Campaign Template: The One Page to Write Before Session One

Published October 7, 2026

Short answer: one page, six blocks. The pitch, in a sentence. The truths the characters already know, up to six. The factions or patrons the group can pick from, up to three. How characters are built, and the house rules. When the table meets, for how long, and where in the world session one opens. What stays off the table, and how anyone says stop. The counts are Mike Shea's, the schedule lines are from Paizo's GM Core rulebook, the limits are James Haeck's; each block below says whose.

Shea, who writes the GM site Sly Flourish: "We're going to be tempted to write out a big campaign bible for our game. Avoid that temptation." His reason is about reading, not writing: "The longer the guide, the less likely players read it."

The world itself, its gods, places and history, has its own template on this site; the session has its own notebook. This page holds what sits between the two: what the table agreed on before session one.

The one-page version

Six lines, one per block, for a printed sheet or the top of the document you send around.

Block	The first line to write	Whose
1. Pitch	The campaign in one sentence, with the characters' part in it	Shea
2. Truths	Up to six facts the characters know on day one, no secrets	Shea
3. Factions or patrons	Up to three to choose from; the group keeps one	Shea
4. Characters	Allowed sources, starting level, the bond they share, house rules	Shea; Haeck; GM Core
5. Schedule and start	When, how often, how long; where in the world session one opens	GM Core; Haeck
6. Content and stop	Lines, veils, the way to tap out; updated after session zero	Shea; Haeck; GM Core

Shea's version is one sheet handed to players before session zero and sent again after it, with their additions. Existing notes sort the same way: the premise you already wrote goes under block 1.

Where the blocks come from

Three sources written for game masters stand behind the six blocks. Mike Shea's "Writing a One-Page Campaign Guide" (2021) sets out the page block by block: pitch, truths, factions or patrons, character guidelines and house rules, safety tools; his "Lazy Campaign Building Checklist" (2026) places it before session zero. James Haeck, lead writer for D&D Beyond, lists in his 2021 session 0 guide what a table talks through, from everyone's experience level to what happens between player characters. GM Core, Paizo's Pathfinder rulebook for game masters, has a short section, "Starting the Campaign", on what to settle "before your first session begins". The blocks below name no system.

Quoted questions are the authors' words; the rest are this page's phrasing of a heading.

The template

1. The pitch (Shea)

"Hook the players with an evocative pitch. What is the single-sentence or short paragraph drawing them into the world?" The test Shea gives it: "Make the pitch specific enough that the players understand the role of their characters in the campaign. As much as we don't want to reveal surprises, avoid being so vague that no one understands what it's actually about." His examples come from published adventures; each names, in one sentence, a threat, a place and the people under it.

What is this campaign, in one sentence?
What are the characters there to do?
Then "a short paragraph on the theme of the campaign".

2. The truths (Shea)

"What are the six truths of your campaign setting it apart from all other campaigns and worlds the players have played? These truths are known to the characters in the world. They're not secrets." The count is a ceiling: "You don't always need six. Shorter campaigns might only have two or three. You get to choose how many but don't go beyond six."

Where a truth stops and a secret begins, from a reader question he answered in 2023: "These truths are known facts about the world. You know them. Your players know them. Their characters know them." Secrets and clues "aren't known until the characters discover them." So: "If there are secrets about your campaign world that the characters don't know, exclude them from your list of truths."

What has happened here that everyone in the starting place knows?
Who holds power, and what do they demand?
What is different here from the last world this table sat in?

3. Factions or patrons (Shea)

"If you enjoy starting your campaign focused around a patron or faction, offer up to three choices for potential patrons or factions. These patrons or factions connect the characters together and give them a clear source for the quests that drive the rest of the campaign." The choice is the group's: "These choices come out in your session zero with the agreement that the group together determines one primary patron or faction." His 2026 checklist keeps the step optional: "Optionally, have players choose a starting faction."

Which three groups could the characters work for, and what does each want from them?
Which one did the group keep?

What that faction did last, and who leads it now, changes every session and belongs on a sheet that moves with it. The free Continuity Sheet on this site has a factions table for that line, filled in by hand. The wider list of factions in the world, with their goals, is the worldbuilding template's job.

4. Characters: guidelines and house rules (Shea; Haeck; GM Core)

Shea's questions, in his words: "What sources are allowed? What ability score generation method do you use? Do you have any important houserules the players should know about? Most important, what key theme or bond should players wire into their character to connect them together and focus them on the campaign's theme?" His example bond is one sentence the whole party shares; his note on it: "Note the reinforcement of cooperation."

Haeck's checklist adds the levels, "What level do we start at?" and "What level is the campaign expected to reach?", how and when characters gain them, and the limits, "What species, classes, spells, feats, and backgrounds are allowed?" House rules, in his words: "What rules will be used that differ from the official rules?"

GM Core, on timing: "Let the players know any restrictions or extra options for character building. Even if you plan to run a session zero, give them a heads-up before the session starts."

Which books and options are in, and which are out?
Starting level, how levelling works, and where the campaign is expected to end.
The one bond every character carries.
The house rules, one line each.

5. Schedule, length, and where it starts (GM Core; Haeck)

GM Core's list opens with time: "Establish the expected schedule and, generally, how long you expect the campaign to last. It's okay if you don't know the total length for sure, but you should still give an estimate." Then logistics: "Inform the players when and where the first session will take place, what they should prepare in advance, and what materials to bring." Then two lines about the fiction: "Tell the players where in the game world the first session will take place." "Give the players a basic idea of the genre or theme."

Haeck's questions for the same block: "When and how often would you like to meet?", and one on the kind of story, "Do you want the players' actions to drive the story? Or do you want the characters to get caught up in a larger whirlwind plot?" On tone, GM Core: "It can help to start with a rating, like those used for movies or video games."

