Starting a Game Q&A

Questions about how to start a game, maybe with a new or unknown group or with long-standing players.

Including Session Zero.
Including introducing new games to an existing group stuck on one.

Hi Fellow GMs: I've been thinking of starting a no-prep (or low prep) Fellowship (PbtA) or Dungeon World play-by-post game. But it would be a slow play-by-post game (1 to 3 posts a week, M W F). What advice might other GM's have on how to handle the initial premise, such as 1) What is the quest or villain? 2) How did you all meet? How are you bonded? Where are you at the present moment? Etc?

#1 Might these things be worked out play-by-post via a Session 0 thread? For example, "What kind of villain does everyone have in mind?" Or is that likely to fizzle?

#2 Would it be better to jump into in-character and asks questions as we play? For example, "You're all at the local town tavern and you hear noises outside. Henry, since you're by the window; what do you see?"

#3 Or should I at least prep the initial premise. For example, "The town is being attacked by fire breathing flying elephants. What do you all do?"

Thank you in advance.

The level of 'prep' you are wanting/willing to put in will affect the answers below.

'Low/no prep' games can actually require a fair bit of prep to get them going. Once done they can run with little prep needed afterwards. The more you know about the world and the people in it the easier it is to go off-book and improvise.

DW and its ilk are designed for 'no upfront prep' and then lots of scrambling once things start, then continuous low levels of prep as the game plays.

PbP might incline one to a little more pre-launch prep, but that depends on the GM and will affect the type of group you get.
A slow pace like that (1 per week) would heavily bias the answers below towards avoiding too much 'session zero' or player input stuff before the game is running. That will take forever and lead to fizzle. Asking questions and building on the answers would need to be done further in advance since the answers can take a long time.
It can be beneficial to have an initial premise, quest, and villain in mind when you pitch the game, so people can know what they are signing up for.

But there will be plenty of time during character creation for the GM to build something based on the characters and what the players say and show interest in during that process. Be flexible and change the ideas you come up with as the players 'change their minds and reject ideas they talked about', players are fickle.
Bonds can take a really long time in PbP, they are meant to get the game up and running quickly at the table, but do the opposite here.

Maybe let the players add any Bonds that jump out at them --mostly ignoring the suggested ones-- and then add more Bonds as they play. Don't wait for them to be done before you start.
The important session zero stuff is 'social contract' type stuff, much of that can be done in the recruitment thread and then quickly covered in a 'safety' thread (line&veils/x-card and such).

Villains can come out of character creation, which is part of session one by DW rules.
Probably, but it depends on the group and how long character creation takes and how much you got out of that process. You might already have these answers.

You don't have to completely complete character creation before you start, you only need enough to get things going. But don't cut players off if they are enjoying themselves.

Questions like "what to you see" can be quite intimidating. Especially at the start of a game with no presented prep. Be gentle, offer suggestions, don't force one player to answer (spotlights can be bad (blinding)).
Having a premise to present can help with recruitment. But is not required.
You should at least have a fallback premise that you can use if nothing comes out of character creation. This can be 'just enough to get things rolling', it does not need to be big thing, especially since it might never happen if something does come up during character creation.

Thank you for the excellent pointers -- letting ideas for villians and potential bonds come up during character creation sounds good. Now, I'm thinking perhaps using random tables (like the ones in Perilous Wilds as well as oldschool D&D) as well as ideas from old movies or D&D modules would be a good starting point for a premise. But having played PbtA a few times with friends and family, I know it can be quite fun to let players fill in blanks as well, though perhaps leave that more to the mechanics or offer suggestions. Thanks again.

Always a good way to reduce prep.
I would base that on the type players you get and what you feel like.

You also don't have to stick with one strategy the whole time. You can use tables and your own ideas and occasionally ask the players to answer the questions ("sometime disclaim responsibility"), or you can rely on the players and only supply your own ideas then they come up blank or when you want to hurry things along.

Each situation will have its own best way forward. Play it by ear, see what works.

Thanks again. I'm also reviewing Perilous Wilds and it suggests "ask, say, or roll". So, one may ask a player about a characer or her/her surroundings, but there's no obligation (depending on the players perhaps) because one could fall back on "GM says" or roll on a table. Thank you for the prompt response.