Pre-Game Questionnaire for Campaign Planning

Hello all, first post here. I have browsed around this site and lots of others looking for a pre-game questionnaire that would allow me to better plan a campaign for my players, and I have not found one, so my purpose in posting this is two-fold: First, I hope that what I have made can be of use to others, and second, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated on how to improve this questionnaire.

I don't know if this is common or not, but I have hit some bumpy patches with GMs at times where I didn't particularly like the way things were being run, but the gaming culture I had stepped into had already been well-established, and I don't want my players to feel like they are in that same situation. I have also had trouble in getting some players engaged in a campaign, and I want to make sure that I as a GM am best serving my PCs by providing them with a campaign that they enjoy and want to come be a part of. Things like the system we are using, the setting, and how XP is distributed have already been taken care of; it's the general feel of the game I'm wanting to nail down before we begin.

Keep in mind that I made this questionnaire with the intention of it being filled out by veteran players as well as those that are new to RPGs. It will fit on a single typed page (narrow margins) but I hope to get as much information as possible out of a short and simple questionnaire. Some of the ones I found were upwards of 100+ questions but are simply not practical when you don't want to scare away a new player. All that said, I hope this is helpful!


Pre-Game Questionnaire
There are several barriers that present themselves when beginning a role-playing campaign. Some of the most common barriers are related to commitment and interest. Either the commitment is too great, making it feel like work, or the campaign itself or the activities involved in the campaign become bland or stagnant. This questionnaire is designed as a tool for the game master to use in planning campaigns and sessions so that it is enjoyable for as many people as possible. Complete honesty is required for this to be an effective tool.

History
Have you played a role-playing game before? (D&D, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, etc.)
Would you consider yourself a beginner, experienced, or veteran player in that system?

Big picture
Story Length: circle all that you would be interested in
1. One shot quests
2. 2-5 session quest
3. 2-5 quest arc
4. Multi-arc campaign

Level of commitment
1. I don't need to know much about the current quest or situation to have fun.
2. I want to be here for the whole quest, but if I miss one quest I can jump in at the start of a new one.
3. I want to be present for every session.

Characters: circle all that apply
1. Only I can play the character I create, and I will only create one character.
2. Only I can play the characters I create, but I might create more than one.
*3. I am willing to play characters other people have created.
4. I am willing to let other players use characters I have created, but I will make decisions on character development.
5. I am willing to let the current player or group make decisions about character development.
(TO ENWORLD READERS: This section is practically experimental, and I really don't expect anything other than 1 to 3 to be selected, and I'm still working out what would happen if people were okay with 4 or 5. This would probably result in an essential role be filled by someone else if they weren't able to attend the session, but were okay with us playing.)

*Playing as a character that you did not create means you must commit to role-playing that character according to his or her predefined personality traits, even if the character's creator is not present. Role-playing sometimes requires playing roles that do not naturally align with your own personality.

Combat
Combat length: a turn or two, several rounds, all-out war
Miniature-based combat vs theatre of the mind
Fight until you kill everything vs GM "wrapping it up" saying how you finished off the last minions

Facets of Gameplay
Puzzles: Y/N and type?
Riddles: Y/N
Romance: Y/N
Political Intrigue: Y/N
Real timers set on: challenges/puzzles, combats, entire session?
Player vs player conflict? Good or bad?
Session length (hours): 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, +? Are you crazy??


Post-game Questionnaire
(I’ve included this info so that you know what I will be asking you to think about at the end of each session. I will have printed copies to be filled out immediately following the session. It is more likely that these will be used at the beginning until a play style that fits the group gets ironed-out.)

Start time/End time, good or bad?
Were there any slow-downs where the game was not fun?
Too much/Not enough:
Freedom
Role-playing
Combat
Time playing
Story progression
Stress
Figuring rolls
Food
Music
Free time
Other:

This seems good.

I like to ask players questions before starting a campaign. Usually, I will custom tailor the questions to match choices I anticipate making in game prep. For instance, I don't need to know how players want to run combats at the table during campaign prep — I can throw the minis out or put the minis down as we play. But I do want to know what player anticipations about combat are — complex and tactical, rare and deadly, fast and furious.

Here's a questionnaire I sent out before a Cthulhu mini-campaign I put together this spring:

So there was some interest last night in doing a little more Cthulhu gaming. I figured I'd go ahead and put an adventure together, but wanted to ask some questions of all y'all before I start combing through ideas and materials. Would be very helpful if you could let me know what you think! (Feel free to just multiple choose or add more info if you want.)

Would You Rather Just Be Playing D&D?
a) Yes.
b) No.

Preferred Challenge/Lethality:
a) Combat is an automatic win.
b) Combat should provide a challenge, but failure should only happen if the players WANT to fail.
c) Hard combats, but something REALLY bad should only happen when player stupidity is compounded by bad luck, or when facing A Major Villain. (I think this is our default.)
d) Every combat runs the risk at killing or maiming a player character. (I think this tends to be my default, even when I try for option (c).)
e) This is horror. Somebody should die every session.

Story Arc:
a) Small, self-contained monster/ghost of the week. The only thing tying it all together is we bring the same characters every week.
b) Self-contained mini-adventures, but there's a loose thread tying everything together.
c) Big story with every session being a piece in the bigger puzzle.

Location:
a) Local (in and around one town or city)
b) Regional (Lovecraft's New England, for instance)
c) GLOBE-HOPPING
Local will allow much greater detail in rendering the setting, whereas globe-hopping will make for much more broadly sketched settings, with slightly more rail-roading.

Investigation vs Combat
a) Action horror. Chewing through hordes of cultists, zombies, body snatchers, etc.
b) Lots of combat, but sometimes social and investigative interludes. (I think this is our D&D default.)
c) Mostly tracking down clues and exploring, but at least one or two combats every session. (How our last Cthulhu adventure worked out.)
d) If you have to fight the Mythos monster, you've already died. (The way the first Cthulhu adventure we played worked out.)

Time Period
a) 1890s (Sherlock Holmes era.)
b) 1920s (classic Lovecraft era)
c) Modern
I'll do 1920s unless there's a really strong interest in one of the others.

Any Strong Requests for Types of Villains?

Any Strong Requests for a Particular Location?

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By contrast, here is a questionnaire I sent out for a one-shot with a slightly different group.

One more question — for the sake of a one-shot, feel free to rate, from most desirable to least desirable, possible elements of a D&D adventure.

Dungeon crawling exploration with traps, strange statues and ever-present danger.
Stupid puzzles.
Asking NPCs the hard questions to solve the hard mysteries.
Knock-down drag-out combats that just might kill the whole party.
Fast and furious combats that the party will easily win.
Pleasant banter with NPCs who will probably not advance the plot in any way.
Flashing, blinking, glowing "Adventure This Way" signs.
NPCs with shifting allegiances.
Removal of limbs and eyeballs from player characters.

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I'll also add that the first time I ran a horror adventure with my group, I asked every player to e-mail me privately with any subject matter that would make them uncomfortable or that they would prefer to avoid. I'm very glad I did this — it resulted in some changes to the published adventure I was using, and two of the players thanked me directly for asking.