Questionarre for new players; PEACH

[Talakeal]

I am looking to start a new gaming group, and rather than bog down new players with a bundle of rules and mechanics I was thinking about giving everyone a questionnaire and then creating their characters for them based on their answers.

What do people think of this? Would you be interested in playing in / running a game that operates like this? Has anyone tried something similar in the past? If so, how did it work out? Any tips for avoiding pitfalls?

I will be running a homebrew rule system that is a simplified version of my Heart of Darkness game (link in the signature). In summary, it is basically a streamlined d20 system that allows for greater freedom and flexibility in character creation, has a flatter E6 style power curve, and is set in a Gothic Fantasy rather than High Fantasy world.


To determine your base attributes please select the level of aptitude in each category that best described your characters.
Characters are balanced around being Good, every ability to the right of this mark must be balanced out by one to the left.

When it comes to Agility I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Charisma I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Dexterity I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Endurance I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Intelligence I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Perception I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Strength I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class

When it comes to Willpower I am:
O O O O O O O
Bad Poor Ordinary Good Exceptional Great World Class
 


The Three Things I am Best At Are:
O Academics
O Acrobatics
O Alertness
O Art
O Athletics
O Awareness
O Business
O Domestics
O Expression
O Fortitude
O Gaming
O Larceny
O Leadership
O Marksmanship
O Medicine
O Melee
O Metal Working
O Occult*
O Perform
O Reason
O Resolve
O Ride
O Science
O Social
O Stealth
O Stone Working
O Survival
O Technology
O Unarmed
O Wood Working


Six Things That I am Also Good at Are:
O Academics
O Acrobatics
O Alertness
O Art
O Athletics
O Awareness
O Business
O Domestics
O Expression
O Fortitude
O Gaming
O Larceny
O Leadership
O Marksmanship
O Medicine
O Melee
O Metal Working
O Occult*
O Perform
O Reason
O Resolve
O Ride
O Science
O Social
O Stealth
O Stone Working
O Survival
O Technology
O Unarmed
O Wood Working

*The occult skill represents a character's knowledge of magic. It will be of minimal use to a character who does not wish to become a sorcerer and will be vital for one who wishes to practice the mystic arts. 


When I have to engage in combat I prefer to it to be:
O Close Combat
O Ranged Combat
O Unarmed Combat

For my fighting style I typically prefer:
O To use a two handed weapon
O To use a one handed weapon and shield
O To use a one handed weapon and a parrying dagger
O To wield a weapon in each hand

I prefer to arm myself with:
O Light Weapons
O Heavy Weapons
O Average Weapons

I typically go into battle:
O Unarmored
O Lightly Armored
O Armored
O Heavy Armored

I typically wear a helmet in dangerous situations
O Yes
O No

Select Two Items:
O Bag of Caltrops O Mirror
O Battering Ram O Pet
O Camera O Phonograph
O Extra Ammunition O Pocket Watch
O Grappling Hook O Rope
O Horse O Smoking Pipe
O Journal O Sunglasses
O Lantern O Telescope
O Lighter O Tent
O Manacles O Whistle

 
Select One Or More Advantages From the Left Column.
For Every Advantage Beyond the First Also Select a Drawback from the Right Colum.
O I am Ambidextrous
O I am good with Animals
O I have an Apprentice
O I am Beautiful
O I am a Berserker
O I can channel my Chi into unarmed strikes
O I am exceptionally Creative
O I can see very well in the Dark
O I am Deadly in close combat
O I have trained in Defensive martial arts
O I can read other people's Emotions
O I am Famous
O I am Fast
O I have a family Heirloom
O I am Immune to Magic
O I have deep reserves of Inner Strength
O I have Keen Eyesight
O I have Keen Hearing
O I speak many Languages
O I am a Lethal Shot
O I am a Light Sleeper
O I have Lightning Reflexes
O I am especially Limber
O I am Lucky
O I am Manipulative
O I have a fast Metabolism
O I am a Natural Leader
O I have a Photographic Memory
O I am a Priest
O I am a Prodigy in one of my skills
O I am Rich
O I am Royalty
O I can see Spirits
O One of my parents was a Spirit
O I have a naturally Soothing Voice
O I am a Sorcerer
O I have limitless Stamina
O I have a Strong Back
O I am Stubborn as a mule
O I am very Sturdy
O I am exceptionally Tall
O I am exceptionally Tough
O I am very Wise

