What kind of questions do you guys ask to flesh out your characters? I'm quickly realizing that I didn't spend nearly enough time working on the personality of my character, instead, I had a basic idea and just went to town on a character sheet.
Generally what you want to ask is four things:
How was he raised and by whom?
How did he manage to pick up the skills he has now?
What events happened that allowed him to make the decision to become and adventurer.
And last and most importantly. What Does He/She Want Most?
>>46652008
>What kind of questions do you guys ask to flesh out your characters?
None.
What a silly question.
Asking yourself questions to fill out certain blanks in your PC's character just means you lack the routine to fill out the relevant blanks without the extra prompt.
>>46652063
Actually questions can be an incredibly good writing exercise and get those creative juices flowing. Plus, hey some people need a prompt. Theirs no shame in that
>>46652008
Here ya go.
You don't have to fill out all the questions, but even just considering them or reading them can be helpful.
>>46652408
This is great, actually. I've been a DM for some players, but I just started playing in a really heavily story based campaign. Something like this that gives depth beyond what I'm used to is really helpful.
Aside from being in Comic Sans, the Sailor Moon RPG character diaries are really good for this:
https://missdream.org/raw-sailor-moon-downloads/sailor-moon-guardians-order-role-playing-books/sailor-scout-character-diary/
>>46652408
How many questions do you want filled out? Or what questions rather?
You do realize that there are some people who might or might not have much time due to the nature of their jobs and lives, right?
>>46652408
I've just started filling this thing in for myself. Not for my character. Me.
This is bizarrely thought provoking.
>>46655254
Well, it makes sense. After all, we are our own characters.Sorry, no re-rolls.
>>46652695
Its more of just filling out until you feel like its fleshed out enough
>>46655355
;_;
>>46655397
I don't have a life, so I'm going with all of them.
>>46652008
>asking questions
>not piecing in details as you go along and figure out what logically makes sense given their personality so far
>>46652008
Where do they come from?
Where are they going?
Why did they leave?
What is the first thing people notice about them?
What have they been doing recently?
What habits do they have?
What is one event in their life that as influenced who they are?
What is one thing in their life that they aspire to be or to change?
Who is one person in their life who they are well connected to?
>>46652695
>You do realize that there are some people who might or might not have much time due to the nature of their jobs and lives, right?
Hey, remember that part where I said
>You don't have to fill out all the questions, but even just considering them or reading them can be helpful.
Because that was a thing I said.
>>46652008
>What kind of questions do you guys ask to flesh out your characters?
1) What are key concepts/factions in the campaign or setting that interest me?
2) Are there any real world/historical analogues and what kind of issues did those people deal with? Which one most interests me?
3) Then I make a character who is more or a less a normal person, but has to deal with that one or two of those issues.
4) Work backwards from there to determine the rest.
For example...
1) DM says we're playing D&D game, Eberron setting, based in the Eldeen Reaches. I know the Druid circles, Shifter tribes, House Vlandis, and independence from Aundair are major themes/factions in that region. I find the recent independence from Aundair interesting.
2) Obvious analogues with any rebellion/civil war/balkanazation situation. Lots of character concepts to work with. I'll go with an classic: guy who did things he's ashamed of during the war and bears old nationalist grudges.
3) My guy will be a former soldier of Aundair. His father and brother supported remaining a part of Aundair, and the division drove them apart. He would later learn that they died in a battle that he participated in. Feels somehow responsible for their death, and adventures because he doesn't want to go home and face the rest of his family.
4) He needs to have a family to not face, so he has a mother, and two younger sisters, and grand parents back home. He probably drinks a lot in his down time to deal with the issues. Likely a Human or Half-Elf, since they make up the largest populations in towns in the reaches. People who support Aundair will piss him off, but he'll have a sore spot for family issues- especially if it involves son/father and brothers. Since he was a soldier for the rag tag Aundair forces, he was probably a Ranger that didn't focus much on animal companion/spellcasting, or a Fighter with a woodsman theme. Fighter focusing on archery sounds cool.
>>46652008
>What kind of questions do you guys ask to flesh out your characters?
Did they survive level 1?
>>46661587
Have you even read the first part of my post? Then why not answer instead of being a prick?
>>46652008
1. What kind of a shitty, horrible person are they really like?
2. What is the front they put up to desperately try to mask the answer to question 1?
Everything else kind of grows out of that.
>>46662862
>Have you even read the first part of my post?
You didn't read the second part of mine, I don't see why I should be obligated to read the first part of yours. However I did, and the first part of your post is answered in the second part of mine.
You:
>How many questions do you want filled out? Or what questions rather?
