/dnd-session-0-checklist

D&D session zero checklist

This checklist is a compilation of topics, that could be relevant to discuss before starting a new D&D game. Many of the topics apply to other RPGs as well. The list can be used by a DM that has already prepared a plot and setting, to align the players with what to expect. The list can also be used BEFORE the DM prepares anything, as a way of aligning the game experience more openly, with the players having more say in the game style.

The checklist is heavily inspired by this thread on reddit. The list is compiled primarily for personal use.

Out of game expectations

  • Alcohol
    Can players drink at the table? Do you care if your players get drunk? What happens when someone gets drunk? What happens when a player arrives to the session and they are already drunk? Should there be consequences, and if so, what are the consequences?

  • Narcotics
    Same considerations as Alcohol, but perhaps you have different rules and consequences than with Alcohol. Though perhaps similar, I have found it best to discuss this seperately from Alcohol.

  • Cellphones and digital devices
    Do you allow them at the table? Do they need to be left in the basket at the door? If you do allow them, what happens when a player gets a call they must take? Do you allow headphone use at the table? Should there be consequences for when this becomes a problem, if so, what are the consequences?

  • Player attention
    What happens if a player is constantly distracted? What happens if they are constantly delaying the game because they are NOT paying attention? Should there be consequences for when this becomes a problem, if so, what are the consequences?

  • Disruptive topics
    Are real-life topics like religion, politics, porn or sex okay at your table? What about sports? Are there other topics that are disruptive? Maybe it's ok to talk about these kind of things before the session starts, but not during the session? Many of these topics can lead to heated discussions that can be disruptive to a game session and upsetting to other players. While this more applies to online D&D games, it can still be an issue for offline D&D games as well. Should players arrive an hour early so that they can do a bit of socializing before the session?

  • Unannounced dice rolls
    What happens when a player make a dice-rolls without saying anything, only then to say, "I just rolled a nat-20 on my perception check"? Are dice rolls only allowed to me made when prompted? How are dice rolls handled? Can players can make their rolls when they think they need to?

  • Dice rolls against one another
    Are dice rolls allowed to be used to settle in-character arguments? Can one PC roll to persuade another PC that his course of action is right? Or is this kind of thing not allowed at all? Is it something that's allowed sparingly, but only under DM guidance, or only when prompted by the DM? Perhaps everyone at the table has to agree to allow such rolls first?

  • Player vs player
    Is tension between characters allowed? What about argument between characters? Is combat between two or more PCs allowed? What happens when character tension finally breaks out into violence between those two characters? Is allowed only if the DM approves? Does the whole table have to approve the PvP? What is your stance on PvP as a DM?

  • PC secrets
    Are players allowed to keep in-game secrets from other players? Are characters allowed to keep in-game secrets from other characters? If so, who decides what secrets are allowed? Is this sort of thing left up to the players? Is it only the privilege of the DM?

  • Player expectations, types, goals and diversity
    What happens when one player's expectations ruins the fun of another player? Does every player at your table need to be there for the same reasons as every other player? Is it okay for one to be there only for the sweet loots and experience, while another is there to role-play his deep personality, while yet another is there to just 'kill shit'? DMs you may want to discuss with each player at the table, why they are here and what they hope to get out of the game, and how you as a DM can meet those hopes and expections. If for some reason you cannot, discuss that with the player and offer what you can do instead. After you have, you may want to reinforce that you are all there to have fun, but have different ideas of what fun is.

  • Player discomfort
    Occasionally things may happen in-game that makes a player uncomfortable. There may be times where everyone agreed about a particular topic in session-0, but when it actually surfaces in-game, the player may find out that they in fact are NOT comfortable with it. How are such things handled? Is there a time-out system? Does the DM call a break and this become a table discussion? Is the player allowed to step out on the scene and come back after it has passed? Does the DM use a retcon to the story?

