Why YOU Should Try LEVEL ZERO in 5e & DCC! 

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It is why I am such a fan of Shadow of the Demon Lord. Having the players actually experience their characters Call To Action(Adventure) can mean a lot. Combined with that systems rather deep character generation, my friends found they created and played characters they normally might not have thought up.

My level 0 experience was very similar to yours. We were all children in great walled city and played out a normal day, until the sky ripped open and demons started pouring out to attack the city. I remember the tension being incredible as we tried to find a safe escape route, only to be separated from each other and left to find a way out on our own. I got cornered in a shop, and had to fight my way out with an improvised weapon. You absolutely realize how terrifying even the lowest level monsters are to everyday people, and how even one bad roll can mean certain death.

I started a campaign at zero level, and their first adventure was one of the characters going out with his two friends to find their family's lost cow. It turned out to have slid down a hillside, and in doing so unearthing an old shrine to an unknown god. The remains of a knight was kneeling in the shrine, his armor and weapons rusted, a single gold piece left as an offering. Of course these characters, having never even held a gold piece decided to take it, which reanimated the knight into a zombie. So they literally had to fight it with a heavy branch and the father's janky crossbow that only worked 50% of the time. The coin had unusual markings, so when they went to spend it... well, their first real adventure began. :)

I've done a DCC level zero adventure, it was truly a great adventure. So much death and panic. It was a thrill we all won't forget.

I've been heavily considering playing out each pcs backstory in a mini level 0 session. I think it would definitely help them feel more in character.

This is a great idea. We always start at level 3 because frankly I hate 1-3 combat. But the last two campaigns we have done something similar. We have the players pair off into "teams" and each team has a pre-campaign one shot. It sets the stage for the campaign and allows the PCs meet and interact, and to have some shared memories of a backstory when things start happening. It makes the party dynamic feel so much more real once they're all together. One of my players requested that he find his warlock tome in the prologue one shot and that's when his patron chooses him. One of the other players witnessed it and there were lots of great RP moments. Maybe next campaign we'll try individual level 0 back story adventures. Thanks for the fun idea Bob!

While we didn't use any of the methods in your video, my current campaign, now two years old, started with all the original PCs at 0-level and being folk from the same village. This campaign has worked out really well because the PCs have an attachment to their "base" and I can also provide them with a certain baseline area knowledge. They have now explored to the edges of the original regional map and are all 8th-level now.

I have started up a level 0 mini adventure with my players by using the Survivor rules in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Each player uses one of the Survivor statblocks instead of a normal character sheet. It gives the players four different pseudo-class options. For added customization, I allowed them to choose a race and apply their racial features. The characters are weak, but that is the point. They are regular civilians at this point. It is excellent for running a horror series, because the threats are so much more threatening.

As a note, Pathfinder 2e also have Level 0 character rules found in the Gamemastery Guide. It’s also a great system.

I've not even watched the video, but OH MY GOD was I waiting on this topic for a while!!! Thanks for covering it in the new more system-agnostic (or open, after the "Open"GL Wars), Bob! It's great to see your channel grows and you reaching new highs (for example, being recognized by WotC)

I love the idea of playing a session or two of who you were before you were an adventurer. I made my own backgrounds and level 0 rules for 3.5 and an in the process of fine tuning them. Basically everyone starts with 4 hit points plus their con modifier. I'm giving everyone regular stats because I like the idea of them being special, hence the reason they become adventures and not farmers. "Bob always was a little stronger and smarter than the rest of us, it makes sense to send him to the cave to get the mushrooms" kinda thing. Then their background gives them some skills, a feat, some equipment and a unique special ability that is useful for the entire campaign. Assuming I did it right. I'm excited to try it.

Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft has rules for creating “survivors” (pg 198 - 201) which are stripped down, lower power characters to run them through an adventure that acts as their backstory. They don’t have classes, but rather archetypes (apprentice, disciple, sneak, or squire) and even have a progression table from 1st to 3rd level should your adventure last long enough

Interesting new resources Bob! (I wonder if I know the Goodman at Goodman games .. I'm negotiating with a publisher with the same surname, but for gardening books!) We have done written backstories for xp with good success .. getting to skip level one roleplay with reasonably survivable events unfolding in the backstory and a springboard for the DM to weave backstory elements into an ongoing campaign. I have only run one campaign with level 0 characters (but they weren't really level 0) .. I should probably explain that, here's the plot: The setting, Calimshan. Pasha Ralan wants to assemble an elite team of specialists: Rogue, Fighter, Cleric, Monk .. cross trained in the arcane arts. Our players begin with one level of their _first_ profession, and are then turned over to the tutelage of a master wizard for their arcane education. The campaign begins with playing through the learning process, and the characters become 1st level (whatever) and dual class as 0 level magic users. They get no hp increase, but gain the ability to prepare and cast cantrips. From level one to level two, The 'master Wizard' assigns the PCs a series of tasks necessary for practicing magic (excursions to collect reagents, magical obstacle courses and such). The characters attempt to complete their assignments using their new skills, and *hopefully* the Players learn something about playing magic users. The 'Arcane Academy' Could just as easily be done at complete 0 level - easier with plenty of low risk challenges for new characters, I would wager! The Campaign in question fell apart when half of the players moved .. but every one of those players can now play a magic user competently: Mission Accomplished!

I was thinking of doing a d20 modern game but couldn't think of what the story would be and the party liked the idea of a dungeon funnel where you start as normal people being inducted into like the John Wick Assassin's organization.

The level 0 funnel is the best part of DCC.

I've done level zero in 5e. I give 0 level characters a background, d6 HP, and the weapon proficiencies from the Sorcerer. That's because they the Sorcerer has the fewest weapon proficiencies, and they don't contradict any of the other classes starting proficiencies. I even made a character sheet that makes room for 4 level 0 characters.

Back when I started in AD&D my first GM made us level -5. We started as kids making their way in a small town. Game after game we grew, even if slightly. When a wild dog went buck, we freaked because 3-4 hp was no joke. We took every encounter cautiously and with precision.. Thinking back, they were the best of times. Don't think I've ever played a game as enthralling. 24 years ago now. The good old days.

GG is sponsoring you! Amazing! Congrats! They are so awesome. Hope you're on the discord, the community is super nice!

I love my funnels. Level zero immediately sets you in survival mode.

I used to do something like this but for each character individually. It was basically a singleplayer oneshot I'd run each of them through to give them a bit more depth and to hand them some kind of direction before getting them into the party. I don't anymore but maybe I will go back to it next campaign with this in mind.

I love this idea. I've talked about having a "session 0" which would be pretty much this. Now I have to try it!

I've always liked the idea of level 0 characters (or average citizen in power for point build systems). In the past I could never get my groups to agree to try it, though, and then later I lacked confidence in my ability to successfully run a sessions with them that would still be fun. Learning about death funnel/meat grinder sessions where the players start with multiple characters so that at least one should hopefully make it out has helped, and I think I'd be able to convince a group to give it a shot now.

So far all I've played are level 0 funnels! I'm eager to finally take some of those characters and grow them into full fledged heroes now.

I legit was just starting up a solo level 0 5e game using solo adventurer's toolkit and was trying to sort out how best to do it so this made my morning, Bob! Thanks!

Can't wait to see the game! Thanks Bob!

One thing I really like about PF2e that could (should) be adopted into 5e/1D&D is the ancestry starting flat HP amount. Playing a Dwarf? +10 HP. Playing a Kobold? +6 HP, and so on. Really helps out with the level 0 or 1 problem of "not enough HP."

I've been starting my campaigns at level 0 for awhile now. It's the chance for the players to earn being a hero by braving the wilds as untrained apprentices. My players love it and it just feels more exciting. Great video to broaden people's awareness on all the fun and excitement of level 0 adventures!