Me:
>You don't have to fill out all the questions, but even just considering them or reading them can be helpful.
If you're looking for an exact number you're SOL, but then simply paying attention to how I phrased my post should make it clear that you don't actually have to write out answers for any of them - just reading them will get you thinking about your character.
There, I wasted a few hundred characters answering a question you already had the answer to. Satisfied?
>>46663834
Yes. A number would've been a hundred times better.
>>46663848
Fine. I'm rolling a d100. You have to answer that many questions. They can be any of the questions contained in the document. They do not have to be in order. You may not answer the same question twice. You must print it out and fill out the questions you choose to answer in No. 2 pencil. Having done so you must then scan it back and post it. I will grade you based on your grasp of spelling and grammar, as well as the completeness and thoroughness of your answers.Christ, sometimes I think I'm not nearly autistic enough to be visiting this board.
Rolled 11 (1d100)
>>46663885
And the d100 didn't roll for some reason. I think I typed in "dice+d100" accidentally. Mea culpa.
Take 2.
>>46663896
Your culpa indeed.
I'll snag the document though, since some of the questions have some use, at least.
>>46652008
>>46652408
? ? ?
I don't, I just make different character that is simply different than the previous ones.
It never cease to amaze me how much effort people put - and often waste - on filling some stupid questionaires just to end with pretty much the same character as always, but now with 2 pages form filled for it.
The best thing to do is to find the most defining element of your character and then go from it.
Because if that most important element will be shared among your characters, no amout of stupid question will change that, as you will be getting the same answer
>>46663923
>It never cease to amaze me how much effort people put - and often waste - on filling some stupid questionaires just to end with pretty much the same character as always, but now with 2 pages form filled for it.
Depending on the nature of the campaign, a questionnaire can actually get you to think about things you never would when strictly approaching from a gaming standpoint.
For example, a character's birthday. If the campaign takes place over several in-universe months then it might come up, and it's neat to think up what your character does on his or her birthday, if anything.
Similarly things like childhood friends or favorite foods.
They're prompts, though. I have the questionnaire (I just found it on I think Giant in the Playground and formatted it, I didn't make it myself) and have given it to everyone in my gaming group. I don't honestly expect any of them to fill it out, but it's a resource. You can never have too many resources.
Also on a different-but-still-related-to-your-post note, none of my characters are similar to each other, except that they tend to be female. But Zoraida Rascón the Toreador liason to the anarchs is different from Adrienne Molyneux the Caitiff runaway is different from Iliira Ii'ilmerias the dark elf thief is different from Evelyn Moreau the CONTROL assassin is different from Skye Adarin/Mandalore the Forge the Mandalorian crusader is different from...well, you get the point.
>>46664003
Regardless of the nature of the campaign, the questionaire is absolutely pointless, because you are aiming for specific answers, instead of asking yourself questions.
Ok, let's put it into perspective.
If you are using questionaire, you know what character you want to get, because you are giving answers to get to that character. So how the hell that's suppose to add some variety, if the basic element - character concept - can remain the same.
Say you make an elf ranger. Then in next game you mage elf ranger+. Then you fill a questionaire, giving hell of an answers... and you get very detailed elf ranger+.
Now imagine you start with the core idea for character and then build around it.
So you make an elf ranger. Then you make another character and realise "wait, this is elf ranger+, I should make something different". Then you realise this is somewhat still the same character, so you make something completely different.
Questionaires are good for world building and race-creation. Not for fucking characters, because you are simply creating a loop of confirmation bias.
>>46664160
I feel you are, again, completely missing the point of the questionnaire, which is to get you to think about things you might not otherwise, which makes for a more complete character and, thereby, a more complete gaming experience, at least if you're into roleplaying as much as hack-n'slash..
Again, things like birthdays. My current character was born on the 1st of April (well, Tarsakh, but I'm keeping things simple for you), something I only know because I read through the questionnaire I provided above, reached that question, and randomly determined a birthday for her. Having done so, though, I now know that said character's birthday is coming up in just a month in-universe and it's something that will likely happen over the course of the campaign that she's currently in. While it's just her 28th birthday and so not any kind of major milestone, I still plan to, if possible, take some roleplaying time aside for her to do things like spend some time at her favorite tavern or buy something big and non-adventure related, like maybe a house. Similarly the rest of the group can get the character presents - and I can do likewise for their characters on their characters' birthdays.
Without the questionnaire, I probably would never have even considered when my character's birthday was, which means that I wouldn't get to have fun with the roleplaying opportunity it presents.
