Not Just For Beginnings: How Session Zero Can Serve As An Ongoing Tool In Your D&D Games (And Other RPGs)

One of the most talked about pieces of advice for DMs in the modern day is the implementation of what is referred to as Session Zero.

Mike Shea at Sly Flourish describes Session Zero as:

A game session run before a larger campaign in which you and your players talk about the upcoming campaign before you actually run it. Session zeros are intended to get you and your players all on the same page about the game you plan to play, and the campaign you plan to experience. Some DMs go in with little prepared, maybe not even knowing what campaign the group will play. Others, like me, have a good idea what campaign we’ll be playing and want to baseline the principals and story of the game with the players. Session zeros help everyone manage their expectations about what the game is and what it is not. It helps tie the characters to one another, to the world in which they exist, and to the main story of the campaign. It helps everyone understand what kind of game you’ll be playing and helps define the boundaries of that game.

As we have discussed on the podcast, we are firmly behind the use of Session Zero, in whatever fashion you implement it, as an integral part of running a successful game that is fun for both you and your players.

I was recently reminded of the old Zen story that helps to reinforce the importance of Session Zero, but also reframes this tool into a state of mind that can help you constantly gauge and improve upon the gaming experience.

Empty Your Cup

Once upon a time, there was a wise Zen master. People traveled from far away to seek his help. In return, he would teach them and show them the way to enlightenment.

On this particular day, a scholar came to visit the master for advice. “I have come to ask you to teach me about Zen,” the scholar said.

Soon, it became obvious that the scholar was full of his own opinions and knowledge. He interrupted the master repeatedly with his own stories and failed to listen to what the master had to say. The master calmly suggested that they should have tea.

So the master poured his guest a cup. The cup was filled, yet he kept pouring until the cup overflowed onto the table, onto the floor, and finally onto the scholar’s robes. The scholar cried “Stop! The cup is full already. Can’t you see?”

“Exactly,” the Zen master replied with a smile. “You are like this cup — so full of ideas that nothing more will fit in. Come back to me with an empty cup.”

This story illustrates the importance of “beginner mind.” This is an important concept, especially for DMs, as games can easily become stale and unfun if we don’t respond to the group that’s playing and just rely on what we’ve always done. “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s, there are few.”

Pitching the Campaign

I have been discussing the all-girl group that I have been running through Rime of the Frostmaiden. This group is mostly players completely brand new to TTRPGs of any kind, and some who were even new to fantasy in general (I am still surprised by people who have not seen Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy!)

As I do with most of my campaigns, I pitched several basic ideas that I would like to run and that the players would be interested in playing. Out of this group of three to four settings, they voted on Rime of the Frostmaiden.

The campaign up to this point has been incredibly fun and rewarding, especially as I started to see some of the players (not all) begin to understand what D&D can be – we’ve all had that ah-ha moment. Even with the eternal night and dark content contained in the adventure (like human sacrifice!) the players were really becoming invested in the adventure.

As it is with so many groups, I quickly began to tease out the players who were very invested and the more casual ones. It was at this point that I started to think about what I would have done differently with this group in terms of campaign setting and the like that would have fit their play style more.

Session Zero As Beginner Mind

Having figured out the core group, I broached the subject of “putting a pin” in the Frostmaiden campaign and starting something new with the players who were more invested. Something that would reflect more of their play style and the types of characters that they were drawn to.

With this, I decided to experiment with a completely new type of Session Zero that I had been brainstorming. I had recently been playing the game Call to Adventure. The game is “a tabletop game in which players compete to craft the hero with the greatest destiny. Play cards to build your character, cast runes to face challenges, and choose whether to follow a path of heroism or villainy.” I thought it would work perfectly as a backstory creator and it absolutely did.

The players were all incredibly excited at the prospect of building new characters, but also building the campaign that we would be playing in, as the game would help to bring that into focus. I decided that I would also see if I could craft the main villain of the story through the game as well.

As the game progressed, I saw the types of characters that they were thinking of creating and began to formulate the type of adventures that would showcase that – which turned out to be much more high fantasy than survival horror, to no one’s surprise!

Final Thoughts

No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.

Turkish Proverb

Does what you’re currently running still feel fresh and fun? Are your players as invested in it as they were in the beginning? Does something feel missing? Are you burning out?

Beginning to look at what Session Zero does for us at the start of a campaign can assist us in gauging what is happening in an ongoing campaign. As the quote above says, you can always start again. That doesn’t mean that you have to completely end your current game, but it also doesn’t mean that you can’t broach that subject with your group. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned by playing and running multiple games is that communication, like in any relationship, is critical.

As Sly Flourish said, “It helps tie the characters to one another, to the world in which they exist, and to the main story of the campaign. It helps everyone understand what kind of game you’ll be playing and helps define the boundaries of that game.”

If that doesn’t seem to be happening anymore, it’s not a failure to try something new or even return to the drawing board. After all, this is a game – so if you or your players aren’t having fun, why are you doing it?

Until next time, Heroes… LIVE THE ADVENTURE!