O I am Absent Minded
O I am an Addict
O I have Allergies
O I have Arthritis
O I have Asthma
O I am a Child
O I suffer from a Chronic Injury
O I follow a rigid Code of Honor
O I have trouble Concentrating
O I am a Coward
O One of my arms is Crippled
O I am a Deep Sleeper
O I am Deformed
O I am Delicate
O People get an Eerie feeling about me
O I have trouble feeling Emotions
O I am Frail.
O I am Gullible
O I am a Hemophiliac
O I am Honest to a fault
O I can't stand to Hurt People
O I am Illiterate
O One of my legs is Lame
O I suffer from Mental Illness
O I am Mute
O I am an Outlaw
O I am Overweight
O I have a low tolerance for Pain
O I have a severe Phobia
O I am Poor as dirt
O I have Poor Eyesight
O I have Poor Hearing
O I come from a Primitive Culture
O I suffer from Seizures
O I am extremely Short
O I am Shy
O I am Slow
O I have Slow Reflexes
O I am very Ugly
O Unexplainable things seem to happen around me
O I am Unlucky
O I have an unpleasant Voice
O I have a Weak Back

 
As for Religion I am a Follower of:

O The Imperial Tao
O Zeus, God of Kings and the Sky
O Aphrodite, Goddess of Love
O Apollo, God of Light and Civilization
O Ares, God of War and Fire
O Artemis, Goddess of Nature
O Athena, Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom
O Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture and the Earth
O Dionysus, God of Wine and Chaos
O Hades, God of Death
O Hephaestus, God of Crafts
O Hera, Goddess of Time
O Hermes, The Trickster God
O Hestia, Goddess of Healing and the Hearth
O Persephone, Goddess of the Arts
O Poseidon, God of Water and Exploration
O An Underground Demonic Cult
O One of the Savage Spirits of the Wild
O The Spirits of my Ancestors
O A Local Deity
O A Strange Outsider God
O I Revere all Gods Equally
O A Philosophy Rather than Any One God
O I Honor No Gods

I am: O Male O Female
I am: ______ Tall
My Hair is: O Black O Brown O Blond O Red O Gray O Bald O ______________
My Eyes are: O Brown O Blue O Green O ____________

I Look Like:


I Generally Act:


In My Past I:


My Name Is: _________________


I will not kill, torture, enslave, rape, or disfigure your character or their loved ones without your express permission.

One of the major themes of this game is the price of power and making tough decisions. Sometimes bad things will happen as the result of your actions. Please think before you act and don't get discouraged when something unforeseen happens.

Your character will get hurt and they will fail on occasion. Please don't lose hope, and remember that is ok to retreat or surrender if you get in over your head.

If there are any elements you feel uncomfortable with me including in the game please let me know.

I have a visual processing disorder which means I am unable to pick up on most non-verbal social clues. If you are having a problem with the game please talk to me about.

Resources are hard to come by in this game, use yours sparingly. You can't just sleep for a night and be back at full strength; wounds take weeks to heal, magical energy is tied to the phases of the moon, and your destiny will only be replenished by performing great deeds.

I recommend that you save up a stash of consumable items like potions to use when things go bad.



So, does this seem too complex (or not complex enough) for anyone? Anything I should add, change, or remove?

I have also added a few notes about what to expect from the game at the end (again let me know if I should add or remove anything)


I was considering putting in questions about what type of weapon the character wants to use but am not sure if I want the players to have to learn the rules for things like reach, armor penetration, or reloading.