Similarly in the questionnaire I established my character's phobia of spiders, which is again something I might not have considered without the prompt, but which has come up several times in the campaign and has actually been extended to cover anything with "too many legs" (i.e., more than 4), with my character having actually ditched several combat encounters when possible with things like giant centipedes or giant spiders in favor of running away. Again, not something I likely would have even considered without the prompt.
>>46652008
"What is their core psychological problem?"
Great characters are often ones in which all major actions and decisions can be traced directly back to one life-shaping event, loss, or goal that they formed early on in life.
>>46664343
>"What is their core psychological problem?"
This is actually a good question for most systems, since normal people usually don't last long as murderhobos. See: runners who can afford milspec gear not just retiring.
>>46664319
>I feel you are, again, completely missing the point of the questionnair
>HURRR YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG DURRR
>All the bullshit that follows
Anon, you don't even understand what makes character different from each other. You've just made an entire argument about tertiary element that means absolutely nothing for a character as such.
Tell us, how does this affects motivations of the characters? Or the personality?
Oh, right, it doesn't, because it's just a fucking number you put there, since there was a question about birthday
>>46664375
>since normal people usually don't last long as murderhobos
Let me guess - you never played with people outside your small, hand-picked group that is ultra-hermetic and elitist in nature?
>>46664382
>Anon, you don't even understand what makes character different from each other.
And you don't understand the concept of writing prompts or complete characters, apparently. I'm sensing that you tend to run characters that hatched from adventurer eggs.
>Tell us, how does this affects motivations of the characters? Or the personality?
Well, for one thing, filling out the questionnaire gave me my current character's crippling arachnophobia/entomophobia. So that affects her motivation and personality. Not to mention her XP total - as said, she's run from fights involving spiders, meaning she isn't getting the XP for them since she isn't involved in their defeat.
>You've just made an entire argument about tertiary element that means absolutely nothing for a character as such.
What do you mean it means nothing for a character? Wait, let me rephrase - your current or most recent character. What does he or she want for his or her birthday? Can you answer that question for them? Can you even name his or her birthday?
Say you're playing a campaign that takes place over the course of many months and your character's birthday is going to fall on it. What should your character's friends get him or her? What is his or her favorite color? Favorite food? Favorite book or author or genre? Your character's parents?
A fairly roleplay-heavy campaign can have these things come up, even in D&D. It's fun when they do.
>>46664391
>Let me guess - you never played with people outside your small, hand-picked group that is ultra-hermetic and elitist in nature?
I'm...actually gonna back him up on this. Normal people don't typically adventure. Even normal people who want to "protect" people tend to do stuff like become cops or firemen or join the army or something - they are reactive rather than proactive as adventurers tend to be.
And the more personal wealth a person has the less risks they tend to take with life and limb since they have more to lose. This is particularly the case if they have family.
The equivalent of a typical D&D adventurer in the modern day would be a multi-millionaire who suits up and travels to Equatorial Guinea with between three and five of his equally rich in order to topple the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
That doesn't happen.
>>46664551
>a multi-millionaire who suits up and travels to Equatorial Guinea with between three and five of his equally rich in order to topple the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Bill Gates as hacker.
Does anyone know of an article that was based on the idea that people can create character backgrounds that are too long? I remember reading some sort of headline that said that you only really need to create hooks for the game and explain certain aspects of their personality. I think it gave advice on how to do this.
I spent about 30 minutes on google trying to track this article down again, but I have failed.
>>46664493
Please, oh please, wise anon, explain us how your character is "complete" because of celebrating birthday.
>What does he or she want for his or her birthday? Can you answer that question for them? Can you even name his or her birthday?
Explain me what difference does it make for shell-shocked Algieria War veteran, now doing body-guarding duty for bunch of people in Call of Cthulhu game.
Seriously, HOW this affects the gameplay? It will be a wonder if he makes if till next spring given current state of his mind and you are still pushing for absolutely non-essential details
Let me reitterate.
Imagine your character is a house. Normal people start with solid foundation and all essential installations in it.
You start with selecting the colour of the drapperies in the windows.
>>46664391
>>46664551
Those
I'm going to save the one about the multi-millionaire, this is fucking brilliant, yet so simple
I usually start out with why my character started to adventure, as that should be the focus of any character.
Currently, my character has a pretty basic background: He was a farmer and, after a trip to the market, he returns home to find his farms burned, his home destroyed, and his family butchered. He has vowed by his god to scour the earth of the people who did it.
And that's why he's out in the world and not sitting back somewhere cushy. Anything else I can make up as needed.
>>46664343
Thanks anon, I never realized it until you said, but all the best characters I've written have been built around a major problem they've had psychologically, personality-wise.
