Use session zero to agree on the campaign’s tone, expectations and boundaries, then pitch the setting in a few sentences. Invite each player to add a world detail and connect their character to a place, group or person. Record what the group decides, settle practical arrangements, and use the shared notes to prepare the opening adventure.
Key facts
- Session zero is a planning meeting before a campaign begins, where players and the GM can align on tone, expectations, safety and story. Source
- A game’s setting provides the place where adventures and connected campaigns happen. Source
- Worldbuilding constructs an imaginary setting and gives a story its context. Source
- Character creation can take up much of session zero, especially when players are new to the rules. Source
Agree on tone and the campaign’s boundaries
Start by describing the kind of story you want to run. Offer a clear sense of mood and invite players to say what they want more or less of. Treat those words as prompts for discussion, not promises about every scene.
Discuss themes and boundaries before building detailed lore. Ask which subjects the group wants to avoid and which may appear only off-screen or in broad terms. The checklist approach to session zero includes aligning on tone, expectations, safety and story. Source Make room for players to raise concerns privately if that is easier for them.
Agree how the group will handle a concern during play. Keep the method simple enough to use without interrupting the whole session for a long debate. Write down the shared understanding in plain language, and make clear that players can ask to revisit it.
Decide what sort of choices the campaign will invite. A story about courtly bargains needs different expectations from one focused on wilderness danger. This conversation gives you a guide for choosing conflicts, descriptions and future world details.
Pitch the setting and make room for player ideas
Present the setting in a short pitch: what makes this world distinctive, what problem is pressing now, and what the characters might do about it. A setting provides the space for adventures and connected campaigns. Source Worldbuilding creates an imaginary setting and supplies context for a story. Source
Keep the pitch selective. Give players enough to make informed characters, but leave unanswered questions. Mark which details are fixed for the campaign and which are open for the group to shape. That distinction protects your preparation while making collaboration real.
Invite each player to contribute one setting detail. They might suggest a local custom, a rumour, a landmark or a tension between groups. Ask a follow-up that links the detail to play: who cares about it, what might change, or how could the characters encounter it?
Choose together which contributions become established lore. Record names and connections in a shared note, and avoid adding extra history that nobody needs yet. A collaborative session-zero checklist can include expectations, character hooks, safety tools and logistics. Source The aim is not to finish the world; it is to give the first adventure a setting the players recognise as partly theirs.
Connect characters to places and groups
Build characters with the setting in view. Ask each player where their character comes from, what place matters to them, and which group or person could draw them into the campaign. These prompts turn background into material the table can use.
Character creation often takes a large share of session zero, particularly for players learning the rules. Source Give players room to ask about options, while keeping the process focused on decisions that affect the opening. If rules explanations threaten to take over, share basic information beforehand and note questions for later.
Look for connections across characters. Two characters might have reasons to care about the same place, or one character’s contact might know another’s rival. Offer possibilities, but let players decide which ties fit. Shared links give the group a reason to act together without requiring identical goals.
Finish with a brief introduction from each player: who the character is, what they want, and what could pull them into the first problem. The GM prepares the session and describes events, while players make decisions for their characters. Source Use the introductions to shape an opening that gives each character a point of entry.
What this means for you?
Session zero is a working conversation that helps you decide which details matter to the people around the table. A small setting pitch, a few player contributions and clear character ties can give you more useful material than pages of background nobody has discussed.
Begin with the part that affects the first adventure. Describe the immediate pressure, then ask what players want their characters to know or care about. Their answers can show you which parts of the setting need attention and which can remain unknown.
Keep ownership clear. You can offer a boundary, such as a group’s role in the opening conflict, while players add a custom or personal connection. When an idea conflicts with something you need for the campaign, explain the constraint and invite a different contribution. Collaboration works best when players can see where their choices fit.
Turn the meeting into usable notes, not a transcript. Record agreed boundaries, setting facts, character connections and unresolved questions. Use those notes to prepare scenes that could happen, rather than scripting a single path; session preparation can account for scenes in sequence or possible branches based on character choices. Source
Keep the process proportionate. A toolkit should help the group make decisions, not become a separate project that consumes more effort than campaign preparation. Source A short agenda and one shared note can be enough to carry the group’s decisions into play.
What to do now?
- Prepare an agenda. List tone, boundaries, setting pitch, player contributions, character ties and practical arrangements. A clear agenda helps structure the meeting. Source Send rules or setting notes beforehand if they would otherwise take up discussion time.
- Open with expectations. Ask what kind of story each player wants, then discuss subjects to avoid or handle carefully. Write down the group’s decisions so everyone can refer to them.
- Pitch the world. Use a few sentences to explain the setting’s distinctive feature, current pressure and possible character role. Leave some details open for collaboration.
- Invite one contribution each. Ask every player to add a place, custom, rumour or group. Decide together which ideas become shared setting facts.
- Build character ties. Connect each character to a place, group or person, then find links between characters. Keep rules questions focused and note anything to check later.
- Prepare the opening. Summarise the agreed lore and use it to plan a first situation with room for player choices. Session-zero decisions are meant to inform preparation for the first game. Source
Sources
- theultimategamemaster.com/pages/session-zero-checklist-downloadable-pdf
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabletop_role-playing_game
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldbuilding
- thedungeontrainer.com/blog/session-zero-checklist-essential-tools-and-resources-for-game-masters
- www.sessionroll.com/blog/session-zero-checklist
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_master
- slyflourish.com/eight_steps_2023.html
- nat20labs.com/blog/the-definitive-session-zero-guide-for-long-campaigns
About this page
Written with AI assistance from the sources listed above, then checked by automated fact, source, repetition and quality checks before publishing.
Facts and links checked on 31 October 2026. Summarises the sources linked above; check the linked source for the latest version.
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