The Pre-session

How many times has a campaign started with a yawn, and the players rolling their eyes as the DM recites that time-worn cliche "You are all sitting in a tavern together" ...?

When I was playing D&D in Silicon Valley my friend Dan B. taught me one of the great skills of DM'ing - how to use the Pre-session.

Done well, the pre-session has the following great outcomes.

Character Tuning

• • allows for fine tuning and last minute changes before actual game play starts

  • provides a final safety net against mistakes or omissions on the character sheet

  • gives a chance to see the player character in a game setting while the character details are not yet etched in stone

  • gives the player a chance to get a flavour of the adventure and what to expect from the DM

  • players can introduce character unique attributes in a one-on-one setting with the DM

Campaign Setup

• • Players with different styles can sync up with their character before joining into the party

  • Introduce the player character into the game world in a way consistent with their backstory

  • Gets the player characters together as a group in the game world while maintaining drama and authenticity

  • The first campaign session can get off to a roaring start because all the setup is done and players and their characters are ready to go

Gearing up for the Pre-session

Typically allow around an hour for each pre-session.  Although as a DM you need many of the things you normally bring along to a game, you can do without much of the usual supplies, because as DM you will have a good idea what the game play part of the proceedings will involve - so no complex maps, tiles, or boxes of miniatures needed.  Basically your set of rulebooks, and some dice are sufficient.  Since its a one-on-one, its easily done in a small meeting room, or even a coffee shop.  Just make sure you have the privacy and freedom to be creative and expressive, since this play will set up the character for the rest of the game when done right.

Planning for the pre-sessions

The DM will need to know the following from each player, about their character:

• • character sheet - at least the basics, like name, race, stats, class

  • backstory, in particular where he or she has just most recently been located

  • any special considerations - ie if their inseperable companion animal is a wolf, busy marketplaces are difficult settings for the pre-session adventuring

  • based on the backstory, and current character location, the DM can figure out how the character might become involved in the campaign

  • take into account the characters motivations, quirks and general background when planning the hooks so that it will make sense to the player running the character.

Set up the pre-sessions

• • Arrange a meeting with the player in the days preceding the first session of the campaign, no more than a week previous.

  • Calendarize it or at least make sure you don't forget - if one player gets a pre-session, make sure all players get the chance. 

    • It might require some scheduling to make sure all players get done with their pre-sessions in the week before the game starts.

  • This is a one-on-one, so make it private from other players so any PC-DM confidences remain just that - for example maybe the character has a powerful but cursed family heirloom that the other players should not find out about (at least not on the first session).

Running the Pre-session

Here is the rough agenda for the pre-session, along with an idea of how much time each stage takes - this is just proportionate, so mix it up a bit to suit the campaign and the players.

First go over the character sheet together - 10 minutes

The DM can use this opportunity to transcribe the characters details to an initiative card, distill out the essentials of the character, and understand what role they will play in the party.

Work together to uncover and address any issues with the character.  If desired these can be edited on the fly right there in the pre-session, since actual campaign play has not yet started.  For example if a character does not have an adventurers kit (bedroll, rations, sunrod etc) and the campaign is likely to involve overnighting in the outdoors, this can be fixed - or perhaps that character has quirk where they like to travel light, and the DM can compensate by issuing a penalty for the rough nights rest.

Check out the backstory and current/recent location - 10 minutes

By now the DM should have a good idea of the characters location, immediately prior to when the action begins in the new campaign, and relevant backstory and details.

Confirm these with the player, and make any DM notes of the pertinent details, maybe on the back of the initiative card.  Think about any special items, NPCs the character is involved with, injuries they might be carrying and other continuity issues they may have leading in to the new campaign.  For example if the character is a cleric escaping from some NPCs who believe the character has stolen a precious holy relic, get the details so this can be used in the pre-session adventure while the player is still in their original location.

Get out your Dice - 5 minutes

Take a minute now to go from player world to character world.  The player can pencil in any new changes, equipment edits or make any other notes as he or she readies their character sheet and selects a favourite d20. 

The DM can now thread the plan decided apon in the section above "Planning for the pre-sessions" into the characters backstory and conjure up the setting, perhaps making a quick sketch on some grid paper.

Run the pre-session adventure - 30 minutes

Here the DM runs the player character thru a short encounter that hooks them into the campaign.

One of the big-bads from the campaign might have a brush with the character, perhaps the character witnesses them carry out some unspeakable act.  The character might have an encounter on the road as they run from their previous location.  A key NPC could give the character vital information amounting to a quest - its up to the character to then share (or not) this quest with the other players when they meet.  An NPC might need help, being under attack from henchmen of the campaigns main opponent bad guy, or the NPC might be a guard trying to arrest an escaping bandit who has some crucial information. 

For the DM the trick here is to find a situation that can be launched straight from the location the character is most recently in AND which plays to the characters strengths and motiviations.  For example an unaligned rogue character might be just as happy to stand and watch in amusement as the guard pursues the bandit, so that would be a poor choice of hook. 

The Hook:  as DM you need to think throughout this mini-adventure how you are going to pitch the campaign to the character.  Of course the player is already sold - they would not be here otherwise.  But ideally the character will simply and naturally be led by their own motivations and inclinations, perhaps with some impetus from their backstory to get involved in the campaign. 

The DM has to pull off two tricks here:

• • sell the character on the campaign - the character should be able to answer the question "why am I doing this?"

  • get the information to the character about where he needs to head to, in order to get involved in the campaign

With the latter point, note that its not necessary to have a single common destination that all the player characters will wind up meeting at.  What can happen is that on the way to that destination, the characters one-by-one meet up with each other, for example by boarding on the same ship or wagon train.

The pre-session adventure can be brought to a close once these two things are acheived.  At this point the details of how the meeting with the other characters plays out is still unresolved - but that can be done via email prior to the next adventure, or during the introduction for the main campaign when all characters are sitting around the table.  The DM will need to have all the notes from the various pre-session adventures, and can stitch these together into a collective summary that shows how the player characters meet up.

Bringing the pre-session into the campaign

Now the setting for the campaign is all done, and on the first session everyone is primed and ready to get straight into the thick of it.  The DM can relate the summary prepared from the collective pre-sessions, and all players should have a good recognition of it - since it only happened a few days ago.  Of course if there is any thing not known to all the PC's in the summary, the DM should make sure not to give away information.  Players can regale each other with their experience and understanding of the campaign, and generally share knowledge while role-playing their characters into the mix.

Now, game on!!