How to Run a Session Zero in D&D

[@theDMLair]

What other things do you do in your session zeros? PATREON ▶▶ www.patreon.com/thedmlair Backstory Template ▶▶ drive.google.com/open?id=13SQnWcgvJhaidfn1am8aoeBVyIZ3C3QR

[@bezretmet]

i thought most DM's went into a session 0 already having a module/setting in mind. i mean prepping a dnd setting takes months. I'm now preparing to run a giant dungeon delver that took me weeks to prepare and flesh out the rest of the world for. if the players that i can find for it tell me they want to play something like saltmarsh instead i'd be a little miffed about that basically having to put 3 months of prep on the backburner.

[@theDMLair]

I do go into thw session 0 with the module\adventure prepped. It's the pre-session 0 that figures the module/adventure out.

[@ghostshadow0216]

I'm SUPER NEW to the D&D world, as in I've played 1 campaign, and know I'm trying my hand as a DM and I've already got a headache player on my hands who is really used to being given almost any homebrew item/class they've wanted. I laughed really hard when you mentioned a 20 page backstory since this player was creating just that. This has really helped with understanding how to start campaigns and work with the players, along with the players working with the DM. Thanks for the tips and tricks much appreciated :)

[@activistvoorrechtenvankaas2810]

@@ghostshadow0216 Hey, I'm a dm who played one session running phandelver for a group of all-new players. Luckily, they seem to be amazing players right off the bat.

[@dwaikens]

Been DMing for quite a while (since high school) and I've actually considered taking the "Session Zero" of the Fate System and adapting some of the concepts to D&D, namely, the character connections to each other and the world. Not sure this would be a good thing for ALL SESSION ZEROS; however, I though it would be an interesting concept for players that don't typically like making backstories and the DM would like to have most of the party at least know of each other. SO even though Fate is a VERY different game system, this Session zero does require each player to make a few established connections to the other player characters, 2 is probably a good number for this. They don't need to be positive, but do need to make sense in the world and character development. A dwarven warrior teaching an elven mage magic isn't going to fly. Essentially, a mini event that isn't over the top, but offers backstory for BOTH characters, which means they both have to agree. And I tend to encourage my players to have ONE positive event. The other requirement of this is that each PC connection is with a different PC, no repeats. This way, you spread out the associations. So our Dwarf Warrior may know the elven mage from a small adventure they were both commissioned for, but the Dwarf Warrior also knows a Teifling Warlock as a child when the Teifling was orphaned as a result of that adventure, but the elf left prior to this encounter. The PC encounters do not need to be the same event and can be years apart, spanning from childhood events to just before the campaign. The important part is the character associations exist and are agreed upon by all parties incorporated to it. The Teifling may have ruined an experiment of the Elf's, but was saved from trouble by the dwarf. This is an association between the Teifling and Elf, but the dwarf has to approve their involvement in it. The other participation from the players is contributions to the world. I recently started doing this part in my D&D session zero, mainly because I was making an extended campaign with a blank slate world. However, I think this could be useful for a new world or one that is based on another... say something forgotten realms related, but not part of Faerun or even the same world. This is a way of having the players be "experts" on their own little part of the world that they have discovered and even loosely mold some of the world so the DM can come back and add it to their vision. Obviously, you can't let players say "And the Dwarves hold a vast empire that has enslaved all other races..." or "I slayed a ancient green dragon when I was only 10 years old", but to say something like: "The Dwarven Warrior was raised in a small hill village where humans and dwarves cooperated peacefully, the majority of the dwarves living below the surface mining the metals and the humans tending the farms and animals..." Now the player is not only helping develop the world, but may even be invested in the fate of that village, making it easy to incorporate it in aspects of the story. Now... I always have at least one player that insists that he comes from a harsh life and has no connections, no friends... the outcast. 50% of the time, this also ends up being my "murder hobo". That's ok... if nothing else, this does help them flush out some basic back story that I am at least able to work with... even if it is orcs razed their village and now they harbor complete hatred towards Orcs. Again, though, the DM needs to keep the reigns and players understand that when I say "No, that don't fit" that I will work with them to make it work. Again, using this stuff depends on your group. If you have a bunch of players that are just wanting a hack and slash dungeon crawl... none of this may even matter and is worthless. But if you are planning a drafted extended campaign, this does have some merit and may even help you develop your world.

[@joandudley4847]

I’m blessed with amazing players. We recently started a new campaign. One of players opened her binder and pulled out everything from our campaign one. Notes, Npc and location info,world maps, dungeon maps, she kept ever hand written letter or scrap of a prop I had given them, magic item cards and description. She then placed a new, empty binder on top for campaign 2 and said,”let’s start our new session 0” It was so moving that she kept everything and loved the game and her character so much. It was hard saying goodbye but I think session zero is super important to begin a clean slate and have a chance to “mourn” old characters if that makes sense.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks awesome, Joan! It's really is great to have good players. Makes everything so much more fun and helps make all the hard work of DMing that much easier.

[@obsidiannightwolfe13]

Muh heart, muh Sole. I hope that just one of my players does this at the end of my campaign.

[@darkjack164]

marry that women

[@joshuasolt8416]

Running a game tonight for 2 brand new players. So this is the perfect video for me!

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! Happy to help. (Try no to kill the new guys' PCs in the first session... lol)

[@jennifer_liamloren5606]

Just kinda had my session zero, making the pc characters... Only all 4 were newbies, at least they're my family so I know they love high fantasy & magic group.

[@lilymercy]

I was one of the newbies at an accidental session zero. there was a communication error about when the session was.

[@benkayvfalsifier3817]

@ Joshua Solt So it has been ten months since you posted this comment. How's the game?