Got to play a Level 0 funnel a few weeks ago, and it was a blast!

the D&D 3e DMG has a section for non-hero npc's. we use those for character creation. the expert for; bard, rogue the adept for; wizard, sorcerer the acolyte (adept) for; cleric, druid, paladin the warrior for; barbarian, fighter, ranger the characters continue as the generic class until they find someone that is willing to train them as an actual character class. this means they could earn several levels worth of experience points as a generic/novice character. however, once training begins, they are level one of the class being trained. this style of character is best in a world building campaign, not usually for one-shot stories.

Planning on making lvl 0 rules and a bunch of other type of starts for the TTRPG I’m making, and giving both history and destiny for characters mechanics

I did play a level 0 funnel in MCC a few weeks ago. Out of all my characters only Conor McFlannigan survived, just a regular dude with a Luck modifier of +2. Fought a giant bee, fought a murdurous gardening hardware shooting (yes you read that correctly) robot, then fought the giant bee again on the way out. It was so much fun! Playing level 0 characters makes you actually take MORE risks, with all the epic tales / shenanigans as a direct result of that. 11/10

Great video! I'm looking forward to running a DCC funnel some day.

I like to think there's 3 levels of commoner underneath every lvl1 character, representing the formative years (~6 years per) where they learned language, social conventions and their background. After that, lvl1 represents the ~1 year of training they've gotten in the class they chose.

One of my favorite D&D modules of all time, Treasure Hunt, was a level 0 module.

That lore for your monster.... Heck yeah. I'm planning on some vampire shenanigans in the near future with my group of noobs.

I’ve never played a level 0 character, but I’ve run plenty. Players really have loved the feeling of “self-discovery”. I really like giving a group a random assortment of commoners who then get defined not by class but by action, and then finally get to actually become the class.

I’ve played and DM’d level 0 similarly to this. It was fun both times.

Thanks to you I just started running DCC! Halfway through Portal under the Stars and my players and I are having a blast with the creative solutions and insta deaths.

I ran a level 0 adventure for my long ago 2e campaign that worked out great. One of my players still mentions it as his favorite of my campaigns. The 4hp heroes (4 humans, 1 half-elf) had to go find the lost "village crazy lady", and discovered goblins infiltrating the hills near their home! To my great surprise, they all survived, but almost all fell in combat; the tavern wench whose player expected to become a Rogue ended up going Cleric because she was always sneaking back to heal her unconscious and dying friends! I ran a level "two-thirds" adventure in 3.5e, for a "communal backstory experience", where the players had to save their hometown from the comet-enhanced goblins attacking it on a festival night. That was scary and gruesome and awesome, and while they all already had their deep backgrounds, it gave a great shared adventure kick-off.

My group played a level zero party for the start of a Legend of Five Rings campaign. We were all children gathered for a festival between two clans who had been enemies and were reconciling through marriage. The other clan killed the groom and just about everyone else. We barely made it out into the woods, all because my character's older brother stood up to the soldier chasing us, giving his life so we could escape. My character idolized that impossible idea of his brother for the rest of his life.

I ran over 20 sessions with a 3.5 homebrew starting at lv0. It was a 1 player and it took 7 sessions to reach his lv1 equivalent. Each session involved an aspect of training. His first game was to get a job and a place to stay while making connections for future training. Second game he got help from a monk to train a skill point. Each game had at least one action sequence. It can totally be done and is a perfect place to develope story threads and hooks for lv1 and beyond.

I have played a couple of level 0 D&D adventures over the years, however, the most memorable one is one a few friends & I played in the earlier days of 5e over Roll20. We started out with Stats per normal, your character's Race & Background. Everyone was Proficient in Simple Weapons, and your Proficiency modifier was only a +1 instead of +2 at level 1. HP for level 0 were 4 + Con/other mods. We used a Milestone to level up, we spent 2 whole sessions as level 0 characters. It was great fun! We had a whole city we lived in, our characters knew NPCs and had relations with them. We also did rotationary DMs for that game, where each play night was a different player from the group DMing a session.

