Example Session Zero

Markus, Kai, Janus, Olive, and Omar have gathered for a session zero. Markus, the GM, begins the session by welcoming his players and making sure everyone understands what will be covered in the session.

Markus: Welcome everyone, let's get the ball rolling on this zero session. We're gonna be going over what we do and don't want to see in the game, what the world looks like, and who we're planning to play. To start with, let's figure out what kind of tone we want to go for. I was hoping for something a little bit lighthearted.

Omar: I'm good with a lighthearted tone, but I would like to see a little bit of horror, as long as it's not too egregious.

Janus: I agree with Omar. Lighthearted sounds good, but I don't want to play something that's a complete farce. I'd like to strike a good balance.

Kai: I personally like a sillier game, but I'm okay with some horror as long as it's not gorey.

Olive: I'm really not a huge fan of horror, but maybe some suspense or moral grey zone bad guys?

Markus: Okay, so maybe we should avoid any heavy horror. Olive, are you fine with something like ghouls or zombie type things in the right contexts?

Olive: I can do that, but I'd rather not see any gratuitous gore and violence.

Markus: Great! I think that works. Now that we have that figured out, what sort of setting do we want to play?

Olive: I like the freeports, can we spend time in Three Portlands or Eurtec?

Omar: That sounds fun! I really like the U.I.U., so freeports can totally work.

Janus: I like the foundation, but I'd rather not spend a whole game inside a foundation site so that works for me.

Kai: As long as I get to see some cool anomalies I'm okay with it!

Markus: Great, that makes things easy. Let's do Three Portlands, site 64 is technically nearby. Are we playing in a specific timeline?

Kai: We could do a broken veil timeline?

Olive: I dunno, I kinda like having to deal with normalcy organizations a bit. I think being in a freeport lets us have some of the freedom of a broken veil timeline without completely nixing the possibility of having to operate stealthily in the "real world"

Markus: Okay, so normalcy exists and the foundation and others are enforcing it in the non-anomalous world. Is this taking place in the modern day?

Omar: Can we do mid-nineties? I really like Anderson Robotics.

Janus: Oh yeah! I love that, let's do nineties.

Olive: Works for me!

Markus: Great, done. Now let's talk about safety. Are there any topics we should avoid?

Omar: I'd rather not see any transphobic characters or anything like that. Let's leave anything bigotry related out.

Janus: I agree. I'd also like to avoid any sort of implied abuse of characters in the game.

Kai: I will message you with a hard boundary, I don't really want to tlak about it out loud.

Markus: Great, thanks for that! Who is everyone playing?

Omar: I'm playing Frank Indell, he's a former foundation researcher turned Marhsall, Carter, and Dark sales executive. He has a proficiency with paratechnology, so it makes sense for him to be in Three Portlands.

Janus: I'm playing Z. That's their whole name. They're an anartist who works in kinetic sculpture. They've got proficiency with metalworking and fabrication, and went to Deer college.

Kai: I'm playing Addison Langley. She's a self-employed thamatology researcher who's focussed on medical workings, so she has a proficiency with medical and para-medical knowledge.

Olive: I'm playing Jason Jackson. He's a reality bender working as a Public Relations Specialist for Anderson Robotics, and he moonlights as a Serpent's Hand agent. His whole thing is social manipulation, so he has proficiencies with anomalously aided speech and deception.

Markus: I love it. Do they know each other? What brought everyone together?

Janus: I think Z would know Frank, they probably sell works to him.

Omar: I like that! Z and Frank definitely know each other. Frank probably also knows Addison, since he could work with her to sell anomalous medicine.

Kai: I don't think addison would do actual manufacturing for MC&D, but she might provide her research publicly, and maybe Frank keeps a close eye on her work?

Omar: Yeah, that works! Great, that's three of us.

Kai: I think Addison would also know Jason, since Anderson Robotics makes a lot of paratech prosthetics and stuff like that.

Olive: Definitely, the work Addison does is great PR. I can dig that. So we're not a tight knit group, but we all know eachother through one degree of separation or so.

Markus: That's great, I can work with that. I think that's everything I need for now. Reach out to me if you think of anything else, and we can talk about it as a group if need be. Otherwise, I'll see you all again for session one!

In this example, the group has come up with the full setting, time period, and tone of the narrative from scratch. However, some GMs may already have ideas in mind for the kind of narrative they want to build, and that's okay too! In that sort of case, a session zero is more focussed on making sure everyone is on the same page about what the game will be like, and gives a chance for the players to express their boundaries and desires for the game. As was stated in Preparing your Game, not every element of the list of session zero topics needs to be covered! Every group of players and campaign is unique, and should be handled as is most fitting for the situation. However, GMs should always make space to discuss player safety and boundaries.