I was also thinking about questions relating to alignments and allegiances, but honestly that might be a problematic area to address like this; players might choose something at odds with what I or the other players want out of the campaign or feel railroaded by a short list of options that doesn't really fit their character concept; right now I am thinking this might better be handled by an OOC discussion before character creation.

(Also my actual questionnaire looks a lot nice, the forum ate most of my formatting)

Thanks!

[HerbertWest]

Overall, I think what you are doing looks pretty solid to me. You seem to be covering your bases with helping them think about their character concept, and then helping them execute it mechanically. I once played in a Vampire the Masquerade game over IRC chat that had an option on their website to have an ST/GM create your character sheet for you, based on a similar questionnaire. At the time, I was new to the game, so I actually chose this option. I would like to offer a few specific points of advice, having used this sort of system before.


If you do offer this option for the new players, make sure that they are all onboard with the process. For some players, the process of character creation, even if it stumbling blocks, having to revise and edit, and trying to figure out a new rulebook is part of the fun and the challenge of getting into a new game. Talk to your players to make sure that each player is okay with forgoing that experience, otherwise, you may have some player disconnect.
Using this questionnaire system, the game that I was involved with allowed what they called a "grace" period for making character edits to the characters that were generated by the ST/GM. So, if a player's character was built in a way that they don't feel meshes with the concept they had in mind once the rules and dice start flying, they can make adjustments to the character. Depending on the frequency of your group playing, you could provide either a game session grace period (ex. You have 3 game sessions before your stats and sheet are "locked in") or an out of game timeframe (ex. You have two weeks to review your character sheet for changes before it is "locked in.")
Don't be afraid to turn a questionnaire down if it's too ridiculous, such as someone saying that their character is at the peak for every category. I don't know your player base, or if you know them very well, but the questionnaire system could be open to abuse. You could possibly implement a system similar to creating a character in Vampire or Werewolf in the Old World of Darkness; players choose a primary, secondary, and tertiary skillset/attribute distribution, ranking their attribute and skill categories (Physical, Mental, Social, etc.) from highest to lowest, and receiving fewer points as the categories go down.

[Inevitability]

Very nice, though I'd clarify a few of the terms. What is the difference between 'Charisma' and 'Personality', for one?

Also, props to leaving the toxic cesspool you used to game in.

[Talakeal]

Very nice, though I'd clarify a few of the terms. What is the difference between 'Charisma' and 'Personality', for one?

Also, props to leaving the toxic cesspool you used to game in.

Wow, that is a horrible typo. I meant to write "Perception" rather than "Personality", thank you very much for catching that.

Any other terms I need to clarify?

[Inevitability]

Wow, that is a horrible typo. I meant to write "Perception" rather than "Personality", thank you very much for catching that.

Any other terms I need to clarify?

Alertness and Awareness, perhaps. Otherwise, it seems good.

[Talakeal]

Alertness and Awareness, perhaps. Otherwise, it seems good.

Will do, thanks again.

If you were curious, alertness is for mundane senses, awareness is "ESP" used for sensing the supernatural and gleaning insights about the future.

[JeenLeen]

I like how for most questions, it is easy to intuit the opportunity cost. To be good in one skill means you are not in another, or to pick a merit you have to pick a flaw.

However, one question was a bit glaring to me:
I typically wear a helmet in dangerous situations
O Yes
O No
It's hard to tell what the penalty for 'Yes' is. Do helmets have a penalty to alertness in this system? Is not willing a helmet a bad thing and how bad?
Without knowing the mechanics, I can't tell how this matters (unlike others, where it's somewhat implied.)

I'd also recommend, if true to this system, a recommendation that one should at least be good at 1 combat skill or Occult (or whatever the truthful equivalent statement would be).
For example, I once made an oWoD character with low Dex, not realizing how important a stat Dex was during char-gen. It was quite bad.

