What questions to ask your players as a DM during character creation

[poppin_fresh]

I just ask them what they WANT to play. I don't really like to shoot down whatever they're into that week.

One stipulation: If I'm running a campaign and you know it features a large number dragons, please don't bring the Ultimate Dragonhunter...

I like that you ask them what they want to play. Do you ever end up with people wanting to play radically different things? I also like your stipulation.

I usually make my players fill out a biographical form with information on their appearance, personality (including likes/dislikes and fears)...

Do you ask them to give you a minimum amount of likes/dislikes or fears? Do you give them any bonuses for taking a certain amount of fears?

I want to know:

Why their character adventures - what is their goal? What is their hope and where do they see their character going in terms of progress in the world?...

I like a lot of your questions. How much detail do you ask of them in terms of how they want their characters story to progress or how they imagine they might achieve their goal?

I look for common things like:

* Motivations: In two sentences or less, what are your current motivating impulses (i.e. money, love, revenge, adventure, fame, finding/rescuing your mother, etc)
* (for higher level starting characters) Reputation: What types of things did you do to attain your current level of power and influence ...

I like that you limit how much information, I don't want to end up with an essay on their person, but I do want to get pertinent information about them. I also like the list of motivations. Do you actually give them a list of ideas to motivate them?

here is a terrible idea- lol - the way I roll...

I usually come up with an idea for a player backstory while coming up with an adventure. I get an idea like "hey, what if we say Joe's character comes from metropolis, and knows about the sewer system under a certain part of town." I run it by the player, who usually agrees, and then when the players get lost in the city, chasing down the were-rat, Joe is able to pipe up and say, "I know about the sewers over here, I was brought up in this part of town"

I like that you come up with ideas and suggest them to players. Do you work with the players to make it fit for the character they want? or let them design a part of the story or town that they're apart of?

During initial roll-up I find I'm much more often in the position of answering questions than asking them...

Interesting. What questions do you typically get asked?

 

[howandwhy99]

All questions are leading to the person you ask them too. Rather than directing players to include particular elements, I ask them to restrict their creations on small, but game relevant points.

What I do is ask each player to create a background for their PC, either alone or with other players. This is the life of the character up until the point in time the campaign begins for PC.

Another restriction is the character cannot have begun any PC class. Part of this includes being an adventurer in the wider world.

Thirdly, they begin the game having been trained in the class they will initiate and progress through play. Included in this training they may have or had a mentor.

All other scope is free to define by the players, within the table rules of course. It is submitted to me, the referee, to convert into the game world. Negotiation on particulars is common, but this is part of playing the puzzle game.

The whole is an ongoing process during the campaign too. Players can keep submitting background before any session. They can suppose legends, myths, and rumors heard when young at any point and craft the PC's personality each and every moment.

 

[RedTonic]

Do you ask them to give you a minimum amount of likes/dislikes or fears? Do you give them any bonuses for taking a certain amount of fears?

I don't usually set a hard and fast limit here, floor or ceiling, unless I know that the person has a tendency to babble. I will draw out someone who's too cursory in their responses or says nothing at all. I do not give bonuses tied to the number or severity of fears. I make that an RP element. Occasionally I may penalize the character for -2 to circumstantial morale, especially if it's a scenario meant to exploit the character's fears. However, I also give circumstantial bonuses (and penalties) tied to other parts of the profile we develop as appropriate, so on average, the effect is neutral and mainly for flavor.

(For example, a scenario regarding fears may feature mind-reading foes or neutrals trying to get something out of the afflicted PC; psychological torture; training to resist such torture; or I may integrate it into a horror scenario which lasts a few sessions.)

 

[poppin_fresh]

The whole is an ongoing process during the campaign too. Players can keep submitting background before any session. They can suppose legends, myths, and rumors heard when young at any point and craft the PC's personality each and every moment.

I never thought about having them continue to add background. I think I'll suggest that to my players, and I like the idea of them coming up with their own campaign hooks, and me fleshing it out. Do you work with them when they come up with one of these ideas, and do you do work on the idea with the group or on a one on one basis?

 

[WHW4]

I like that you ask them what they want to play. Do you ever end up with people wanting to play radically different things? I also like your stipulation.

