Love y’all’s podcasts, I really enjoy listening to you guys just talking about DM perspectives and experiences. Hope yall keep making more videos like this and videos related to the osr
For my current campaign I did a middle-of the road approach between your styles for mapping. I made a large regional hex map with terrain and roads, I added additional town names but did not add any other detail to them. I only fleshed out the starting down and local area around it. I make the players tell me where they want to go at the end of a session and I'll flesh out hex map points of interest only when I know they are traveling to that area. One tip I have is I like to keep in mind a bunch of areas I could seed different older modules if I wanted to. If I'm feeling creative I'll write my own adventure for the area. If I'm feeling burnt out or uninspired I'll just present hooks to the B/X module that would fit in the area and call it a day. For example, in one direction of my starting town I have a swamp, specifically placed there only so I could start off with T1 the village of hommlet's moathouse dungeon or N1 the cult of the reptile god.
honestly, the "why would my character work with this character?" is a good reason for some sort of session zero. It's a good time for the group to discuss the relationships between the PCs
They need money, and don’t wont to work. And adventuring is the coolest way of getting tons of money, power and attention. And the reason adventurers are tend to stick together is because it increases chance of their survival. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. Unless the players want to add something to spice things up, but it’s on their part. We usually roll on a one sentence background table - that’s usually enough to get started.
Your approaches all make good sense in context since different methods work for different systems and player (including GM) preferences. Regardless of whether you pitch or have a session 0, it's all about setting expectations and working together to enjoy the game, and knowing to opt out if it's not what you are looking for.
I have to say that I have been hit and miss on session 0s. Kind of depends on the game. For OSE, it is more like, roll your characters, here is the village you are in and...go! Other games may require more prep. A friend of mine is starting up a Game of Thrones rpg game and that one requires the players to figure out the House they belong to and all of their places within it etc. and so a session 0 makes more sense. I did a session 0 for character creation and some background for the Inferno (Dante's Guide to Hell) 5e setting as not everyone has read The Divine Comedy and the character creation is different enough that straight up 5e characters are not permitted. This also allowed me to set the tone for the upcoming campaign. As far as prep goes, in the heady days of my youth I was a prep machine. Now that I am older (maybe wiser?), I am not as keen on prepping materials that then never get used due to the whims of the players. Some prep yes, insane amounts, no! That village they are starting in gets some work. The first couple of rumoured locations - totally set those up. A map outlining everything - no chance. I like the idea of building it up as we go. The map is a couple of days out in all directions and gets built upon as the characters mention things, explore places, etc. Ultimately it is on my hands though and not a group creation. TPKs suck for sure, but I have actually not had that many (even in B/X, OSE). That, in spite of rolling the dice in front of the players and letting things fall as they may. Always leave them the option to bail, run, think their way out of situations of course. That is the hardest part of playing OSE with 5e players at first - the general thought process in 5e is to wipe out the opposition every time. That kind of thinking gets you dead, and fast, in OSE.
I always got a feeling about when things were going to go badly for a PC in 5e when they left the party and started getting a bit too confident about how much they could take on. They're much more durable than an OSE character... but there are still limits. :)
I think Session zero is important not just for safety tools, but establishing themes (as mentioned) and things like what each player would want to do if they are absent, how many players need to be present to play, is it ok to go over time, and by how much? But I think session zero can take many forms, it's not always a complete session. Sometimes "session zero" can be just the first 15 or 30 minutes of the first session. Sometimes it makes more sense to do this in a short discord call or chat. I think its' important to have this, but the form it takes can flex to fit the table.
My Session Zero introduce the Characters to each other. Get the players to pick a spot on hex paper and make first Hex Flower Name the Town, Town Mayor, Chief Healer, and A Couple of gods of the local religion. Name the Villain and Villain's Chief Underboss. State BBEG's Chief and 2nd Objectives. State why their characters are opposed. State their first goal to thwart BBEG's Goals.
As for tone, I tend to follow the player's lead. They're going to act how they want, so it is easier that way. And it makes a game they want to keep playing.
Late to the party, but I was going to suggest, 'Heroes from Zeroes' for the name. 😁 Good discussion, all relevant points. 👍🏻 I think the session zero has its place, especially if starting with a new group from scratch or beginning a new campaign.
Just joined. I enjoy your banter
Love y’all’s podcasts, I really enjoy listening to you guys just talking about DM perspectives and experiences. Hope yall keep making more videos like this and videos related to the osr
For my current campaign I did a middle-of the road approach between your styles for mapping. I made a large regional hex map with terrain and roads, I added additional town names but did not add any other detail to them. I only fleshed out the starting down and local area around it. I make the players tell me where they want to go at the end of a session and I'll flesh out hex map points of interest only when I know they are traveling to that area. One tip I have is I like to keep in mind a bunch of areas I could seed different older modules if I wanted to. If I'm feeling creative I'll write my own adventure for the area. If I'm feeling burnt out or uninspired I'll just present hooks to the B/X module that would fit in the area and call it a day. For example, in one direction of my starting town I have a swamp, specifically placed there only so I could start off with T1 the village of hommlet's moathouse dungeon or N1 the cult of the reptile god.