Fear of loss, a desire to be part of something, extreme self-esteem issues (both undervaluing yourself and overvaluing yourself), low impulse control. All of these things can make for very organic characters if you really understand how people with these mindsets can behave or how they feel. Baggage of that magnitude tends to drive most of a person's actions and underpin all their thought processes.
>>46664319
>>46664493
>There are actually people so inept in character building
From all the good and decent approaches you decided not only to pick up the most retarded one - questionnaire. A tool created for morons that are taught in schools how to solve tests instead of getting some knowledge. This is the final effect. A person incapable of creating a character without collecting shitload of more or less useless data. But because there is so much of the stuff, they feel safe, as it appears the character is rich and well-thought.
It doesn't work this way.
Characters need motivation, especially in adventure-heavy games. You don't just throw your life and decide to join local band of roaming adventurers... well, you can, but that will lead to VERY specific character.
There is a reason why your character behave in a way he or she does. A reason why he or she wants to do something. A reason or way of judging things around, not just based on some simplified alignment system (which was invented for the same mouth-breathers filling tests and questionnaires), but actual REASON
If your character lacks proper motivation(s) to do things the way he or she does, no amount of pointless trivia will help.
What actually makes your characters different? Their race? Appearance? Job? Or the way they behave?
Let's get the most classic example. The Dwarf. The heavy meming and stereotyping lead to the point where your average dwarf PC is... well, THE Dwarf. Minor details may vary, but in the end the behaviour pattern is the same, the motivation is the same, the way it's role-played is the same. It's the same fucking characters, played by different people, with slightly different looks and slightly different background.
And I can fucking bet all money on the fact most of those players would sit with questionnaire to create a character and in the end would get The Dwarf anyway. Because they want to play The Dwarf, while questionnaire only makes that easier to accept and longer to do.
>>46652008
The WWW
>Why
The most important one, this pretty much makes the entire fucking character
>Who
If there is any "who" in the Why
>Where
Which part of the setting
>>46665006 >>46666483
Or something, yeah.
For example, my current character, Iliira, has a total of 16,438 gold pieces on her. There's 50 gold pieces to a pound, so that means she has 328.76 pounds of gold on her person. The current price of gold is $1,248.65 per troy ounce. There's 14.583 troy ounces to a pound, so 1 pound of gold is worth about $18,209.06.
So my character is carrying the modern-day equivalent of about $5,986,410.57 on her person, in just gold pieces - so we're not even taking into account any other wealth or items of value, like her magic knife.
Normal people don't have that kind of cash, and even abnormal people who have access to that kind of cash don't tend to carry it around with them.
>>46666459
>Seriously, HOW this affects the gameplay? It will be a wonder if he makes if till next spring given current state of his mind and you are still pushing for absolutely non-essential details
Jesus Christ I have to do it again. I really am not autistic enough to be on this board, am I? Well, here we go anyway.
Remember that part where I said
>You don't have to fill out all the questions, but even just considering them or reading them can be helpful.
Because that was a thing I said.
I'm not "pushing" for anything. Several times I've made it clear that you don't have to answer *any* of the questions, but even thinking about them *can be* helpful to your roleplaying experience. It isn't necessarily, but it's just meant to be a resource to have, not a requirement for anyone.
>You start with selecting the colour of the draperies in the windows.
No, I'm not. I never once said "fill this out in lieu of a character sheet" or "start with this and develop your character from there".
All I did was provide 100 questions for an OP who asked what kind of questions I ask to flesh out a character. The OP is specifically asking for little things, so I provided 100 of them.
>>46666662
Apparently this whole post goes for you, too.
>>46666662
>Characters need motivation, especially in adventure-heavy games. You don't just throw your life and decide to join local band of roaming adventurers... well, you can, but that will lead to VERY specific character.
As an addendum, I find this line particularly funny because "why do you adventure" is ONE OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE.
More to the point you're actually really demonstrating that you're not reading any of my posts, since all of them make it clear that you start with the basic character idea, personality, goals, flaws, etc., and THEN go to the questionnaire in order to consider questions that you otherwise might not have, which may or may not be useful, but are certainly harmless to have on-hand.
>>46667503
Anon, I've got the clue for you.
I'm Anon 3. You've answered to Anon 2. And your original argument was with Anon 1.
Newsflash, bitch - there is more than one person pointing out at your stupidity.
>>46667503
So let me get this straight.
First we should make our character... and then go for the questionnaire
>or alternatively
You should answer the questions to get the character you wanted to get in the first place
... are you out of your fucking mind?
>>46667691
>Newsflash, bitch - there is more than one person pointing out at your stupidity.