On a similar note, the survey implies that ranged and melee weapons, and different fighting styles, are all equally good. If that's not true (ex. two-weapon fighting in D&D 3.5), then, well, the survey is misleading. Also, this at least somewhat implies that magic is not a 'combat style', that is, while you might know magic, it won't be a primary attack method. If that's not the case, it should probably be noted somewhere or add a 'magic blasts'-or-whatever to the list of fighting styles.

(Though I may be a bad perspective for this, since I'd rather enjoy poring through a new rulebook and figuring out char-gen.)

[Anonymouswizard]

Using this questionnaire system, the game that I was involved with allowed what they called a "grace" period for making character edits to the characters that were generated by the ST/GM. So, if a player's character was built in a way that they don't feel meshes with the concept they had in mind once the rules and dice start flying, they can make adjustments to the character. Depending on the frequency of your group playing, you could provide either a game session grace period (ex. You have 3 game sessions before your stats and sheet are "locked in") or an out of game timeframe (ex. You have two weeks to review your character sheet for changes before it is "locked in.")

I recommend this anyway, I personally allow anybody to make edits before session 2, and we'll just retcon differences as 'it happened slightly differently'. My current group is playing Mutants & Masterminds and building up to 'retcon day', where we can rebuild our characters as much as we want (mainly for those new to the system, although I'm having a big thing of my character getting depowered and then rebuilt as a tech hero because he's currently just too versatile for the group).

For the questionnaire, I'd personally do it slightly differently (I'd have them rank Attributes from best to worst), but it generally looks good. I'd also make some minor changes (such as adding an 'I don't wish to specify' to gender), but overall it's rather good.

However, I'm going to skim through your Heart of Darkness system quickly to get a better idea.

[Talakeal]

I like how for most questions, it is easy to intuit the opportunity cost. To be good in one skill means you are not in another, or to pick a merit you have to pick a flaw.

However, one question was a bit glaring to me:
I typically wear a helmet in dangerous situations
O Yes
O No
It's hard to tell what the penalty for 'Yes' is. Do helmets have a penalty to alertness in this system? Is not willing a helmet a bad thing and how bad?
Without knowing the mechanics, I can't tell how this matters (unlike others, where it's somewhat implied.)

I'd also recommend, if true to this system, a recommendation that one should at least be good at 1 combat skill or Occult (or whatever the truthful equivalent statement would be).
For example, I once made an oWoD character with low Dex, not realizing how important a stat Dex was during char-gen. It was quite bad.

On a similar note, the survey implies that ranged and melee weapons, and different fighting styles, are all equally good. If that's not true (ex. two-weapon fighting in D&D 3.5), then, well, the survey is misleading. Also, this at least somewhat implies that magic is not a 'combat style', that is, while you might know magic, it won't be a primary attack method. If that's not the case, it should probably be noted somewhere or add a 'magic blasts'-or-whatever to the list of fighting styles.

(Though I may be a bad perspective for this, since I'd rather enjoy pouring through a new rulebook and figuring out char-gen.)


Helmets provide a small bonus to armor and a small penalty to alertness, but it is mostly a cosmetic choice.

Ideally all four of the fighting styles are equally effective. In short, 2 handed weapons deal 10% more damage, dual wielding hits 10% more often, sword and board reduces incoming damage by 10%, and cloak and dagger reduces chance to be hit by 10%.

All of the ability scores are roughly equivalent for every character, its not like D&D where Int and Cha are all but useless to a fighter and Str is all but useless to a wizard. It is possible to make a bad character (usually by spreading yourself too thin and wanting to fill half a dozen different roles at once) but I don't think there are any obvious trap builds; and if someone does stumble into one I can tweak them when I am building the character.


The fighting style section is mostly so I know what equipment to select for the players; it doesn't necessarily dictate how much the character will participate in combat or have much of an impact on their "build".

