This reminded me of my monday evenings. I have a paid group who are stranger to Call of Cthulhu as a roleplaying game.
• On first meeting, I introduce them with the game system.
• On second meeting, I run a one-shot game to give them first experiences and first impression of the game style and mechanics.
• On third meeting (it was yesterday), we checked out the characters and did the final touches for our upcoming campaign.
And next week, we will probably start our first in-game session for the campaign called Masks of Nyarlathotep.
Session zero, knowing the basics about what you will play and giving your character some purpose are critically important things, I believe. Everyone should say what they want and what they don't.
I have always wondered how paid campaigns work, is this something you set up or is it through a hobby store?
We don't have a proper hobby store in my country. Actually I was dropped running games because of irresponsibility of my latest players. Then, a big demand appeared and everyone was asking if I run any D&D and if there's any room. Then I started to say that I could only run games for income. And it's been 2 years since I started it. I know that in US, people take around 5$ for a session, per player. But I don't know the details. Never tried myself, and I have only seen game announces on Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds forums. Also, a platform called demiplane has some options about it, it also has some feedback and recommendation system.
Ah so starts out not much different to me asking the players bring "Timmies" (aka snacks - Timmies is a popular coffee and donut chain in Canada)