[@taylorsloley4170]

Same!

[@evankurasu3190]

Never heard of the term “session zero”, let alone the concept. I’m ready to learn, sensei! Wait, am i the first one here?

[@Funlifedoga]

Me too

[@theDMLair]

FIRST! lol

[@ninjaoforthanc8177]

same

[@Milkaholic76]

Weird. Ive been holding session zeros since I started dming. If you do dm good luck fam! Its pretty rewarding so hope you enioy it if you ever do!

[@danielscruton9071]

Sensei asaimo san

[@Matt-md5yt]

Session Zero is the Pilot episode of the D&D.

[@theDMLair]

Yep, and sometimes the show gets cancelled after the pilot. lol

[@thetimebinder]

No. It's the campaign pitch and actor auditions.

[@writerofthought8084]

The first game i ever ran, I didn't even know Session 0 was a thing. But because I wanted them to make characters that would do well in the world, I got with each of them individually and helped them build characters. It ended up working well because I was able to incorporate them into the world. There was a mix of new players and veterans so what I did was let the veterans choose to be from the country I built, and new players would be "foreigners" so that it would be easy for people who werent as confident with backstories to make them whatever they want it. I also feel like I gave myself an advantage by making the initial area only five cities: a center, and then the cardinal directions. And then I built the country as the game went on so they could discover places.

[@theDMLair]

Meeting individually is a solid approach, too.

[@writerofthought8084]

I think the worst one I did though was with a party of bards. I told everyone to be bards and we just do various one shots with the characters for holidays and birthdays. But they made then characters and i only had base knowledge of them. I do wish I would have been more involved in that process but they still seem to enjoy the Bardy Party.

[@ademiranda2]

So you ran individual session zero’s without calling it that. It’s cool. One thing I noticed about the community is they love labeling everything. Terms like “home brew “, “sand box”, “murder hobos “ and all that other label shit didn’t exist when I started playing back on the 80’s. Some people need labels to conceptualize things.

[@theDMLair]

Giving concepts names helps people talk about them. Instead of saying "dog" if we had to describe the animal every single time we referenced it...yeah, that's a pain. A name makes things easier.

[@CommanderM117]

i did both did character sheet first little backstory then placed them together on a small quest in a frozen wasteland all hooded the start of first game would be them getting to know each other more and getting out of a cave

[@joeburns8415]

Also good things for seasion zero - talking about some real world stuff: Is there a scheduled recurring game time we can commit to? How will we deal with “oh crap can we reschedule next week”? How will we handle if a player has to miss a session? Are we going to use an online platform during play or outside of game time to share content or generally talk smack? Do we have any ground rules for “mutual respect” or anything like that - particularly helpful if starting a game with strangers. Keep up the good work - love yr channel

[@sparrowhawk4641]

“No judgment here “ Face that expresses judgement

[@TheHeimdal118]

Thanks again Luke! Just preparating my Session Zero and your video just came at the right time for me to see what I missed on! One thing I add: out-of-game Expectations (not only from the players side, but also of me as a DM) and matters. For example to be punctual, be prepared, have dice and pen, KNOW YOUR CHARACTER! (sorry for screaming) and how to handle food and drink supplies, also checking if everyone is comftable with gore and violence etc.

[@theDMLair]

Great additions. KNOW YOUR PC deserves to be screamed. I too have players that don't know how their own PC works...

[@peterwhitcomb8315]

When I'm playing a new character, I may not "know my character." I'm learning as I go. Yeah I know how I would like to RP him but mechanically I may not know what I can do. "Oh I can cast spell. Oh, this one has to be cast as a reaction. This one takes 10 minutes to cast..." Yeah, sometimes we may not know are character and that is acceptable.

[@TheHeimdal118]

@@peterwhitcomb8315 learning and evolving a character (mechanically and role play wise) is totally fine and not nowing every spell or power of the entire party by heart is ok as well. I was more screaming at players, who are playing a rogue for a year and constantly forgetting there sneak attack - or who ask in every round of combat how far they can move.

[@moogamooga2100]

I’ve been running games for 8 years, but I was looking for additional tips to spice up my Session Zero. I tried the “everyone knows an additional NPC that wasn’t already in their backstory” and it was a HUGE hit! Thank you so much for a terrific idea!

[@journalofawriter3650]

um, luke, are you an aboleth? if not how did you know this was exactly the video I needed to see this week.

[@theDMLair]

Yes, yes I am. 😈

[@roqueadeleon]

I’ve been wanting to start an RPG Campaign with my friends for YEARS. Will be running my first game of Numenera in a few weeks. Your videos are always helpful so thanks for this!

[@AkameOda]

We haven't had a session 0 in the 2 game I've been in yet, but the DM I play with does a kind of personal session 0 where she plays out an event from a character's past, This gets the player into character & see how well they work. Afterward we can switch anything we want before entering a true session & locking in our gear/stats.

[@theDMLair]

That's a cool way to do it!

[@WiIICheck]

Omg Luke mentioned me!! (William 😭👍🏼) And with a finger point at the end! Your so very welcome, my friend! Keep up your wonderful videos we look forward to every week 😊😊😊

[@elfnorm]

I've known about a "session zero" but never knew how to do it.....and until I found this guy i could barley comprehend how to try and Dm so thank you and keep up the work

[@theDMLair]

You are very welcome! I'm happy to help! :D

[@96Logan]

5:43 I am a new dm, just starting my own campaign. I play in 3 other games consistently as a player, I agree with this!

[@tuckcav7502]

This was also very useful for me! As a first time DM, this channel has been invaluable!