It won't be necessary for everyone to have a combat skill as long as they have something to do during combat, for example a social character can still inspire or instruct allies. If someone makes a character that will actually just stand around bored I will probably have to have a talk with them; I am not sure if it is worth making a note about it in the questionnaire.

Before filling them out I plan on having the players talk with one another about what they want out of the game so they can somewhat synergize what they make, I will probably ask them what they see themselves doing in combat during that time and then guide them towards that on the questionnaire, but I am not quite sure yet.

Magic is limited and while it can be used for blasting you will burn yourself out rather quickly unless that is actually the sole focus of your character. In combat a mage can either fall back on mundane combat skills or use more subtle magic to twist fate, aiding their allies and hindering their enemies.


I recommend this anyway, I personally allow anybody to make edits before session 2, and we'll just retcon differences as 'it happened slightly differently'. My current group is playing Mutants & Masterminds and building up to 'retcon day', where we can rebuild our characters as much as we want (mainly for those new to the system, although I'm having a big thing of my character getting depowered and then rebuilt as a tech hero because he's currently just too versatile for the group).

For the questionnaire, I'd personally do it slightly differently (I'd have them rank Attributes from best to worst), but it generally looks good. I'd also make some minor changes (such as adding an 'I don't wish to specify' to gender), but overall it's rather good.

However, I'm going to skim through your Heart of Darkness system quickly to get a better idea.

There will definitely be a grace period where we can ret-con character decision, although the way character advancement is handled in the system means that most mistakes in character generation can be remedied fairly quickly anyway.

I actually thought quite a bit about ranking attributes as you suggested, but ultimately I decided against it because it would make everyone equally specialized; e.g. you couldn't have both a jack of all trades with more or less even scores across the board and a big dumb barbarian with maximum physical stats and minimal mental stats using the same system.

Curious about the unspecified gender bit. Care to elaborate?


Also, thank you for skimming my system. I am always looking for feedback and it is very hard to find people with the time or inclination to read a full size RPG system when they don't have a group for it, I would love to hear what you think.

[Anonymouswizard]

I actually thought quite a bit about ranking attributes as you suggested, but ultimately I decided against it because it would make everyone equally specialized; e.g. you couldn't have both a jack of all trades with more or less even scores across the board and a big dumb barbarian with maximum physical stats and minimal mental stats using the same system.

I understand. For new players I'd tend towarss specialisation, even if the system supports jack of all trades characters, as I believe it's easier to learn, but that's just a personal view.


Curious about the unspecified gender bit. Care to elaborate?

Essentially it's either for players who want nonbinary characters, or who haven't decided which gender they want (I once played a campaign with a character of ambiguous gender, it's not restart weird).


Also, thank you for skimming my system. I am always looking for feedback and it is very hard to find people with the time or inclination to read a full size RPG system when they don't have a group for it, I would love to hear what you think.

I will, although I'll admit the game would have been much more confusing if I didn't know it was d20. Expect a reply in 3-5 working days.

[Inevitability]

Essentially it's either for players who want nonbinary characters, or who haven't decided which gender they want (I once played a campaign with a character of ambiguous gender, it's not restart weird).

Also, in a fantasy/sci-fi campaign there's plenty of races that have more or less than two genders.

[Recherché]

I don't have any complaints about the questionnaire itself, but I would probably prefer to sit down with the system and the GM and build my character myself. That's just me liking figuring out how mechanics work together and being very leery of other people building my characters. I always seem to understand characters better both in terms of mechanics and rp when I build them myself. I think its because I modify personality based on build and build based on personality until I've got an intertwining mess that I feel comfortable with.

[Squiddish]

The main problem I can see is that there is an option for "I prefer unarmed combat" but there isn't a "For my fighting style, I prefer to use my bare hands."

