The Greenhorn's Guide to... Session Zero

So, usually Greenhorn’s Guides are for brand new players. But for this article, it might be long time players of Dungeons & Dragons that have the most questions. This is because the term Session Zero, and what it contains, is a relatively new creation. Prior to 5th edition, most of what is discussed here either wasn’t covered all, or it was sprinkled in during the player’s first session.

In simple terms, Session Zero determines what house rules will be in affect for an adventure, as well as what is considered acceptable and ethical at the table. I will be providing a list of Session Zero topics here that is a modified version of what HazeZero has posted on Reddit. Feel free to check out his version here. Now on with the topics!

Experience

Earning EXP - Do you give out XP per kill, per encounter, or when the player’s hit a certain milestone?

Level-up - Does leveling happen in an instant? Does it take a rest of some kind? Can it only happen between adventures or when your at a certain location?

Player, Behavior, Game Behavior & DM Expectations

Alcohol - Is drinking allowed during the game? Is there a limit in place to prevent drunken shenanigans?

Cellphones & Digital Devices - Can people use them during the game? Can they take them out of their pocket? Are they kept in a basket away from the gaming table?

Disruptive topics - do you allow out-of-character conversations? Do you ban topics such as religion and politics? Are any specific topics not allowed?

Unannounced dice rolls - Can people roll out of the blue and then announce what the roll was for? Or does the DM have to say “roll for x” before you can officially touch the dice?

Dice rolls against one another - Can party members use dice rolls to influence their fellow party members? Can the rogue make a charisma roll to convince the fighter to follow a certain course of action?

Player Vs Player - How do you handle player arguments? Can their characters fight in game? Can players kill one another? Steal from one another?

Player Expectations, Types, Goals & Diversity - What are your player’s goals for the game? Are some there for roleplaying, some for combat, and some for loot? Can all these needs be met in a single game? Do player’s need to be made aware of each person’s goals? What will you do if one player is opposed to another’s style of play?

Player Discomfort - While players should have an understanding of what they will encounter on an adventure, what happens when they are still uncomfortable? How do they call for a break in the action or alert you to their discomfort? Is there a verbal signal they can use, or a card they can display?

Player Agency - When do your players lose control of their character? What events can cause them to become an NPC? How do player’s continue in the game when major events affect their agency?

Game Balance & Fairness - As a DM, do you tailor every encounter to your player’s level? Of are they allowed to wander off into encounters that will quickly get them killed?

Rules Debates - How do you officially handle rule debates? Can players look up and argue a rule, or does the DM have a quick and final say on everything that occurs?

Meta-knowledge - How often can players use “out-of-character” knowledge while playing? If a player knows a certain kind of monster is immune to a particular damage type, does their character automatically know that too? Can table talk influence player decisions, even when that conversation can’t occur in-game?

MinMaxing - How much can your players optimize their use of the rules? Are certain known rule combinations banned? Are players given a list of disallowed minmaxing techniques up front?

Murder Hobos - Can players kill everyone and anyone they encounter? Are there rules about harming innocent NPC’s? Do you have a system that brings law-breaking characters to justice?

The DM

DM Style - What is your DM style? Are you a planner or an improviser? Do you play purely by RAW (Rules As Written), or do you lean RAI (Rules As Intended)? Do you allow homebrew, and what are the rules that govern its use?

Player Absences - What happens when a player is absent for a session? Does another player step in? is the character controlled by the DM? Is the character simply not in that session?

Ethic Concerns & Topics

Gender - Does gender affect your adventure? Does your game world have expected gender roles or norms? Do your players consider this a comfortable topic?

Attraction & Sexual Orientation - Does your game allow the roleplaying of attraction, sexual orientation, and sex in general? Are there governments or religious organizations in your game world that have a specific stance on these issues? Are your players comfortable roleplaying these aspects of the topic?

Rape, Sexual Assault - Can these topics be part of your player’s backstory? Can these topics occur in game, but not be roleplayed? Are your players comfortable with this topic in any capacity?

Racism, Prejudice - How do these topics occur in your game world? Do any of your fantasy races act in a particular way to other races? Is skin color a something that can affect how people treat one another? Are your players comfortable with this topic?

Slavery - How common is slavery in your game world, or does it exist at all? Is slavery based on race or skin color? Is it condoned by any government, culture, or religion? Are your players comfortable with this topic?

Character Creation

Creation Stats - Are you using standard array, point buy, or hand rolled stats? Do they have to be rolled in thee presence of a DM?

Alignment - How does player alignment impact your game? Are player actions bound to their alignment? Does their alignment change based on their actions? Are there repercussions to a player changing their alignment?