[@peterwhitcomb8315]

This is probably the best video I have seen on Session Zero on KZbin. The other ones have been good (I don't want to disrespect the ones done before) but this one seemed more "on-Point" than those.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! 😁

[@felipeperucci1430]

Dude your videos are awesome, this was everything I needed at this moment. Thank you.

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! You are very welcome! 😁

[@ernestasbogdanov5856]

I didn't have an official Session Zero for my home-brew campaign, but I spent time with every player in my campaign developing their characters and also asking to throw some world ideas of their origin - locations, names, history facts, political relationships, organizations etc. And they said it was very interesting and it helped to get involved in the campaign even more. Also, my campaign is based on PCs backstories, I made them matter and I take a lot from them for inspiration for plot hooks and campaign developments and it gets crazy (in a good sense) when campaign touches their individual backstories. However, my first DM while preparing for Storm King's Thunder had a Session Zero, where he laid out the new mechanics he will attempt to implement. But the most interesting part was he insisted that players would create a relationship among their characters, and he threw ideas at us, for example - Academics, Savages, Musical Band of Bards, Members of the Order, etc. We ended up having 2 groups - 3 members of a Goliath tribe and 3 people of science. Afterwards we had Sessions 0.5 where every group played separately the beginning of their travels and adventures - and it was a lot of fun. Session 0.5 ended at the point of encounter between group 1 and 2 which was continued at Session 1 - it was one of the best campaigns starts I ever had!

[@July-gj1st]

I always struggle with session 0, I must say that out of all the videos I’ve seen on the topic yours is the best. Short and concise.

[@ashleyharrison861]

“Good luck getting your players to actually wait to create their characters” Jokes on you, my players won’t make them until the session 0 and even then it’s a 50/50 chance

[@kingdomofbricks702]

Yep, same. It's not a problem of them creating it too soon, not at all. It's getting them to make it on time haha

[@idiotwithacomputerandanint9433]

My groups the entire opposite, I once planned to start a dnd session as a dm and before I even placed down ground rules for what books we were going to use I already had a Aarokockra cleric, warforged artificer, a circle of spores loxodon, and a phb dwarf barbarian, he was the one I loved

[@VAHelix]

My group had them made a couple weeks ahead as well. I assigned race by a roll of the dice and offered 2-3 class options. I only know 3 of the 10 players so just a wee bit nervous. I am ready to go though. Session0.

[@BelegaerTheGreat]

And I'm the kind of player that comes to the table with 20+ pages of backstory, probably that's why my future will be mostly DMing :)

[@idiotwithacomputerandanint9433]

Xerix Helix keep in mind that was literally my first ever time DMing and they new that, I barely had the PHB rules down and they threw the entirety of 5e content on me at once.

[@AlbinoTiefling]

This couldn't have come more on time. New DM, organising a campaign, session zero incoming, now I know a bit more about running it. Thank you) EDIT: The backstory template is truly a god's gift to us noob DMs)

[@oasia9738]

Commonly at my session zeros, everyone is speaking to each for the first time, and I really only use it to see if everyone’s personalities mesh

[@elkwolf2888]

The backstory template was very useful thank you!

[@theDMLair]

Happy to help! 😁

[@jm-nf8xf]

So if player brains are developed to forget important details, are dm brains the opposite? Then what about a half-dm-half-players?

[@theDMLair]

As a DM I forget everything I don't write down... 😁

[@NigelTownsend1]

Practically brain-dead? They cancel eachother out :))))))))

[@alexp7016]

I can confirm that we are just player brains with notepads, tbh. My DM screen is c o v e r e d in sticky notes, and I have an entire cupboard of notebooks on the campaign I'm currently running.

[@batata7162]

there's a 50/50 chance that or they will forget everthing ou remember everthing

[@virginiamooney4105]

Schrödinger's detail retention

[@zed_8011]

Thank you, this was really helpful for overnight prep before the sesh 0 tomorrow

[@theDMLair]

Awesome. Happy to help! 😁

[@colina1793]

Really like the idea of telling the players about the setting, giving out maps, pics of NPCs (and buddying them up). Think it’s great to get them to create their characters together AND with the game setting in mind, so they can create characters that fit into that world.

[@BlackRainRising]

In my game I had setup the city and printed off a nice lore/backstory of what it is and how it came to be and how the world around them works in a unique synergy that you might not commonly find other places. I had them all make back stories so that I could use those to help expand my own creation and help their characters have reasons to press on for the long run. I let them tell me what they wanted to play instead of the common "we have a fighter and cleric but no mage or rogue", I let them play whatever they wanted and rolled with it. When I got them all prepared and gave them the lore pages, they loved the story and all of them were all in, so we started that night and I did what you did, played for a couple hours to give them a feel for what I had in mind and feel for how they were gonna play. I let them start wherever they wanted and fully winged it to bring them all together, it was beautiful.

[@clockwork1511]

Alot of my players love/hate one of my home brew rules, 'coup de grace'. Im pretty sure the rule already exists, ive just buffed it. Pretty much it means that if an enemy is unable to defend themselves(asleep, unconsious, extremely drunk), an attack on them in an instant kill. I mean seriously, why do u have to roll to hit if you are crouched over their sleeping body with a dagger at their throat?

[@theDMLair]

Makes sense to me. Would just suck if NPC assassins did that to player's PCs. And in my games I tell my players whatever they can do, I can do. 😁

[@oneringtorulethemagicarp7199]

it exists in most games, the way I run it, is an automatic crit, with a con save against instant death (given the crit doesn't kill in the first place) this is helpful because most average people will just die, but the barbarian or monster can pull through from time to time, as seems appropriate

[@clockwork1511]

@@oneringtorulethemagicarp7199 thats actually a really good idea that im gonna impliment! Thanks!

