Session 0 is the Most Important Session
The easiest way for a campaign to go south is for the group to fail the most important thing to remember in anything where people are vulnerable or open. COMMUNICATION. Establishing the ground rules and expectations amongst your friends is how you can ensure you all have the most fun. This responsibility does not just fall upon the Dungeon Master but is vital for the players to clearly communicate what they want their game to be like and to find out what the DM wants their world to look like. Without both parties being on the same page you will find your campaign shortlived and as a result a burnt-out DM and no more D&D for you all.
Firstly from a player’s perspective, it is essential for you to know what your character wants so that you can work towards those goals. To do this we suggest going to Session 0 with answers to the below 3 questions.
What sort of world are you looking for in this game?
What do you want to explore most in this game?
What motivates your character to risk their life as an adventurer?
The first question has a specific purpose for you, by working out what fantasy and ideas you love you will be able to make sure that your expectations match up with your DM. The second question should help your DM to be able to make sure you experience events and activities that are in line with what you want to see. Maybe it’s a more roleplay-heavy game, or one focused on the idea of becoming experts in a skill or building a nation. The third question helps explain to your DM why you are willing to risk everything, giving your character a motivation to help explain and guide your actions.
For DMs, we suggest establishing what sort of world you want to run, as well as what you need from the players. If you are an inexperienced DM it is ok to want them to help you out as well, when I started I was only new to the game as well so my players would often give me some assistance tracking things or with rules. But I also established a pacing for a game that allowed for everyone to know what to expect from a session in a vague element and what was important to me regarding being emotionally involved with our characters and the story, rather than a constant hack and slash sessions.