  • Player agency
    How do you feel about player agency? What is your stance on it? Is it a possibility that a PC becomes a DM-controlled character? What are the ways PCs can use to un-petrify their fellow PCs from the effects of a Basilisk? Historically, D&D has not cared much about player agency. What the DM says is what goes, but it has gotten significantly better about it as the editions have passed. Save-or-die effects kind-of linger but are gone for the most part. Players (veteran or not) coming to play D&D though, may actually welcome and want this kind of thing, while other players may not. DMs you may want to discuss it with your table.

  • Spotlight sharing
    Are players allowed to have spotlight focus? Or will the spotlight only be focused on the party as a whole? Are players or characters allowed to steal another PCs spotlight? What happens if a player or his/her character tramples over another characters scene/spotlight? This kind of thing can ruin another player's fun, but it is also the kind of action that the player won't immediately voice their discomfort about. DMs you may want to try to be watchful of this.

  • Meta-gaming
    Do you allow it? Is it okay for players to know that swinging their weapon as a ghost will not harm it? Are characters allowed to know that trolls don't regenerate health when harmed with acid or fire? What about when it comes to multiple rolls? Just because the Wizard player knows the Rogue rolled low for his check for traps, would it make sense for the Wizard character to insist that he check as well? If some meta knowledge is okay, and others are not, please discuss that with your players. Where is the limit? Though it gets talked about like it's some sort of sin, some metagame knowledge is okay to have at your table as long as everyone is having fun.

  • Min-maxing
    What is your stance on this as a DM? Do you welcome optimized characters, even if the character concept/theme is ridiculous? Perhaps you simply tolerate it, as long as it doesn't become an issue? Or perhaps you and your players decided to play a campaign that is more about ROLL-play than ROLE-play? Are veterans allowed to help newer players optimize their PCs? If optimized PCs are allowed or encouraged, you may want to let your players know that it is also fine to play unoptimized characters as well.

  • Character party fit
    That 'loner' character? Are they allowed? If so, at what limits? Is it okay if a PC just tags along ONLY to do combat and avoid anything social? D&D is a social-based game, you may wish to encourage your players to create characters that play well with others and that will fit with the party. On the other hand, you may want to be mindful about players potentially bullying other players into playing races and classes they do not want to play. Party fit should not limit class and race choice.

  • Murder hobos
    What is your stance on this as a DM? Is it allowed? Is it allowed, but there will be in-game consequences? Maybe your playing an evil campaign and this is exactly what you want in this campaign. DMs understand that D&D by its nature and history encourages this style of game-play, so be forgiving but mindful.

  • Other behavior rules
    Perhaps this is where you tell your players to be respectful to one another, or be communicative, etc.

Ethic concerns

This part will cover mature topics and is here to avoid just suddenly triggering players, by bringing these topics on the table up front. They can be discussed and should be discussed in a mature respectful manor. It's important to include a preface to this topic-set. Be as respectful and as frank as possible but ask for forgiveness incase you happen to fall short. These are not easy topics to discuss but should be brought up at the table during session zero regardless. For these topics, it is important to address every player at the table for their individual input & then individual consent.

  • Attraction and sexual orientation
    Discuss the possibilities of attraction or sexual orientation of both the PCs and the NPCs, as well as the populous in general, in your setting/campaign. Are there cultural stigmas on select sexual orientations that span across multiple races? Does each race/culture have different views that vary? Does each individual make this decision for themselves? Does religion or government have an effect here? Are some cultures, religions or governments more accepting than others? Is it alright a character to experience attraction from others that may not match their personal views as a player. You may want to ask if they will be uncomformable as a player with seeing interactions in character that may not align to their personal views.

  • Rape and sexual assault
    What is your stance on this topic? Are characters allowed to have had this happen in their background/past? Maybe you do just limit it to the past, but never the present. Can it happen to NPCs but not PCs? Are characters allowed to perform these acts? If so, is it done only 'off-camera'?

  • Slavery
    DMs consider discussing with your table, the stance you have on this topic. Can PC expect to encounter enslaved NPCs? Can PC become enslaved, or does it only happen to NPCs? Can this be a part of the PCs background? If a PC does become enslaved, does the PC somehow become an NPC? How is slavery viewed in your setting by the various cultures in your game? Do only certain races seek to enslave others, or does every race have the potential to take slaves? Perhaps a certain race is a slave race, similar to house-elves in Harry Potter?

