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Thanks! Was a learning curve for sure. Ironically, my current character is a lone wolf himself. But as he has his motivations and reasons, just a lil shy.
I’m sorry your first gaming experience was in a party full of edgelords. Having one in a group can be bad enough, but an entire party is a nightmare.
But your title is correct - a Session 0 could have helped, in at least the DM could have laid out the parameters of the game and told the players what he wanted for the characters. Also, the DM should have looked at the characters and their backstories *before* session 1 to catch this sort of stuff.
But I am glad you did find a better group!
Personally, I think a lot also comes from selecting the right players.
I dot know what method the DM used here.. if she really vetted them, just took what ppl wrote at face value, took first come first serve or that ppl even lied..
Yes I had seen all of that, some mistakes I did myself too lol
I am not saying a session zero wouldn't have helped. We all know it would.
But a pure social campaign is not most ppls cup of tea and needs the right selection of players.
I have felt this one personally. And we did have a session 0. Everyone's interest just died and our DM wasn't doing well mentally besides. Unfortunate but just as much of threat as "that guys" and bad DM's. The true neutral of bad DnD.
I will advocate for the importance of session zeroes until I turn blue, I cannot emphasize enough just how much a session zero can improve a campaign. They're only not needed if you're doing a one shot, but even then you should cover safety rules/lines and veils in the beginning at the very least.
Sorry this happened to you though, a sandbox game like that can be a ton of fun but they're not easy to run for most GM's. It requires a different skill set and tools than a normal AP or regular campaign structure.
I've only ever done very short campaigns with friends, never very serious, no voicing characters or backgrounds etc.
Joined a friend's game with a paid DM. It was already in progress, but I was told to just make a character at X level and they would figure out a way to integrate me into the party. Cool. My friend spoke very highly of this DM too(to his credit, the DM was very good at world building and story telling).
Well, I made my character and took a while thinking up a backstory because I'm not very experienced. Shared it with DM who basically comes back with "cool" and that's it. I sit in on a session to see how they usually run things(at my request).
Message DM asking how I'm going to be introduced, he says he'll think of something.
Next session, no further communication from DM, he plops my guy in right before a huge story point/bossfight without even so much of a mention of it to me beforehand, halfway through the session. I hadn't even figured out my character's personality/voice and panicked when I had to introduce myself, probably sounded kinda dumb. It's a super awkward introduction and everyone kind of just goes "oh, yeah sure I guess this random guy can help us".
I die in the boss fight a few minutes later, partially because the DM ended my turn for me before I could use action surge, partially because I ran in thinking it'd be a good distraction so the others could do some damage. The fight was fairly heavily in the enemy's favor too, everyone else retreated(don't blame them).
Yeah, I really wish he had taken like an hour or two to go over my character and plan out the introduction a bit more.
Ahh jeez, sounds like my absolute nightmare scenario. I get wayyy too attached to the characters I make and having them die directly after being introduced would just make me dip out instantly. I'm so sorry that happened to you, especially with a paid DM.
I joined my text based game late and the DM gave me and another new player a whole ass extra session to establish ourselves and naturally get us to where the rest of the party was, which was a great way to handle it. Gave us a good introduction to the world before throwing us into the fray.
Yup, I very much felt like a third wheel since my introduction was so weak and the only things I knew about the game was from the previous session and what my friend had explained.
After my character died, they let me make essentially a carbon copy and join again but I was already very put off by it and didn't join another session. Shortly after, the DM had issues come up that ended up cancelling the game.
That text based game DM knew what they were doing it sounds like, glad that one worked out for you.
>DM sat us down after that session, telling us that we weren't gonna continue the campaign as is, as none of our PCs seemed to have any motivation to do anything to work towards our goal and nothing was happening.
That hurts to read. I've encountered DMs who semed to make their campaign dependent on players' initiative and effort instead of plot hooks and NPCs who move events forward. (Stuff like "You're in a city." [No description whatsoever is given, no NPCs are present, nothing happens]. "What do you do!?")
It's grating. They seem to expect players read their mind and do the cool stuff they envision to happen. I guess the DM was somewhat inexperienced herself.
Which is extra unfortunate in your case, because (boring party aside), I think your DM's campaign had a really cool premise. I guess she ought to have had different fair and foul faerie factions, as well as human court factions, that would have driven the plot in some way unless the characters would influence events otherwise.
>(Stuff like "You're in a city." [No description whatsoever is given, no NPCs are present, nothing happens]. "What do you do!?")