Level 0 makes sense in Jungian Psychology as well In the Tarot Arcana used in this type of Psychology 0- The Fool: The beginning of the Hero's Journey, Also Represents Infinite Possibilities 1- The Magician: The mentor that teaches the Fool a Life lesson And so on The Final being 12- The World: The Hero has completed his Journey And an extea 13- Death: The hero Experiences death

In 3rd edition my group got super into Low magic low level play. We often started as the "NPC" classes with no equipment (slaves or run-aways or things like that). We didn't call it level zero, but in retrospect it was really very much the same thing. It did color the tone of the entire campaign for us. I remember in one, when we finally got our first sword it was such an important item for us. It was amazing how just a normal sword could be a prized treasure that we really cared about. Sometimes people complain about low-level and low-magic D&D, but I find that it's so much more relatable than anything else!

I once DM'ed a campaign where I started the players at level 0! It was because my friends were so clueless that I figured removing class features would help ease them in

Level zero experience is a great way to create your back story and bring the party together with a shared experience. And the DCC lvl zero is interchangeable with so many other OSR products!

A while back, I listened to a DCC actual play podcast (Mighty Deeds, I think) where the level zero funnel adventure was a group of villagers storming Castle Ravenloft to kill Strahd. It was a lot of fun!

I really like the race + background method!

I've run a couple 0th Level games for 5e and 1 for PF2. First one was a modified version of MCDM's Adventure from Stronghold and Followers and ended when the group beat Lord Saxton- One of my more successful Campaigns overall, and then I ran one where the two players started as Orphans in a Megacity and became guards for the City Watch... and then were swiftly thrown into a web of conspiracies and schemes to take over the city that were in motion by the various powers of the city. How I actually did the 0th Level was kind like your "Half Class" Idea from 4:50. Players could pick "0th Level Benefits" for classes and when they did, they got to pick 2 between its Level 1 features, Spellcasting if the class had it, and the Proficiencies listed in the Multiclass Table in the Player's Handbook- An extremely simple way to resolve the problem of Proficiencies. They then got the largest Hit Dice and HP of their 0th Level benefits, as they could have multiple. Since, for me, the interesting part about 0th Level games is getting a character who's 100% a specific class, but has features from another class from when they were younger and still learning. As for the Pathfinder 2e game... PF2 does in fact have 0th Level rules in its Gamemaster's Guide. The problem is PF2 combat really struggles to be fair and fun until the players have a wide range of enemies above their level, and below (IE, 4 Levels above and below)... and since the Enemy level floor is -1, and said rules say to consider a 0th Level party a Level -1 for encounter design... Fights even against the most mundane creatures (Like Snapping Turtles) can extremely dangerous. This game is currently in progress, and is very much the Sequel to my first 0th Level game in 5e, as it will eventually resolve one of the major plot threads left unresolved in that original game.

Dude, I have literally been thinking about a level 0 start for a week and here you are with this. Excellent timing. Idea: All of the pcs start by having just returned to life after an indeterminate amount of time. Have an in-character session zero separately with each player, everyone starting at level 0. Super dangerous. The catch is that all of the PCs are technically immortal and will just come back to life a short time later. Once all of the session zeros have been run, the players pick from a pool of pc levels 0-3(maybe 4) and that's the level they start the first real session at as a reflection of how much time has passed since their initial awakening. Really trying to channel the Cursed Protagonist archetype a la the player in most Fromsoftware games, and a level 0 start feels like the D&D equivalent of the Deprived starting class in the original Dark Souls. Just a person with a loin cloth, a club, and a wood plank shield.