After you have discussed this topics, it maybe best to conclude with a reassuring follow-up. Remind there players that these are being discussed now to avoid player discomfort later on, so that everyone can have a fun game. Remind players that at any time, even if it goes against what you agreed upon, or what was discussed during a Session-0 that they feel uncomfortable, to please say something.

Practicalities

  • Arranging the sessions
    Are session played on a regular schedule, for instance monday night every week? Every two weeks? First monday each month? Or are sessions planned and a session by session basis? If so, when is the next session planned? Right before/after the session, or inbetween sessions?

  • Player absence
    You may want to discuss with your players, how many players get to be absent for the session before the game is cancelled that night? What is the minimum amount of people you will DM for in a session? What happens when too few players show up? Maybe the players that do show up get in some 'down-time' play that can provide minor benefits or perhaps progresses some down-time activities that had going on? Maybe you can do a one-shot you been planning for? What is your backup plan; play board-games, video-games? watch movies?

  • Rules debates
    How do you handle rules debates? Does the game pause to look up rules? Does the DM make a quick ruling to keep game flow and then the rule is looked up after the session? Perhaps as a DM you use some combination of both?

  • Food, snacks and drinks
    If your sessions overlap a meal, how do you handle this? Do people bring their own food? Do you order or make food together? Do you eat while playing, or do you take a break while eating?

Playstyle

  • Type of Game
    Is this a sandbox game, or more of a rail-road? Perhaps its a rail-road that leads to a sandbox game? Perhaps a sandbox game where players can jump on and off the railroad only at certain points, or perhaps whenever they like? Will the campaign be following a campaign book, and if so, how closely? Does the setting revolve around the players, or are the players just a tiny cog in a much much larger world? What kind of narrative with the game be? Is it something like LotR or will it involve more mystery and conspiracy, or will it feature heavy political themes, like Game of Thrones? Will the players be driven into a main plot by the DM, or are they responsible for creating the plot themselves? Something in-between?

  • Pet peeves
    This is where you can discuss your own personal pet-peeves. Things about the game that really bother you as a DM. Just remember that when discussing them, your coming from a place of kindness and doing so to inform them so to avoid issues later on.

  • Game balance and fairness
    As a DM, what are your feelings about the balance of the game you are playing? How will you as a DM handle encounter balance? Will you constantly be throwing only deadly encounters at the PCs? Perhaps you feel that in this kind of sandbox campaign, players can stumble into the Ancient Red Dragons lair at level 1? OR perhaps you feel that the game is broken, or the balance it presents is a farce, so you will employ other means of being fair to your players? Will you as a DM present challenges that will be hopeless when faced head-on, requiring the party to be highly tactical and gather information beforehand? Or will the encounters be laid out to always be 'fair' towards the party?

  • Notes
    Are the players required to remember everything that happens? If so, is there a system in place for taking notes? Is every player responsible for taking notes, or is there a designated note-taker? What happens when the players forget crucial details?

Experience

  • Earning XP
    How do players earn XP? Do monsters/creatures have to be slain, or is it good enough to find some other past the challenge? What if the players defeat a monster non-violently? Do you even earn XP at all, or use the milestones variant (DMG p. 261)?

  • Level-up
    When do PCs level up? Long rest? Short rest? Once they are back in town? The moment they gain enough exp? Or will level-ups be handled by the players in-between sessions?

Character creation

  • Creation questions
    DMs if you have some questions you want your players to answer about their characters durring creation, this is the place to list them. You may want to consider things like; Why is your character an adventurer? How is your character connected to at least one other character in the group? Who are your characters parents, siblings, mentors, etc? Are questions can be answered collaboratively by the group and the DM to create a cohesive party, or are the characters more freely defined by the player himself?

  • Ability scores
    What method is used for creating ability scores, and why? Standard array, point buy, or rolling for stats? If PCs are allowed to roll, do you follow a house-rule set or use the one from the PHB? If ability scores are created randomly, what happens if one character is vastly superior or inferior to the rest of the party? Discuss if this kind of situation can cause tension and take away the fun for one or more players.

