Quote Originally Posted by icefractal View Post
We have those things happen, but not in a separate session. This is a group that generally meets weekly, so it's more like:

Week 1, after or before the game: "Hey, I'm thinking about running a game where you build up a city in a post-apocalyptic world ... [insert details]. The system would be ___. Who'd be interested in that?"
Week 2: "So here's more details on the setting and mechanics. Anyone got a character concept?" (some people do, some don't yet).
At this point people discuss character concepts, campaign style, tone, and other "Session 0" parameters over the course of several weeks, either by text message or in person before/after the current game.
Week N: "We're going to start the post-apocalypse game next week. Everyone ready?" At this point everyone should have a character concept, any final discussion about how they fit together can occur, and the next week will be Session 1.

So there effectively is a Session 0, but it's stretched out over a period of time and never occupies an entire session. Personally, I like this style - you're not forced to come up with a character on the spot, much less built it at the table (I hate building characters at the table unless the system is simple), and the GM has plenty of time to adjust campaign details based on the feedback.

If this was a new group being assembled only for this particular game, then I'd be in favor of either a Session 0 or a period of text message discussion that covers the same information. Still would rather create characters with no time pressure rather than at the table.
Yeah... pretty much this. I have very rarely had an actual sit down and discuss session 0. It normally towards the end of the current campaign and we start to talk about what we want to do next as a group.

Its more of an organic growth than an actual established thing. The few times i have done a formal session zero is one time in college and we were, for the most part, ignorant of each other. and so a discussion of what you enjoy, your expectations, and what your playstyle is was warranted. Then when I moved to a new town and had a brand new group and again it was the base issue of none of us knew each other and that as an actual discussion was needed.