The one thing I realized when I ran my first session of the Exalted: Dawn of Sorrows campaign was that I usually have some very awkward first sessions unless I’m somehow very much in tune with the game. That said, while the first session isn’t always fantastic, it’s always a means for me to establish a few things in my mind.
In many ways, I take the first session to truly acquaint myself with the Player Characters. Reading a character sheet up and down for weeks is one thing, actually running for them and seeing their personalities and motivations in play is an entirely different kettle of fish.
That said, I don’t think I’ve run a game where the first session was spectacular… My Teen Champions HERO game was well into the awkward territory, and even my Mage: the Awakening game started off with me pawing in the dark. The only game where the first session started off really well was the Deadlands Reloaded! game I ran a while back, and that was probably due to sheer luck more than anything else.
To make the most of my first sessions, I try to profile the players and their characters as best as I’m able:
- How proactive / reactive is this character? – Will I have to work hard to mine his motivations? Or will he go off on a drop of a hat and forge his own way?
- What kind of fun is the player going for? - Is he looking for an epic tale, or is he looking to have a few laughs and call it a night?
- Will my initial plot hooks actually bait them? – This is a good question since sometimes players will ignore plot hooks, even when it seems like common sense for them to go for it based on character sheet alone.
- Which tone works best? – I have an idea of the narrative tone to use, but when it comes to a spread of characters with very different backgrounds, I have to cater to each of them, shifting the tone slightly for each.
- Should I revise my Campaign Expectations? – This is probably the most common. After finally seeing characters hit their stride, I tend to revise my campaign expectations. I don’t want to force people to a given way of playing, especially since it’s all in my head.
With that in mind, I’ve been working on trying to make sure I get Exalted to work right. It might not be as drop-dead serious as most people expect, but I’ll see if I can still keep to my original objectives.
I like to get questions like that out of the way beforehand with a short campaign survey. But that usually happens after my first session – it’s always a one-shot with premade PCs that’s not directly a part of the campaign. It introduces players to the system and to the tone I’m trying to set, both of which give them a lot better idea of how to create their characters. And it gives me an idea how they’re going to play, which makes the first real session run a lot more smoothly.
Hey there, Swordgleam!
The idea of a pre-test using premade pcs is interesting. That said, how will a game featuring characters that won’t be featuring in the actual campaign assist you? Won’t players naturally play different character concepts differently? I can play a berserker barbarian Conan-y guy, but the way I play it might not necessarily inform or prepare you of how I plan to play say… a sneaky thief type of character.
Could you elaborate on your methodology?
I think it’s a pre-emptive strike.
Letting the players get a feel of what game the GM wants to run.
And therefore, hopefully, they are empathic enough to adhere to the theme and mood of his plot and setting.
Rather than just hit the ground running and hopefully everything doesn’t devolve into a free for all royal rumble.
So how did it go?
This first game I mean, curious to hear how things have changed since then any other difficulties that came about as this game was running?
Hi there!
Well, after two or so sessions, the game started to even out a bit. The Players and I really got to figure out just what their characters are going to be “like” and I was able to send then into situations that mattered to their characters, as opposed to generic scenario like bandit attacks.
The tone shifted from being serious to a mix of serious and lighthearted play, as some players responded better to less serious situations.
Thankfully initial hooks worked reasonably well, though I had to do some adjusting later on as I realized that some players won’t even bite the hooks they provided in their character backgrounds (puzzling, but it happens enough times, so I’m not too surprised)
Overall the campaign turned out to be fun, and the players are looking forward to continue it in the near future.