  • Hit points
    Are PCs allowed to roll hit-dice for HP or do they take the average? Or can they themselves choose what method to use?

  • Alignment
    How heavily is alignment featured in your game? Is alignment perceptive or descriptive? What kind of things can cause a character to change alignment? What happens when a character changes alignment? Is there the potential for class features to because unusable or even lost due to alignment change? Perhaps you do not allow PCs to have alignment, but NPCs and monster do, just for those few game mechnics that rely on it? Can a player's actions be prohibited by his characters alignment?

  • Stat rulings
    DMs if you have additional rules concerning stats, you may discuss them here. Keep these rules only to stats that may affect character creation, there will be another section for listing other mechanics that may affect game-play and/or characters. Maybe you have an optional Age-trade rule where the elderly gets a +2Wis but suffers a -1Dex & -1Con. Perhaps you have a house rule where characters with 8 or less Int, can not read or write. Discuss these house-rules which have an effect on attribute score discisions.

  • Other Creation Rules
    If you have other rules or limitations or expansions on character creation for your campaign, then list them here. Are you perhaps using the Renown optional rules from the DMG here? Perhaps you allow every player to get a feat at first level? If you restrict certain races or classes or sub-classes, that is the for the next topic.

Races and classes

  • Races allowed/disallowed
    Are there any races you disallow? Do you allow flying races? Do you allow homebrew races? Do you allow Unearthed Arcana Races? Elemental Evil Races? Sword Coast Adventure Guide? Volo's Guide? What about the Magic The Gathering Unearthed Arcana Races? Maybe you will some races with a minor tweak to them?

  • Tweaking/reflavor races
    Can PCs make minor tweaks to a race? Can PCs reflavor a race to be a different race? Do you allow PCs to play races they homebrewed themselves?

  • Classes allowed
    Are there any classes you disallow? Do you allow homebrew classes or only homebrew classes from recognised sources, such as Matt Mercer and Sterling Vermin? Do you allow Unearthed Arcana classes/sub-classes, e.g. the Unearthed Arcana Mystic? Sword Coast Adventure Guide sub-classes?

  • Tweaking/reflavor classes
    Can PCs make minor tweaks to a class or subclass, if it fits a certain theme that you as the DM can agree with? Can PCs reflavor a class to be a different theme, such as a Bard reflavored as Pro Wrestler?

Game-style, character lifestyle

  • Campaign Length (Contributed by /u/AeoSC)
    Discuss how long you think this campaign will run for, will characters be able to reach level 9? level 14? How many sessions you expect the campaign go?

  • In-game adventurers
    What can PCs expect from being an adventurer? Are adventurers all heroes, or are they perhaps members of an adventuring guild? Or are they all pirates on a pirate ship? Perhaps they are all members of a faction? Do Adventurers have 'normal lives' during downtime? How do NPCs generally view adventurers? Is it favorable? or are they looked down upon because they cause more trouble than good? Or perhaps because only the desperate take up the adventuring life? Is this perception different based on culture?

  • In-game politics and factions
    What are the various factions at play? Can PCs join or already start as members of a faction? What kind of government do the PCs live under? Is it a feudal system? A magocracy? A republic? A tribe? Will the PCs be able to choose to change factions or move to live under a different form of government? What impact does the 'standard adventurer' have on the political landscape? Can the PCs go beyond what the 'standard adventurer' can do? Can the PCs effect change on the political landscape? Can PCs become part of the government? Can PCs even overthrow the government?

  • Start/standing
    Are characters starting at 1st level, or perhaps at a higher level? If they are starting off as a higher level, are these characters members of a town? A guild? A religion? How long have they been members? How did the character get their higher levels? During this time, have these character somehow earned some minor notoriety?

  • Character Context
    DMs you may want to consider covering the kinds of things that character may know vs what the player may know and the distinction in-between. The character has potentially lived 15+ years in this setting and may know things that a player would not. DMs, if meta-gaming is a concern for you, this is another place where you can break it down, and how you handle it. How can a player have access to something the character may know, should know, will know? Do they ask to roll for this? Do they automatically become told this knowledge by the DM when circumstances trigger it? Can players freely ask? Perhaps you use a mix of all of the above.