[@kytownsend8295]

Hey man, no idea if you'll ever read this but I just wanted to let you know that you're my favorite dnd channel on youtube-your advice is applicable and very well explained and I love listening to you talk-every word you say is interesting because of how you annunciate

[@theDMLair]

Thanks a lot, Ky! 😂

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I’ve never officially done a session 0 but I talk to the players online through emails or text before the first session. Some of my players back story are very detailed and good reading. Nice video

[@windwarriorholsety4036]

This showed up in my recommended just in time for tomorrow. I’m DMing for the first time in a year, and after my last two games spontaneously combusted, I’m a bit nervous. Wish me luck.

[@theDMLair]

Good luck dude! What happened in the last two games?

[@windwarriorholsety4036]

Thank you. What happened to my the first of the two flops is a one word travesty: murderhoboism. And what’s weird is that the players loved the game before that one to pieces, and they just went plain murderhobo. I think the worst example of this was making ‘face pizzas’ out of everyone they could find. Very frustrating. The one after that got the axe because I simply had too much on my plate. But I have (relative) confidence that this will play out much better.

[@tothesimplethings9685]

This was perfect timing, ran a session 0 just today. Was nervous but this vid was very helpful, pls continue to make more videos like this!

[@Katiekooleyes]

Thank you for this video, it's very fortuitous timing. Been a player for a while now, and about to DM my first game. The players either have never played D&D, or have only played the odd one shot several years ago. The question sheet regarding backstories is a very helpful tool, so will deffo be using that. Thank you for providing it.

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! Glad this landed just on time for you! :D

[@Katiekooleyes]

@@theDMLair likewise. I'm launching the campaign mid/late September. Got a few lose ends to tie up etc, then it's on to character creation for the players. So excited! 😁

[@CooperAATE]

Just used your backstory template, and my players are now in love with their characters

[@francoisdumont4105]

I'm more of a Warhammer guy myself and I haven't played a lot of DnD, but your game looks awesome.

[@elizabethlewellen7256]

Session 0 is a must. It truly does help the DM and players know what to expect. I always use session 0 for character creation, introduction to the campaign setting, and to get everyone hyped for D&D!!

[@emlofland]

I tend to run my session zero in three parts. 1) Theme - Basically what you outlined, go over the tone, central tension(s) of the campaign, any custom rules, features of the world. I interface with them informally before and give this information out before session zero, but a review is always welcome. I also get a feel for what people are comfortable with and what to expect, especially with grittier campaigns and heavier source material. If someone lost a family member to suicide and really doesn't want to think about that when they are having fun, then I will know not to have that show up as even a passing point in my campaign. 2) Character Development - Everyone discusses what kind of character they are thinking of building or have made and brainstorms how the characters know each other. I also use this as an opportunity to get players thinking in character and develop plot hooks. Basically, I do a series of timed creative writing exercises with questions built around the campaign. "What are your character's beliefs about power?" "What is an experience from your character's childhood that shaped them?" "What is your character's most prized possession?" "What is it that scares your character the most?" (For a horror campaign for example). These questions bring up ideas that players may not normally have thought of, and I save their answers so I can address them directly by plot hooks during the campaign. After a few questions, I have everyone write a pilot of their character in an adventure (Just a few minutes of time, nothing too involved). The main point is that they do not mention any of the other members of the party. Then I have them pass their story to the next player, and each player adds in what their player did as a separate entry, writing their character into their neighbors story. Rotations continue until everyone has added a paragraph to each story, and we read the stories out loud. These exercises force everyone to think in the mindset of their character for a bit and develop a sense of camaraderie so it doesn't feel so unnatural starting out. 3) Mock Battle - Especially for new players, or if an online tool like roll20 is being utilized, I have an encounter set up. I make a way for it to be nonlethal (it happened in the past, it was at a tourney with practice weapons, etc.), so everyone has a general idea of mechanics. Now for session 1, we will be ready to hit the ground running.

[@Loxagn]

Something I have enjoyed doing is a series of minor 'one-on-one' sessions with my players. In it, the PC is introduced to the world and at least the initial story, setting up the players to meet in a single location so I never, ever have to say 'you all meet in a tavern'. DMed a Final Fantasy game for five years, the PCs were introduced to the game via a bandit raid on the small town they were all individually staying in. Independently guided all of them through reacting to their homes and inn rooms being burned to the ground and either fleeing or running towards the danger to help. Session one began as they arrived at the town square, right as a squad of bandits arrived, kicking off session one with a fight to get them engaged and immediately drawn in.

[@rickbezoski682]

Great stuff in every video! Info has been a big help

[@XonyMudd]

I recently was introduced to this term. Now that I know more about it, I may need to do session zeros myself when next I run. For my homebrew rules, I do a social initiative using charisma. I started that as a way to help make sure everyone gets an opportunity to roleplay and interact without like overlooked, left out, or talked over. It didn't help keep one of my friends in the game, but that was because he also preferred face to face games. It was well received in my games and there's no excuse for not being able to participate in a social encounter. Note, players are allowed to pass their turn so no one is forced to interact.

[@Gemini-Lion]

I tend to not do “session zeroes” instead, everyone who I’m playing with just share their character ideas, take ideas suggested to them (that are reasonable) and as for homebrew rules and things like that, it is usually just to make the game easier to play for the characters and the DM. If some homebrew rules are game-changing, the DM typically doesn’t do it. Though, when they do, they tend to tell the players if it doesn’t give away any major plot in the story. When it WOULD give away a major plot, then they would probably just give hints to the rules.