All the time actually; I will be a player in a 4th edition game this weekend, and we have vampire and a cleric (boy was that thread over on the 4e boards fun to read) that will be adventuring together. We always find a way, no matter if it may be implausible on the surface, to "work things out" and have everyone playing what they want. There will most definitely be tension in the party, but that's part of the fun for us.

What I think it boils down to, honestly, is we're all very good friends. We like stepping on each others toes, and tweaking each others' noses; but it seriously is all in good fun. If someone were to say "Man, what you're RPing there is just not fun for me," well then we'd do the respectable thing and hash it out and find a way for everyone to continue having fun.

Another example, I was running a 3.5 campaign where the elves on one continent had imposed a segregation on themselves and essentially had become to boogeymen of the forests on one section of the continent. Not terribly original I know, but bear with me here. One player wanted to play an elf; I let him know upfront that a lot of the towns in the area I was beginning the campaign at would be apprehensive dealing with him, some disbelieving he was real, others downright hostile. He wanted to go for it, and that was that.

Of course he never made it to the mainland (they went on a voyage by sea during a short prologue to reach said continent), but that is an entirely different story.

Bottom line for me as a player and as a DM: If it is tedious/unfun/irritating, it just ain't worth wasting the table's time. We all work hard and want to relax. If one guy wants to be a halfling and another wants to play a troll, we shall overcome (had this happen as well).

 

[poppin_fresh]

If I was GMing a game I would ask each player--particularly optimizers, what I should expect from their character mechanically. I've never had a GM ask this sort of question but I think it would be very helpful for a GM. If your player is frank that their character is built to go crazy with charging it'll help you frame your game to better challenge the player while giving them opportunities to revel in their build. It also gives you the opportunity to nix the build right off the bat if it's warranted and it avoids you getting ambushed by some crazy combo that you weren't expecting.

I never thought about what questions a player would want me to ask. Maybe I should ask if there is anything else I forgot to ask them that they think will be important to their character. It does seem like a good idea to ask them what they're trying to do mechanically with their character.

 

[Jacob Marley]

Re: mechanics - I want to know what capabilities the characters have, including - but not limited to - hit points, saves, armor class, certain skills, and spells. I also keep track of the changes to these as well as any items they acquire as play progresses.

Re: background - none.

 

[Elf Witch]

I DM for a RP heavy group so I get a lot of background. I have a couple of players who write short stories for their background. Which I enjoy reading very much.

What I ask is what motivates your character. What would you like to see your character as being able to accomplish. What magic item do you have your heart set on.

I try and tailor part of my game to what the player would like his character to accomplish. For example I had one player who wanted to find his family's lost magical sword. So I weaved that into the game.

 

[chaochou]

Lots of good stuff on this thread.

I like players to create people and places they know. And maybe digging into it until you get some little nugget that brings the character out.

- I know the Duke...
- Oh yeah? How's that?
- Errr, he's my, er, brother in law?
- Cool, do you like him?
- Hell no!

Or like
- I know this old ruined temple out in the woods
- How come?
- Well, as kids we used to dare each other to run up the steps and bang on the door

That tells me that if I introduce the Duke into a situation, or a chance to finally explore the temple in the woods, the player is going to be all over it.

 

[howandwhy99]

Do you work with them when they come up with one of these ideas, and do you do work on the idea with the group or on a one on one basis?

It depends on many things. Is the idea about something already constructed in the web of the game world? Then they go with it as a possibility to be explored. Is the idea more background, something done alone or with other players? Then I work with those involved as I stated before. Is the idea about how they choose to act in character? This is entirely in their purview, table rules withstanding. Is this an idea they posit having learned prior to play, perhaps a children's story they remember?

The last is treated as any campaign or module submission. I convert it between sessions or on the fly during and add it to the world. For example, B10 can be converted, if they want it in the world. Forgotten Realms can be too, but I'd rather they parsed it down to specifics they really like (it's simply far to large on its own). A children's story about an ogre who likes flowers and befriends a young human girl, who then saves him from tricksy pixies is something I can easily convert. This is D&D, so I already have a lot of the information on hand. Where in my world are there pixies and an ogre somewhat near a human territory? Has any of that been interacted with yet in a contradictory way? No? Then the rumor becomes true for the fantasy world.