Backgrounds and feats

  • Backgrounds
    How do backgrounds effect the characters lifestyle? Do you as a DM limited any backgrounds? Do you use backgrounds as all? If you do, do you want final approval of each background selection? Do you allow players to tweak or homebrew their own backgrounds? Have you homebrewed any background for you to use in you campaign?

  • Feats
    Do you allow feats in the game? Do feats, like the Actor feat, effect backgrounds and the characters lifestyle? Do you as a DM limit any feats? Do you want final approval of each feat selection? Do you allow for the Unearthed Arcana Feats? Have you homebrewed any Feats for use in your campaign? Have you tweaked some of the stock feats? Do you restrict or allow any feat in particular?

Genereal mechanic rules

  • Ready an Action
    DMs, this is confusing. It might be a good idea to cover & discuss this mechanic with your table. Consider perhaps going as far as to break it down step-by-step the requirements for using this feature, the cost, & risk involved.

  • Bonus Actions
    You may want to clarify what a bonus action is, & when it can be taken and that wording is important. How do bonus actions work in relation to the Ready an Action. If you use any house-rules for being able to use a Bonus action as an Action, then list & define that here, or any other rules you have for bonus actions.

  • Repeated Party Rolls
    DMs considering discussing how you handle these. Does the entire party get to roll perception-checks to spot the hidden door & you take the highest? Perhaps you rule as a DM that only the person that ask, gets to roll & any additional PCs can provide the Help action & that is it? Perhaps you have a different system?

  • Downtime/Crafting
    Is there down-time for your PCs? Do you use the downtime RAW? About how much time passes between sessions/adventures? Do you have an alternate down-time system? What do characters do during down-time, what CAN they do during down time? What can PCs craft? Do you use crafting RAW? or did you tweak it?

  • Additional mechanic rules
    If you have additional rules that focus on general game play that isn't covered by another topic in this article, list them here. You may want to consider additionally discussing; what is involved in Taming creatures; how much damage you get from Lava/Magma; the breakdown of how Dark-vision, Darkness, & Dim light work, in addition to your other house-rules.

Inspiration

  • Gaining Inspiration
    How do players gain inspiration? Does the DM award it? Do players award each other? If players award each other, does the DM have 'veto' power? Can players have multiple sources of inspiration? Can players have more than one inspiration at a time? Perhaps you scrap the inspiration system because everyone seems to forget about it? Can the players ask for inspiration?

  • Tracking Inspiration
    Does the player with inspiration get a special dice? a special token? Can you keep inspiration from the end of one gaming session to the next gaming session? Can players SHARE inspiration freely with one another? Do you have a system to REMEMBER inspiration?

  • Spending Inspiration
    How does a player spend inspiration? Does inspiration aand bardic inspiration provide some sort of super inspiration? If a player somehow has a pool of inspiration tokens, can a player use spend more than one of those on a single roll? Can a player use Inspiration after seeing the result of the dice, or does it have to be declared before? Do the players have to come up with an in-game reason that ties the inspiration to the improved result?

Ability checks

  • Giving Aid
    Does providing aid, provide straight advantage; or perhaps does the PC giving aid need proficiency in the skill they are using in making the check? Are those perception checks or the Search actions, exempt from this ruling? Is there a time limit on the kind of task that PC an provide aid for? Are these questions perhaps answered on a case-by-case basis?

  • Multiple Attempts
    Can a rogue make that lock picking attempt over and over and over again? As a DM, at what point do you draw the line on multiple attempts? Perhaps as a DM, you would raise the DC in such a case? If so, state what it is. What if the Bard gives the Rogue his bardic inspiration, does this perhaps reset the DC to what it was? What if the rogue took a short rest before trying again? What if the rogue instead spends his inspiration?

  • Group checks
    If the party needs to achieve something together, such as sneaking past some foes as a group, how do you handle this? Does everybody in the group have to succeed on the stealth check? Perhaps if half the party succeeds on the check, it means that they are able to collectively help each other and therby succeed?

