character development multiple choice sheet [Archive] - Wizards Community

character development multiple choice sheet [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Setherial
09-07-05, 04:08 PM Hey guys

I'm in that situation where some of my players always seem to play themselves and not roleplay some imagenary character. Part of the reson is that they don't create a good chatacter background and they don't know anything about their character.

I was thinking of making a sheet with questions to develop a character so that they could get ideas from this and get to know their character while going through the list, developing as they go. Has anyone done something simular ? anything you can post ? anything adapted to eberron with some eberron background stuff on it ? maybe we can make this post into a usable question list...

cheers

Seth
pilias_simber
09-07-05, 04:51 PM I have indeed made something similar, I made a one page questionaire about the character that was mostly intended to get a feel for the character and its personality, but also give me some background information on the character.

As my campaign started in Sharn it was also used to determine whether the player lived in Sharn or traveled to sharn and how they came.
Straylight
09-07-05, 07:11 PM The simplest mid-campaign solution is to force the players to write backstory. That doesn't mean telling them to go home and write something before the next game, but have it come up during gameplay.

Let's say the characters end up in the Reaches. As they stumble into a town at the end of a long day, someone on the street hails the Shifter, "Well well! Never thought I'd see you back in these parts. How many years has it been?"

The Changeling, using one of his favorite disguises, is recognized an old lover who never got over him but doesn't know he's a Changeling.

The Rogue in the party finds himself being "reminded" of past debts he owes to Daask or any one of the other crime groups in Sharn.

The party walks into a tavern somewhere in the Principalities. Across the room, a burly and very drunk Orc lurches to his feet, calling out one of the characters by name, and then begins advancing on him menacingly, cracking his knucles as he closes.

...basically, if your players haven't written any of their own backstory, feel free to have their pasts come back to haunt them however you'd like. Have people know them, and force them into coming up with "how" on the spot. Keep track of the bits of history they fill in themselves and use what's there to flesh out the storyline.

You will either find that your players will get scared of what you're doing to their characters via their unwritten history and start doing it themselves, or they'll go with it and play along, making it up as they go. Either way is a desirable result, and both outcomes are a lot of fun for everybody.

*

Another idea that has worked for me to get players to loosed up and engage on the roleplay end is to have them play a character they didn't design. This can be done a few ways:

--As the DM, you can obviously roll up the characters for them, though some players don't like this feeling of being micromanaged in this manner. The advantage, however, is that you know what all of the characters are and can do, and can add moments specifically designed to let that character shine.

--You can have everyone roll up characters, and then tell them to (for example) pass the sheet to the person sitting next to or across the table from them. This one tends to mix things up very well when you've got a combination of rollplayers and roleplayers at your table.

--You can come up with more characters than you have players, either rolled by you or your players, and spread them out face-down on the table. Each player picks one of the sheets without looking at it, and plays that character.

--And my favorite, tell each player to roll up three different characters. Each of these characters must be different from the other two in the following ways: each of them must be a different class, they may not be all the same race, at least one must be a different gender, each of them must have a different region of origin, each of them must be a different alignment. Then you, the DM, selects which character of the three they're going to play. This one eliminates the "Aww, but!" complaints because, hey, if you didn't want to play that character, why did you design it?
Cloud Divider
09-07-05, 09:09 PM I'm in that situation where some of my players always seem to play themselves and not roleplay some imagenary character. Part of the reson is that they don't create a good chatacter background and they don't know anything about their character.
I'm sort of torn - character background is nice, but it's not the be-all, end-all. A 50-page character history is excessive. And you can do a LOT with a well-written paragraph. What's the difference?

Conflict. Hooks.

One of the things I often see with the long backgrounds, is that in many cases, they're too self-contained - a conflict is presented, and resolved, if one shows up at all.

What works best for me as GM is to have hooks to build off of. Let's say you had a Last War veteran (you can then take that in many, MANY directions). Maybe he came back a war hero. Or maybe he turned out to be a coward. Maybe he came back with serious PTSD. Maybe he just wants to blot it out and just get on with his life...

Where does he go from there? Did he have friends/enemies/war buddies? Does he still have something to prove? Is there a past he's now trying to hide/atone for?

I'll see if I can fish out my old thread, but there's one regarding a "20 questions" technique that I use. It's not 20 prewritten questions...it's more like an evolving set. Find out who he was/is, and where he wants to be. Tailor questions to sort of probe areas that sound interesting ("So you served with the Brelish Blue Wyverns Brigade, eh? Do you still hang out with those guys?"). Sometimes you find that in the question/answer process, a concept takes shape, sometimes even a life of its own ("...and when he came back from the war, he ended up working as a street doctor for awhile....he wanted to make up for all of the killing..." "As a street doc...did he ever work on 'questionable' clients?").

