HI all-

I'm rather new to the forums here and while I am going to do an introduction in its proper place, I had a pertinent question about an idea I had. Its needs some fleshing out.

I'm going to be starting a campaign in a town i am creating as a start point for a new campaign world. I want the players to flesh their characters out, but without a deep campaign world detail, just writing a background would be difficult. Instead, I thought of running a 0-level adventure. They will have their names and races, but nothing else. No classes, no real stats, nothing. It will be a festival in some random town where the city has events surrounding myths, legends, and stories from text.

One such event is the "Nobleman's Quest". This event is for children only, where they go in, listen to a local dressed as a nobleman ask for help, choose the equipment they want (sword, axe, bow and arrows, or a "magic" wand), and then proceed through this labrynth of stuff, living an "adventure" where they are doomed to succeed. At the end of this is the Noble's daughter and the lost treasure (some trinket they can each get with no real value). Throughout the way, they will find "healing fountains" that have chocolate milk and cookies for rest. The enemies they face will not inflict any real damage, and will die with single hits.

I want this to be an exercise in party building and character growth, but an drawing a blank as to how and make it better. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the inn!

I played In a lvl 0 once. Pretty cool idea, but we never got too far. Might want to look into shadowrun or world of darkness and tweak their systems to create more "real" characters without powers - both those systems have a rich charate creation system beyond D&D and allow for more non combat oriented options. Then you could always switch to D&D if you want at lvl 1.

I would also suggest an Oblivion style "suggested class" too. Maybe give them one sword and see who takes it, then have an elder
suggest fighter training for them, or rogue for a dagger or barb for axe or whatever. Watch how they play with just non combat traits and then have an elder make a suggestion for a combat class.

I was actually thinking about keeping them all with no class, just using the basic roll d20 and compare to a target number. There was gonna be only one of each weapon, so they would get a chance to grab the one they want without class association.

One of the questions I was wondering about is a good length for the level 0 adventure. Should it go for multiple game sessions to allow for great character development, or should it be more of a one-shot?

Also, would the adventure go better if I threw in foreshadowing of the upcoming campaign into it, or just leave it as a way for the characters to build depth?

If you can throw in a slight hint at what's coming, then do so. But I suggest you make it so, that they won't instantly know it's an adventure hook, and plunge in like they are used to.

I like this idea of 0 level characters, and I think Admiral has given you some good advice. Look at how they play their character and have an outsider advice them on which course to take. Perhaps they could encounter several individual challenges that would require a bit of specialized skill. These should be very short, and doable for each one of them, as their function is to see who takes them rather than who succeeds.