Campaign 3 - Session 0 planning

Planning

Philosophy

My style of play is corporative story telling. To accomplish this I want the PCs to have an investment in each other, to care about if they player succeeds or fails. If you're watching a movie and you don't care about the characters, you're not going to care about the movie. Same is true here. If you don't care about the other players succeeding in their individual checks to jump over a lava pit, you're not engaged in the story.

Character

Questions you must answer from previous games:

1. Were you emotionally invested in your Character (PC)?
2. Did you care about your PC's development / growth?
3. Did you empathize with your PC?
4. Now answer the above questions for how you were invested in the other Player's characters.

Why does your PC care about the others? This must be compelling. Relationships evolve and change.
What are you doing to grow that relationship?

Building relationships:

Your PC will need to have a specific relationship with 2 other players.

That relationship can be randomly generated (I have a table for this) or it can be created by design.
Note that this should be high level at first and then expanded as the game goes on.

Example:

Partners in crime, but never got caught: You don't have to write a 4 page summary of what the crime was. Just start with the simple sentence. You don't need to explain what the crime was right away. However, what you should know is that you trust this person and they trust you. Focus on the trust and work out the details as the story evolves.

Nightly questions:

As you lay on your bedroll, or sit around the campfire after a long day, a question will be posed to 1 character. Answer as the character is opening up to the group, a little bit at a time. Normally others may naturally share their thoughts and that's totally fine. This is simply an opportunity for role play, character building and helping others to understand your character. Questions will be very simple and easy to make up at first and grow in depth over time.

Examples:

• What was your mother's name?
• Did you have any heroes as a child?
• What is the biggest lie you have ever told?
• Who was your best friend during childhood?
• Describe your dream home.
• What is the most cruel and hurtful thing you have ever said? Do you regret it?

Metagaming:

Note: We loose emotional investment when metagaming enters play. When we are more concerned with the mechanics we loose sight of the events. Allow the story to drive your character. Don't preplan every detail of what you want your character to be. Let the story help you evolve your PC. Sure, you have ideas and ways you want or limitations of a class, but let the events of the campaign help to drive them.

"Metagaming: The term Metagaming refers to players using their out-of-game knowledge about the game to make in-game decisions for their character. A player might know there is a dragon in the next room because there is a dragon mini on the table, but their character does not. Their character should act as if they do not know that information. If the player then changes their character’s approach to the room because they know the dragon is there, they are ‘meta-gaming’. This means that the player is now playing a game and trying to win, rather than experiencing their PC’s emotions of terror when entering a chamber and discovering a dragon."

Rewards

Kill the demon in the shop and you might get a pouch of gold, but you might make a blacksmith happy who will from now on fix your armor for free.

I want to provide different incentives to do things other than gold and magic items. I'd like to have some of them be cool and some seem useless for not, but later on play a key role in something else you need to do. "If only you had saved the village seamstress, she would have known how to fix that."

Leveling Up Leveling up is currently a reward given after you kill X monsters or complete X goals. "Then suddenly the wizard can cast 3rd level spells and learns fireball from thin air." "The Druid can now wild shape into a creature she's never seen before..."
Let's try something new. Make a list of the traits you expect to gain as you level up. Let me know specifically what they are and we can incorporate them into the game as much as possible. Every class feature should have a reason why your character has it. Did you learn that during a fight? Did someone teach it to you? What do you already know about things? How can we evolve them in the story. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, how can your PC help others reach their goals and gain new features?


Warning: We will level up slower. I'm PURPOSELY slowing the leveling up down! We may never reach level 20. You'll gain specific abilities before or after you technically "level up." I will incorporate as many things as I can and distribute as evenly as possible. Do not lay this all on the DM. I expect you as the player to come up with cool ideas how you can figure out that cool feature. Remember, I'm story focused, not ability focused. It's the DM's job to try and balance what the character's can do with the obstacles they face. However, also keep in mind that if a group of 6 level 1 players should encounter an ancient red dragon, they should run!

Back Story

Do not write a 5 page backstory (yet.) Have a background and then as you determine your relationship with others start piecing your background together a little at a time.

Things you do need to start with:

• You should have a character goal
• You should have a character flaw
• You should have some sort of character ideal / bond / some virtue that grounds some of your actions. (Note the word Virtue there.)

In all the above keep in mind that this is a cooperative adventure. Any PCs that have a flaw of "not working well with others" will be killed off by an evil mage.
Eventually fill in your full backstory and we'll explore it together.

Character traits:

Here's a great video: 5 EASY Roleplaying Tips for a Better D&D 5e Character
This is a good video: How To Use Traits, Ideals, Bonds, & Flaws In Dungeons & Dragons 5e
Key take away: Your character traits evolve. You may very well overcome your flaws or create new bonds (hopefully within the party.) As your character grows and develops you will create new goals, flaws, bonds and ideals.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: All Character Traits should be used to enhance role-playing and character, not cause chaos and frustration for other players. Don't let your flaw or goal impede others from the goals of the party. It may make an interesting conversation but in the end you need to work it out.

Example: If you have a fault that you cannot lie, but the party has decided to impersonate another group as a disguise to get into a building. Just let the others do the talking. Agree to shut up. If directly asked, you will figure out a way to not speak to not divulge things, but still not lie. That makes for interesting roll play but does not make others angry.

Goals

Goals should be things your character is trying to accomplish. They can be large or small. They should have something to do with why you want to adventure. Most importantly they are not secret. These are things that you share with others so the party can help each other achieve your goals. Perhaps the wizard has a goal to learn new spells. The party should help him by finding scroll, or taking spellbooks from other wizards. Perhaps the Bard wants to have a following of fans. The party should spread the word about the bard and encourage them to perform. Work it out together. Identify your goals and share with others so they can help you.

Hint: Look at your class traits. What do you want to do in that class. That is usually a goal. Remember you don't just "get that feature" automatically when we level up. You need to work towards it. Others will benefit from those features when you gain them. Let others know your goal and help each other achieve them.

Flaws

Here is a great piece of advice from a CBR Article: Dungeons & Dragons: How to Create Good Character Flaws

One thing to be mindful of is the other players enjoyment of the game and the DM's plans. Flaws should be used to enhance role-playing and character, not cause chaos and frustration for other players. For instance, a fear of tight spaces is a good flaw. This could allow the character to react in certain circumstances in ways that impact the story without derailing the entire campaign. It also opens the door for other players to help the character out, something the moves the story forward and forges bonds between party members. However, a flaw like a hatred of Dwarves that makes the character want to kill them all on sight is a burden for everyone else to deal with.

Make your flaws simple and fun.

Here are some suggestions:
10 ideas from Nerdarchy
20 ideas from Dungeon Goblin
100 ideas from gmbinder
123 Ideas on Tumblr
For more tips, Just google: A good D&D flaw

World Building

Be prepared to help build the world!

The DM reserves the right to let you describe / name / color things.

Examples:

Describe your hometown.
Describe the house in which you grew up.
You wake up early, describe the weather today.
You see a sign for the pub... what's its name?
Sitting at the bar, the barmaid introduces herself. What's her name? Describe her.
You ask the DM: Is there a blacksmith in the village?
DM: "Yes, it's a small shop, please describe it."
DM: "I'll tell you the prices and inventory, but you tell me their name."