That thing about DM plans at 15:30 has to go both ways though. If you go to a DM and they say they like running serious campaigns then you show up and start goofing off you either should play with the campaign the DM made or find a new group.
I didn't even think about discussing limits in my games, but it does make a ton of sense to do so, and it does mean I may have to tweak my homebrew world a bit to do so but that is worth it if it means I don't trigger anybody.
I never had the issue of "starting in a inn" or somewhere like that and coming up with why the group is together. Mostly because I didn't start playing d&d as my first pen and paper RPG. I just kept my habit of telling everyone what happened in the last X amount of time to ALL of them. An example would be "you all showed up to X place and took the same quest together, hired by Y to do Z. You have just arrived in W place." One time I just put everyone as the 4 people that got resurrected together, by the same wizard, from the same graveyard; another time they were hired by a noble together with 2 other guys and sent with the guard captain to attack a cavern, but the guard captain and the two other guys ended up dying in the first dungeon. Another time they were all from the same village and were a group for over a year already, they started the game at the entrance to a cave where goblins were fighting kobolds inside. I pretty much always start the game in the middle of an adventure or something, they are never just in downtime at the start.
Believe it or not I started a oneshot with three characters resurrected by the same wizard and they still managed to fight and not trust one another. That's also DM skill.
Great example of something that a lot of people in touch with D&D social media are aware of, but those who only read the books would benefit greatly from. I know a lot of players & dms who do not follow a single D&D related social media channel/page.
Now I don’t know about others but during this session Zero I also enjoy using the Xanathar life events tables for inspiration and the randomness to get something I might not necessarily think to play as
For my mind, "to a certain extent" the first few sessions kind of have to be a bit of a railroad until the overarching premise and hooks are set. After that, yes, it should definitely be all about player agency. In my campaign, i had a "prologue" arc that was quite railroad-y, (merely a graveyard catacomb crawl), to let the characters have that reason to party up, to introduce a patron, and from there they have chosen to venture off in to the world exploring, initially, one of the PCs backstories.
This has never really been a problem for me, but I know that one of my friends enjoys these additions quite a lot. She is running multiple games, and for her its a lot easier to remember, and use all of the rules when they are written down in a published book. Great video Ted!
This was mostly stuff I've been doing for years, though I must say I should've incorporated a discussion about hard & soft limits long, long ago ... especially since I've been part of the BDSM lifestyle for several decades now. :( I'm a bad, bad DM ...
Boy oh boy do I wish my DM did a more thorough session zero. Mine didn't feel a need to ever do a consent sheet or any sort of hard/soft limit establishing despite us having new players on the team. I've been repeatedly made uncomfortable by the first arc's content, even after discussing it with the DM, the source of keeps happening graphically in front of us I'm not having a great time.
Boy oh boy do I wish my players did a more in my session zero. Mine didn’t feel a need to ever spend more than a basic look at what characters could be despite my urging. But for real never feel as though just because session zero is over that your character is done, my players usually get together and make their own character bonds later on without telling me giving an odd spanner in the works but of course they asked first.
This was a good video. I'm glad to see Wotc acknowledge the importance of a season zero. I know that a lot of people are being then on not having this in the dmg, but I honestly didn't hear about it until only a few years ago.
We have a player who has a hard time understanding boundaries. When the campaign was created we told the player to stick to a pg13 idea for a character. He picked a female character who worshipped an eldritch god who lived in a community of cannibals and born from many men and one woman who was a Paladin before being captured by this group.... I’m sure you can imagine the NSFW ideas in insinuating. But when Tashas came out we used that as a launching point to discuss hard and soft limits, and he’s since changed the majority of the characters horror history.
I do session zeros and practice runs for players that are jumping into s new role, ie one of my players wanted to try a caster so i did a little one shot so she could learn about it
🎃Get Tasha's on Amazon: amzn.to/2GYzxT7
That thing about DM plans at 15:30 has to go both ways though. If you go to a DM and they say they like running serious campaigns then you show up and start goofing off you either should play with the campaign the DM made or find a new group.
I didn't even think about discussing limits in my games, but it does make a ton of sense to do so, and it does mean I may have to tweak my homebrew world a bit to do so but that is worth it if it means I don't trigger anybody.
I never had the issue of "starting in a inn" or somewhere like that and coming up with why the group is together. Mostly because I didn't start playing d&d as my first pen and paper RPG. I just kept my habit of telling everyone what happened in the last X amount of time to ALL of them.
