Expectation Check
Before rolling dice, let's establish what kind of game we're playing. Move the sliders to reflect your ideal campaign tone.
The Tone Matrix
Your Campaign Style: Balanced Adventurers
Your group prefers a balanced game: some lasting consequences but plenty of room for heroics, with humor dotting an otherwise straightforward narrative.
Running a Successful Session Zero
Session Zero is a dedicated gathering before the campaign starts where the GM and players discuss expectations, boundaries, and character ties. Using GroupVibe helps bypass awkward disagreements by establishing an explicit baseline.
How to Use This Worksheet
Have every player fill out the sliders based on what they honestly want to play. Once complete, they can use the Copy Shareable Link button and paste the URL in your group chat. The URL contains their coordinates. As a GM, you can open each link and plot them on a master matrix (or just note the averages). If player A is at “Maximum Lethality” and player B is at “Infallible Heroes,” you have a crucial conversation to hold before character creation.
Common Tone Archetypes
- Heroic & Goofy: Action-comedy. Think "Guardians of the Galaxy." High magic, big explosions, absurd hijinks. Character death is rare.
- Heroic & Serious: Epic fantasy. Think "Lord of the Rings." Grand destinies, overwhelming odds, but fundamentally capable heroes saving the world.
- Gritty & Goofy: Dark comedy. Think "The Suicide Squad." Lethal, messy, but not taking itself too seriously. Lots of character replacement.
- Gritty & Serious: Dark fantasy survival. Think "The Witcher" or classic OSR games. Every health point matters. Combat is a last resort.
Safety Tools at the Table
Tone alignment is just the first step. Because tabletop roleplaying is fully improvised, games can sometimes wander into uncomfortable territory. We recommend adopting standard safety tools alongside tone alignment:
Lines and Veils
Lines are hard boundaries (topics that will never appear in the game). Veils are soft boundaries (topics that can occur but fade to black rather than being explicitly described).
The X-Card
A physical or digital card placed on the table. If anyone taps it at any time, the current content is edited out or skipped immediately, no questions asked.
Note: GroupVibe is designed to check narrative tone, not measure psychological limits. Always rely on explicit human conversation for content warnings and player boundaries.