My Perfect Session Zero

Updated: October 2022.

This is a post I’m going to write and re-write. It will never be finished, as, if nothing else, when it gets too long, no player will want to answer all the questions and then it’ll be useless.

It’s also aimed at myself, and is not intended to replace any other sources, such as:

• RPG Safety Toolkit
• Monte Cook’s Consent in Gaming

©️ John Stavropoulos

Fundamentally, most of the “How do I resolve this problem in my group?” questions from GMs on /r/rpg come down to (IMO):

My player(s) want to play a game like X and I want to play a game like Y

Sometimes this is “they think it should be played” but, same difference. Not counting of course /r/rpghorrorstories. This won’t help that, but if nothing else, if I can have a checklist¹ maybe I can achieve the following.

Aims

1. Don’t accidentally discriminate on race/gender/sexuality
2. Be sure my players and I want the same kind of game. Is it a horror game? Is it a comedy? How gonzo are we going?
3. Make a ‘social contract’ for want of a better word, how much effort are we all going to put in?
4. The checklist will remind myself, and my actions remind others, that the above things are important to me

Statements

So to hit #1, I think a statement, either in the game, or in my #lfg advert:

And just to say, this is for LGBT-friendly folks who think Black Lives Matter.

Is that enough? I’m not listing all the protected characteristics that I don’t want to discriminate against. And I’m not listing my pronouns, although my username on Discord will typically be showing them already. However I think it’s a strong hint: this is a pro-diversity group. I doubt someone would turn up to game with that description and start calling people snowflakes.

If you don’t like that, then fuck off.

©️ Aaron Reynolds.

Anyway, then I’d probably repeat that in the Session Zero itself. Followed shortly with:

I want to learn, please tell me if I fail in this.

I have many privileges and I’m really bad at remembering them. I already know this. And if I can ask a player to do the initiative tracking, then I can ask them to tell me if all the NPCs for the last two sessions have been guys.

These next ones are from a conversation with Koan Mandala:

You mind if I stop to look up the rules? I’ll make a ruling if it takes too long, but I want to get it right.

Edit: This misquote wasn’t “menacing enough”, sorry KM!

There are no rules lookups. I make rulings and if it’s a bad one we make amends next session

If I’m running something new, I want to get it right first, so I know which bits I can be looser with. I don’t want to (unintentionally) house-rule a game without trying to follow the rules first. But I’m very easy to distract with a “what’s the correct rule” question - although on D&D I’ll just see what turns up on the stackexchange for it.

Players should not (without up-front agreement):

• play psychopaths or sociopaths (“but i’m Chaotic Good”)
• split (or not join) the party
• go round seducing NPCs (or PCs)

They had a much longer list but I’ve picked the ones that speak out to me the most.

Lines and Veils (the X card)

I originally started off with “what are your taboos?” which I thought was easier, but actually I think lines and veils is actually easier to explain to people.

• Lines: a hard limit, these shouldn’t be seen at the table at all.
• Veils: okay this can happen, but I don’t want to describe it in detail. The ‘camera’ zooms out, fades to black, whatever.

If I give mine first it at least gets people thinking:

• No sex please, I’m British :flag_gb:. Seriously, I’m not a prude, but I don’t think I can do it tastefully. A line, I don’t even want to cover characters hitting on each other right now.
• No sexual harrassment. Same.
• Micro-aggressions are Veiled. I didn’t even know this phrase a year ago 😔. But I’d veil these. “The farmer treats you dismissively” sets that he’s close-minded but I don’t want to act it out.
• No torture.

And then ask the players, what are yours? With some prompts, potentially:

• Is swearing okay? If not, I’m fucked.
• How many spiders is too many?

An important part of this is that you don’t need to explain your reasons for Lines and Veils. It Is Not Up For Debate. There is a crucial difference of asking “what do you mean by that?” though, I think. For me I need to be sure I’m following someone’s wishes.

Worth noting Monte Cook’s (free) PDF I linked to above also includes an actual checklist to go through, but I won’t use that. It’s too formal, and (despite it literally says this is not the case) I think players would then feel it’s too final.

Preferences

• Combat / Investigation
• roll-play² / role-play
• Miniatures / Theatre of the Mind
• encumbrance
• food / rations
• open sandbox / following a story

Accessibility

• Here are the tools we’re using, do those work for you? Seriously, I don’t even know how roll20 and discord and all the others or IRL might be a problem or not. Maybe we’re playing in person and you can’t see the map well on a big table. But rather than trying to think of all these things - I should just ask!
• How’s background music? I learnt this week those on the autistic spectrum can be distracted by it. Certainly I can be, so I’m using it in moderation. But again, never would think to ask, so on the list.
• Push-To-Talk on voice. You might think this is just a good rule, but also again for those with concentration/distraction issues.

Now, my perfect Sunday…