Not an idea for a _good_ way to run level zero, but a _memory_ of how people used to run it back in 3.5E d20/D&D, when it was still being developed for what would go on to become DCC. The 3.5E SRD has, in addition to PC classes, something called 'NPC classes' - these were supposed to be used for henchmen, hirelings, minions etc. So they weren't very good - you got a small attack bonus, mediocre saves, and some skill points (which are like skill proficiencies, only with _much_ more book-keeping). To create a level zero character the way I remember it, what you'd do is you'd generate an NPC - 3d6 in each stat, or a similar sort of dice pool, plus one level in an NPC class - and then try to survive long enough to get the XP necessary to level up. When you did that, instead of going to level 2 in your NPC class, you'd 'reset' to level 1 in a PC class of your choice, gaining the _difference_ between the hit points and skill points it would give you (meaning some classes wouldn't get any more hit points or skill points), plus the new saving throws, attack bonuses and class features from your PC class. It's interesting; NPC classes meant you had no access to _most_ magic, but could have a very small number of cleric spells available to you (there was an 'adept' class, for members of the clergy that weren't adventurers but did provide magical healing and divination to people) - so it's sort of half-way between the DCC method where you get basically _no_ magic and the Bob method where you can get a little bit of _any_ magic. Of course, you could also restrict players to using _only_ the 'commoner' NPC class, which gave no bonuses to anything and proficiency with one weapon - which people regarded as a joke at the time, but given how much fun DCC has with something very similar, it may have something in it.

One of my first D&D games _ever_ started at level 0. We were slaves in a mine in the middle of a desert, and the first few in-game days were mostly spent learning our way around, trying not to get on the guards' bad side, and building relationships with the various NPCs. GM let me play a Thri-Kreen based more on the monster version (this was pre-Spelljammer), and everyone got a free feat to start (I took a racial feat to get Thri-Kreen Psionics, essentially letting me dip my toes into spellcasting right away). Fast forward through one of the miners breaking into a buried chamber, a massive sandstorm that led the guards to all abandon their posts and take shelter, and we're dungeon-crawling through some old tomb. Interacting with some relic suddenly flings us all into the Astral Plane, where we're chased by an Astral Dreadnought toward a branching path. At the end of each branch... a different visdion of ourself. Three classes, picked out and suggested by the GM to fit the backstories and personalities we've revealed and developed up to this point. At no point did I feel any more powerless than a slave would have - and by the end of that first arc, I felt like the realization of all my ancestors' hopes. Hell, I forgot we were level 0 for a while there. (In hindsight, with my own GM experience, I can see how tricky it must've been to provide such a variety of challenges and keep up a real sense of danger without killing us.)

ProfessorDM's Deathbringer also does level zero meat grinders well, and it stays deadly throughout.

I've just bought DCC largely based on yours and Jorphdan's videos. Can't wait for our first funnel, sounds hilarious!

Yayyyyy DCC. Love the idea of a collab with Jorphdan too 👌🧙‍♂️💜

Some of my favorite and wildest RPG memories is playing groups of 0 level characters in Dungeon Crawl Classics. Starting out with five 0 levels and by the end of the adventure having a level 1 character that I can care about. Also, there are places to randomly roll as many 0 level characters as you want. For me this adds to the fun because I enjoy the challenge of using these randos in the game.

I did something similar to this, but I wrote a short adventure that had the players live out a short bit of their background. At the end of the adventure they not only got their first level, but they also got an antagonist to hunt down later (if they did not manage to kill the creature), a reason to travel with the other civvies they fought with and a few npcs to add to their character's in-world connections.

I actually love doing this in world of darkness/chronicles of darkness games. Im running a hunter: the vigil game, and each character had their own session 0/level 0 session, which is basically what introduces them to the supernatural. Usually session 0 is them stumbling upon something they cant just beat up, and have to use their wits/skills to survive or escape. it sets the tone really well, and the things they run into and cant deal with yet, also are sort of a plot hook for later. Also, it tends to be pretty dramatic/traumatizing, similar to your story about the sister being murdered by a bunch of goblins, lol.

