Author ORCID Identifier

Cristo León
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0930-0179

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Document Type

Other

Description

How do tabletop role-playing games transform complete newcomers into cohesive adventuring parties? This presentation introduces meta-collaboration as a framework for understanding session zero not as a preliminary conversation, but as the governance infrastructure that makes collaborative play possible. Using the Cosmic System (beta) as a qualitative case study, the presentation examines a distributed model of character creation in which players progress through multiple session-zero experiences before entering the first adventure as a team.

Framed around the conference theme GREEN as a metaphor for newcomers, the talk follows the onboarding of three players as they develop their characters across multiple ludic universes, negotiate shared expectations, and collectively establish the social, narrative, and procedural foundations of play. Particular attention is given to house rules, collaborative world selection, safety tools, and structured agreements that guide the transition from individual character exploration to collective storytelling.

Drawing on video recordings, participant surveys, and ongoing transcription analysis, the presentation argues that multi-phase session zero functions as a form of meta-collaborative governance, coordinating rules, roles, authority, and consent before narrative action begins. Rather than treating onboarding as a process of selection or attrition, this model emphasizes reflection, negotiated meaning, and gradual integration, offering a transferable framework for designing more inclusive, sustainable, and collaborative tabletop role-playing experiences.

This work was presented at Generation Analog 2026: GREEN, an online conference organized by Analog Game Studies and Game in Lab, held on July 15–16, 2026. The conference brought together scholars, designers, educators, and practitioners examining analog games through the thematic dimensions of newness, growth, inexperience, ecology, identity, and transformation.

Publication/Submission Date

7-16-2026

Keywords

collaboration, consent, governance, house rules, onboarding

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Acknowledgments: The author gratefully acknowledges the participants of the Cosmic System beta campaigns Las Chinas Poblanas, El Último Dragón de Albion, and The Thinning Veil of Sorrow for their collaboration, creativity, and willingness to participate as co-researchers. Their contributions to character creation, session zero activities, playtesting, surveys, and recorded gameplay made this research possible. The author also thanks them for their consent to use these materials as part of the ongoing study of meta-collaboration and onboarding in tabletop role-playing games.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Presentation – GREEN Newbies and Meta-Collaboration: Session Zero as an Infrastructure for Character Formation in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

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