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For DMs7-min read

The DM's Session-Zero Checklist: 20 Questions Before You Roll Dice

A complete session-zero checklist for D&D 5e DMs — the 20 questions to ask your players before campaign one to set tone, safety, character cohesion, and table expectations.

What is a session zero?

A session zero is a 1–2 hour meeting before the campaign starts. No dice. The party agrees on tone, content, character connections, table rules, and rest schedules.

Sessions that skip session zero produce the most common D&D failure modes: a player whose backstory contradicts another's, a DM running a horror campaign for players who wanted comedy, or a party whose characters wouldn't realistically travel together.

The 20 questions

  1. What kind of campaign do we want — high-fantasy heroic, gritty low-magic, mystery, war, exploration?
  2. Tone — comedy, drama, horror, romance? Each affects player expectations.
  3. Lethality — is character death possible? How often? Does the DM fudge?
  4. Safety tools — Lines (never crossed), Veils (faded to black), X-card (table-side pause). Pick one and put it on a card.
  5. Content limits — what topics are off-limits? Slavery? Torture? Sexual content? Child harm? Specific real-world parallels?
  6. Combat-to-roleplay ratio — what split do players want? 70/30 combat / RP? 50/50?
  7. Encounter difficulty — do players want to win or to be challenged? Tune Easy / Medium / Hard / Deadly accordingly.
  8. Long-rest cadence — do you allow long rests in dungeons? Hard mode is one long rest per 24 hours regardless.
  9. Character backstory length — one paragraph or a full novella?
  10. Backstory cross-pollination — do characters know each other? At least two should.
  11. Religion / pantheon — Forgotten Realms gods, custom pantheon, or no gods?
  12. Magic level — common (Eberron), rare (Dark Sun), or 'standard' (Faerûn)?
  13. Multiclassing and feats — both allowed? Either? Neither?
  14. Optional rules — flanking, milestone XP, popcorn initiative, healing surges?
  15. Inspiration — DM grants, player-grants, how often?
  16. Missed sessions — does the missing player's character auto-survive? Auto-collect XP?
  17. Schedule — weekly, biweekly, monthly?
  18. Snacks — who brings them? Allergies?
  19. Communication channel — Discord, group text, in-person only?
  20. End condition — when does the campaign end? After Tier 4? When the BBEG dies? At a fixed level?

Document the decisions

Write up the session-zero outcomes in a shared document. Reference it whenever a debate arises in play. The document is the contract — changing it requires player-and-DM agreement, not a DM ruling.

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