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…