Criticals

  • Critical Hits
    RAW? Or do you roll and add maximized damage and then add modifiers? Maybe you will allow your players to choose for each campaign? Maybe you have an alternate method; if so, what is it?

  • Critical Fumbles
    Is this a rule in your game? Do you have a table, if so, what is on your fumble table? The fumble-table is something every player should be able to readily access. If you do not have a fumble table, do you instead improvise what happens on a crit-fumble?

  • Critical Success
    Nat-20 on an ability check/save means what? What does it mean to the narrative? Do rolling a Nat-20 allow a player to get what they are after, no matter the circumstances or the ridiculousness of the roll? Would such a roll be immediately apparent in the narrative, or would it go perhaps unnoticed?

  • Critical Fail
    Nat-1 on an ability check/save means what? What does it mean to the narrative? Would such a roll be immediately apparent in the narrative, or would it go perhaps unnoticed?

Sneaking

  • Stealth
    Do you allow stealth movement in your game? How is accomplished? Do you require that the movement be immediately from one hiding spot to the next? Can stealth be accomplished in combat, or is it only out of combat? Consider taking the time to emphasize how Stealth/hiding in D&D is greatly different from what players may have experienced in video-games.

  • Unseen Attacker
    What does it mean to be an unseen attacker? How does cover play into effect here? How actions/things causes an unseen attack to become revealed? How does such an attack go back to being an Unseen Attacker? Can enemies even 'target' an unseen attacker?

  • Hidden/hide action
    What does it mean to be hidden? Can a hidden creature be a 'valid target'? If they can, what penalties does the attacker have against the hidden creature? What actions/things causes an hidden creature to become un-hidden? How does such a creature go back to being Hidden? Can a hidden creature clearly attack an un-hidden creature without penalty?

  • Invisibility
    What does it mean to be invisible? Can an invisible creature be a 'valid target'? If they can, what penalties do they have? What actions/things causes an invisible creature to become revealed or a target? How does an invisible creature go back to being un-revealed?

  • Traps
    Do you as a DM use the new Unearthed Arcana rule-set for traps? Are traps a heavy feature in your game? How often can adventurers be expected to encounter a trap? Do overcoming/defeating traps provide EXP? If so, how much EXP can players expect?

NPCs and creatures

  • Group initiative
    As a DM, do you use it? If so, how? Do you break up large groups into smaller ones? If you do not use Group Initiative, what do you use instead?

  • Vendors
    Most NPCs vendors will sell items for what cost? For base-price? Base-price+10%, +20%? will most vendors haggle or only some of them? Or will vendors not haggle at all?

  • Other Creature rules
    List any other creature rules you may have. Creatures in particular you may want to consider discuss are; Lycanthropes, Vampires, Intellect Devourers, Basilisk, and Medusa. These are the creatures that potentially have the likelihood of taking away player agency.

Magic items

  • Rarity
    How rare are magic items? Can you expect to find them almost everywhere, or are the legendary relics of the past? Perhaps some items are common (potions, spell scrolls) while others are legendary and rare (weapons, armor, artifacts)?

  • Attunement/identification
    Does attunement reveal everything about an item, or do PCs need to identify them to get the full list of everything an item can do? Do PCs need to identify an item before being able to attune to it?

  • Magic resize
    Do wearable items auto-magically resize to fit their wearer? If not, is there a way to resize such items? Perhaps only rare and above items resize while uncommon does not? Perhaps only if you attune to the item, will it resize? Maybe all magical items auto-resize? Maybe it's on a case-by-case basis?

  • Potions
    Do potions take an action to use as per RAW, or can they be used by using a bonus action? Do the characters need to identify common potions (e.g. healing), or they so common that they recognize them on sight?

  • Other magic item rules
    List any other magical items rules you may have.

Spells and spell effects

  • Additional/customized spells
    Do you allow spells from the Unearthed Arcana: That Old Black Magic? Do you allow for homebrewed spells? Do you allow any class to make tweaks to spells, or do you limit that kind of thing to only the Sorcerer? If spells can be tweaked, what kind of tweaks can be made? Damage-type? Range? Duration?