The thing i like about the 'funnel' or whatever is that your pregenerating a set of potential PCs and you don't get overly invested in scultping the perfect pillar-man character. You just launch your pack of wet noodle commoners at the ceiling and see which meatwad sticks/survives. This ultimately feels more fair in that everyone in the group is stuck with some random quirk that they didn't necessarily intend to have, but now have to live with

I’m building a level 0 in the TTRPG I’m working in now! Useful to see what you are doing here.

I’ve been starting of several campaigns with level zero, with the players playing what essentially boils down to commoners with literally just like one proficiency and most of their cool stuff coming from their race. I tend to make these campaign starts be about them finding cool magic items instead of them gaining class features. And then having a final encounter of them confronting whatever big danger is threatening the village. It’s fun to watch players treat a wild boar with the same level of tactics as if it was a red dragon

Matt Colville's Arcadia created a great funnel level 0 adventure and mechanic for 5e that I have ran and it works phenomenally.

Hell of a time for this video to come out, was just thinking about doing something like this for a new campaign lol

Our group often does this. Playing as commoners before we get our class levels. We have a whole arc in our current arena campaign where we are in the fighting pits of a underground city where we get forced together as a team and just try to survive until we can escape that hellhole. Which we did after about 4 sessions as the campaign is starting for real. There really is something about stsrting with so limited abiloty and resources that make you think out of the box and really familiarise yourself with the character.

I've done 'level zero' as early life stuff, which covered what was mostly skill checks and "getting to know your PC" in a story-based setting (para-military training to explain their training and where starting equipment comes from). Mostly skill checks and RP because I didn't know what to do about stats and HP so I was making a situation where combat wasn't part of it until they leveled.

Damn, I would love to play in a level 0 start game. Sounds so sweet!!

MCDM has an amazing lvl 0 funnel for 5e called Filthy Peasants in their Arcadia 9 magazine. It gives directions on character creation and random tables to go with it. The adventure itself is very well written and makes for an easy game to run and play.

Even though this was about lvl 0 and not to do with story telling this gave me an idea which got rid of my writers block, So thank you Bob (Good video regardless)

I'm a huge fan of level 0! I have pulled in rules from different games for my 0-level games but usually play 5e. Here's a rule I came up with for creating a 5e level 0 character. Roll 3d6 in order for ability scores. NOTE THE LOWEST DIE ROLL FOR EACH SCORE. So let's say I roll 5-2-1, I would have an ability score of 8 but I'd note the 1 (I write a tiny 1 like an exponent.) Then, if the character survives and levels up to 1, you get to roll another d6. If the new roll is higher than your lowest roll from before, increase your score by the difference. So essentially, you're rolling 4d6 drop lowest, but you have to earn that 4th die by getting to level 1.

Giffyglyph's Darker Dungeons contains a really great and simple ruleset for Level 0 charactrs called "Rookie Characters." It's very simple and easy to use while giving some magic to a caster and some martial aspects to a fighter. It uses the backgrounds to give you some simple things. Like an Acolyte gains 2 cantrips from the warlock or cleric list. Or a Folk Hero can use light armor and simple or martial weapons.

Recently ran a one shot using the “Survivors” from Van Richten almost a level 0 style game. Players loved it. Stats were low and so were HP. Actually a good way to run a funnel. Very fun yet tense. 10/10 would run again.

I DM a group that started out at level 0, and i can honestly say it was more fun than anything we have ever done before. We play a very stripped down version of 5e. Since i always ask my players for their characters likes, dislikes, and fears, it gave me a wonderful way to introduce those things to the characters. They started out as teenagers (15-16) with only a general interest in what they would become at lv. 1. We played 3 sessions and the players were actually sad that they had to go on to level 1. I will always run level 0 for normal campaigns. Thanks for the video.

