Campaign Zero
The idea of “session zero” is a genuine step forward in the technology of gaming. Instead of just leaping into a game blindly and hoping we all enjoy the same things, we sit down together and talk about it. What kind of world do we want? Want kind of themes do we want to explore? Will our elves be imperialist jerks? Will our space smugglers struggle with debt or just do hijinks?
Discussion and consensus is a good thing. But clever gamers realized that instead of just improvising the whole process, they could use other systems that were designed for world-building and group setting creation to structure the session. Why reinvent the wheel when there’s a perfectly good wheel right over there?
So you bust out Microscope. You bust out In This World. You bust out Downfall. You bust out Shock. You bust out A Thousand Years Under the Sun. And you play a session of that to help create the setting for the other game you’re going play.
And heck, that was pretty fun. Maybe you should do another session, with that game or maybe a different one, just to really flesh out this world. And then you’re playing Kingdom week after week, confronting Crossroads and trying wrestling for control of your community… but still to get ready for that D&D game you intend to play!!!
And that’s how you start with Session Zero and wind up with Campaign Zero…
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Somewhat related, I love the idea that a campaign can become the catalyst of a new one. Typically it the follow up campaign is a leap forward in time but one I’d love to hear more about are campaigns where the big bad succeeds in their world shattering plan with the party perishing in the process. Starting a campaign with new characters where evil has already one and now it’s a harsher world to reclaim sounds very novel. Not to mention it establishes that the party can fail with solid consequences.
I think that’s a great idea! Though because of my Microscope-brain, I’d also love playing a campaign before the pre-ordained failure, knowing the whole world was doomed…
Yes! Thanks for the write up, and recommended games. I definitely agree that TTRPG technology has advanced significantly from when I started playing in the early 90’s. Here’s to whatever the future holds in store!
Yep exactly. We’ve got a looooong way to go!