When, how often, and for roughly how long.
Where in the world session one opens, and why the characters are in the same place. GM Core: "find a good place for the PCs to meet and a reason for them to be together."
What to bring, and what to prepare before.
Player-driven or plot-driven; the genre; the rating.

6. Content, and the way to say stop (Shea; Haeck; GM Core)

Shea calls this block part of "our contract with our players": "I prefer a mix of 'lines and veils' with descriptions of some expected lines and veils for this campaign along with a version of the X card I call 'pause for a minute'." After session zero: "Update the guide with the players' described lines and veils as well and resend it out to the group so everyone is clear."

Haeck's two tiers: "Hard limits are lines that absolutely should not be crossed for any reason. Soft limits are topics that are explicitly uncomfortable for a player but should be okay, either as long as the environment feels safe and welcoming or as long as they're explored lightly or in moderation." His examples of common limits: sexual relations, violence towards children or animals, racism, slavery, gratuitous violence, drug use, and phobia triggers "like spiders or deep water".

GM Core, on the same block: before a campaign begins, find out "what types of content they want to allow in the game and which topics they would prefer to avoid", as a group or one by one. Asking why someone wants a type of content banned is, in its words, "not okay": "If someone wants it banned, ban it".

The tap-out: the X-Card, "created by John Stavropolous" in Haeck's spelling, and Shea's "pause for a minute". A curated list of such tools, the TTRPG Safety Toolkit by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk, is free; its curators ask that it be bookmarked rather than downloaded, since it changes.

Lines: what never appears. Veils: what happens off the page.
The tap-out the table uses, and what follows it. GM Core: "Once the issue is resolved, move on."
The rating, in the words of films or games.

What the page is not

Three other documents sit next to this one, and the sources keep them apart.

The world. Shea's checklist puts the world after session zero: "Now you can step back and flesh out the larger world around the characters, continuing to focus on the characters and spiraling outwards." Villains, gods, "a practical history", a faction list. That is the worldbuilding template, eight sections on this site.

The session. GM Core's first-session steps: recap "the basics of the campaign you established earlier"; have players introduce characters by "what the other PCs could learn from first impressions"; and "Ask questions about the characters. Note down anything you think will be significant, so you can adjust your plans for later sessions." The notebook those notes go in has five sections of its own.

The running record. Justin Alexander keeps "all the active elements of the campaign" in a campaign status document: a timeline of events coming for the characters, background events, scenario updates. He says when it takes shape: "It often takes me three or four sessions with a new campaign before I can really start grokking what the status document for that campaign is going to look like." The page above is written before session one; the record grows after it. The lines that change every session, cast, factions, dates, fit the Continuity Sheet, one printable page, by hand.

After session zero

Shea resends the page with the table's lines and veils written in. Then his checklist's next steps: "Flesh out the starting location with details important to the characters"; "Prepare three quests players can choose from for the characters next adventure".

Haeck, on the page's open lines: "'I don't know' or 'I don't know yet, but I'll let you know' are perfectly acceptable responses. It's also okay to have multiple session 0s." A session zero can also come late: "it's perfectly viable to hold a session 0 any time between sessions."

Questions

What goes in a campaign template? Six blocks, on one page: the pitch, the truths the characters know, up to three factions or patrons, character guidelines and house rules, the schedule and where session one opens, and the content limits with the way to say stop.

How long should a campaign guide be? One page, by Shea's rule: "The longer the guide, the less likely players read it."

What is the difference between a truth and a secret? Shea: truths "are known facts about the world. You know them. Your players know them. Their characters know them." Secrets and clues "aren't known until the characters discover them", and stay off the page.

Do I need a session zero to use the page? GM Core: "Some groups prefer to have everyone create their characters in advance." The page then travels by message, and GM Core still asks that restrictions and options reach players "before the session starts".

Campaign template, worldbuilding template, or GM notebook? Three documents. The campaign template is what the table agreed before session one. The worldbuilding template holds the world: gods, factions, history, geography. The notebook holds the session: the log, the scenes, tonight's names.

Sources

Mike Shea, "Writing a One-Page Campaign Guide" (Sly Flourish, 13 December 2021), https://slyflourish.com/one_page_campaign_guide.html (read 6 October 2026).
Mike Shea, "Running Session Zeros" (Sly Flourish, 5 April 2021), https://slyflourish.com/running_session_zeros.html (read 6 October 2026).
Mike Shea, "Understanding the Six Truths of Your Campaign Setting" (Sly Flourish, 31 July 2023), https://slyflourish.com/understanding_the_six_truths.html (read 6 October 2026).
Mike Shea, "Lazy Campaign Building Checklist" (Sly Flourish, 2 February 2026), https://slyflourish.com/lazy_campaign_building_checklist.html (read 6 October 2026).
James Haeck, "How to Run a Session 0 for Your D&D Game" (D&D Beyond, Jan 8, 2021), https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/929-how-to-run-a-session-0-for-your-d-d-game (read 6 October 2026).
Paizo, GM Core (Pathfinder Second Edition), "Session Zero", "Starting the Campaign", "Objectionable Content", "At the First Session", via Archives of Nethys, undated, https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2478, https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2682, https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2470, https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2683 (read 6 October 2026).
Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk, TTRPG Safety Toolkit, https://ttrpgsafetytoolkit.com/ (read 6 October 2026).
Justin Alexander, "Smart Prep, Part 4: Campaign Status Documents" (The Alexandrian, March 29, 2019), https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/42961/roleplaying-games/smart-prep-part-4-campaign-status-documents (read 6 October 2026).

AI-assisted content, reviewed by the publisher before publication.