Getting players to tell you where they're heading at the END of the session, instead of the BEGINNING makes a huge difference! :)
Love your idea. I'll utilize it for my campaign with my kids.
honestly, the "why would my character work with this character?" is a good reason for some sort of session zero. It's a good time for the group to discuss the relationships between the PCs
They need money, and don’t wont to work.
And adventuring is the coolest way of getting tons of money, power and attention.
And the reason adventurers are tend to stick together is because it increases chance of their survival.
It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. Unless the players want to add something to spice things up, but it’s on their part.
We usually roll on a one sentence background table - that’s usually enough to get started.
Your approaches all make good sense in context since different methods work for different systems and player (including GM) preferences. Regardless of whether you pitch or have a session 0, it's all about setting expectations and working together to enjoy the game, and knowing to opt out if it's not what you are looking for.
I have to say that I have been hit and miss on session 0s. Kind of depends on the game. For OSE, it is more like, roll your characters, here is the village you are in and...go! Other games may require more prep. A friend of mine is starting up a Game of Thrones rpg game and that one requires the players to figure out the House they belong to and all of their places within it etc. and so a session 0 makes more sense. I did a session 0 for character creation and some background for the Inferno (Dante's Guide to Hell) 5e setting as not everyone has read The Divine Comedy and the character creation is different enough that straight up 5e characters are not permitted. This also allowed me to set the tone for the upcoming campaign.
As far as prep goes, in the heady days of my youth I was a prep machine. Now that I am older (maybe wiser?), I am not as keen on prepping materials that then never get used due to the whims of the players. Some prep yes, insane amounts, no! That village they are starting in gets some work. The first couple of rumoured locations - totally set those up. A map outlining everything - no chance. I like the idea of building it up as we go. The map is a couple of days out in all directions and gets built upon as the characters mention things, explore places, etc. Ultimately it is on my hands though and not a group creation.
TPKs suck for sure, but I have actually not had that many (even in B/X, OSE). That, in spite of rolling the dice in front of the players and letting things fall as they may. Always leave them the option to bail, run, think their way out of situations of course. That is the hardest part of playing OSE with 5e players at first - the general thought process in 5e is to wipe out the opposition every time. That kind of thinking gets you dead, and fast, in OSE.
I always got a feeling about when things were going to go badly for a PC in 5e when they left the party and started getting a bit too confident about how much they could take on. They're much more durable than an OSE character... but there are still limits. :)
Lol what the heck? Where was this video when I needed it this past week?!?! I searched "Prep for new OSR Campaign" on TH-cam.
The Alexa cameo was great lol
Do use any generators? Like the d30 sandbox?
I think Session zero is important not just for safety tools, but establishing themes (as mentioned) and things like what each player would want to do if they are absent, how many players need to be present to play, is it ok to go over time, and by how much?
But I think session zero can take many forms, it's not always a complete session. Sometimes "session zero" can be just the first 15 or 30 minutes of the first session. Sometimes it makes more sense to do this in a short discord call or chat. I think its' important to have this, but the form it takes can flex to fit the table.
My Session Zero
introduce the Characters to each other.
Get the players to pick a spot on hex paper and make first Hex Flower
Name the Town, Town Mayor, Chief Healer, and A Couple of gods of the local religion.
Name the Villain and Villain's Chief Underboss.
State BBEG's Chief and 2nd Objectives.
State why their characters are opposed.
State their first goal to thwart BBEG's Goals.
That's having the players take responsibility for a lot more than what we'd do in our games.
@@BlackBirdMagic most of my players run games as DM's. They have to get their hands dirty to stay interested
As for tone, I tend to follow the player's lead. They're going to act how they want, so it is easier that way. And it makes a game they want to keep playing.
The Nameless NPC podcast, but you always forget the name 😉
Haha! We have a name for our podcast now, but that is a great suggestion. :D
Late to the party, but I was going to suggest, 'Heroes from Zeroes' for the name. 😁 Good discussion, all relevant points. 👍🏻 I think the session zero has its place, especially if starting with a new group from scratch or beginning a new campaign.
Name Suggestion: "Dung Eons & Drag Ons"
If you smoke some pot or drink alcoholic, I guarantee the name is more appealing.
Haha! :D
So many ads, guys. Dial it back a bit
Do you mean TH-cam ads? That's not our doing. :)
@@BlackBirdMagic oh. I thought creators added spots for ads. Nevermind. Good info
@@Scutifer_Mike I think creators can do that once they get a bajillion views or something. For us, it's TH-cam adding them. :)