Given that I've demonstrated basic reading comprehension and none of you have, I don't see how I'm the stupid one.
I know I'm speaking to more than one person, but all of you seem to be throwing fits over the idea of being forced to fill out a 100-question questionnaire when I made it clear in the very first post that you don't have to answer all of the questions, and have made it clear in subsequent posts that you don't have to answer ANY of them, but some people find such questionnaires useful, and there's nothing wrong with that.
They're just a resource to be used, delivered to OP at his request. Nothing more. You colossal faggots.
>>46667764
Anon 4 reporting in
>>46652008
>Why did he become whatever is now?
>What would he do if he had free time and infinite resources/money?
>Two bad things and two good things he does on a daily basis.
>At what point in his life would he say "there, I'm done"
>>46667749
>First we should make our character... and then go for the questionnaire
No.
You moron.
- First you make your character, including both the crunch and the basics of fluff (I find 5E's 2 personality traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw to be a useful starting point), following by a brief one-or-two sentence description of their backstory and motivation ("Born to a well-to-do family in Sembia, Erynn Ambelcrown left her home looking for something more to life than the vagaries of the Sembian aristocracy. She is new and a little naïve, but a fast learner and an eager student of history.")
- Then, IF YOU WANT TO, you go to the questionnaire to get additional character details which may or may not ever come up but which might (or might not) be useful to have anyway (i.e., considering whether or Iliira has any phobias has given her a crippling fear of spiders and many insects, particularly large ones, which has come up fairly often in game)
- Then you should probably go back to school and insist that you be allowed to take English again.
- Further choking on dicks is optional but recommended.
>>46667847
Keeping with the numerals - anin 5 here
Ever heard about Occam's razor?
By your own logic, questionnaires are pointless waste of time.
But then again, if you are still the original anon, you are a guy who thinks shitload of pointless trivia is what makes a character compelling.
>>46667847
O rly?
>>46667926
>Ever heard about Occam's razor?
The so-often misquoted "all other things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best". It's misquoted because people tend to remember the "simplest" part and not the fact that everything else has to be equal first.
Play a hack-n'-slash game that just takes you from one dungeon to the next, very few of the questions are going to be useful. There's nothing wrong with that kind of game. I have enjoyed them myself. In this situation, then, the questionnaire is not useful.
Play a long-term political game where inter-PC interaction, character backstory, family history, past events the character has done to earn their place in the Royal Court, specific phobias, favorite foods, and so on, are all incredibly important. In that situation, the questionnaire is a useful tool, since many of its questions stand a good chance of coming up.
>>46667973
Christ you're still being stupid. I'm not correcting grammar, I'm complaining about their lack of reading comprehension, and had in previous posts, too. Totally different thing, but still something covered in elementary-school English.
>>46668051
>The so-often misquoted "all other things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best"
Don't want to break it for you, but it's you who did the misquote. The question was pretty simple and straighforward. Not my fault you sir are a retard.
Seriously, how ass-blasted one must be to keep venting for what? When was the first post? 8 hours ago? And you still keep going, while different anons poke fun at you.
And for a good reason, you twat.
>>46668073
>Everyone in the world is using English
>>46668073
Not him, but you sure are buttblasted. Maybe you should turn off the PC and enjoy the day a bit.
>>46668073
This is getting better with each dose of salt
>>46668076
Ugh, you're right, it's supposed to be "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected." But then it's supposed to be used for deductive reasoning and logical debate in order to determine which of two things is more likely, not character creation. "I see no need to know my character's birthday" is not an example of Occam's razor in action.
>And for a good reason, you twat.
Given that their "poking fun" has consisted of them somehow thinking that I'm going to Gestapo into their homes and force them to fill out a character questionnaire for their characters, I'm not sure who is actually poking fun at who.
>>46668094
Everyone on this board is.
>>46668107
Honestly I like arguing. I *am* enjoying my day so far. Besides which if all anyone can say at this point is "lol u mad"...well, we have memes about that.
>>46668183
>Literally spitting on himself
>>46652008
In order of importance:
What kind of broad stereotype (or charitably, archetype) do I want the character to be?
What kind of funny voice, if any, will I do when this character talks?
Does the character have a catchphrase, and what is it?
What does the character want that sends him off into danger? Money? Glory? Duty? Knowledge? A really good meal? To secure the existence of the hobbits and a future for hobbit children?
What kind of relationship, if any, does the character have with each of the other PCs?
I'm not going to write a novel, and nobody at the table is going to care about my character's strained relationship with his mother, or his traumatic experience in middle school gym class, or any of that. If it becomes important in the course of the game, and sometimes it does, I'll worry about it then.
