Expectation alignment in tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons goes by many names: session zero, social contracts, consent checklist, communication tools, and more. None of these seemed to fit exactly what I’m looking for. In my day job, I encourage my teams to spend time crafting a working agreement. We can do the same for tabletop roleplaying games.
Why bother? Communication tools like these help to align expectations. “But my group’s been friends for 20 years! We don’t need no stinkin’ tools!” Maybe not. But I’d bet every group would benefit from some. My approach to the “Adventuring Agreement” in particular puts to paper what usually goes unsaid, eliminating assumptions and clarifying what everyone hopes for out of the game. This leads to more resilient, consistent groups. I prefer this method to checklists or simply talking through issues because it has an outcome: the agreement itself. It’s something we sign together. We can reference back to it and evolve it over the course of our campaign or our lives.
Anatomy of the Adventuring Agreement
What exactly goes in? Whatever you and your group decide. But in an effort to be more helpful, here are some of my favorite ideas.
Group Dynamics
The group is more important than the game. Get aligned as humans first and gamers second.
Scheduling. The final boss of D&D. The fourth pillar. If this is the hardest part about our hobby, it deserves the top spot in our adventuring agreement. What day of the week are we playing? What time and for how long? What frequency?
Attendance. If scheduling is the top spot, we need to address attendance expectations. Life gets busy and players will miss. But game masters put in a lot of effort preparing for sessions. This makes last-minute cancellations frustrating. Agree that sessions will be a priority. How many absent seats before cancelling a session?
Rulings. How will you handle rules lookups or disagreements? Who gets the final call?
Genre. What types of games does the group enjoy? Communicate off-limits content and how to handle any issues around that.
Game Dynamics
Adventure. What system and/or type of campaign or adventures will be played?
Character rules. What’s allowed for character creation? What’s prohibited? What things must be true about the characters?
House rules. What house rules are in place? Any tweaks to the system of choice? Rules on top of or beside that?
And a non-exhaustive list of other things that are worth considering:
- What does player vs. player (PVP) look like? Is it allowed?
- How do sessions begin? Is there time for social chatter?
- What other communication tools does the group want to use?
- How will the group handle downtime?
- Are player secrets allowed?
- Which technologies are allowed for the game?
- Are phones/tablets/computers allowed at the table? What rules should be respected?
- Does the group care about AI?
- Clarify the risk and handling of character death.
- What does travel look like in the game? Procedural crawls? Fast travel?
- How to handle boredom at the table.
- How should players and GM approach backstories?
- How will the group handle no-shows?
- What happens if a player is consistently missing sessions?
- How does the group want to handle sharing the spotlight? Selling for each other?
- Are players involved in worldbuilding?
When you’re done, you should have a page or two of important terms the group is agreeing to. It’s important that this is built by the group and not a list of demands from the game master. Once created, have everyone sign it. Revisit the Adventuring Agreement when the people in the group change or between campaigns. It should be a living document. Things will come up in the campaign that were missed—add them! Before your next adventure, what will your group agree to?
Game on.