Stat rulings - Do stats limit what a player can do in-game? Does a low intelligence affect what a player can devise in-game? Does size or age impact ability scores?

Races & Classes

Races Allowed/Disallowed - Are any races banned at your table? Do any of them lose an ability, such as flying? Are homebrewed races allowed, and do they need to be vetted?

Classes Allowed - Are any classes banned at your table? Do you allow multiclassing? Are any multiclassing combinations not allowed?

Tweaking/Reflavoring Classes - Can classes be re-flavored? Does re-flavoring a class require approval, even if it does not affect the rules?

Game-style, Character Lifestyle

Campaign Length - How long do you intend the current campaign to last?

In-game politics & factions - Are specific factions or groups in your game world? Do the characters belong to any of these groups?

Start/Standing -What level are your players starting at? Do they have a particular standing with any government, religion, organization, or person?

Backgrounds, Feats & Mounts

Backgrounds - Can players use the custom background option to make their own? Does a background’s income impact their characters?

Feats - Is the use of feats allowed? Are any feat combinations banned at your table? Do you allow feat selection during character creation, beyond what is offered with Variant Human?

Mounts - How are mounts used in your game? Are they allowed in combat? Can they attack creatures? Do you allow exotic mounts?

General Mechanic Rules

Repeated Party Rolls -Does the party ever roll as a group? Do they make separate rolls, or are they in some ways grouped together? Do automatic successes start to occur when the players have a long period of time to accomplish their goals?

Downtime/Crafting - What occurs during player downtime? Is crafting allowed, and does it occur using standard rules? Can player’s own businesses?

Inspiration

Gaining/Tracking/Using Inspiration - Does your game use inspiration? Do players earn it in a specific way? Is it tracked on your character sheet or with a special token? Is there a limit to how much a single character can posses? Does the DM need to approve the use of inspiration? Can you spend more than one use of inspiration to get some form of super inspiration? Is inspiration used before or after the player sees the result of their roll?

Crits

Critical Hits - Do you use the standard rules for crits, or do you have a custom method?

Critical Fumbles - Can you critically fumble? How does it occur and what are the repercussions?

Critical Success - Does a natural 20 have any benefit beyond combat damage?

NPCs/Creatures

Group Inits - Do you group the initiatives for players or creatures? Or does everyone have individual initiatives? Does surprise effect when initiative is rolled?

Vendors - What items do vendors offer? Is there any limit to what stores can offer? Do they sell things for the book listed price, or is there a markup? Do they have magical items for sale? Of a particular rarity?

Magic Items

Attunement/Identify - Does a magic item need to be identified before it can be attuned? Or does attunement automatically identify it? If you use an unidentified magic item, can you eventually figure out what the item does?

Magic Resize - Do magical items automatically size themselves to fit the wearer? Do they only resize when they are identified or attuned? Can you get a magical item resized by a quest or vendor?

Spells & Spell Effects

Spells and Environments - Do spell effects function properly when underwater or in different planes? Can they cause damage to the surrounding area if they miss their target or have a large area of effect?

Spell Abuse - If a player finds an exploit or loophole with a particular spell or repeated casting of a spell, how is it handled? Do you have a blanket policy, or is it handled on a case by case basis?

Spell Casting & Juggling - How carefully do players have to track what they are holding? Do they need to use actions to move around spell components, spell books, or focus items? Or can they swap their help items at will?

Material Components - Do you require your spell casters to track their component use beyond just carrying them on their person? Do players need to have specialty components on hand to cast spells that require them, or is their cost simply deducted from the player’s gold on hand?

Death, Resurrection, Resting

Death - Does being defeated in combat always result in death? Do players always have a chance to be healed after combat before they die? If the entire party is killed does the adventure end, or does fate intervene? Do players have to create new characters? Does time pass before the next set of adventurers continue the quest?

Resurrection -How common is resurrection in your setting? Can you purchase scrolls to accomplish it? Does every temple offer it? What is the cost? Are their side effects to it’s use?

Resting Rules - Do you have a rule defining how many short rests can occur in a day? Does a lack of long rests cause exhaustion? Do all long rests begin with a short rest?

So there you have it. A billion questions you can ask and answer while creating/approving characters during Session Zero. Obviously, you do not have to cover each of these topics, you may pick and choose which ones apply to your current group. You can also decide to not state a rule during Session Zero, and instead address it when it is about to impact your game (so for example, you could choose to not explain the crafting rules at your table until someone announces they wish to craft).

I wish you the best of luck as you carry out your Session Zero and begin your adventure, but until then,

Happy roleplaying, and may the dice be ever in your favor.

Pathfinder RPG party commission

By Skiorh

https://www.deviantart.com/skiorh/art/Pathfinder-RPG-party-commission-526860638