Session 0: A Guide to Starting Campaigns
Choose Your Group
The first, most obvious, and probably easiest step is picking the people you wanna play with. Super simple, just have conversations with some friends or people in LFG threads.
Schedule the Game
The next step to starting any campaign is one of the hardest elements to the tabletop hobby: scheduling. I promise that this will be the hardest part no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you’re ten years old or sixty, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best of friends with your group or complete strangers, it doesn’t matter if this is your first time playing a tabletop or your hundredth. So ask around to everyone you wanna play with, get all the info you can about what days work best and what times they’re available and keep that information even after “picking” a day/time to play, because people are people, and schedules will change. Once you get a day/time picked out, try to confirm the frequency you’ll be playing: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.
Choose the GM
Okay, so you know who wants to play and when, it’s time to decide who’s going to be the GM for the campaign, usually this will end up being whoever put the group together in the first place, because they wanted to run a game, but it can realistically be anyone who wants to do so. Have a group conversation about it, if no one’s super sure. Put together a group chat, and hash it out like adults: wants and needs for a game as a player or a GM.
Choose the Campaign
Next is a critical decision to be made mostly by the GM, but players can be involved here as well: what’s the campaign gonna be? Is it going to be a pre-built module (Like Dragon of Icespire Peak) that runs for a handful of sessions and wraps up before the next module, maybe run by another GM? Is it going to be a homebrew plot set in a pre-existing campaign setting, like Greyhawk? Is it going to be a completely homebrew campaign in a completely homebrew setting? Personally, I prefer the latter, but each person is different when it comes to running games. For people who want to run a game for their group, but have a hard time coming up with the minute details of worldbuilding that come with a homebrewed setting, then they’re more likely to lean on pre-existing settings. For people who want a lot of the work done for them: NPCs are made, quests are outlined, intrigue is listed clearly, then modules are the way to go. They’re easy and convenient, especially for newer DMs who just want to get in some experience to feel more comfortable homebrewing future campaigns. Though, the real secret sauce (to me) is a fully homebrewed campaign, one in which the plot, the NPCs, and the setting are all made by the GM. It’s a labor of love from you to your players and back to you when the campaign is handcrafted for their experience and everything they do within it is basically for your own entertainment.
Prepare the Players
Whatever style of campaign the GM decides, the next step is communicating any information that players need to know prior to building their characters. This includes any rules restrictions or homebrew rules adjustments, like whether or not certain races or classes are not allowed or if the GM is introducing a homebrew option to select from. Additionally, this is when I would mention a generic plot, not to a point where you’re spoiling the events of the entire campaign. Something like, “You guys are going to be dealing with a plague sweeping through the continent, attempting to find a cure.” That tells the players a good bit about the vibe of character they’ll need to set up in order to actually be able to follow along with the campaign material, but doesn’t say anything about where the plague came from, how they’ll actually find a cure, how they’ll get it to the masses, or even what the plague does exactly. Another bit of important information is any non-spoiler background information you can give about the setting: if it’s low-magic setting where magic is frowned upon or even outright rooted out you should tell them, if the main location they’ll be in is mostly urban then you should tell your ranger before they invest in survival gear, or if the campaign will mostly have undead or construct enemies you might want to tell your poison enthusiast rogue player.
Set Expectations Together
Lastly, gather a list of wants and needs from everyone at the table. What are you looking to get out of the game(s)? Do you want to do more heavy roleplaying or more crunchy combat encounters? Do you want medieval high fantasy or modern or sci-fi or steampunk out of your setting? Players should work with their GM to see if they can get backstories integrated into the actual setting of the world, even if only loosely tied to some backwater town the party won’t ever visit in game, just saying, “I’m from Darja.” feels so much more immersive than awkwardly realizing you have no idea and asking the GM what origin makes sense given your character’s backstory. GMs should work with their players to make sure they’re not planning on doing something that just won’t reasonably be a thing in the game, and maybe improvise some changes to the script if it’s something that can actually be done reasonably.
Keep Communicating
At the end of the day, clear communication is key. From the first step of the process to the last, and even once the campaign’s begun or done. Speak up, be very explicit about wants and needs, and try to be flexible if there’s any conflict on those wants or needs. Understand that the people at your table are still people, with their own thoughts and feelings on the game, and that everyone’s there to have some fun. So make sure to have fun.