Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 48 - Less Comprehensive Session 0 Guide for PCs

Episode Date: November 22, 2020

Let's flip the screen.  What should players do to get ready for Session 0 and how can they help make the session a success?  I'm glad you asked, voice in my head.  Here are some tips!

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Taking 20, Episode 48, the Comprehensive Session Zero Guide for Players. This week's sponsor is Back to the Fuchsia Florists. Allow us to manage your flower boxes. In my last episode, I focused on Episode 0s from the DM's perspective. Now it's time to focus on what players can do to make Session 0 a success. As a reminder, what is a Session 0? It's an RPG meeting purely for planning purposes. The DM and the players decide the basics of the campaign. The group sets expectations about player

and character behavior. The DM gives the setting, house rules, and how to create characters. Players. Good news is that you have relatively little to do to prepare for a Session Zero, but you don't just get to lay in a field and get fed by ravens. Session Zeros go a lot smoother if you do a little bit of work to get ready for them and actively participate when they happen. So let's not beat around the bush. Here are four things that you can do to get ready for a Session Zero when they happen. So let's not beat around the bush. Here are four

things that you can do to get ready for a session zero before they happen. One, decide what type of game you'd like to play. RPG games, no matter the game system, can come in a variety of different types of games. A traditional dungeon crawl, chase down a bad guy, avert a disaster, save the family, village, town, world, chosen one, an escort quest, escape from prison or some other situation, explore an area, investigate a plot, the list could go on and on. Do some research about the types of adventures there are and bring some ideas about the types that you'd like to be in. DMs can adjust adventures on the fly to add different types of adventures into the mix, but we don't know what to adjust unless we know

what you want. So bring those opinions there. Second thing you can do to get ready for a session zero, get a good start on making a character. I'm not saying you should have a complete character sheet ready to go and filled out, but have an ancestry and class picked, an elf ranger, a dwarf cleric, a cyborg operative. Just those two things will help you determine how the character fits into the narrative and will give other players ideas about combinations they can play to build out a diverse adventuring party. But suppose you're new or don't have time, what can you do? If you don't know exactly what ancestry and class that you want to play, at least have an idea about how you want them to behave in combat. In other words, your combat role. Are they a tank frontline fighter or do they fight from the back and deal damage? Are they a

healer or buffer? Do you want them to do lots of magical damage? Are they a controller or debuffer? How do you want your character to behave when not in combat? Do you want them to be the face of the party so they have lots of interactions with NPCs? Do you want to be the perception girl who notices traps and clues before anyone else? Do you want to be the party scout out in front finding bad guys, giving your group the best chance to get the jump on the creatures before they get the jump on you? Once you have that detail, maybe have a concept of your character's background. Not fully fleshed out, but maybe just one sentence or phrase. She's the daughter of a noble house. He's a widower who's going on one last adventure before joining his wife in the afterlife. It's a starship engineer who's recovering drug addict and having

trouble finding a job. Maybe a young man or woman fleeing a war-torn area. You're trying to earn the love of your dream girl or dream guy. You're looking for your runaway half-drow brother. You're out for revenge against someone. The overdone, I'm an orphan, or whatever it is. Just have a rough idea. Present the backstory to your DM and work with him or her to incorporate it into his world. Maybe even combine your backstory with another character's backstory for even more variety. But be flexible and willing to let others have their way. No whining and crying, but I'm willing to be your friend. You're part of a team.

Be willing to say your preference, but give others their way should conflict arise. Third thing you can do to get prepared. Have a couple of loose ideas for backup characters. Nowhere near as fleshed out as your main character unless you like making characters. I love making characters and I do it all the time. I have probably 20 characters in a Google Doc at any given time. Opening mine up, I've got a dwarven gunslinger who's searching for the lost secrets of advanced manufacturing in the deep places of the world. I've got a dro-paladin who is forced to dedicate their soul to Lolth as a preteen, but now

trying to redeem herself through her own actions. An ex-druid who has embraced the urban lifestyle and embraced the concept of advancing technology. A gnome barbarian who is ostracized for being too stupid and can only express emotions through rage. Fourth thing you can do to get prepared. If you are introverted, prepare yourself to contribute to the discussions even if it makes you feel uncomfortable. Your DM and fellow players will be putting their own discussions on the table. If you have a suggestion, please bring it forward. If you don't like a suggestion, please politely say so. I see where you're coming from, but I'm concerned that'll make gunslingers overpowered.

We love feedback like that. We want feedback like that. Bring it forward. Formulate some general ideas about the way you'd like the campaign to go and what you'd like to do and who you'd like to be. That's really what S zero preparation involves. But what about when session zero starts? What do you do during the session? Well, number one, most importantly, listen to understand and then talk to be understood. Don't just sit there taking up a chair. Speak your mind. This is your opportunity to contribute. Make sure you understand before chiming in. I mean, I've never played Warhammer 40k, so if I'm ever invited to play, I'm probably not going to talk about the game balance in Session Zero.

