some adjustments for the open-seas pirating type game (maybe he's the "nice" pirate).

All in all, I think it's a good idea to give your players a heads up. Some folks just aren't into some types of games.