But I find it works pretty well - it's sort of a collaborative process. You, as GM, can help seed ideas for things you may eventually want to bring up in your campaign. Dude wanted to be in some prestigious Brelish unit - you come up with a name...and maybe that ties in to some larger plot (maybe the former commander is going to try and stage a rebellion and is trying to recruit his former subordinates). Whatever...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Setherial 09-07-05, 04:08 PM	Hey guys I'm in that situation where some of my players always seem to play themselves and not roleplay some imagenary character. Part of the reson is that they don't create a good chatacter background and they don't know anything about their character. I was thinking of making a sheet with questions to develop a character so that they could get ideas from this and get to know their character while going through the list, developing as they go. Has anyone done something simular ? anything you can post ? anything adapted to eberron with some eberron background stuff on it ? maybe we can make this post into a usable question list... cheers Seth
pilias_simber 09-07-05, 04:51 PM	I have indeed made something similar, I made a one page questionaire about the character that was mostly intended to get a feel for the character and its personality, but also give me some background information on the character. As my campaign started in Sharn it was also used to determine whether the player lived in Sharn or traveled to sharn and how they came.
Straylight 09-07-05, 07:11 PM	The simplest mid-campaign solution is to force the players to write backstory. That doesn't mean telling them to go home and write something before the next game, but have it come up during gameplay. Let's say the characters end up in the Reaches. As they stumble into a town at the end of a long day, someone on the street hails the Shifter, "Well well! Never thought I'd see you back in these parts. How many years has it been?" The Changeling, using one of his favorite disguises, is recognized an old lover who never got over him but doesn't know he's a Changeling. The Rogue in the party finds himself being "reminded" of past debts he owes to Daask or any one of the other crime groups in Sharn. The party walks into a tavern somewhere in the Principalities. Across the room, a burly and very drunk Orc lurches to his feet, calling out one of the characters by name, and then begins advancing on him menacingly, cracking his knucles as he closes. ...basically, if your players haven't written any of their own backstory, feel free to have their pasts come back to haunt them however you'd like. Have people know them, and force them into coming up with "how" on the spot. Keep track of the bits of history they fill in themselves and use what's there to flesh out the storyline. You will either find that your players will get scared of what you're doing to their characters via their unwritten history and start doing it themselves, or they'll go with it and play along, making it up as they go. Either way is a desirable result, and both outcomes are a lot of fun for everybody. * Another idea that has worked for me to get players to loosed up and engage on the roleplay end is to have them play a character they didn't design. This can be done a few ways: --As the DM, you can obviously roll up the characters for them, though some players don't like this feeling of being micromanaged in this manner. The advantage, however, is that you know what all of the characters are and can do, and can add moments specifically designed to let that character shine. --You can have everyone roll up characters, and then tell them to (for example) pass the sheet to the person sitting next to or across the table from them. This one tends to mix things up very well when you've got a combination of rollplayers and roleplayers at your table. --You can come up with more characters than you have players, either rolled by you or your players, and spread them out face-down on the table. Each player picks one of the sheets without looking at it, and plays that character. --And my favorite, tell each player to roll up three different characters. Each of these characters must be different from the other two in the following ways: each of them must be a different class, they may not be all the same race, at least one must be a different gender, each of them must have a different region of origin, each of them must be a different alignment. Then you, the DM, selects which character of the three they're going to play. This one eliminates the "Aww, but!" complaints because, hey, if you didn't want to play that character, why did you design it?
Cloud Divider 09-07-05, 09:09 PM	I'm in that situation where some of my players always seem to play themselves and not roleplay some imagenary character. Part of the reson is that they don't create a good chatacter background and they don't know anything about their character. I'm sort of torn - character background is nice, but it's not the be-all, end-all. A 50-page character history is excessive. And you can do a LOT with a well-written paragraph. What's the difference? Conflict. Hooks. One of the things I often see with the long backgrounds, is that in many cases, they're too self-contained - a conflict is presented, and resolved, if one shows up at all. What works best for me as GM is to have hooks to build off of. Let's say you had a Last War veteran (you can then take that in many, MANY directions). Maybe he came back a war hero. Or maybe he turned out to be a coward. Maybe he came back with serious PTSD. Maybe he just wants to blot it out and just get on with his life... Where does he go from there? Did he have friends/enemies/war buddies? Does he still have something to prove? Is there a past he's now trying to hide/atone for? I'll see if I can fish out my old thread, but there's one regarding a "20 questions" technique that I use. It's not 20 prewritten questions...it's more like an evolving set. Find out who he was/is, and where he wants to be. Tailor questions to sort of probe areas that sound interesting ("So you served with the Brelish Blue Wyverns Brigade, eh? Do you still hang out with those guys?"). Sometimes you find that in the question/answer process, a concept takes shape, sometimes even a life of its own ("...and when he came back from the war, he ended up working as a street doctor for awhile....he wanted to make up for all of the killing..." "As a street doc...did he ever work on 'questionable' clients?"). But I find it works pretty well - it's sort of a collaborative process. You, as GM, can help seed ideas for things you may eventually want to bring up in your campaign. Dude wanted to be in some prestigious Brelish unit - you come up with a name...and maybe that ties in to some larger plot (maybe the former commander is going to try and stage a rebellion and is trying to recruit his former subordinates). Whatever...