[@FzudemR]

Yeah.. knowing about a session zero might have saved my first and by now only chance to have a dnd game started. If you have players, that doesn´t really care about DnD and wont really read anything you send them, you gonna have a REAL hard time getting anything done without said Session Zero.. xD But hey, NOW i know about it and i will definitly make one, if i ever get the chance again! Thank you very much for this input!

[@80budokai]

Great video! Enjoy your Saturday! 💯🙏🙌

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! I am. Playing DnD right now. 😁

[@80budokai]

@@theDMLair Great backstory template! Enjoy your Weekend!💯🙏🙌

[@yaneighborhoodbigbrother3180]

I have 5 players in my game, 1 a former Zhentarim operative, 1 a mysterious ranger from a town across the world map, a dragonborn warlock who is an introvert / cowboy, a 9 year old warlock who accidentally killed her parents during a (her) sacrifice, and an asimaar fighter who watched over the nine year old, so you can already tell this is a crazy game. Thanks for the tips!

[@gabrielotero5694]

Dude! Videos like these would be great for podcast! I'd love to hear them while I'm driving or doing other stuff, you should totally try it out ;) BTW this is GREAT content

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! That's a good idea. I'll need to look into it.

[@derariussmith5211]

Actually just did a session zero for my biggest party yet (9 people, most being brand new) and I'm glad I did, really helps cohesion and everyone's having a blast so far

[@LoathingEditor]

Wow! That's a massive party.

[@FrostLeaf13]

Really awesome stuff! The only thing I do different is allow my players to create their characters ahead of time, if and only if, they keep in contact with each other about what they’re making

[@bodine219]

I will be dming a campaign for the first time starting in September (with two parties!). One of my groups is all fantasy writers and....backstories are definitely easy to obtain.

[@andraslantos2325]

The opening scenes are hilarious.

[@theDMLair]

Thank you!!!!

[@snakanter]

Well, I died in my session zero. Kinda a funny story actually

[@ThorsShadow]

Dude...you can't just tease a great story and then just stop. Give us the whole thing. XD

[@snakanter]

@@ThorsShadow Okay so I was playing a tiefling ranger. In the party, at that moment, we also had a fallen angel grim reaper and a something or other God hand. The God hand threatens my ranger. He shot an exploding arrow at the God hand. Missed. He retaliated by punching me. With burning fist. I didnt stand a chance...

[@TabooX1984]

I have NEVER gotten a "player handout". I've only once played a "Session Zero". The Ses #0 was the BEST time I've EVER had playing D&D. 👍👍👍

[@MichelletheMiniatureMisfit]

Thanks for the heads up I'll do that with my next campaign. The handouts are a great idea as well! ♥

[@benbenben1008]

I am new to the dnd world and since i dont have any books or whatever, I am home brewing the entire thing. (I enjoy creating and mapping out detailed stuff anyway) me and my family are doing a session 0 in a few days and this video will definetly help us know how to stay on track for the evening

[@theDMLair]

That's awesome! You know you can download the free PDFs from Wizards that have the basic rules right? I think if you just do a Google search for basic rules D&D you can probably find them pretty easily. It's a free pdf it was a provides to people.

[@benbenben1008]

@@theDMLair thank you so much

[@paavohirn3728]

There sure are many ways to GM. There's a lot implied here I don't agree with but I'm sure this is helpful for many.

[@justinwaterson2395]

Great advice about to start my second campaign as a DM and will use ALL OF THIS goodness

[@BrenGamerYT]

"If you ask your players to create backstories only half of them actually do. If you're lucky." Too real. Also, thanks for the backstory template! Just handed it out to some of my own players (I ran a oneshot to fill for the usual DM cancelling and they loved it so much they wanted to continue the campaign, so here I am trying to assemble a world for four borderline throwaway characters. Actually going not too bad), and it's a lot better than constantly reminding one or two people to please write a story.

[@TheBlackZodiacGhost]

I normally don't care about player's backstory until a couple of levels in, where the first adventure is done and people have come to know their character better. At session 0, the most important things for me to know is: What is their motivation for taking up the life of adventurers/detectives/mercenaries/whatever and why are they sticking together as a group (if the story doesn't "force" them into being one)?

[@theDMLair]

Those are absolutely required components. If I never got backstories from players, but I had those two things, I'd be okay with that.

[@derpywaffles4life79]

That’s great and all but likely you could voice the joker with that laugh. Absolutely fabulous.

[@shadowheartart3898]

Didn't know the term "session zero", but we've used some variety or other of this for quite some time. The thing that differs the most: almost everyone in my group has experience with being a DM/GM. So a campaign ends, everyone (that has an idea for a thing they want to run) pitches their idea to the group. This includes both campaign and system (D&D, Warhammer, GURPS, whatever). Then majority rules as to what we play next. Sometimes we create characters together as a group, sometimes one-on-one with the GM. I rarely participate in that pitching ideas thing though. I don't like prepping campaigns out of the blue. What I do is, I figure out what I want to GM. Then figure out who I know who would fit in well - then ask if they want to join in that specific campaign. So when I'm GM I effectively dictate what we're doing, and people can join in. The reason I do it like that is, that I always have a specific story in mind that I want to tell. Of course this also mean that there can be years between me starting something up, because I don't have enough players (Ravenloft *cough*). To me it just makes more sense to go "Hey guys. I wanna tell a story about a Dwarf Hold and the people living there. Everyone has to play a Dwarf, and we're not gonna go off and be pirates or visit faraway lands - Wanna play?). I work better that way

[@scorpiowarrior7841]

My group has two dragonborne fighters.....and I'm one of them.

[@zane9464]

That whole ‘ Did I just insult my viewer base? I should probably cut that out. ( I probably won’t.) has earned my subscribe good sir.

