D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey
Note: this is campaign material for the players in my D&D4E campaign that is starting. Everyone is welcome to ask questions or offer comments, however…
PLAYER-CHARACTER SURVEY
2008, by Smite: www.d21-gaming.com/blog
INTRODUCTION
This information will help me as the DM in preparing a campaign that is to all players’ liking. Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. It’s OK to leave blanks, but the more data you can provide, the more/better I can do with it.
You are encouraged to provide the sort of specifics that add detail and even core structure to the world your character will be playing in. This means you have license to concoct names and definitions of people, places, things, events, guilds, orders, powers, and so on, in the style that you want to be represented in this campaign. As DM, I may streamline, balance, or edit from this starting point, and you may thus discover in time that the “reality” of something that is the basis of your character’s knowledge or worldview is not the full or accurate “reality” of the actual game world. Meanwhile, other character beliefs and ideas may turn out to be completely true.
The results of this survey are DM-player confidential and will not be shared with other players. When you have completed the survey to your satisfaction, email the results back to me. My preference is that you make a copy of this document, add your answers, and save it as your submission.
Please do not hesitate to ask any questions you might have while working on the survey. Thanks!
IDENTIFICATION
- Player name: _
- Character name: _
- Character race: _
- Character class: _
- Character gender: _
CHARACTER QUESTIONS
In this section, “you” refers to your character.
- After a brief encounter with a stranger such as a shop keeper or town guard, list up to three first impressions that you are likely to have given (ignore race/gender: don’t say “I’m a tiefling”, but do say “I seem mysterious and shifty”, or “I’m outrageously beautiful”).
- _
- _
- _
- After having gotten acquainted with someone for several months or even years, list up to three of your hidden qualities that you are likely to have revealed.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe up to three closely-guarded secrets that you have, and which you take pains to hide from all except those very closest to you.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe up to three interesting things or defining characteristics about your family.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What have been up to three high points of your life so far?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What have been up to three low points of your life so far?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Have you been raised with an expectation that you will follow some specific path, calling, or profession, in life? If so, what? What would a failure to do so mean to you?
_
- Do you feel, or have you ever felt, that you have a fate or destiny? If so, what is it?
_
- List up to three things you know that no one else in the world knows.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe up to three NPC allies or friends you have. Include name, place of origin, profession, your relationship to this ally/friend, his or her mannerisms/quirks, and what you think they’ve been up to recently.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe up to three NPC rivals or enemies you have. Include name, place of origin, profession, your relationship to the rival/enemy, his or her mannerisms/quirks, and what you think they’ve been up to recently.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe up to three NPC contacts you have. Include name, place of origin, profession, your relationship to the contact, his or her mannerisms/quirks, and what you think they’ve been up to recently.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- List up to three things that make you special.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Overall, what motivates you? List/describe the three most important ones.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe, in general or in detail, up to three major quests you would feel motivated to participate in, that would result primarily in personal advancement (for example, becoming the owner of a certain powerful magic item, achieving a certain political position, acquiring great wealth discovering/learning some important truth about the world).
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Describe, in general or in detail, up to three major quests you would feel motivated to participate in, that is primarily for the greater good (for example, supporting an upstart rebellion, returning a powerful artifact to its rightful owner, defeat an evil mastermind).
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Do you know any childhood stories, gossip, wild rumors, or legends about faraway places or ancient times? Share up to three that you find most interesting.
a. _
b. _
c. _
- Is there anything I missed that you feel you just have to tell me about yourself?
_
PLAYER QUESTIONS
In this section, “you” refers to yourself, the player.
- Why are you looking forward to playing in this campaign?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What are you hoping to get out of playing in this campaign?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What are you most afraid of going wrong on the DM side of things in this campaign?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What are you most afraid of going wrong on the player side of things in this campaign?
a. _
b. _
c. _
- What makes up a good day of gaming for you?
_
- What makes up a bad day of gaming for you?
_
- Are you for or against the idea that you as a person can and maybe even should experience real personal growth as result from a D&D campaign? Elaborate as you feel is necessary.
_
- Any final thoughts, advice, etc., that you want to share as a player at the outset of this campaign?
_
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
Every person has a split nature. There’s the person that we are in real life, and the person that we try to be when answering “focus group” survey questions. People lied for years about what they really wanted to use the Internet for (namely sex).
Commendable effort here, but probably too long for the attention span of the average D&D gamer. If I was going to hand something like this to my players, I would make it clear that it was not essential to answer all four parts of every single question - otherwise the surveys would probably never get completed or returned to me.
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
Well, I did put in that “best of your ability - It’s OK to leave blanks” part!
The typical player I know spends, on average, over two hours per feat choosing new character feats when earned! So, the 2-4 hours spent upfront (and offline!) on this campaign prep is not unreasonable.
