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So It Begins: A Guide to Session Zero

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First impressions are important. Session zero is a great way to make a good first impression in the world of rpgs. But what exactly is a session zero? It’s a more free form game play session where the players discuss the campaign they will be participating in. This includes character choices, expectations of both the players and GM, and playtesting. By these elements combined, players work together to ensure the game starts as smoothly as possible. So how do we get to this smooth start? Let’s look at each of the individual cogs that make a well oiled campaign machine.

Every good game starts with a base, and in rpgs players are that base. So it stands to reason that to start a good game we must start with the players. Every session zero should begin with players discussing what character they want to play. From a mechanical standpoint, this avoids the party focusing too much on one role. For example, a party full of barbarians sounds fun, until the GM throws any sort of social challenge your way. By diversifying your party you can ensure that each part of the game is enjoyable.

This also applies to the party dynamics from a roleplaying perspective. If one player wants to play as chaotic evil, it may not mesh well with another player who wants to play as lawful good. By discussing and changing characters before they’re set, you can avoid future problems that may slow the game down with arguments. This can not only solve problems before they start, but also create new opportunities. Players can work together to mold their backstories together. Think of Vex and Vax from Critical Role. If characters have relationships before the game starts it makes it easier for the GM to gather the party, and helps party cohesion in general.

Once the characters are good to go, then comes a frank discussion between all players and the GMs. This is when everything needs to be laid out on the table as far as expectations go. If the players want just a meat grinder killfest, your story focused GM isn’t going to have fun. Likewise, if your GM wants a serious emotional tone and your players want to joke around then they are going to clash poorly. For example, I’m sure that Matt Mercer would pull his hair out trying to run more than one game with the Adventure Zone boys. By compromising and setting up the tone of the campaign ahead of time you can ensure that everyone has a great time. After all that’s why we’re here, right?

Once the expectations have been set, and the characters have been made, it’s time to get to the game. But a session zero game is a bit more free flowing than a normal game. The idea behind it is you want to play a one shot out, but keep it detached from the campaign so that mistakes can be made and dealt with.Say you’re playing as a dragonborn fighter and you walk through town. You interact with people in a gruff manner, perhaps a Scottish accent. But after twenty minutes of this you feel something is off.

Session zero lets you change your character on the fly, adjusting his attitude, accent, or mindset. You may even play a bit more and realize this isn’t the exact incarnation of the character you want. You may mold them into a different race, or gender even. You may even decide to chuck the whole design and start from scratch. That’s alright! That’s exactly what a session zero is for.

Session zero is definitely the best way to kick off the campaign. It lets you work out the kinks in a noncommittal environment that is open to discussion and change. You can even make a big event out of it. After all, it is the start of a new game, we’re allowed to throw a little hype behind it, right? Plus the feeling of everyone digging through the books, finding new fun builds, and bringing those ideas to life is one of my favorite feelings that this game brings me. What about you? What do you do for your session zero? No matter how you start your game, make sure to start it rolling high!

Character Concept: the Tabaxi Speedy Sniper

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You’ve made camp for the night, exhausted from a long day of adventuring. Your eyes just barely close for slumber when you hear a loud noise nearby, one that sounds like a bird and bear at the same time. Moments later an owlbear is rampaging towards you. Surely you’re doomed! Just when the beast makes its lunge towards you, you notice a pair of feline eyes glowing from amidst the trees. A second later, an arrow flies from the trees, finding its way to the owlbear’s back. Not more than 5 seconds later, another arrow whizzes past your head, finding purchase in the beast once again before it falls to the ground. From the trees emerges a humanoid cat holding a longbow, a tabaxi ranger.

In this character concept, I’m going to take the idea of a speedster and run with it, literally. This is a fun way to build a 5e tabaxi character. The main idea stems off of the tabaxi’s racial ability that doubles your speed for a turn and recharges after not moving for a turn. The build comes online at level 10; 6 levels in monk and 4 in ranger. There are plenty of ways to level from there for even more speed, but the build really starts being effective at level 10. The 6 levels in monk allow you 15 more feet per turn, bringing your movement up to 45 feet per turn. More importantly, it gives you step of the wind, allowing you to dash as a bonus action. The mobile feat brings you to 55 feet. The ranger levels get a bit more situational, but with more benefits.

Dread ambusher gives you 10 feet on your first turn of combat. The ranger spells that are important to this build are longstrider and zephyr strike. Longstrider gives you 10 additional feet per turn for an hour, bringing your average speed total to 65 feet. Zephyr strike gives you a whopping 30 feet, but only after attacking. That works perfectly with how this build plays out. Due to action economy you’ll have to cast these spells before the battle starts, but remember that the payoff is twofold.

So once you have your spells up and on the first turn of combat you make an attack. Once that happens all of these bonuses stack up twice due to your feline agility. So when the stars align, your tabaxi ranger will be clocking in at 420 feet in one turn. For reference, that’s 4/5 of a mile per minute, or 48 miles per hour! Granted that’s only when everything goes off, but on average you’re still moving at 130 feet every other turn. Even on the low end you’re moving 65 feet, unless you run out of longstrider. That’s still double the speed of any normal creature.

So what do we do with all this speed? Well luckily the rest of the build fits nicely into an archer shell. This means your game plan is to just fire arrows and never get caught. Fire off an arrow, move almost a mile, and attack from an entirely different angle and surprise your foe. If you find yourself playing this at higher levels you can build into more speed with monk levels, or more damage with the scout subclass of rogue (which also grants more speed!), or if you’re feeling fancy you can grab levels in warlock and sorcerer and hit enemies from even farther than your bow can reach.

So what do you think of this 5e tabaxi character build? Did I miss any speed bonuses? How much is too much? Are you interested in more fun and wacky character builds? Let me know! And as always, keep those dice rolling high!

A Crack in the Glass: Creating Flaws in Your Character

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A good character has many facets. The diversity of ideas that dwells within a person is what makes them interesting. One of these facets that can have the most impact on how you play your character is a flaw of theirs. Flawed heroes aren’t usually the first ones that come to mind when we’re asked to name a hero, but more often than not they’re the first to come up when the question of favorite hero is asked. Flaws make the character more relatable to everyone, and therefore more likable and even easier to roleplay as. The reasons to add a flaw to your character are numerous, so let’s just dive into how to make a good flaw for your character and use it to your advantage. [Read more…]

The RPG ABC: Alphabet Based Characterization

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Creating a character’s background can be a tough process. After all, how do you fit someone’s life onto a piece of paper? How do you cover just enough of the character to make them feel real, without establishing so much that the character has no room for growth? I’m here to help with that question, using a method of mine I like to call Alphabet Based Characterization. This ABC is a set of questions following the letters of the alphabet that will help you have a better understanding of your character once completed. So let’s jump right in to these ABC’s, it’s easy as 123! [Read more…]

Racial Spotlight: Tabaxi

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Your race is the heart of your character. It is who they are at their core. Their thoughts, feelings, and upbringing are influenced by their race. This week we’ll be taking a look into the races of D&D and how they shape your character. Today we’ll be talking about tabaxi. [Read more…]