[Contrast]

In summary, it is basically a streamlined d20 system that allows for greater freedom and flexibility in character creation

So you're running a homebrew system for greater freedom and flexibility in character creation and then encouraging your players to skip character creation? :smallconfused:

I can sort of see the temptation to do this for new players so they aren't so overwhelmed but in my experience the process of creating a character (with appropriate help) is one of the quickest ways to explain to someone how the system works and get them to the point where they're actually making decisions on what to do with their character rather than doing what someone else tells them to do with their character.

If you just plop a pre-made character down in front of them they might go half the campaign not using half their abilities because they just don't know what half the stuff on the character sheet means. So if you do want to do this I would still sit down with the person afterwards (before the game starts) and explain why you made the choices you did and what everything does. At which point I don't know if you're actually saving any time but I guess thats up to you.

[Talakeal]

The main problem I can see is that there is an option for "I prefer unarmed combat" but there isn't a "For my fighting style, I prefer to use my bare hands."

Huh. Good point. That section is mainly so I know what starting equipment to give them, and while unarmed combat does have equivalent fighting styles it isn't really a choice that matters during character creation. Maybe I should put in a note that clarifies that.


So you're running a homebrew system for greater freedom and flexibility in character creation and then encouraging your players to skip character creation? :smallconfused:

I can sort of see the temptation to do this for new players so they aren't so overwhelmed but in my experience the process of creating a character (with appropriate help) is one of the quickest ways to explain to someone how the system works and get them to the point where they're actually making decisions on what to do with their character rather than doing what someone else tells them to do with their character.

If you just plop a pre-made character down in front of them they might go half the campaign not using half their abilities because they just don't know what half the stuff on the character sheet means. So if you do want to do this I would still sit down with the person afterwards (before the game starts) and explain why you made the choices you did and what everything does. At which point I don't know if you're actually saving any time but I guess thats up to you.

Fair point.

My goal isn't to save time, and I am not trying to make people's characters for them.

The idea is that they are still making their character, they are just doing it conceptually while I handle the mechanical stuff behind the screen.

My goal is to slowly and organically introduce them to the mechanics over the course of play rather than just dumping a huge amount of information on them right at the start.

[Recherché]

Fair point.

My goal isn't to save time, and I am not trying to make people's characters for them.

The idea is that they are still making their character, they are just doing it conceptually while I handle the mechanical stuff behind the screen.

My goal is to slowly and organically introduce them to the mechanics over the course of play rather than just dumping a huge amount of information on them right at the start.

The problem I have with that is that I don't make my characters just conceptually; I make them taking into account the mechanics of the system I'm dealing with and what that system will allow/disallow/encourage/discourage. Often I find inspiration from looking at mechanics and trying to figure out what the consequences of a mechanic is.

I don't object to having a questionnaire in general, but I really would not want someone else to make the mechanical bits of my character for me. I'd much rather learn the actual system myself. And being told that I can't do that would throw up all sorts of red flags for me.

[Talakeal]

The problem I have with that is that I don't make my characters just conceptually; I make them taking into account the mechanics of the system I'm dealing with and what that system will allow/disallow/encourage/discourage. Often I find inspiration from looking at mechanics and trying to figure out what the consequences of a mechanic is.

I don't object to having a questionnaire in general, but I really would not want someone else to make the mechanical bits of my character for me. I'd much rather learn the actual system myself. And being told that I can't do that would throw up all sorts of red flags for me.

That's a very different attitude than I am used to, but if someone brought that up to me I would have absolutely no problem with them abandoning the questionnaire and plopping the rulebook in their lap. I love it when players take interest in the mechanics of the system, it just isn't a very common attitude in my experience.


Although, in this case the only difference between the two would be the math, the actual choices themselves are virtually identical. My system isn't like D&D with its classes, archetypes, power / spell selection, feat chains, builds, and prerequisites; any character can attempt any action, so there is a lot less mechanical constriction. If you are the type of person who needs limits placed on you to be creative this just might not be the game for you.

