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Session −1: Character Preparation

Before Session 0, each player completes the steps below.
This is not about building a finished character.
It is about arriving at the table with strong ideas, clear intent, and room to grow.

You are not locking anything in.
You are giving the GM and the other players something to react to.

Step 1: Create Two Character Concepts

You will create two different characters.

They should be meaningfully different.
Different Backgrounds, different approaches to problems, or different emotional tones.
Do not make two variations of the same idea.

Neither character needs full mechanics.
They do not need optimized builds, finished numbers, or final decisions.

Think of these as pitches, not products.

Each character should include:

  • A name (working name is fine).
  • A short description of who they are and how they move through the world.
  • A general role or approach (not a class).
  • A sense of why they might belong in a group.

Step 2: Elevator Pitch (Required for Both Characters)

For each character, prepare an elevator pitch in two parts.

Part One: Short Pitch

100–150 words

This should answer:

  • Who is this person?
  • What do they value?
  • How do they tend to solve problems?

This is the version you could give to someone in a hallway.

Part Two: Expanded Description

Up to 500 words

This can include:

  • Background details.
  • Important past events.
  • Personal contradictions or tensions.
  • What you find interesting about playing them.

This does not need to be polished prose.
Notes are fine.

Step 3: Two Allies and Two Enemies

For each character, create:

  • Two Allies
  • Two Enemies

These can be:

  • Individuals.
  • Groups.
  • Institutions.
  • Abstract forces (beliefs, debts, reputations).

Each should include:

  • Who or what they are.
  • Why they matter to your character.
  • One sentence about how that relationship feels.

Do not worry about balance.
Do not worry about whether they will appear.

These are story hooks, not obligations.

Step 4: Eulogy Preparation (Only for the Chosen Character)

Once Session 0 begins, the GM will tell you which of your two characters you will be playing.

For that character, prepare to speak a short eulogy for every other player character.

This will be done in character.

Your eulogies should:

  • Be no more than two minutes each.
  • Reflect how your character sees the other person.
  • Focus on what mattered about them, not what they accomplished.

These are not prophecies.
They are emotional viewpoints.

You do not need to write these out fully in advance, but you should think about:

  • How your character would speak about others.
  • What they notice.
  • What they would grieve.

Step 5: Foundations, Ambitions, and Loyalties

For each character, write short notes answering the following.

  • Foundation:
    One thing your character believes must not be lost.
  • Ambition:
    One thing they want, but have not yet earned.
  • Loyalty:
    One person, group, or principle they would struggle to abandon.

One or two sentences each is enough.

These are not permanent.
They can change through play.

Step 6: What You Want From the Game

Prepare brief answers to these two questions:

  • One thing you would love to see happen in this campaign.
  • One kind of challenge or struggle you are excited to engage with.

This is about tone and interest, not demands.

Final Notes

You are not expected to get everything “right.”
You are expected to show up with ideas, curiosity, and flexibility.

Session 0 will shape the party.
The campaign will shape the characters.
This preparation gives everyone something solid to build from.

If you feel excited and slightly uncertain, you are doing this correctly.

Example Character Concept

Elevator Pitch (Short Version, ~120 words)

Naiche grew up where Imperial roads met places they were never meant to cross.
He learned early that authority does not always mean understanding, and that land remembers how it is treated. He is not defiant by nature, but he is stubborn when pressed, especially when someone tries to force order where respect would work better.

Naiche solves problems sideways. He listens before he speaks, jokes when tension tightens, and sings when silence would make things worse. He believes people move more easily when they feel seen, and that most conflicts come from being ignored rather than opposed.

He travels because staying still would mean choosing a side too soon.

Expanded Description (Under 500 words)

Naiche was raised on the edge of Imperial certainty. Not outside it, but never fully inside it either. His family worked routes that shifted over time, trade paths that bent around borders rather than through them. He learned songs in more than one language, not fluently, but sincerely, and he learned when not to sing at all.

He does not distrust the Empire outright, but he does not revere it. To him, power is a tool, and like any tool, it can be misused by people who forget why it exists. He is most comfortable in spaces where rules are negotiable and relationships matter more than titles.

Naiche is not brave in the heroic sense. He hesitates before fights and avoids them when possible. But once a choice is made, he follows through, even if it costs him comfort or reputation. He hates being rushed into decisions and resents anyone who mistakes urgency for importance.

In a group, Naiche becomes connective tissue. He remembers names, smooths over arguments, and notices when someone has gone quiet for too long. He does not seek leadership, but he often ends up shaping the tone of a group simply by how he reacts to pressure.

What scares him most is not death, but becoming irrelevant. Being the person whose voice no longer matters, whose presence changes nothing. He travels to avoid that fate, hoping that somewhere between roads and stories, he can leave a mark that lasts longer than a song.