Lessons in "Level 0" Sessions

Due to the absence of a few players I chose to try a “Level 0” adventure based in the same town as the main story and heroes.  I enjoy roleplaying and often the best experiences come from the situations with the least rules.  Players having to imagine and be creative are preferred to players who look at a sheet of paper for their two or five word answer to a problem.  By limiting what is written on that sheet of paper, I hoped to encourage players who could engage themselves and not rely on me or the system to get them to “buy in”.


Despite having read some articles previously about the concept of “0 level” sessions, I didn’t remember much of what I had read.  I decided to do this run by having each player start with each attribute to be 10, modified by their racial choice, and each selecting a background.  They each had hit points of 8, skills earned by race and background, and equipment based off their background starting set.  For weapons I hand waved them as just being proficient with one weapon of their choice, presumably something in their background inventory.  I treated their AC as 10.

The first session went fantastic as I tied in adventures and characters the players remembered from long ago and it was a mostly RP with only minor combat that was quickly resolved.  The second session went well also.  I had been making up the plot as the players interacted with the environment but was feeling a bit out of depth by this point as I had the rough idea that I wanted them to have a dramatic moment to gain entry into their first class level of power.  The main goal of having players fill in their background organically was beginning to take shape and all were enjoying it.

Before the next session I encountered a writing prompt of a locale to insert into an adventure and it inspired me with what I thought would be a perfect “dramatic moment”.  However, this is where I made my first mistake.  I began to railroad my players into this story “I” wanted to tell.  I know this is a mistake, but in the moment the “perfectness” of the idea put blinders on me.

The next two sessions were not terrible, but did not have the same resonation of the first two.  The combination of some players not buying into the concept (players who think 1-shots are purely farcical excuses to get their character killed), poor engagement between players, and my commitment to the story I thought should happen meant that  by the end of the story, it had fallen flat and no one was having fun.  Some of the players went along with it, others did enjoy it and some even grew for it, but overall I walked away from that table very disappointed in myself.

I was again reminded that the first rule is to always respect the player’s agency.  Even if they attack a demigod who was put there to grant them power, and roll a critical hit, let the attack happen.  Say “yes”, not “no”.  Give players meaningful options, not a “non-option” versus “my story”.  Don’t set up plot lines and dialogue that must happen or else no progress is possible.  Creating gates like this makes the players feel as if their effort and time is being wasted if they can have no impact on their fate.  All this builds frustration on all sides and that manifests in a terrible feedback loop of decisions if not recognised and dealt with immediately.

In addition to those lessons this has prompted me to hammer out a more cohesive and thought out method to what I want in “Level 0” sessions and adventures.  The key I think is still to keep it as simple as possible, but by laying out my own goals and method, I will be able to avoid the problems I encountered in this latest adventure.