Five Ways to Improve Your Session Zero
In my previous post, I mentioned that two of my campaigns are wrapping up soon. This means that I will be starting some new campaigns in the near future and that means more session zeroes for the new and existing players at my table! I was recently talking about session zeroes with a friend of mine so this topic is at the forefront of my mind currently. I am a Game Master who has been running session zeroes for years and I have a process that I like to go through; however, I am always learning new things, reading about new best practices, and trying to improve all my sessions. In my opinion, session zero is the most important session as it either consciously or subconsciously drafts up a social contract, gives the players a roadmap of the campaign, and gives players and the GM the opportunity to discuss the hard and soft limits of any content they wish to experience within the campaign. For more information about session zeroes, I highly recommend reading the section found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
Scheduling
It is important to schedule your session zero when all of your players can make it if possible. It always seems that scheduling is the enemy of RPGs. As someone who manages a team of 8+ people in my professional life on top of running everything I do for Open Heart Games, I know all too well the struggle of trying to balance multiple schedules. Yet it is very important to try to find a regular time that works well for everyone. I recommend 30 - 45 minutes per player for your session zero and to try to set the first day on the day and time that you will regularly meet for your campaign. Have everyone mark their calendar, create a Facebook event, and send out a reminder message a few days before, and even a few hours before, so no one misses out. Scheduling your session zero is just as important as running it.
Create a One-Page Campaign Guide
Sly Flourish wrote a great article on creating a One-Page Campaign Guide which you can find here. Campaign Guides are a great resource to create and send to your players prior to session zero to help them get those creative juices flowing. The Campaign Guide should be one page as most players are unlikely to read anything longer. It should give them a brief overview of what kind of game they should expect, the safety tools to be used, any house rules, and any other information that might be important for the players to know beforehand. Obviously you do not have to include any spoilers, but it is helpful to give your players some information so that they can come to the session with some character concepts in mind. I recommend sending out your one-page guide a week or so before the campaign starts to give everyone some time to read it over a few times and digest it. I would also read it over at the start of session zero and ask if everyone has any questions before diving into the meat of the session.
Create a Session Zero Checklist
With so much to cover in just a single four-hour session how do you make sure that you don't miss anything? I think the answer is simple: create a session zero checklist! In this checklist you should include everything that you want to discuss with your players along with your objectives for the session zero. This should include everything from the Campaign Guide along with what the players can expect from you and the other players. What backgrounds fit best within the campaign? What materials will the players be expected to bring to each session? What about technology? What happens if a player is unable to make the session? These are all questions to consider when building your checklist and if you are anything like me, I don't like to reinvent the wheel. I would rather tweak something that has already been tried and tested and make it my own. With that in mind, Bob World Builder has what he calls the “ultimate session zero checklist” which you can find here.
Safety Tools
A personal soapbox for me when it comes to running games is the concept of safety tools. I think that they are important for a variety of reasons and session zeroes are a great time to introduce safety tools to your players as everyone has time to discuss, ask questions, and familiarize themselves with what they are and how to use them. In fact, session zeroes are a form of safety tool in their own way as they establish the expectations and limits for the campaign. It allows players and Game Masters an open forum to discuss what kinds of materials they do and do not want to explore throughout the campaign. If you want a great resource you can use as a discussion starter check out Consent in Gaming by Monte Cook Games which you can find here.
Prepare to Play
After everyone has expended the creative energy to create their backstories it only makes sense that your players will want to see their new characters in action! I recommend preparing at least a short scenario that allows the players to narrate their entrance to the campaign and helps establish why all of the characters have come together at that moment. Perhaps it is a common enemy, patron, or simply fateful circumstance. Whatever the reason that brings the party together, prepare to get in at least 30 minutes to an hour of play time before the end of the evening. This will give the players a taste of things to come and give them a chance to have fun playing their characters. Always leave them wanting more! Before the end of the session try to pin down the next session and make sure everyone knows when it is.I really like session zeroes as they give me a great opportunity to lay a solid foundation for spectacular campaigns. I hope you found these tips and best practices helpful. There are a lot of ways to run a session zero and GMs will vary on how they approach them but these are the ones that I have found work best for me and my groups.
Happy session zero and happy gaming!
Take Heart!
Karington Hess
Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games
