Session Zero

My Micro Manifesto:

This is a game, and we’re here playing it together.

 

This is a game.

The goal of a game is to have fun. We’ve gathered here (in person or online) to roll some dice with friends. We can play whatever characters we want, but we should work together to help each other have fun.

I’m the gamemaster. My task is to communicate a world to you. I portray the characters you’ll meet and environments you’ll visit during the game, and I have a few plot hooks and secrets for you to find. I try to make my contributions juicy and clever but they’re not the only options on the table. We’re playing this together, so you should feel free to suggest ideas too. We’ll do our best to make them as awesome as possible.

You’re one of the players. You explore the world by asking questions and making decisions based on the answers you find. You play a character, whom you build under a common theme alongside your fellow players. You’re limited only by your imagination and the decisions you make as a group.

 

We’re playing together.

We take turns telling a story that can be long and continuous or discrete tales (or a mix!). Generally, this follows a familiar format:

1. The Gamemaster will present the environment (a ruined castle, a board meeting, etc.)
2. You describe how your character interacts with it
3. We’ll roll dice to introduce a layer of chance and risk in these interactions
4. The Gamemaster will interpret the results according to the rules.

At my table, I have the most fun when players take an active part in creating the world too. Don’t feel like you can’t swing from the tavern’s chandelier just because I didn’t mention one! Sometimes I’ll want to tweak your idea but I thrive on player contributions.

There’s a lot of variety in roleplaying games, and the people who play them are no different. I make sure everyone at my table is having fun. Gaming can be a wonderful, safe way to explore bizarre, hilarious, and challenging topics but we all need to know what’s off limits. Maybe horror isn’t your thing, or maybe you only feel confident playing in a sci-fi setting, or maybe some things hurt too much to experience in a game. We’re all here having fun together, so I start games by making sure everyone’s on the same page.

 

We’re here.

Tabletop roleplaying games do things no other game can. Video games offer a more visceral experience but even MMOs lack the face-to-face connection of a tabletop game. Board games provide that connection, but you’re limited in what you can do. Tabletop RPGs aren’t as visual as video games or as streamlined as board games, but they bring you together with your friends and let you explore a group imagining that could be as wild, gritty, ridiculous, or realistic as you’d like.

Real Life™ can be a distraction in any situation, but it can especially detract from the focus needed to realize the full potential of a tabletop RPG. We come together so we can escape the humdrum of reality. I encourage smartphones and tablets to show off pictures of your character, their gear, or their allies but please: take a vacation from social media and texting while we’re playing.

Of course, there’s always an exception to this rule. I totally understand if you need to be on-call for something, but even then I’d like you to excuse yourself from the table when you’re needed elsewhere. We’ll welcome you back afterward!

 

Session Zero

When I gaze into the pyre of my youth, I recall those 12-hour marathon sessions fueled by a life with less obligations and way too much soda. These days, my friends and I can rarely play for more than 3 hours at a time (I take that as a challenge, but that’s a topic for another day). Outside the sessions, I don’t have as much time to prep anymore either. On both sides of the GM screen, my goal is robust simplicity. For all these reasons, session zero is a necessary part of all my games.

 

In the first hour of session zero I like to establish the tone, genre, setting, and house rules of our game. Usually we’re at the table in the first place because someone has already pitched an idea to the group, but it’s good to review together so everyone has a chance to add to the plan. The second hour is all about character creation, fresh off all the flavorful decisions we just made. In this stage, there are only two questions I ask every time:

1. Is there anything you want to make sure is not in the game (or even at the table)?
2. What about your character guarantees they will be involved with the party for every session?

I usually ask plenty of other questions, but these are the two universals. I want you to be comfortable, and I need you to be an active member of the group.

In the final hour we use the decisions we’ve made about setting and character to build the recent history of the game world. This is our story and we all need to contribute to it, so we all need to build at least part of the world together. (A lot of this process goes out the window if we’re playing a published adventure, but I digress.) Even your character details like appearance and background contribute to the worldbuilding, so it’s enough for me if that’s all you want to do. As long as you come up with some stuff we can all grab onto.

 

What do you all think? Do you use session zero in your games? If so, how do you handle it? I’m always looking for ways to improve what I’ve got.

 

So… What’s this website all about?

Welcome to the Mythic Gazetteer! I’m Eli Kurtz, known as Zap Dynamic on deviantArt and the Giant in the Playground Forums. I play a lot of Savage Worlds these days, but I first came into the tabletop hobby around the launch of D&D 3.5 and I’ve played my share of game systems since then.

We at the Mythic Gazetteer want to introduce you to fantastic worlds, the adventures hiding within them, and the brain food that will help you realize those adventures to their fullest potential. Whether it’s some quick advice on designing an adventure or whipping up a sweet map for use at your table, the Mythic Gazetteer is your guide to worlds that could be!

This blog will be a collection of thoughts about gamemastering, storytelling, and whatever else comes into contact with my tabletop gaming habit hobby. We’ll post actual play logs and a few reviews along the way. Most importantly, we’ll provide glimpses into the Mythic Gazetteer’s first published campaign setting, The Blackwood. We’re excited to get started, but I thought I should start with a look at who I am and what I’m about.

Until next time!