[@theDMLair]

Why thank you. :D That thought goes through my mind a lot, actually. I have a big mouth and I usually speak my mind. :D

[@zane9464]

the DM Lair Me: Oh this video is from August, like a couple months I’m suuuure he won’t even see this. Dm lair: You challenge me?

[@fitz8923]

What I'm doing in the full length campaign I'm starting next week is that first I'm going to run a session 0 where we only go over ground rules and expectations, etc. No playing yet. We're going to play weekly, so the first "real" session is going to be the following week (Mondays). In the week between session 0 and session 1, I'm going to run a mini session with each player one on one, where we make their level 1 character together (most of the players are first timers), briefly play out their backstory, make any adjustments, answer questions, etc. At the end, we level them up to lvl 2 and I walk them through that process. Session 1 starts with all players at lvl 2. Never done it before. We'll see how it goes! (We're playing on roll20. Also, all of the players were aware of the classes everyone wanted to play. They also were all already excited about their ideas 🤷🏾‍♂️)

[@TheValarClan]

Again all round good advice

[@jammothyjimmothy6999]

Always plan a session zero. My current campaign has 2 rogues, a ranger. And a fighter. I decided to use a dmpc who only does healing and takes care of the day to day. Still, I have no idea how there going to understand most of the fun magic bits because It's a high magic campaign.

[@jammothyjimmothy6999]

I should say that they all play well off each other pretty well.

[@achimsinn7782]

I allow my players to roll their characters independantly from each other, but they always roll the characters together with me. We also pick feats based on what might fit the character backstorywise and create a backstory together / I try to incorporate their backstory ideas into the narrative and sometimes we adjust it together to make it fit. We kind of skip the houserules thing as I mostly follow the games rules with the exception of what I call the "no BS rule" meaning that when following the gamerules would lead to nonsensicle / unrealistic / otherwise stupid or unlogical results I can decide to overrule them and decide for myself (which so far has worked in favor of the players like 90 % of the time) Instead of handing out stuff before the adventure begins, I try to incorporate as much as possible into the first time actually playing, like in one of my campaigns the characters got introduced to each other while travelling on the ship. In that session I put up a battlematt of the ship to give them a visual of it and where they are and I gave one of them a map of the ocean and had the captain point out their position on it, so they knew where they were and what is up ATM... then I had the ship being attacked and destroyed by pirates and they had to run for one of the liveboats shown on the battematt and then they got marooned on an island that was close to the position of the ship (which they could see on the map). They then had their first adventure being about surviving on that island and finding a way for leaving the island which was basically just a good way for everybody to get into the game and used to the rules and the way I run the game - especially as one of the players was entirely new to the game at that time.

[@TerryAVanguard]

Sharing backstory and creating characters togther is a great session 0 thing

[@angelicazadak]

Dude, thank you - seriously!

[@adityanorbert841]

Awesome P.S. thanks for the advice

[@billthecanuck]

Running a game this friday for 3 co-workers who have never played and asked me to DM for them..(since they see me reading/watching D&D videos at work all the time... ie right now lol) i've never DM'd people who have never played before so should be a learning opportunity for me... My regular players have played in the same world (spanning hundreds of years) for the past few years, so i havn't had to actually do a session 0... ever... since they already know the world. Going to do a cold open strait into a brief combat at level 1 after we do the initial session 0 stuff. Trying to decide if i want to have pregen characters made to speed session 0 up or let them go through the whole creation process themselves.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@taytaystark7588]

Yeah I can see the point of not having too Homebrew rules the main homebrew thing I allow is homebrew playable races if they show it to me before hand and it doesn’t mess with the party or campaign

[@adrianlastname4354]

Super helpful as always

[@theDMLair]

Thanks! 😁

[@arcanavoresmanavault2637]

For my Session Zero i also explain all the variant and optional rules that will be applied to the game. D&D 5E has a ton of variant optional rules. As a DM its up to you to say ahead of time that you will be playing with things like, Action Options DMG page 271, Diagonals DMG page 252, Downtime Revisited XGE p123 , Facing DMG page 252, Falling XGE p77 , Feats PHB p165, Healing DMG 266, Madness DMG p258 , Mixing Potions DMG p140. These are Offical WotCC Optional/Variant Rules that may be utilized by the DM. A wise DM would parse through all of them select the ones he wants to use and inform that table, this is my rule set.

[@JohnSmith-ex8iw]

I am running a session 0 in 1 hour, so thank you for this.

[@theDMLair]

No problem. Happy to help! 😀

[@PsilocyephMagricriiMaster]

So, here's a zero point for you, >me bard of indertermended race, background consistency of a quest to rival grand epics I study, letter of in invitation to the tomb of horrors, family tradition of becoming a lich to serve as loremaster to our clan, character goals to learn everything they can and some day become a lich to preserve knowledge for future generation, chaotic good/chaotic neutral basis. Would you wanna include this in a campaign?

[@MegaCyberleader]

That is cute, you had a master. blaster combo friendship going in a game. A thing of beauti

[@TerryAVanguard]

The way I set up a game is I let them know my gming style. I dont try to change my style for my players. Like you said it can be miserable to run a game you dont want, and its a lot more work to run a game in a diffrent style. So if the players dont like that, then hey I guess I get to play and one of them can gm. Then I set up 1 or 2 major events in the world. Colonization, plague, cult awakening demon, demi god, lose of magic ect. And give them some detail. The players can build whatever back story they want as long as it dosent contradicts those major events. I get 3 goals from each 3 anti-goals( things they avoid like speaking to there father or studying for the exam) (6 npc) 3 friendly 3 not And a small background description. Want the dwarf who hates the city and vows to never go in stay with the rest of the part. His beloved puddin pop has gotten hurt and the only cure is in the city from the rangers friend. The ranger also swore that she'd never enter the city but wait her arch rival is entering into a contest and the prize will get her one step closer to owning her own farm. They can always gain new goals but Once they finish all their goals the character retires. Or if they befriend the party they can stay with them till each have achieved their goals and then the campaign ends. What about the plague or the demon? Ehe thats the rest of the worlds problem, maybe another group of adventures will deal with the after math.