  • Spells vs environments
    Do spells work differently in different environments? Do fire spells work underwater? what about lightning spells underwater? Do ice spells work on the Plane of Fire? Do you have guidelines or do you make judgement calls when such circumstances happen?

  • Spell Abuse
    As a DM how do you handle things if a caster starts using spells abusively? What do you consider to be spell abuse?

  • Spell casting and juggling
    Do players need to keep track of which hand carries their components, which hand they use for somatic gestures, which hand they use for foci, which hands holds their spell-book, and which hand they use for weapons? Or perhaps as DM, you don't care as long as it isn't breaking the action economy? Do you strictly enforce spell-casting rules via RAW, or do you allow some leniency?

  • Material components
    Do spell casters need to keep track of what components they have? or can they just simply deduct 50gp for that diamond they need for Chromatic Orb? Perhaps you decided to wave all the material cost of spell components for spells below 6th level? Consider discussing what you as a DM expect from your caster players.

  • Spell tweaks
    DMs list your spell tweaks here, if any.

Death, ressurrection and resting

  • Death
    What happens when a PC dies? What happens when there is a TPK? Does the game end? Does it mean that time passes and events progress a certain number of years before the players can create new PCs? Should every player have a backup character ready to go? Make sure your players know what it means when these events happens; this is something often forgotten about that brand new players need to know.

  • Resurrection
    What options, in the setting or in the game, do players have for resurrecting fallen PCs? Is this the privy of high-level PCs and gods, or can anyone bring the corpse of a fallen ally to the resurrection temple and pay a huge sum of money to resurrect a character? Do you have an alternate set of Resurrection rules. Did you pick up the rule-set that Mat Mercer recently refined for his PC resurrections? Even if you follow resurrection RAW, what impact does resurrection have in-game? Is this a common occurrence in this setting? or is it something special and unique? Will characters be expected to go get a special component (like unicorn blood, angel tears, phoenix down) otherwise resurrection spells will automatically fail?

  • Death Rules
    DMs if you have game mechanic rules for when PCs die, discuss them here. What about Massive Damage rules; does it outright kill you? A common rule seems to be Death Exhaustion: When a character regains 1hp from after being dropped to 0hp, that character gains one level of exhaustion.

  • Resting Rules
    DMs if you have rules for rest mechanics discuss them here. A common rule seems to be only 2 short rest before a long rest. Another common is that a Long Rest always starts with a Short rest. Perhaps you do not gain full health on a long rest? How to tackle rest-abuse, where character take long rests unnaturally often?

Setting and worldbuilding

  • Collaborative worldbuilding
    Can the players collaborate in building the world? Are they expected to? Can players be assigned to flesh out a specific area of the world related to their character?

  • Player Narrative Authority
    Do you allow your players to have some narrative authority in your game? How much say do you allow in your game/campaign, for each player? For example; can the Cleric player create the deity she follows and you as a DM allow her to decide what her deity personality, attitudes, domain, etc? Maybe the Fighter is the son of a farmer? So now there is a whole farm in your game that, when the party arrives at, the Fighter player now becomes an assistant DM. This can go a LONG way to allowing your players feel ATTACHED to the game setting.

  • Gender
    In your setting, are there if any, in your setting and the possibilities of encountering patriarchal or matriarchal cultures & how prevalent each are in this setting. What can characters find as the most common 'norms' for gender roles. Bring up any race/culture in your setting that has off-set or extremest views from the general gender norms you described earlier. Consider discussing the topics of creatures, deities & magic items that can change gender, if any, & how common those are. (Succubus/Incubus come to mind.)

  • Racism and prejudice
    Is this a fantasy setting where people are judged by their deeds and merit, on a person by person basis? Or do Elves hate Dwarves? If so why? Perhaps all the demi-human races view the goblinoid races with disdain? Is it a race by race thing? Perhaps it's all faction based? Which cultures or races are more open-minded, which ones are hugely xenophobic, which ones feel that their culture/race is superior?