Character connection questions

Some games (like, say, Daggerheart) come with a set of questions for the player, in which they establish character history, and inter-PC connections. Like, "You recently had an argument with <character>. What was it about?"

I'm running a game in the new year that doesn't have such questions built in - anyone have sources for connection-building that others can draw from?

I wish I had Masks down better ive only done a few one shots of it. I recall having a couple of connection points to RP off between PCs.

In Traveller Mongoose added the connections rule. The life/career events of each PC can be shared giving them a bond of sorts.

I habe attached teo documents. One is by willowwares on youtube, who is awesome. The other is by me and is very unpolished. Basically questions i put to my group at the start of the campaign in which they are all attending a celebration that occurs evety nine years called the Celestial Noniad. Thquesons specific to that would obv be replacex with ones relevant your game.

Hope it helps!

I read the Daggerheart connection questions for character creation but I wasn't brave enough to try them on my first game. I've tried a couple Daggerheart-style questions during session recaps though.

Examples:

• During the session recap after the PCs entered a dungeon floor filled with crypts and undead: What are the burial practices where [your character] is from?
• During the session recap after the PCs found a spooky hallway they knew led to an optional boss, not really the target of their current quest: Why is [your character] entering this hallway? (Only one of them answered "MONEY!!")

These could easily be questions about what the PCs think about NPCs they've met too. I try to keep it to one question per recap, and only if I think of something good that lets them talk about their character (as opposed to recapping some lore concept they heard).

From various PBTA games....

Drama Ones =
____________________ has been a source of entertainment and flirtation, why keep them at arm’s length?

____________________ is the person you go to when you’re truly ready to cut loose.

You got in a big fight with __________________. Tell us how you two bonded over it.

_____________ knows you from a time you were different. Were you more civil or wild?

You gave some fate advice to ______________. Tell us whether it worked out and how you benefited regardless.

You and ______________ have sparred with each other for a long time. What blackmail dirt do you have on them?

You had a very close brush of romance with ___________. We’re talking eyes meet, slow lean in, lips almost… Why did it stall? How could it start again?

You caught _________ and _________ in a moment of plotting. What were they planning?

............

Grit ones =
Which one of you put a hand in when it mattered, and helped me save a life?
Which one of you used to ride with my gang?
Which one of you once stood up to me, gang and all?
Which one of you once left me bleeding, and did nothing for me?

.....

Adventure ones =
"Tales of your valor precede you. What deed in your past do you consider your proudest, the one that earned you the King's trust to guard these lands?"

"They say power comes at a price. What sacrifices are you willing to make to achieve your goals, even if it means risking the lives of those who call this land their home?"

"Dragon or not, how do you plan to confront the terror that grips the people? Is it a foe to be vanquished or perhaps a pawn in a more intricate game you play?"

"In the face of this supposed dragon, how does your faith guide your actions? Do you believe this creature to be a manifestation of divine wrath or something more sinister?"

The couple of times I've done it, I used Fiasco-styled connection forming... the way you create the relationships, needs, locations, and objects that you would when playing Fiasco.

They have their fantasy playset called Dragon Slayers that can give you a really good starting baseline for creating character relationships in a fantasy setting. You obviously can make some amendments to it if there are specific aspects of your game / setting you would want to incorporate... but most of the playset can be used as-is.

Dragon Slayers Playset - Bully Pulpit Games

Granted, if you've never played Fiasco you might also need to download the basic rules of the game so you'd understand how the set-up works and is played, thereby allowing you to then adapt it to your RPG chargen. It's probably a but more involved of a system and format than what you might need... but it's there if needed.

While it's very stylized, the process in Spirit of the Century was fun...
You get to write the title for the shared story of each of two other PCs, and then you build aspects around that.

aramis erak said:

While it's very stylized, the process in Spirit of the Century was fun...
You get to write the title for the shared story of each of two other PCs, and then you build aspects around that.

Click to expand...

This is great; and other FATE games (esp. pre-3e) have similar things. In Diaspora, players write 5 phases, including a moment of crisis that changed their character forever, involving the player on their left. The next phase has them looking at the moment made by the person on their right, and saying how, and in what way, it shaped them. It's great, and each player has two deep bonds from shared moments that predate the game.

The game creates mechanics out of that (aspects), but if players buy in, you don't need that: they have that history, it's written down, and has been shared. And, if the ref has made a character too who may not be part of the game, there is also a hole in that chain -- one that can be fixed in play.

Umbran said:

Some games (like, say, Daggerheart) come with a set of questions for the player, in which they establish character history, and inter-PC connections. Like, "You recently had an argument with <character>. What was it about?"

I'm running a game in the new year that doesn't have such questions built in - anyone have sources for connection-building that others can draw from?

Click to expand...

Can you be more specific about what you want these questions to produce? I ask because some game use the background questions to help build out implied setting and others are strictly for PC background. In terms of questions leading to bonds between players are looking for something that's actionable by the GM, or something that just sets the stage for future play?