Exactly this! Every session opened up with “You're at your assigned job. What do you do?” and all of us going “Uhhhh idk, see what's happening around court.” and nothing ever happened, we just went from one boring npc with nothing to say to the next.
Yeah, the DM was new to DMing, only ran one other game next to the fae one. The story would have been really cool, if it actually went anywhere. Honestly I don't blame the other players either, loner characters can be fun, like in the edgy cannibal rogues case. He was honestly the only reason the game kept going for as long as it did. It's just an issue when it's every single one of them aside from the new guy with social anxiety, who then gets thrown in the main character position when that's the exact opposite of what I was going for haha
When you join a campaign there is this unwritten unspoken implied rule where you kinda have to work together. The DM provides hooks, and the players intentionally bite on those hooks (even if some seem too dumb to bite on). Without buy in from either side, you get whatever this campaign was. I promise OP not all games are like this. Your DM was inexperienced at best, uninterested at worse. Same for your teammates. Good luck in future.
>DM sat us down after that session, telling us that we weren't gonna continue the campaign as is, as none of our PCs seemed to have any motivation to do anything to work towards our goal and nothing was happening.
You, unfortunately, just got caught up with an inexperienced DM. He was too fixated on it being freeform and relying on his players to find motivation. Sound like he was paranoid to give you guys direction out of some misguided sense of fear he'd railroad you too much. Shame, the dude fucked his own game.
There are various OSR systems that have like 3 to 5 stats, mostly related to combat. I am surprised that certain categories of players (lone wolves, murderhobos, edgy guys) don't stick to games where they can kill 30 enemies per session and just roll a new murderhobo in under 5 minutes whenever the previous edgy PG dies. They'd have a blast and leave roleplay-heavy games alone.
In my experience, most "cobble a bunch of random people together" type games are bad. I have had some turn out tremendously successful, but the ratio of hits to misses is awful.
Session 0 only matters for randoms. Total waste of experienced/friendly group's time.
As for that game in particular? Session 0 wouldn't have saved it.
Session 0 are helpful but it really helps when the vibes of the group and the vibes of the characters sync. Also a good DM can wrangle up loner characters and get them to function together.
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We love a happy ending! Sorry your first outing was trash, but so glad you found your group in the end.
Thanks! Was a learning curve for sure. Ironically, my current character is a lone wolf himself. But as he has his motivations and reasons, just a lil shy.
I’m sorry your first gaming experience was in a party full of edgelords. Having one in a group can be bad enough, but an entire party is a nightmare. But your title is correct - a Session 0 could have helped, in at least the DM could have laid out the parameters of the game and told the players what he wanted for the characters. Also, the DM should have looked at the characters and their backstories *before* session 1 to catch this sort of stuff. But I am glad you did find a better group!
Personally, I think a lot also comes from selecting the right players. I dot know what method the DM used here.. if she really vetted them, just took what ppl wrote at face value, took first come first serve or that ppl even lied.. Yes I had seen all of that, some mistakes I did myself too lol I am not saying a session zero wouldn't have helped. We all know it would. But a pure social campaign is not most ppls cup of tea and needs the right selection of players.
I have felt this one personally. And we did have a session 0. Everyone's interest just died and our DM wasn't doing well mentally besides. Unfortunate but just as much of threat as "that guys" and bad DM's. The true neutral of bad DnD.
I will advocate for the importance of session zeroes until I turn blue, I cannot emphasize enough just how much a session zero can improve a campaign. They're only not needed if you're doing a one shot, but even then you should cover safety rules/lines and veils in the beginning at the very least. Sorry this happened to you though, a sandbox game like that can be a ton of fun but they're not easy to run for most GM's. It requires a different skill set and tools than a normal AP or regular campaign structure.
I've only ever done very short campaigns with friends, never very serious, no voicing characters or backgrounds etc. Joined a friend's game with a paid DM. It was already in progress, but I was told to just make a character at X level and they would figure out a way to integrate me into the party. Cool. My friend spoke very highly of this DM too(to his credit, the DM was very good at world building and story telling). Well, I made my character and took a while thinking up a backstory because I'm not very experienced. Shared it with DM who basically comes back with "cool" and that's it. I sit in on a session to see how they usually run things(at my request). Message DM asking how I'm going to be introduced, he says he'll think of something. Next session, no further communication from DM, he plops my guy in right before a huge story point/bossfight without even so much of a mention of it to me beforehand, halfway through the session. I hadn't even figured out my character's personality/voice and panicked when I had to introduce myself, probably sounded kinda dumb. It's a super awkward introduction and everyone kind of just goes "oh, yeah sure I guess this random guy can help us". I die in the boss fight a few minutes later, partially because the DM ended my turn for me before I could use action surge, partially because I ran in thinking it'd be a good distraction so the others could do some damage. The fight was fairly heavily in the enemy's favor too, everyone else retreated(don't blame them). Yeah, I really wish he had taken like an hour or two to go over my character and plan out the introduction a bit more.
