So everyone who talks Dungeons and Dragons online talks about the importance of a Session Zero before you start your campaign.  And I’m not going to disagree with this advice, as they are very important.  But one thing I did notice is many times people talk about the kind of things you should talk about, but to get a little more tactical with an agenda.  

Below is the agenda I used for Broken Wing:

Logistics:

• Make sure everyone can get access to LegendKeeper
  • Send link via email
• Walk through LegendKeeper and how to find things
  • Key Areas to find things
  • Areas for them to take notes, and see NPCs
    • Confirm they only see theirs
  • Map of Zenith and how to use it
  • Note taking areas are shared with you and me only
    • NPC notes to help

Campaign Settings:

• Talk about the world of Zenith and the high level lore
• Talk through the General Knowledge section of how things work.

House Rules:

The following of the house rules:

Critical Rolls: 

1. If you get a critical role (Natural 20, unless otherwise noted by your class), your damage on that attack is doubled (dice and modifiers in total).

Encumbrance: 

1. I do not keep track of encumbrance expect to say that it must be “reasonable and explainable”. So if you are not trying to do anything unreasonable, we can account for you carrying a fair bit of goods.

Potions: 

1. A potion may be consumed as a bonus action and does not require a full action.

Changing of Weapons: 

1. You may change weapons on your turn, but as a free action. 

Flanking: 

1. Flanking is in effect and does provide advantage in an attack situation, you must be within 5 feet of an enemy to receive a flanking bonus. Flanking occurs when an opponent has their back to you, but then you have advantage on your attack.

Combat Turn: 

1. Each player will be expected to complete their entire turn (move, action, bonus action) within 1 minute. This will basically require that you be prepared for your turn with a plan and potentially a backup plan. If you have not taken your action within the minute, you will take the “Dodge” action, which means any attack made against you will be at disadvantage. If you have not completed your move / bonus action within the minute, then those will be skipped. 
2. I am going to say, if your attack has more than 2 dice involved in damage, damage should be rolled using DnD beyond. This is strictly so that we don’t have to slow down for us all to do math. 
3. I am onboard with people pre-rolling but that is strictly a player preference. To be clear though, once you roll for your preroll, that value is “locked”, and generally speaking I trust everyone not to abuse this by fudging rolls or rerolling until desirable alternatives.

Glancing Blow: 

If your attack is the AC Exactly, then you do half damage instead of a miss.

Reactions: 

You only get 1 reaction a round, as the rules indicate here “When you take a reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. If the reaction interrupts another creature’s turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the reaction.” But in our game, all players, monsters, and NPCs have their reactions back at the top of the round.

Spell Components:

To alleviate the headaches but keep the balance, the following house rules:

1. Spells that require component, can have their components replaced by arcane focus.
2. For components that have no cost, a player can replenish their components when they get to town for a cost of 5 SP
3. Any component that has a cost is required to cast the spell, and must be procured by the player and must be in the inventory to cast the spell. 
4. Verbal Components: When spells are cast, a voice will change during the casting and it is obvious they are casting a spell (except with meta magic or feats that support), to hide it you can make a deception check with a DC of 10 + spell’s level. 
5. Somatic Components: Without a feat or meta magic effect, the casting of spells requires complex hand waving and movements that are hard to hide. A player can try to hide the movement with a sleight of hand check, with a DC of 10 + spell’s level. 

Scheduling Considerations:

• Same as Season of Night, but if possible I will give alternatives to why your character isn’t there.
• If we end over a period where a person is actively involved, if two people cancel, we cancel. 
• Talk about downtime activities and needing to give me options.
  • When you miss a session, we might do a one shot, we might just say “You spent time doing ________”
  • When you miss a session, we may run a 1:1 game to accomodate your actions. 

DM Expectations of Players:

The following are the expectations I have for the players at the table:

• You are responsible for your character and the rules around the character, with a basic understanding.
  • We all have a basic understanding of the rules as playing through the years. 
  • Fully recognizing that many are playing new classes, and there will be an adjustment.
  • Feel free outside of session to message me with questions. 
• Questions are always welcome, and encouraged as always
• You are responsible for tracking your inventory
  • If there is a question, the default is “you don’t have it.”
• Contribute to the game:
  • Contribute to combat, and keep it moving
  • Contribute to roleplay / game

Players Expectations of DMs:

What are you expectations of me?

Safety Tools:

• Talk about content
  • Lines / Veils