[The Fury]

Generally I like what you've got. Though if I were asked to fill out this questionnaire as an actual player making a character I'd probably ask whether musical talent or the ability to dance well would fall under the "Art" category in the "Things I Am Good At" headings.

[Satinavian]

That's a very different attitude than I am used to, but if someone brought that up to me I would have absolutely no problem with them abandoning the questionnaire and plopping the rulebook in their lap. I love it when players take interest in the mechanics of the system, it just isn't a very common attitude in my experience.It would be the very same for me and for many other players i know. I don't think that is really rare.


Although, in this case the only difference between the two would be the math, the actual choices themselves are virtually identical. My system isn't like D&D with its classes, archetypes, power / spell selection, feat chains, builds, and prerequisites; any character can attempt any action, so there is a lot less mechanical constriction. If you are the type of person who needs limits placed on you to be creative this just might not be the game for you.It is not the only difference. With actually reading the rules you can see, if many ideas/archetypoes can work at all in your system. Examples :

- You have this awareness. Does that mean, i can actually play a (maybe even blind) prophet and prophecies being the main contribution of my character to the group ?

- I want to create something like a roman legionairy. Is a really big Shield and a Shortsword a useful combination or am i bound to run into rules msking strength useful for shield and making shortswords only useful for not strength based fighters ?

- I totally do like chariots. Do those exist/work in your combat system ?

- You have options for magic in your questionaire but not even remotely anything that explains how your magic works or what it can contribute to a party. I am making a priestress of Hades, what can i actually do ? (I would assume speaking with the dead) Or, if i feel a bit silly, i want to make a character based on Urfin Jus, can i do that with your magic system ?

- I like to play characters with crafting skills. Do you actually have a crafting system to speak off ? And what kind of crafting does your system feature ? I really wouldn't want to end with a character whose main skills need to be handwaved all the time.

All those points and many many more can make or break a character concept. You really would need to know the actual rules to know, if such a thing can be a viable character or not. Nothing to do with "you just need more creativity". And all of the above is easy. We didn't even touch non-humans or really strange supernatural stuff.

Also, knowing the rules might inspire builds. Have you never read a rule about an ability or item and wanted to try it out or see in the game or comtemplated how it might actually work ?







That all said, if you want testplays with your own system, never make the characters yourself. Look, how the players use your rules or your build options to see if your rules work as intended.

[Talakeal]

Generally I like what you've got. Though if I were asked to fill out this questionnaire as an actual player making a character I'd probably ask whether musical talent or the ability to dance well would fall under the "Art" category in the "Things I Am Good At" headings.

Perform actually.


It would be the very same for me and for many other players i know. I don't think that is really rare.

It is not the only difference. With actually reading the rules you can see, if many ideas/archetypoes can work at all in your system. Examples :

- You have this awareness. Does that mean, i can actually play a (maybe even blind) prophet and prophecies being the main contribution of my character to the group ?

- I want to create something like a roman legionairy. Is a really big Shield and a Shortsword a useful combination or am i bound to run into rules msking strength useful for shield and making shortswords only useful for not strength based fighters ?

- I totally do like chariots. Do those exist/work in your combat system ?

- You have options for magic in your questionaire but not even remotely anything that explains how your magic works or what it can contribute to a party. I am making a priestress of Hades, what can i actually do ? (I would assume speaking with the dead) Or, if i feel a bit silly, i want to make a character based on Urfin Jus, can i do that with your magic system ?

- I like to play characters with crafting skills. Do you actually have a crafting system to speak off ? And what kind of crafting does your system feature ? I really wouldn't want to end with a character whose main skills need to be handwaved all the time.

All those points and many many more can make or break a character concept. You really would need to know the actual rules to know, if such a thing can be a viable character or not. Nothing to do with "you just need more creativity". And all of the above is easy. We didn't even touch non-humans or really strange supernatural stuff.

Also, knowing the rules might inspire builds. Have you never read a rule about an ability or item and wanted to try it out or see in the game or comtemplated how it might actually work ?