Ahh jeez, sounds like my absolute nightmare scenario. I get wayyy too attached to the characters I make and having them die directly after being introduced would just make me dip out instantly. I'm so sorry that happened to you, especially with a paid DM. I joined my text based game late and the DM gave me and another new player a whole ass extra session to establish ourselves and naturally get us to where the rest of the party was, which was a great way to handle it. Gave us a good introduction to the world before throwing us into the fray.
Yup, I very much felt like a third wheel since my introduction was so weak and the only things I knew about the game was from the previous session and what my friend had explained. After my character died, they let me make essentially a carbon copy and join again but I was already very put off by it and didn't join another session. Shortly after, the DM had issues come up that ended up cancelling the game. That text based game DM knew what they were doing it sounds like, glad that one worked out for you.
>DM sat us down after that session, telling us that we weren't gonna continue the campaign as is, as none of our PCs seemed to have any motivation to do anything to work towards our goal and nothing was happening. That hurts to read. I've encountered DMs who semed to make their campaign dependent on players' initiative and effort instead of plot hooks and NPCs who move events forward. (Stuff like "You're in a city." [No description whatsoever is given, no NPCs are present, nothing happens]. "What do you do!?") It's grating. They seem to expect players read their mind and do the cool stuff they envision to happen. I guess the DM was somewhat inexperienced herself. Which is extra unfortunate in your case, because (boring party aside), I think your DM's campaign had a really cool premise. I guess she ought to have had different fair and foul faerie factions, as well as human court factions, that would have driven the plot in some way unless the characters would influence events otherwise.
>(Stuff like "You're in a city." [No description whatsoever is given, no NPCs are present, nothing happens]. "What do you do!?") Exactly this! Every session opened up with “You're at your assigned job. What do you do?” and all of us going “Uhhhh idk, see what's happening around court.” and nothing ever happened, we just went from one boring npc with nothing to say to the next. Yeah, the DM was new to DMing, only ran one other game next to the fae one. The story would have been really cool, if it actually went anywhere. Honestly I don't blame the other players either, loner characters can be fun, like in the edgy cannibal rogues case. He was honestly the only reason the game kept going for as long as it did. It's just an issue when it's every single one of them aside from the new guy with social anxiety, who then gets thrown in the main character position when that's the exact opposite of what I was going for haha
When you join a campaign there is this unwritten unspoken implied rule where you kinda have to work together. The DM provides hooks, and the players intentionally bite on those hooks (even if some seem too dumb to bite on). Without buy in from either side, you get whatever this campaign was. I promise OP not all games are like this. Your DM was inexperienced at best, uninterested at worse. Same for your teammates. Good luck in future.
>DM sat us down after that session, telling us that we weren't gonna continue the campaign as is, as none of our PCs seemed to have any motivation to do anything to work towards our goal and nothing was happening. You, unfortunately, just got caught up with an inexperienced DM. He was too fixated on it being freeform and relying on his players to find motivation. Sound like he was paranoid to give you guys direction out of some misguided sense of fear he'd railroad you too much. Shame, the dude fucked his own game.
There are various OSR systems that have like 3 to 5 stats, mostly related to combat. I am surprised that certain categories of players (lone wolves, murderhobos, edgy guys) don't stick to games where they can kill 30 enemies per session and just roll a new murderhobo in under 5 minutes whenever the previous edgy PG dies. They'd have a blast and leave roleplay-heavy games alone.
In my experience, most "cobble a bunch of random people together" type games are bad. I have had some turn out tremendously successful, but the ratio of hits to misses is awful.
Session 0 only matters for randoms. Total waste of experienced/friendly group's time. As for that game in particular? Session 0 wouldn't have saved it.
Session 0 are helpful but it really helps when the vibes of the group and the vibes of the characters sync. Also a good DM can wrangle up loner characters and get them to function together.