Zero level adventures are super fun. For 5e, I think the best presentations of 0-level rules are those in MCDM’s Arcadia 9 (Filthy Peasants!), and those made by Weird Works for their Tournament of Pigs funnel adventure. Both are super robust and seamlessly blend with 5e leveling.

Wow, I had no idea Bob was a contributor for Dungeon Denizens. Looking forward to checking out your monster when the book releases. I got the DCC version.

played DCC and the DM basically said our level 0 would kill all of our characters but one and that one goes forward. we each started with four level 0 characters, and i managed to keep three of mine alive, and leveled them all up to 1. it got very complicated going forward, taking multiple turns, having three different classes to operate from. it was awesome.

My current (DnD) campaign started at lvl 0, each player made 4 characters with 3d6 for ability scores and a background from the PHB, over the course of the first session 2/3 of those characters died and the survivors advanced to level 1, picking their class based on their background

Been doing the level 0 thing since the 80s. Im the forever DM from back then and for those who recall that MUs had a 25% chance of starting with 1 HP, I gave everyone a lvl 0 with a short adventure to set the scenario hook(s) and everyone got 3 HP to start. Has been working great for decades so dont be afraid to try!

lvl 0 characters are so fun. makes everything instantly feel gritty and dangerous. haha Backed the book :) love your content!

Survivors from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft are great for this. I ran a horror one shot with them and it was VERY tense. They were struggling against creeping hands.

Another option for the Luck is that the game actually suggests making luck modifiers be a major part of quest rewards. You did a quest for your patron and now he blesses you with increased luck.

For your DCC character with 1 -1 hit points, I'm thinking of Dead Tom, from Muppet Treasure Island.

A few of my friends and I have talked about starting a campaign with characters only having a background and later getting their class.

For me the alignments are very important, not as something to have fixed or determining but as a guide or general notion about the current tendencies of the personality of that character (could that character make a good decision while being evil, or vice versa, but it should be more difficult). And as the burden of past actions, which is why creatures like unicorns can feel malice, or the trace of malevolent actions.

My first zero level adventure was way back in a TSR adventure N4, called Treasure Hunt. You actually were a zero level commoner without any class who gets ship wrecked on an island full of orcs, goblins and....PIRATES! During the adventure the DM keeps track of your actions. At the end our actions determined our character classes. If we survived we became First Level Characters with an awesome adventure background.

I play tested a 5e adaptation of a DCC adventure last year. The initial combat/funnel was nuts. Very different from what I was expecting. I think it would be really cool to take a D&D or PF character up from level zero, going from a farmhand or apprentice to a hero over the course of a campaign. I am a sucker for high fantasy and the hero’s journey.

I'd love to see a video on Weird Frontiers at some point from you! It uses the DCC system and is a lovely combination of Wild West and Cthulhu mythos making the USA into the Weird West

I did level 0 campaigns in 4E, that were more like home alone than anything else. They were fun hijinks sessions that was all about avoiding combat and tricking enemies, and avoiding straight fights at all costs. A lot of people seemed to really hate the idea, the ones that went for it were rare. at the time it wasn't widely done, but i am pretty sure i didn't come up with it myself. I am not sure who taught me the concept though.

My version of Level 0 is that you have 6 HP at base and you have commoner stats (all 10s), but you can add +2 in any one ability and also your racials. You also don't get a class at level 0, since by definition, Level 1 is where you pick up your first class level. Instead, you would just have equipment and proficiencies from your background (+ race). Then let players figure out what class their characters would like to be, depending on the events that unfold in the starting adventure! Perhaps Bob the Brave Guy bravely saves a child from a burning house that's being set ablaze by a bunch of goblins. Well, Barbarian or Fighter! What if the last thing Jennifer has from her previous life is a book with some strange arcane formulas written in it? Wizard! What if the stress caused by the danger of the goblin raid causes latent sorcerous talents to manifest in the character, or they swear an oath to avenge their dead relatives or reclaim the land? What if an eldritch patron contacts them, and promises to resurrect their dead relatives if they will serve.