An example would be "you all showed up to X place and took the same quest together, hired by Y to do Z. You have just arrived in W place." One time I just put everyone as the 4 people that got resurrected together, by the same wizard, from the same graveyard; another time they were hired by a noble together with 2 other guys and sent with the guard captain to attack a cavern, but the guard captain and the two other guys ended up dying in the first dungeon. Another time they were all from the same village and were a group for over a year already, they started the game at the entrance to a cave where goblins were fighting kobolds inside.
I pretty much always start the game in the middle of an adventure or something, they are never just in downtime at the start.
Believe it or not I started a oneshot with three characters resurrected by the same wizard and they still managed to fight and not trust one another. That's also DM skill.
Great example of something that a lot of people in touch with D&D social media are aware of, but those who only read the books would benefit greatly from. I know a lot of players & dms who do not follow a single D&D related social media channel/page.
Your personal reflections on the subject made this a pretty good video.
Actually there is a player in my group who is exactly doing that spider thing
I am a RAWs DM, but I also allow a lot of dmsguild sources (ie: Exploring Eberron, Blood Hunter, Ulraunt's Guide to the Planes, etc).
Now I don’t know about others but during this session Zero I also enjoy using the Xanathar life events tables for inspiration and the randomness to get something I might not necessarily think to play as
For my mind, "to a certain extent" the first few sessions kind of have to be a bit of a railroad until the overarching premise and hooks are set. After that, yes, it should definitely be all about player agency. In my campaign, i had a "prologue" arc that was quite railroad-y, (merely a graveyard catacomb crawl), to let the characters have that reason to party up, to introduce a patron, and from there they have chosen to venture off in to the world exploring, initially, one of the PCs backstories.
This has never really been a problem for me, but I know that one of my friends enjoys these additions quite a lot. She is running multiple games, and for her its a lot easier to remember, and use all of the rules when they are written down in a published book. Great video Ted!
This was mostly stuff I've been doing for years, though I must say I should've incorporated a discussion about hard & soft limits long, long ago ... especially since I've been part of the BDSM lifestyle for several decades now. :(
I'm a bad, bad DM ...
Boy oh boy do I wish my DM did a more thorough session zero. Mine didn't feel a need to ever do a consent sheet or any sort of hard/soft limit establishing despite us having new players on the team. I've been repeatedly made uncomfortable by the first arc's content, even after discussing it with the DM, the source of keeps happening graphically in front of us I'm not having a great time.
Boy oh boy do I wish my players did a more in my session zero. Mine didn’t feel a need to ever spend more than a basic look at what characters could be despite my urging. But for real never feel as though just because session zero is over that your character is done, my players usually get together and make their own character bonds later on without telling me giving an odd spanner in the works but of course they asked first.
Can we just establish that Tasha would make a great DM, based on her tip at 1:45?
I love Tasha so much after I got this book. I didn't think anything of her before, sadly. But now she is my favorite Sourcebook mascot.
This was a good video. I'm glad to see Wotc acknowledge the importance of a season zero. I know that a lot of people are being then on not having this in the dmg, but I honestly didn't hear about it until only a few years ago.
Love your videos man as a starting Dm this is brilliant thankyou
Do you intended to do the sidekick section? I'm looking forward to trying it out. Have you seen it in practice?
I really wish I did this when I started my campaign. There has been a lot of backtracking since then
A group of half races come together for the funeral of their human bard father lol
YES
I read this comment 100x and just realized you said funnel and not funeral
@@rlira0908 sorry auto correct
Lmfaooo!!
Thats a BIG party.
We have a player who has a hard time understanding boundaries. When the campaign was created we told the player to stick to a pg13 idea for a character. He picked a female character who worshipped an eldritch god who lived in a community of cannibals and born from many men and one woman who was a Paladin before being captured by this group.... I’m sure you can imagine the NSFW ideas in insinuating. But when Tashas came out we used that as a launching point to discuss hard and soft limits, and he’s since changed the majority of the characters horror history.
very good video more people need to do session zeros I find people tend to avoid the for some reason but that ste a good start to a game
I do session zeros and practice runs for players that are jumping into s new role, ie one of my players wanted to try a caster so i did a little one shot so she could learn about it
Sorry, but I busted out laughing my ass off at the sanding going on at his place.
I really enjoyed this video. Really insightful - thank you very much!
What are your thoughts on people using real life props like a real snake in dnd?
Hey, Will you redo the Epic Legacy Core Rulebook/ review the Epic Legacy Campaign Codex? If not, what are your thoughts on it.
This is a really good video, but with the sanding please consider rerecording at some point
I really hope you get to 100k :)
You love RAW as much as I do. Good video.
N e 1 kno Roko's basilisk?
Is there a weird noise in the background of the video or is it just me 22:30-23:00ish around that range
:)
Hey-oo, first!