[@EryxUK]

Until we started the Daggerheart play test my group has never done a session zero. After their character creation they were asking to do this from now on.

[@zaferoph]

11:04 was such a "Hehe.. I'd never ever do that, nope. Not ever. Not even once. And the Bard Dragonborn I have for the campaign on Tuesday does NOT have a full paragraph describing his appearance and no, I do NOT intend to write half a short novell for his backstory." Luckily (or sadly) Luke ain't my DM so yeey

[@VictorHC651]

In my session zero, I normally help the players with some world context(what they know about the world), solve their doubts and play a little piece of the players backstory to make them get along with their characters.

[@charles213]

9:23 opposite problem here. My players won’t make characters till the last minute

[@theDMLair]

Lol nice. But they make them right? 😂

[@alucardbunche4197]

If had a dollar for every time that happened I would have 3 dollars let’s just say we enjoy our session 0 now

[@altagos9265]

i think my most interesting campaign, which is still active was with a group of friends. it took place in my own setting, and there is a bunch of bonus rules meant to tune the game in ways which people enjoy, a lot having to do with making combat more in depth, things like mana, weapon swapping, consumables being common. most enemies they encounter? completely homebrewed or variations of things in game. and the big draw to it. is that every character had mild amnesia. none of them remembered there past, and most (except for one) only could remember their family. the one that couldn't missing family plays into the story. which is what all there pasts do! due to it being my old world I could work each one in to a place where they are excited to learn about there pasts. of course the one issue to this is that I can only run such a wild concept due to me being a game dev of sorts, and knowing how to balance all this. I'm a storyteller in nature and so i can also create all this story with little effort. and I have a lot of free time and a good number of years in experience which all adds up to the ability to do such a thing.

[@lilymercy]

my first session zero happened as an accident. Because of a communication error half the party showed up when the first session was technically cancelled. my dm doesn't really like session zeros. it was a happy accident because the half that showed up had never played before so our dm could help us fix what we inevitably screwed up from when he walked a group of about 10-15 newbies through character creation. we were making 4 groups out of a wider pool of people.

[@DragonGunzDorian]

is that a picture of tiamat in the background? pretty awesome looking.

[@chelsearae5286]

I hope you do another campaign in the future for patron hopefuls! The current one you have is full but I’d love to join in one day if there’s availability!

[@theDMLair]

Chelsea, I plan to open an Ancient Dragon Reserves tier soonish. That will allow folks to get on a waiting list for when openings happen. 😁

[@chelsearae5286]

Yay!!! ^_^

[@philosophicalninjagenericl3793]

My first game is Dragon Heist, so that's handy.

[@garykinney16]

I like to run a simulation encounter like a dream sequence where the players can try out their characters without the fear of dying. My last DM did this for a brand new player, and I just started DMing so I ran a forced computer simulation since the players are starting as prisoners. The players had fun trying to figure out what was happening and I got to run a few encounters to see what they could handle, which was good because the second simulation I had to end before a TPK. The first was too easy, the second way too hard and the third was just right.

[@theDMLair]

Sounds interesting. Is the simluation encounter part of the larger game?

[@garykinney16]

the DM Lair, I am running a homebrew. It takes place 5,000 years from a fictional version of our present and 2,500 years after humans disappeared from the Earth. Humans did create Elves and Orcs through genetic engineering before they were wiped out by a plague. Before they were wiped out, they did mate with the newly created races creating the half races. These races were not around us and our world long enough to care about what we left behind. They did use our buildings as shelter, but for the most part, our technology is gone. The players start as prisoners of a group of orcs. The orcs are working for “aliens” who were running the computer simulation to see what the characters were capable of. Spoilers.... The “aliens” are humans who escaped into space. They have spent so long in space that the radiation has effected their ability to reproduce. They want to try to mix their genes with the genes of other races, with the half races being the best candidates. The Earth has changed a lot in the 2,500 years since they left. Magic was not a thing back then. They are currently investigating what they are up against. End spoilers......... So the simulation was kind of a test. It did not have bearing on the campaign beyond a motivating set piece. Im sure being violated like they were will help drive the rest of the story.

[@goldtoothslair3052]

Oh yes session zero the most important one of all of them and adventurers League we somewhat have something like this but it's mainly just to make our character and come up with a backstory most of us don't come up with a backstory until we at least survive and get to level 2 then we come up with somewhat of a backstory but the reason why we do this is because some DMs at the tables just love the kill off their players as soon as they make it because it's like oh I don't like elves you're dead this is how I kind of ran gold tooth for a little I had somewhat of a backstory already all said that he came from a mountain that was ruled by a brass dragon he won a game against the brass dragon and was told to go out and prove him strength only after session one that I actually start putting more effort in time into his backstory to the point that now if I wanted to talk about it it would be like literally me reading a whole book and when I kind of like the DM actually does involve goldtooth backstory into the game a little like how goal to save his wife how he was able to find some of his egg brothers and sisters traveling the world as well things like that made me quite happy but I do know if I actually play a actual Dungeons & Dragons game where we all sit down not set by rules and time limits my story would actually be a lot smaller and a lot simpler. And also we ran into the problem where everybody was pretty much a front liner and I'm the only spellcaster in the group. So ya.