One of my favorite d&d videos on the internet is Professor DM's campaign diary where his level 0 players escape from a goblin's lair and Professor DM kills off all the backup characters.

Dungeon crawl classics is my favorite DnD book ever Love the funnels and crazy spell systems

A friend of mine ran a 5e style level 0 one shot that could have led to a new adventure if we wanted. He had us each make several commoner characters (funnel style) with an ancestry, job (background lite), and 2 or 3 pieces of equipment. All stats were 10’s, hp was I think 2d4 or 1d4+2, and no class abilities or proficiencies. It was pretty fun, except I definitely got more attached to one character over my others 😅 If we did make it into a full campaign, he would’ve given us a little boost to our base ability scores and maybe something extra on class abilities.

Can't wait to see your funnel. And who knows, maybe at least a short campaign with the surviving level 1 characters?

The 90s black box solo adventure and actual group adventure was a great session 0 aka lvl 0 adventure. Escape from zanzer dungeon. Your lvl 1 but pretty much create your character and pick/learn your class as you move thru the dungeon

I played in the 1st edition d&d level 0 adventure. It was pretty interesting as I recall Treasure Hunt N4.

I did level zero with 3e, 4e, and 5e a few times. It's fun, and is a great way to start...If you like that sort of thing. I've also started campaigns at levels 3 (in 5e) and have done many one offs at super high level, just to actually see what level 18+ play is even like (we've never gotten there organically; we tend to start a new campaign before levels get that high).

Not quite the same as either of these but one of my DMs is planning a session 0 where we each go through a coming of age trial in a solo adventure style game. Depending on how it goes will dictate some of our future opportunities and backstory. I don't know much beyond that but am eagerly awaiting it.

I have definitely looked back to 3rd edition (not 3.5) for the rules on apprentice level characters, but I've never used it.

0th, or apprentice, level are a lot of fun if you're into the spirit of it. You're not playing a hero, you might not even be playing someone who'd *become* a hero, you are a background NPC with an unusual sense of identity, and might not even survive your first encounter, let alone your first adventure. I would suggest coming up with 2-4 0th level back-up characters. You might not even end up needing all of them (but these back-ups could also help flesh out each other's backgrounds). You could play it like Paranoia, where everybody's almost guaranteed to lose one of their characters, or you could play it more like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, where the world is cold, and cruel, and uncaring, but people still have to live in it day-to-day, and you might never get a gold piece between your whole party for adventuring, but you still have a chance to make more money than your old life ever dreamed of... or anywhere in between. 0th level opens up a lot of possibility in the game.

I’ve worked on this before, and characters start with Ancestry + Background. The background have a 1st-level-appropriate ‘apprentice’ or ‘innate’ feat. Magic Initiate and Fighting Initiate are examples of apprentice feats, and for innate, ancestral feats like Dwarven Fortitude, the X-Touched feats, Telepathic, and so on. For the most part, feats that don’t imply a high degree of combat training are acceptable. Note that I’d also make the ‘Adept’ and ‘Expert’ feats require level 4+, and ‘Master’ feats (including Sharpshooter) require level 6+. For HP, you have 5+ CON mod. That isn’t much, but if you wanted a high chance of survival, you’d be starting at level 3 or more. For proficiencies, you get two simple weapons, though they’re more likely to be tools from a farm or kitchen than objects actually designed to be weapons. Other changes for later levels include a multiclassing requirement for needing 13+ in both ability scores in which a class has saving throw proficiency, and a requirement that all of a character’s classes remain within 4 levels of one another. Power creep has rendered the 2014 limits ineffective for maintaining balance between PC power and the amount of work it takes to prep a game to challenge them.