Session zero is packed. Like, really packed, with so many things to do and consider and take care of. There’s establishing the style/theme/tone of the game. Discussing safety tools. Establishing a genre to experience. Determining which system to use. Figuring out what setting to romp around in. Collaborating on character creation. Maybe even some shared world building between the players and the GM. Actually making characters. Perhaps an intro scene where the story is set and getting ready to roll before the campaign launches into orbit.

Yeah. It’s lots. Maybe too much.

However, I’m going to pile onto the stack a few more items that I think could be handled offline after session zero to help the GM really hone the campaign’s blade to razor sharpness. This can be handled via Google Forms, emails, Discord, Slack, or whatever communications methods your group uses between sessions.

Here we go!

Player Goals

Break the fourth wall here. Don’t think about character concerns, but what do you as a player want out of the campaign? Do you want to skulk around alleys? Maybe save a nation? Maybe be the big damn hero to rescue people of lesser abilities? Do you want to shoot between the stars, or delve deep underground? Do you want to level fast to see how the higher tiers of play run? Do you want to roll in the gold and spend as you please? What do you want out of the game? There is no wrong answer here.

Player Motivations

Why do you want what you want? This question is more important than actually stating goals for game play. Letting the GM peek into your brain to see why you want to accomplish certain goals will help the GM facilitate those goals more easily… and probably with a great deal more fun.

Character Goals

Now it’s time to delve into your character’s inner self and figure out what you want your character to accomplish as you roll through the campaign. Riches? Fame? Infamy? Revenge? Redemption? Do you want to find your long lost father and reunite with him? Do you want your hard-working mother to never have to punch the clock again? Cure a disease that plagues your hometown?

When developing goals for your character, try to come up with a short-term and a long-term goal. Make them achievable within the framework of the game/setting/group. Most of all make them matter to your character (and maybe the world at large), and have fun with them!

Character Motivations

Here we go again. I’m beating the “motivation drum.” If your character doesn’t have a reason to accomplish the goal, they’ll give up on it at the first sign of trouble or when the smallest challenge presents itself. If your character has a core reason to get out there and do the thing, they’ll go do the thing!

Events to Experience

This (and the next few areas) come from a combined player/character perspective. Think of yourself and your character as a melded entity when venturing through these next few areas.

What events or scenarios do you want to encounter? Why? Do you want high seas danger? Maybe you’ve never swung from a chandelier while rescuing a princess during a ball and that’s on your bucket list. Maybe you’ve never actually gotten to level 23 of Undermountain beneath Waterdeep, and you really want to get there (once properly leveled up and equipped). Never owned a starship? Cool. Let’s do that! Want to command an army on the field of battle? Sure. Let’s go for it!

Location Types to Explore

Are there locations in your setting that you’ve never gone to? Maybe you’re playing in Forgotten Realms, but you’ve never been to the ruined nation of Netheril. Time to head north and go explore. Want to fly a spaceship through a black hole and see what the GM imagines is on the other side? Yeah. Set course for the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and see what’s there.

Caveat: Newer players may not know what they don’t know, so they may need some guidance on this front. On the other side, veteran players may think they’ve seen it all, but there’s no way they have. They may need some nudges to get them going on the creative side of this question.

NPC Types to Meet

Like with locales in your setting, there are innumerable NPCs to meet and greet and debate and fall in love with and hate with a passion. Give your GM some ideas on who (or what) you might like to encounter in the setting in a non-combat situation. This can greatly assist the GM in world building. You don’t have to go super detailed into this. Something as simple as, “I want to haggle with a spaceport junk seller who has a gambling problem,” will work beautifully. There are numerous hooks just in that one quote that any skilled GM can hang onto and run with.

Monsters to Defeat

Never fought a dragon? (WHAT?!?! You need to fight at least one dragon in your career as a gamer!) How about a mind-flayer or a beholder? Those are great challenges even for a higher-powered set of characters. Want to kill a lich and successfully destroy its phylactery? Yeah. Send that to the GM as something you’d like to experience. Have you ever had to cleanse a small village of a doppelganger infestation? What? No? Propose that to the GM as an idea, and let them run with it! You never know what cool stuff your idea will implant into the GM’s brain.

Conclusion

As I said at the start, this is not session zero material, but something to take offline. If your GM puts time and effort into posing these questions, answer them. Don’t forget to answer or fully ignore the questions. If the GM is asking about this kind of material, then they truly do care what you have to say. Don’t consider it a waste of time. Consider it your contribution to the story arcs, campaign setting, and general campaign material the GM will pluck from to formulate future sessions.