Session 0
Wow! You successfully managed your first hurdle, herding the cats into one room, at one time and everyone excited to fight the bad girl and save the good guy! But WAIT! Before the first words are spoken, before the first die is cast, SET EXPECTATIONS ! You know why you, the DM, are here, but what about the players? Doesn’t matter how good the steak and wine are if you sat down excited for pizza and ale. Tell the players what kind of Adventure you plan on running, what kind of DM you are, Do and Do Nots of your table. Ask them to consider why their characters would be in this kind of Adventure, why they as players want to play at your Table and ask if there are any Trigger Topics that should be avoided.
Example: “Hi, I’m Kaiser, I’ve played D&D for about 20 years and DMed for about 10, with the last 3 years being here at VALUE. I am a very improv heavy DM and will ‘Yes And!’ almost anything, so feel free to get crazy at my table. I’ll be running Lost Mine of Phandelver over the course of the next 5 sessions, which will revolve around protecting the town of Phandalin from Goblins and Bandits. Your actions MATTER and there will be consequences for your actions and inactions. Trigger warnings: I get very graphic with violence and don’t shy away from adult topics, but I do my best to keep the table a safe space, if something cross your comfort zone, do interrupt and say ‘Red Card’ to shut it down right away.”
Now that the Table has been set, introduce the players to the Setting, keep things vague, as most details don’t generally matter. You’ll misremember them, the players will struggle to keep track of anything beyond closest major city and major points of interest. It can be beneficial to have a local map ready for the party. Ask questions about the characters and develop hooks or interactions for each character (one NPC, item or location per character is enough for a 5 session adventure).
Assuming you have enough time, run a small social and combat encounter. Have the players meet for the first time in a major town, all searching for a specific NPC, that NPC is missing, go find him. Abandoned building, 1 Giant Rat per PC, find the NPC, the NPC tells the party about their destination (Phandalin in this case) and says they will meet them there.