[@theDMLair]

Dang got some jerk DMs going on there it seems. Killing off PCs in 1st session just because they don't like elves or something. 😬

[@goldtoothslair3052]

@@theDMLair ya. It happens. My DM and me are not and we try to keep the game going and good.

[@goldtoothslair3052]

I will say another issue that I hate is when you're playing as the DM you are told by the people that run the shop and Wizards of the Coast that you got to keep the game going and if you don't keep it going you don't get your rewards so most DM's just kill off the problem player and just keep the game going I don't like to do this I kind of actually have my own system when I run my table now the DM's we are allowed to use the guards if players are just doing things that we don't like the only time I use the guards is one of the players decide that they want to try derailing the game so badly to the point that it's not even D&D anymore I'm kind of forced in my hand to do this but I don't send the guards to kill my players I send them to scare them not only that I give good reasons why the guards were sent instead of just saying oh they're like Gars from Oblivion where you can go in attack an old lady out in the middle of nowhere and then somehow every single guard of the whole tire world knows you did something and I tried to knock them on conscience so I can throw them in jail and then once they're in jail they have two options spend their sentence in jail or pay the fine. This is how I run my table and it prevents deaths keep the game going and everybody's gets to still enjoy their characters and I will say I'm more lenient on the rules of Wizard of the coast because I understand that a lot of people that come to these games or hoping to be able to make friends and actually enjoy this game that they only heard of through KZbin's and peoples on post and reddits so I tried to make the game enjoyable as I can while also still following most of the rules of Wizard of the coast. It's a reason why my table and c my DM table are one of the more popular tables and actually have decent level players at them as well.

[@simplyvince1744]

One of my players for the campaign I'm about to start dm ing already made her character. The thing is I wanted to talk about have we were doing stats during session zero and she already did hers with point buy (I wouldn't have had an issue if she had just an idea for race/class/some background, but she has a full character and didn't ask if that was how I wanted to make characters). I didn't tell anybody what I wanted in the way of that so that's my fault, but also she didn't ask me before making a fairly overpowered character (several +3/4 stats already) and we haven't had session 0 yet. Also I think she made a level 3 character to start and that's another thing that should at least be asked about first. I don't know. It's a game for friends since we had all been players in a campaign together (then the DM broke up with one of our other friends who was playing too so that's not continuing). So I guess it makes sense to assume the same rules apply but I'm also a different DM... I'm just sort of mildly annoyed but I guess I can talk to her about it during session 0 (tomorrow night).

[@theDMLair]

Yeah you have to talk to her. Tell her that you know she already made her character but there are certain rules for character creation that you want to be followed. And then you tell her what those rules are and then she changes her character as needed. I think it's really that simple. I don't know why that would cause a problem at all. And if he does raise a stink about it that's concerning in and of itself in my opinion.

[@haveswordwilltravel]

Since I only get to play any rpg’s about once every six weeks, I don’t often get the opportunity to plan a campaign, which is why I use Forgotten Realms, the setting is so well established that everyone fan just look stuff up online, or in Sword coast Adventurer’s Guide of they want to know about the world. I run Rules As Written so we are all on the same page, and classes, archetypes, spells and other player character options only from WOTC published books. If players insist on creating characters in advance, then they get standard 27 point buy so they aren’t walking into the game with three 18’s, two 16’s, a 15 and a 12 (...”I rolled it fair and square”). I would love to have a session zero, there just isn’t enough game days in my life.

[@theDMLair]

I use FR, too. Been using it since high school. :D

[@haveswordwilltravel]

Forgotten Realms has it all.

[@robertevans3173]

I like you videos that are game edition natural. But I also understand why you have the 5e stuff. It would be nice to have pick your brain about how some of these would fit in 3.5 stuff that I run. Anyway, cheers! Thanks for the info.

[@typofrick]

If your players are too excited to wait, and you can’t call with all of them at the same time, call with them all in a span of a week and let them text all of the results in a group chat. It works as a backup if all meeting up isn’t really a possibility.

[@Isheian]

My current Dm needs this video. We’ve started three games with him and he never says anything.

[@theDMLair]

Sharing is caring. LOL

[@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs]

Regarding Homebrew Rules which came up later in the video, There is one rule i am adamant about. I removed darkvison for anything, unless it has sunlight sensitivity or is designed to live underground. This makes certain player races less desirable, and also brings torches and candles back into the set of important items.

[@IcyNova115]

what about specific abilities from classes like the Shadow Sorcerer or Gloomstalker? Do you replace that ability with anything or is it just gone? Or Devil's Sight?

[@Stopcontactgamesenvlogs]

@@IcyNova115 Good point, i didn't claeify that. Regarding those specific abilities, I allow these as well, with their 5e description as is.

[@erc1971erc1971]

I have had players show up to session zero with characters already made. But, we have 1 player in our group that is always like "I need time to come up with a concept." Then despite constant prodding, gets his character made 30 minutes before we start playing. ARG!

[@mariavivian4703]

We are currently doing the waterdeep campaign and at the start of it, the dm gave only one of us the rules, BUT it was because he was a half-orc and looked like he was going to break the rules. That backfired because my character is a teifling merchant that sells fakes

[@Callsign_Voodoo]

Question about running an online game. What sites, apps, and such are best to use? A few friends and I are just getting into D&D and we would like to include friends that have moved away that are also interestes. Thanks in advance!

[@parkerandrecreation]

Can we get a video on dealing with player DMs? The kind of players that try to tell other players better ways to do their movements/actions on their turn and condescendingly explain rules, even if the other player knows them.

[@theDMLair]

So a video on how to drag them out into the parking lot?