That all said, if you want testplays with your own system, never make the characters yourself. Look, how the players use your rules or your build options to see if your rules work as intended.

Thank you for the input! Please don't read my response as being overly defensive, as you raised a lot of good points and I put a lot of thought into how I would handle similar complaints in play.

In my experience players don't like to do a lot of reading; the number of players who would be very put off by me dumping a six hundred page test manuscript wrought with incomplete proofreading is a lot higher than those who would be put off by not knowing the rules before making a character. My last DM complained all the time that years into his D&D campaign he would still get players who had never read, let alone bought, a PHB and therefore didn't know simple rules. But like I said, if I do get a player who wants to read the rules first I will be overjoyed and happily let them dive in.


What I meant by "almost identical" is that there aren't that many character's you can't create with the questionnaire vs. the standard method. I wasn't talking about player knowledge.

As for your questions (the answer to all of them is "yes" btw), in my mind those are all conceptual questions that could easily be asked of me while filling out the questionnaire. I plan on being in the room and encouraging players to ask me all sorts of questions.

The game is supposed to have a more "sword and sorcery" feel to it, so supernatural powers and inhuman characters are typically enemies rather than players, I didn't want to bog down the questionnaire with options that probably won't see play. If someone does choose to be a sorcerer (which I am not forbidding) I will sit down and have a long talk with them about how it works; possibly giving them a second questionnaire. What I have done in the past when a new player wants to play a magic-user is to give them a short list of generic powers to learn how to use the magic system and then after they were comfortable with the rules sit down with them and actually let them pick a theme for their character and choose specific spells and powers.

Honestly, I think the system is more or less past the point where I can learn anything based on how people make characters, what is left now is mostly layout stuff and finding "bugs and exploits" within the rules. While I would probably learn a lot by leaving a group of players alone with the book and seeing how they interact with it to make characters in a vacuum, that isn't really something that I think would be fun for people. I am actually trying to start a gaming group for personal enjoyment rather than just finding a bunch of human guinea pigs to run tests with.

Of course I have been inspired by specific cool things, and it would be awesome if the players all read the complete rules before the game began, its just that in my experience most players don't want to put in that kind of time or effort for a game they might not even enjoy. The thing is, in this system characters aren't locked into any one role; there is nothing you can do in character creation that you can't do later on.

There is virtually nothing you cannot make in this system. The scope of the powers might not be as high as they are in other media, but conceptually you can do almost anything*. I have had players make a wide variety of characters from comic books and anime with all sorts of strange powers using the system; but again that is not something that new players are going to be able to pull off without my help, something that will be equally available (or unavailable if it falls too far outside the theme that I am going for with this game) regardless of whether or not players crunch the numbers themselves.


I personally might not be using "concept" vs. "mechanic" the same way that other people do. For example, my last DM insisted that I was overly obsessed with mechanics over RP and that I needed to learn to put character concept first because I wanted the rules to match my concept. If my character was supposed to be good at something (that is relevant to the game) I wanted my character to actually be able to reliably do that thing within the mechanics, if I was playing a boorish know it all or a quiet bookworm I would want to have a high Intelligence and low Charisma, and (and this is the part that drove him crazy) I would not choose clearly mechanically optimal powers or abilities if they didn't fit my idea of the character. In my mind this is putting the concept before mechanics, in his mind if I really cared about concept vs. mechanics I would just ignore the flavor text I didn't like and re-fluff the rules to be more optimal. And is his mind the smoking gun was that I always had trouble naming my characters and saved it for last, while amongst "real role-players" coming up with the name must be the very first thing you do.


*Meaning that you could easily make a superman espy who can fly, is superhumanly strong and fast, is immune to bullets, can see through walls, and can shoot lasers from his eyes, he just won't be able to fly faster than the speed of light or toss planets or read an entire library in an instant like modern comic book Superman can.