The risk of skipping Sesion Zero: Batman and the Joker

In a recent blog I explained the importance of a Session Zero in roleplaying games. Session Zero is the opportunity for players to agree on goals, playing style, and how they and their characters will work together to tell a collaborative story. I promised next I'd share a few examples of successes that grow from well-done agreements— and failures that stemmed skipping or doing a poor job of it. As I started sketching out a handful of examples I found that my first example is so big it's better addressed solo. I'll share the other examples in a subsequent blog. For now let me tell you the story my players and I call Batman and the Joker.

Batman and the Joker... as Allies?

Would you put Batman and the Joker together on a team and expect them to work together? Long term? That's what happened when I started my current long-term game in 1997. (Yes, I've been GMing a continuous game for 23 years!) Two players initially created first level characters similar to Batman and the Joker. (Actually they were more like Captain America and Harley Quinn, but I'll a) keep it to characters everyone knows and b) not mix Marvel and DC. 😉)

Building a party with Cap Batman and the Joker was practically doomed from the start. Working together toward shared goals required constant suspension of disbelief, leaving the players of both characters feeling unfulfilled with their character concepts. It was unfulfilling for the rest of us, too. We were all apprehensive the game could implode at any point when one of them got impatient. In a good Session Zero we'd have agreed Batman and the Joker don't fit together for more than a hot minute and we'd have found something more workable.

System & Background: Necessary but not Sufficient

When I started that game I'd already established a practice of working closely with players on building their characters and crafting interesting backstories for several years. This enabled richly developed games in which characters were really connected with the story and the setting. Everyone found it satisfying, even players who'd never done it before. This is part of a good Session Zero.

It took me several years of focusing on strong background development to appreciate that to have a truly cohesive and mutually satisfying game it takes more than this. As I noted in a comment in my other journal, agreeing on rules and capabilities in building characters is a necessary but not sufficient condition. What's missing is ensuring that the characters' stated personalities, as well as the play styles of the players themselves, fit together so that the group can successfully tell a shared story in the GM's game setting.

So, What Happened to the Joker?

You might be thinking, "Tell us what happened with the Joker!" Well, in a heroic story when a hero and a villain pair up there are only a few ways it can end. One, the villain experiences a major change of heart and atones. Two, the villain double-crosses the hero and absconds. Three, the villain falls to his/her own iniquities.

Number Three happened in my game. The young "Joker" character crossed people outside the party who were very powerful, and they killed her. Because the rest of the players had been nervously waiting for something to explode having the Joker around, they basically looked at the carnage, shrugged their shoulders as if to say, "Well, that just happened," and moved on as if that story arc never existed.

Keep reading: 5 more examples of Session Zero successes & failures

42 Days After Election, Some Republicans Acknowledge Result

Today is December 15. It is 42 days after the election for President in the US, among many other races. It is only today that some elected leaders from the Republican Party, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, acknowledged that former Vice President Joe Biden won the election. And the rest of the Republicans? Many of still aren't acknowledging it. News article: CNN, 15 Dec 2020.

Granted, the vote was close enough in enough states that it wasn't possible to determine the winner right away. It took a few days. But by November 7 the result was clear. Republicans hide their absurd claims behind a technicality that the result wasn't "official" until the Electoral College met and voted Monday. That's a silly technicality. And it's downright monstrous in the context of President Trump and his election campaign suing in dozens of jurisdictions to overturn the results of the election with outrageous conspiracy theories supported by zero plausible evidence. The most recent suit, swatted down by the Supreme Court last week, was joined by more than half the Republican members of Congress.

"But he's got a right to sue in court!" many say in Trump's defense. That's an evil canard. First, people don't have a limitless right to sue in court. There are laws and precedents again malicious use of the legal system. The Trump campaign's laughably absurd claims and transparently dishonest witnesses are malicious. Second, consider the scale. This isn't just one crackpot filing pointless lawsuits because he can. It is the President of the United States, joined by the governors of more than two dozen states and over 100 members of Congress. This is not just "Oh, they have a right to sue"; this is an attempted state coup happening in plain sight.

Oh, and even though state and federal courts in the US have acted as the last line of defense for democracy, Trump, through his use of Twitter and friendly media outlets, has convinced more than 80% of the people who voted for him in November that Biden's win was a sham result. That's tens of millions of voters conned into believing up is down. That is how there's an attempted state coup happening slowly in plain sight!