Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Pre-Game Questionnaire for Campaign Planning
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Dillon Sain" data-source="post: 7292004" data-attributes="member: 6886001"><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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 <em>feel</em> of the game I'm wanting to nail down before we begin.</p><p></p><p>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!<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Pre-Game Questionnaire</strong></p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p><strong>History</strong></p><p>Have you played a role-playing game before? (D&D, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, etc.)</p><p>Would you consider yourself a beginner, experienced, or veteran player in that system?</p><p> </p><p><strong>Big picture</strong></p><p>Story Length: circle all that you would be interested in</p><p>1. One shot quests</p><p>2. 2-5 session quest</p><p>3. 2-5 quest arc</p><p>4. Multi-arc campaign</p><p> </p><p><strong>Level of commitment</strong></p><p>1. I don't need to know much about the current quest or situation to have fun.</p><p>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.</p><p>3. I want to be present for every session.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Characters: circle all that apply</strong></p><p>1. Only I can play the character I create, and I will only create one character.</p><p>2. Only I can play the characters I create, but I might create more than one.</p><p>*3. I am willing to play characters other people have created.</p><p>4. I am willing to let other players use characters I have created, but I will make decisions on character development.</p><p>5. I am willing to let the current player or group make decisions about character development.</p><p>(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.)</p><p></p><p>*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.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Combat</strong></p><p>Combat length: a turn or two, several rounds, all-out war</p><p>Miniature-based combat vs theatre of the mind</p><p>Fight until you kill everything vs GM "wrapping it up" saying how you finished off the last minions</p><p> </p><p><strong>Facets of Gameplay</strong></p><p>Puzzles: Y/N and type?</p><p>Riddles: Y/N</p><p>Romance: Y/N</p><p>Political Intrigue: Y/N</p><p>Real timers set on: challenges/puzzles, combats, entire session?</p><p>Player vs player conflict? Good or bad?</p><p>Session length (hours): 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, +? Are you crazy??</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Post-game Questionnaire</strong></p><p>(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.)</p><p> </p><p>Start time/End time, good or bad?</p><p>Were there any slow-downs where the game was not fun?</p><p>Too much/Not enough:</p><p>Freedom</p><p>Role-playing</p><p>Combat</p><p>Time playing</p><p>Story progression</p><p>Stress</p><p>Figuring rolls</p><p>Food</p><p>Music</p><p>Free time</p><p>Other:</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dillon Sain, post: 7292004, member: 6886001"] 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 [I]feel[/I] 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![B] Pre-Game Questionnaire[/B] 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. [B]History[/B] 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? [B]Big picture[/B] 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 [B]Level of commitment[/B] 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. [B]Characters: circle all that apply[/B] 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. [B]Combat[/B] 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 [B]Facets of Gameplay[/B] 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?? [B]Post-game Questionnaire[/B] (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: [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Pre-Game Questionnaire for Campaign Planning
Top