Session 0

Session Zero Checklist
Scheduling and Table Rules & Expectations
Setting Expectations What’s one thing you love about tabletop RPGs? This could be a favourite moment from a previous campaign, a reason they’re excited to play (strategy, story, social interaction), or anything else. Are you most excited by combat, exploration, puzzles, or roleplay? As a player, what’s one strength you bring to the group? If someone can’t think of their own strengths, let others share a strength they see in that player.
Scheduling – First and Third Thursday of every month Let’s pick a date and a timetable now and stick to it. Can someone volunteer to keep the schedule and stick to it, please? It’s okay to miss sessions but they will go ahead unless less than 3 players will be present. The first session will be a longer Saturday session to set up my world and your story - Drinking encouraged.
Table Expectations Food, drinking, and smoking are all okay in my campaign. I will ask that you please not spend time on your phone other than using your character sheet. This is a game of shared storytelling and just because it’s not your “turn” doesn’t mean you don’t have an opportunity to contribute or that the events don’t affect your character. I’m a pretty rules-heavy player BUT as a DM I’ll endeavour to be flexible where I think it is fair and fun. My view on the rules are that the When can a situation be taken back, or retconned? How would you feel about a Chrono-break type situation of completely redoing a session if something went terribly wrong? Is player-vs-player action okay with your group? As a player, my preference is no but I want to hear from you. What is the “rating” of your typical game: PG, PG-13, R? This leads into the below...
Blacklisted Topics and Safety Tools Link to topic black list anonymous survey. I won't share this with anyone and won't know who wrote what. Please don't feel like you have to list anything and more importantly please don't feel like you're taking away anything at all by putting in something. Hard Blacklist for me sexual assault, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and child abuse. If something ever becomes uncomfortable or skirts the line too much, either text me privately or simply get my attention and raise your hand, and ill skip or stop whatever is happening.
GM Promise to the Table & my expectations As a GM, I’m in a position of service. I’m here to facilitate your story, I’m not here to boss you around or tell you just what you can or can’t do. I’m here as a genie who wants to grant your wish. This is a game built as much for me as it is for you. I’m playing alongside you and my enjoyment of the game is as important as yours. Good DnD is like good sex – communication is key. This is collaborative storytelling, and the best players ask the best questions. What is the weather like? Is there a chandelier that I can swing from while I crossbow this fucker in the face? Does this man’s sweat smell like fear? Is this a part of history that I would remember? As a player you have narrative authority; If you want to come up with a new god, if you want voices in your head, if you want to interact with something in a room that would reasonably be in there, just do it and I’ll almost always run with it. I want to work with you to make your story as interesting and as cool as possible, but I have a lot to keep track of and it’s your job as much as mine to create a game that everyone is excited to come to. Respect my time. I’m going to be very ambitious with this campaign, I will spend hours preparing and getting ready to make this as fun as possible. If you’re never able to make it to the scheduled sessions it might make sense for you to remove yourself from the game and give your seat to someone else who wants to play.
DnD Pet Peeves While it can happen, especially in exploration I really prefer not to split the part if at all possible. It makes it hard for me as the GM to keep track and it means some players are just sidelined for a while. You absolutely can do it but know that there are dangers and I won’t pull my punches if you wander off to a dangerous area alone. Watching videos at the table – I won’t put up with this, it really sucks to work on something and have people ignore me or other players and ill ask you to leave the table. Lone wolf or uncooperative players and unnecessary in-player fighting. This is collaborative storytelling and you don’t always need to agree but at the end of the day, you do need to play together. To play you have to read part 2 and part 3 of the basic rulebook before our first session - a shortened version of the rules.
House Rules The DM has the final say on all table and in-game disputes. I'll be looking to experiment with a hybrid exp/ milestone system. Level ups will be based in story moments BUT they will not be scripted. By this I intend to give partial control of the leveling system back to you, you can go after the bbeg now or you can side quest to level up... The consequence is that time passes. Rule of 4 if less than 4 people can make a session it will be cancelled. Potions can be used as a bonus action – Action to pour. Short rests are up to DM discretion and can be anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour. The Catnap spell takes 5 minutes now. Everyone rolls for HP at level up - You get the full amount on the hit die at LVL 1. Beyond that when you roll for HP you can’t roll 1s but must keep any other number. If you are rolling a D10 or D12 you can't roll below a 2. A counterspell-counterspell will prock a wild magic table roll. So be careful! All weapons will have a special (low-powered) ability to differentiate and add flavour to different weaponry. I’ll add this to your DnD Beyond character sheet as we play. Not all of the same types of weapons are alike. Any character with 14 strengths or more is automatically proficient in athletics and can choose to get expertise if they have proficiency from elsewhere. Players will recap the last sessions and whoever does gets inspiration for the day. The hosts also gain inspiration. It’s almost always possible for you to change something about your character that you don’t like. Talk to me and we can change them in or out of the game world. Try to not get too munted while playing. When drunk in game roll all charisma checks with disadvantage, but your character acts as though they got the higher roll
Class Specific Changes
Game Rule Clarifications We will not be using the optional flanking rule – no advantage, only +2 Material components that don't have a gold value attached (such as a diamond of a certain value) can be used without explicitly buying them if you have a component pouch but materials with gold values do need to be bought (only consumed if the spell says so) There are 3 lighting conditions Bright Light (No penalty) Dim Light (disadvantage) Darkness (considered blinded/auto fail) Dark vision moves you 1 step up from the darkest lighting level A Drow stalking through a dimly lit cavern (Dim Light) has a disadvantage on perception to see. A Human with no dark vision and a tiefling with darkvision walk through a dark forest at night - The human automatically fails the check to see and the tiefling has disadvantage (up to the length of vision for their dark vision) Other senses that you can use perception for are not affected (hear, taste, smell) A ranged attack or ranged spell attack is affected by the cover rules. Half cover - +2 AC and Dex Saves The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend. Three-quarters cover - +5 AC and Dex Saves The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk. Total cover - Target can't be targeted directly by an attack or spell. Readying an action State the action you’re readying (attack, dodge, dash, etc.) Note you can't have your "Extra Attack" as a readied action if you choose to attack Specify the trigger that will cause you to do that Accept the fact that you will do nothing this round if that trigger doesn’t happen. In addition, actually following through with that readied action costs you your reaction. Readying an action to cast a spell When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell’s magic requires concentration. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect and the spell slot is lost. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be broken and the spell slot lost. Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter. If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't.
Game Rules and GM Style
Running the game – What type of game do we want to play? Think about it in terms of movies, what are the genres you enjoy? High Fantasy – Forgotten Realms | Exandria | LOTR | Shrek Low Fantasy – Game of Thrones | Witcher Fantasy Sci-Fi – Spelljammer | Eberon | Warhammer Cyberpunk/Chempunk – Cyberpunk 2077 | Arcane Thriller/Horror – Ravenloft | Call of Cthulhu Modern Day – Dimension 20 | Superhero | Stranger Things How long do we want this campaign to run for? Let’s lock in a campaign right now and build characters from that.
Character Creation! – Fucking FINALLY it's time to get into the good stuff!!
Building our characters together I’m going to read the setup to the campaign that I am writing for you so we can build with context. Let’s work through the character creation checklist I have built.
Create a character who wants to go on the adventure with all of the other characters.
Resources Reddit Checklist – Really good for game mechanics Blacklist Topics Character Creation CheckList Session 0 Checklist Reflavor Characters