But I will have a character idea in mind. Ask questions. Participate in the discussions. Make your opinion heard and listen to the opinions of others. Things that you can bring forward, just as an example. Things from other campaigns that you liked. New ideas that might be neat to try. They might get turned down by the DM in the group, things that you can bring forward just as an example, things from other campaigns that you liked, new ideas that might be neat to try. They might get turned down by the DM in the group,

but more ideas, always better. Campaigns are long commitments. Make sure you can be happy in the game as it's being run. Second thing you can do during session zero, buy into the story that's beginning to be crafted. Support the story and your fellow players. If it's a roleplay-heavy campaign, try to stay in character as much as the group wants to. Contribute to the narrative wherever possible. Third thing you can do during session zero,

help your DM and fellow players by taking good notes. I'd rather three people take notes than no one. The GM is going to be furiously making notes about suggestions and changes and the like, and having a player take notes reduces the chance that something would be missed. Fourth thing you can do during session zero, be willing to change your character and backstory to incorporate your character into the DM's world. You may want to be a cleric from a remote jungle outpost that was overrun by kobolds, but there may not be a good jungle outpost for the DM to use. What if she suggests a nearby desert outpost that was overrun by, I don't know, antlions? Go with it. It's a minor change, but it makes it fit the narrative in the DM's mind and you can still play the type of character you want. Five, provide feedback to the DM about house rules he or she proposes, what you like, and any concerns that you have.

Once house rules are agreed upon, write them down and be ready to follow them in the campaign. Sixth thing you can do during session zero, commit to complying with table etiquette. Follow the agreed upon rules. Focus on the game, not on your phone. Don't step all over your fellow players. Allow each player to have their moment. A happy table is a happy game. By the way, you could kind of lump that into a general rule of don't be an asshole. Seven, commit to complying with host rules, not house rules. Gaming hosts may have rules for their house that you don't have.

No shoes on in the house, only smoke on the back porch, no food outside the kitchen, we don't allow meats in this house. The answer should be, yes sir or yes ma'am, and comply with these rules. Listen, anyone who hosts a gaming session, whenever we can get back to that, they're letting a bunch of us invade their home for extended periods of time. Two hours, three hours, five hours, whatever the length of your gaming group sessions. The least we can do is follow the rules of their household. Even if the rules of their house are different, even if you think they're stupid. I grew up poor. I mean, really poor. Mom worked three jobs, kind of poor. Our house was not that big, but no matter how small our house was, there was one room

where we weren't allowed to play in. Jeremy, that room is for visitors, I'd hear my mom say. Even nine-year-old me was going, what the crap? That makes no sense. That's stupid. We have a tiny house. So I played in that room one day with a little miniature football game where you put the players on the little metal field and you turned it on and it vibrated the metal board and it made all the players kind of move around. You could simulate a little football game that way. Yes, I'm old. Shut the hell up.

I put everything away before mom got home and I was sure I'd gotten away with it. She came home and saw my footprints and the marks left by the vacuum and I got one heck of a spanking. I also never played in that room anymore. Point being of that long rambling story is that different people have different rules for their house. the vacuum and I got one heck of a spanking. I also never played in that room anymore. Point being of that long rambling story is that different people have different rules for their house.

Abide by them when you're there as a guest. The eighth thing you can do during a session zero is follow the rules of the game and be transparent. In short, don't lie or cheat your fellow players or the DM. Even if it's what my character would do, know you're just being an asshole. If the host or DM requires something or has a rule, please do your best to follow it. Basically, work with your teammates is what it boils down to, or in other words, don't be an asshole. Ninth thing that you can do during a session zero, commit to respecting player and GM boundaries. If you listened to the previous episode, I reminded GMs they need to make sure players are allowed to object to any content they find uncomfortable or problematic. If you have any issues with certain types of content, whether that's sexual assault, violence towards children and pets, whatever it is, speak up.

You can always mention it later, but bringing it up now in session zero hopefully prevents it from coming up at all, no matter what it is, racism, homophobia, etc. Bring it up, announce it to the table, and do not apologize for the things that make you feel uncomfortable. If they're good people, they're not going to make fun of you. Others should bring up their issues and lines they don't want to cross as well. Others should bring up their issues and lines they don't want to cross as well. This is a game and we want everyone to have a good time, so declare your boundaries and respect the boundaries set by others. If someone says they don't want any cats mentioned at all,

now is not the time to say, Oh, why? What's your deal with cats? Cats are awesome. No. There's a reason this person is mentioning a problem with cats. Respect it and move on. It boils down to fears and phobias a lot of times aren't rational, so don't ask them to explain it. Except heights. Fuck heights. That's a rational fear and you can't convince me otherwise. Tenth and last thing you can do during session zero. Work with everyone to commit to a schedule. This one's in two parts and it's harder. Different groups will ensure player availability different ways. Calendars, spreadsheets, polls, emails, discord messages.

First of all, put your availability out there and keep it updated. Don't be what we call the long pole in the tent that holds everything up. Secondly, make an attempt to attend every session that you commit to attending. It doesn't mean that you have to attend every session, but it would be nice. Hopefully this episode helped prepare you for the fun of a Session Zero. Show up on time, communicate your needs and your limits, pledge to support the other players, characters, and Dungeon Master. You're embarking on a new adventure with new characters, new secrets, and new challenges that await around every corner.

There will be excitement, suffering, victory, death, and new challenges that await around every corner. There'll be excitement, suffering, victory, death, and so much more. Set the table for the fun to be had by all of the players and your hard-working GMs, and then get ready for Session 1. Thank you so much for listening to Taking 20, Episode 48, Comprehensive Session Zero Guide for Players. Less content here than in the previous episode, obviously, because players don't have as much to do, and it mostly revolves around good communication and respecting the boundaries of others. Have a comment? Have a show suggestion idea? Send it to feedback at taking20podcast.com. That's taking the number 20podcast.com. I would love to hear from you.

Once again, I want to thank our sponsor, Back to the Fuchsia Florists. When this garden hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game.