The main subtext here is that if players mean it when they claim to want to have influence over the shape of the campaign, the best time to put money where the mouth is is up front. The related subtext is that this is obviously meant for intermediate-to-advanced gamers, not beginners, where expectations are much, much different.
Finally, point taken on the variable-truthiness in the answers. Hopefully, at least, a player should feel a bit more comfortable being honest about the dark aspects of his or her character than about his or her self.
I would love, of course, to do it in less length, so by all means propose something to cut, or one good question that better fulfills the purpose of one of more existing ones!
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
On the subject of things that will go wrong for the players - players not showing up, or players not paying attention at the table, or players getting into arguments with the GM. Not much drama there, and not much point in ansking the question.
I like a survey with a “rank the options” approach that let’s me sort out how a particular player values 1)exciting, cinematic combat encounters, 2)bypassing a complex trap requiring a multi-step solution, 3)using diplomacy to make the monsters fight among themselves, 4)getting magical treasure, 5)getting intangible treasure, like political influence in the game world. Etc.
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
I think you left out a very important series of questions that need to be addressed: “How much effort will you as a player intend to put forth in the campaign? Do you intend on missing many sessions? If a session goes over 3 hours, are you likely to bow out midstream? Are there times and days that are just no good for you? Do you intend to make your character a major focus in the campaign only to drop out after the first 3 sessions? Do you own a rulebook or will you rely on the resources of the group to explain rules to you only when relevant?”
Player commitment is essential to know ahead of time. It allows the DM to know how long or involved to make each adventure. Some people like short missions of 2-3 encounters with closure after each session, while others enjoy long-running sagas or epic quests with no forseeable end. The sad fact that most of us are forming new commitments as we age leaves little or no time for recreational gaming and many try to fit in much more than they can actually handle. Knowing how long each session is likely to be and the attention spans of the players involved helps when crafting an appropriate adventure. I find it necessary in some of my D&D session to go over rules before play begins to ensure that the players understand how their characters work. Unlike the DM, players rarely crack the rulebook in between sessions. Many players also use abilities only after seeing how they are used by NPCs and monsters. This sometimes leads to players all taking the same feat or spell (or class) because it “works” and not as some sort of character development.
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
Regarding both the “rank the options” idea and the questions on committment/effort…
The thing is, the “player” part of my survey is far from comprehensive and certainly the less important half for me. In particular this is true because I already know my players very well. I know what each prefers; I also know to not bash them around with too many pushy, guilt-inducing questions. Similarly, I’m not writing up anything for them detailing how many hours I am pledging to spend prepping for each session, etc. To a certain extent we’ve covered this part in our group with face-to-face discussions…
My four players could not be any more different in terms of attitude and outlook, and balancing their differing wants and needs is, to me, the major challenge of this upcoming campaign. The
“looking forward/hope to get out” questions are an unabashed play for positive affirmation: I might believe that I have a strong read on my players’ attitudes, but I nonetheless recognize the danger in operating on these sorts of assumptions rather than trying to ask directly. I’d like to hear, in their own words, what they are looking for.
The “personal growth” question is a key one to me, but it probably represents wishful thinking at best. I like to think that any really good book, movie, TV show, or video game has the power to move me personally and to allow me a way to grow in human experience, and I want to believe that this is true for a D&D campaign as well. It’s hard for me to gauge whether or not my players will appreciate any effort from me to push them out of their respective comfort zones in a play to achieve this, and before I make myself a bunch of bitter friends, its worth trying to find out if they’d rather just keep it safe and all escapist-like. “Hey, hey, give ‘em what they want” is the mantra of choice.
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
KarasDjun: In a sense he is asking how much effort we are willing to put into the campaign in a round about way. He can judge our level of commitment by our responses. If we give short casual responses to his questions it indicated that we are not willing to commit that much to the game itself. We will show up and play enthusiastically but nothing beyond that. If he has to hound us to fill these out and/or doesn’t get many back he may decide we really don’t want to play and scrap the whole idea. Hopefully the other players are, like me, generating pages and pages of stuff for him to work with.
Posted on September 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
Random: Why can’t there be more players like you….
Posted on September 4th, 2008 at 6:40 pm. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
KarasDjun: Because Random is the unique, ultimate philosopher-gamer, of course!
Smite: Nice effort. Hope your players come through for you — that kind of DM effort deserves to be rewarded.
Posted on September 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am. About 'D&D4E Handout - Player-Character Survey'.
Ditto. Random = philosopher-gamer. Smite-too. Different schools, though.
Plus I know that at least 3 of the Smite’s 4 nerdier players will be cracking the PHB and studyin’ the rules just for fun, ’cause that’s they way they roll.
By that token, still, any GM worth his salt will adjudicate rules with his own interpretation and flavor. Even more so anything not in the ‘core’ books. A player must always check with the GM for a rules decision. “But the Rules say this…” is always only advice to the GM, never a correction of the GM.