Session 0 with Gambet

Other DMs will likely hold specific Session 0's with their players, but as Gambet is usually hosting brand new groups every week he does not have time to do a full Session Zero prior to each new weekly session. Therefore, consider this page a fair briefing on the things Gambet would cover in one of his Session Zero's, from player expectations to Gambet's style of DMing.

• Combat is not always the answer: I often design encounters with no mind on whether or not the players can, will, or should defeat it. If something seems too tough, you're welcome to retreat, talk your way out of it, or otherwise come up with something clever beyond just hitting it. Often times, fighting is not the ideal answer. You're welcome to play every encounter however you want, though.
• Choices & Consequences: Every choice you make can ripple out and affect the world in a way that might come back on you, for good or ill. Sometimes doing the right thing will have disastrous results, and sometimes doing the wrong thing will work out just fine. If you choose to be a Murder Hobo, expect the world to take notice. If you do not keep your word, break contracts, or otherwise behave dishonorably, you can't expect people to keep falling for it. Eventually your reputation will catch up with you.
• Let the Dice Fall as They May: I don't really fudge dice rolls, and sometimes a bad roll can really change the outcome of something. Expect the unexpected.
• Twitch Chat: I encourage all my players to ignore Twitch Chat while we play, so that you can stay focused on the campaign, and not be influenced by chat.
• Feel Free to Stream: You're more than welcome to stream while playing, but please do not let streaming interfere with the game. Don't miss things happening in game because you're interacting with chat. Don't talk to chat, call out sub alerts or whatever on open mic, or whatever else.
• Don't be a Cringelord: No sex, torture, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. Swearing is fine, but making people uncomfortable isn't, so be cool.
• Show up early: It's important we do mic checks before we get started, and if it's your first session I want to give you some time to get up to speed with Foundry. So please show up at least 10 minutes early so we can do mic checks, and up to an hour early if possible if it's your first time using Foundry to get a rundown on how to use the program.
• Give me Advanced Notice if you can't make a session: Shit happens, but I'm running a show here, so if you can't make it I need as much advanced notice as you can give me. Shoot me a DM on Discord if you're not going to be able to make it, so I can plan around it. My intent is to invest heavily in story around the PCs, and nothing is worse than having a pivotal story moment ruined because the player didn't show up and didn't let me know ahead of time.
• Don't bring the session to a halt: If I get a rule wrong and you want to correct me, that's fine. But once I make it clear what my ruling is, even if it's against the rules, just move on. You can always bring it up to me after the session, but don't bring the session to a halt just to argue something with me.
• Don't be a Caricature: Putting on an accent or trying to do a voice is fine, but being way over the top to the point it's impossible to take your character seriously isn't. The tone of The Chords of Chaos is meant to be able to shift seamlessly between genres and tone, from epic action/adventure, to serious drama, to dry or silly comedy, and everything in between. An over-the-top, one-note Jar Jar Binks-type of character has no place here.
• Visceral Combat: I will liberally bend or break the rules to make combat feel more exciting, or to have more punch/impact. Characters will get slammed into walls, knocked off their feet, thrown around, whatever. I want combat to feel scrappy, rather than just have two tokens rolling dice at each other until one runs out of Hit Points.
• No Railroads: Do not feel like I am guiding you down a specific direction. Do not assume just because an NPC says something, that's a message from the DM telling you what to do. My NPCs will lie. They're just characters. Do what you think is best.
• Don't use Insight/Charisma Checks in place of good role playing: A good Insight check will not give you guaranteed, psychic certainty of someone's intentions. It will give you insight, but you will likely need to use your brain. Same goes for any puzzles, or anything else. Likewise, when determining the DC of a Charisma-based check or many other things, I will take your RP into account. RPing out a terrible lie might make rolling irrelevant. Same with a great lie, for that matter.