What do you ask players when forming a game?

[Shadow Shack]

Do you have a predetermined idea for your character or are you ok with role playing whatever rolls up?

Given the nature of chargen this should be the number one question.

Granted there are a few paths that can be taken for "predetermined ideas"...i.e. if you want a shooter join the army or marines because gun combat appears two times in six on their service tables (plus the automatic skills gained with enlistment and commission) or if you want to be a pilot you join the scouts. But, yeah...you're still subject to the random nature of chargen so the guarantees are few and far between.

 

[HanleyTucks]

What do you ask players when forming a game?

"Can you come Wednesday at 7, and bring snacks?"

Seriously. We'll muddle through the rest in the game sessions.

 

[Leitz]

Tell me about the character you have picked from the three you have just generated. What is that character's backstory and why do you want to play that particular character?

Tell me if your character knows the other characters and if so how? The other players are free to contribute at this point.

Nice!

 

[ManOfGrey]

Star Trek the RPG, by FASA.

"What do you ask players when forming a game?"

I have found that the way I begin a Traveller campaign has been heavily influenced by how character creation was handled in FASA's old RPG, Star Trek. In Star Trek, character creation was handled somewhat "backwards" than typical of Traveller. In Star Trek, you were "destined" to become the officer of whatever starship the Referee was planning on running the campaign on. I found this concept intriguing. I can warn the players what I have in mind for them so that they can prepare themselves, and their characters, for the upcoming campaign.

For example, years ago, I ran a game where the players were the officers of the Azanti High Lighning. I asked one of the players to be the Captain, another to be the First Officer. After that, I allowed the two remaining players to choose what department head they wanted to be. One chose to be the Chief Engineer, and the forth chose to be the Commander of the marine contingent. This allowed them to create their characters in such a way they would have the skills necessary to be good at their jobs.

Presently, I am thinking of running a campaign where the players are the crew of a scout ship being sent out by the Scout Service to explore "strange, new worlds." They will need a Pilot, Astrogator, an Engineer, maybe a Gunner or Medic, and perhaps some scientists. My hope is, given this information, they can tailor their characters during character creation to fit the job they choose. Plus, it certainly gives them a heads-up about what kind of campaign I have in mind.

 

[ManOfGrey]

And then, of course, they should have a background.

This, I feel, is very important. I believe the characters the players create should have a background that is more about them telling a story, than just how many terms they spent in whatever service they matriculated in. This gives the players a chance at creativity, and I believe really makes the character theirs.

From the Azanti High Lightning example above, the Captain, she decided, should be Psionic. She could read minds. Of course, in the Imperium, this is both illegal and immoral. So obviously as a Captain in the Imperial Navy, her Psionic powers had to be kept secret, both from the authorities, and the other players.

The Chief Engineer chose to be a veteran of the Fourth Frontier War -- a POW, in fact. He chose to write a background where he was a sleeper agent for the Zhodanti, having been psychically programmed while a prisoner to obey their commands whenever ordered to do so. Now, having written this background on his own, he later ended up turning himself in to the others when he realized he was being influenced by the Zhonanti they were facing. o: (Hmmm... some sleeper agent!)

Our Marine Commander decided he had been wounded during the Fourth Frontier War, and had his left arm replaced by bionics, which accounted for his unusually high strength.

The First Officer decided to also be a veteran of the Fourth Frontier War, as an officer on a Destroyer which was shot down during the war, who was one of only a handful of survivors from that ship.

The point is, when players are allowed to create these individual stories for themselves, it gives each and every one of their characters... a certain flair that is uniquely theirs. (And can make for some very interesting role-playing! :devil

 

[Leitz]

The point is, when players are allowed to create these individual stories for themselves, it gives each and every one of their characters... a certain flair that is uniquely theirs. (And can make for some very interesting role-playing! :devil

When atpollard started his PbP game here, he allowed a good bit of player based backstory development. I came in late and the only option was the Marine, my least favorite CT career. Still, it was a game and I had some leeway. Turned into one of my favorite games, even though my character had the lowest stat average, wasn't really high skilled, etc.

Going into the game, I knew he had a girlfriend back home, he wasn't bright but tried to be a thinker, and he wanted to do the OCS and Commando school thing but never made it. In the end, probably due more to longevity in the game than any real talent of the character or the player, he achieved the campaign goal in a totally unexpected by the DM way.

Fun stuff.

 

[SpaceBadger]

you could simply provide the setting, and let your players run the game.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. How would you envision that working?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

What do you ask players when forming a game?

These days, before I run a game of Traveller, I first vet players to see how well they can minimally role-play in a character-driven sandbox. If they can't at first, I quickly show them. If a light bulb goes off in their head, and they get how it's done, they get added to the player group.

 

[flykiller]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. How would you envision that working?

me: "here's where you are, and what you see going on around you. what do you do?"

they: "oh, we go here and do this and talk to this guy and that guy."

me: (ok - this guy is (roll dice) doing this and (roll dice) has this going on in the background, and the other guy is (roll dice) (special) ok, how special (roll dice) oh jeez REAL special, so what would that be (roll dice) yeah, I can swing that. "ok, you guys are talking to this guy and he says ...." etc.

 

[JimMarn]

Late at night and this old geezer, me, woke up.

1) I ask them what kinds of games do they play ?

2) How many books on what kind of subjects have they read ? Movies ?

3) what days of the week, and at what times, can you game ?

If they can meet when the rest of us can, I bring up some things are not allowed; like smoking and alcohol; cussing, rudeness. Snacks they can bring if they want to and no digging through the fridge.

If they still want to play, we let them know when and where, and for how long a typical game session is.

Back to sleep now.

 

[Tiikeri]

Questions for Players

Questions I ask prospective players.

What kind of adventures would you like to have?
What kind of person is your character?
Why is your character the kind of person he or she is?
What are your character's major life experiences?
Are your character's parents still alive?
What are three professional skills your character is very good at?
Competent at?
Familiar with?
Unusually bad at?
What are your character's hobbies? What does he or she enjoy doing during leisure time?
Do you have any questions for me?

Statements I make.

We're all putting in a lot of effort and creativity, so please take the game seriously.
I'm putting in the most effort as the ref, so don't argue with me. Let's talk things over, but after I make a decision, don't argue.
No 'special' characters. No best pilots in the galaxy, no princesses, etc.

 

[Leitz]

What kind of adventures would you like to have?

Statements I make.

No 'special' characters. ... no princesses, etc.

For a run of the mill game, that makes sense. Of course, it's easy to think of a game where you can have a princess. Just needs the right environment and a lot of cooperation.

 

[willtron3030]

Questions I ask prospective players.
What kind of adventures would you like to have?
What kind of person is your character?
Why is your character the kind of person he or she is?
What are your character's major life experiences?
Are your character's parents still alive?
What are three professional skills your character is very good at?
Competent at?
Familiar with?
Unusually bad at?
What are your character's hobbies? What does he or she enjoy doing during leisure time?

That almost sounds like informal survey for "aspects" from the Fate system. That's not intended as an insult, either.

 

[Tiikeri]

Of course. Plenty of great adventures can be had by aristocratic characters. But these aristocratic adventurers are not what I'm referring to. The problem characters are player self-inserts where they are at the pinnacle of the social pyramid, wealthy beyond care, and have thousands of servants, soldiers, and sycophants paying attention to them and solving all their problems. Despite being at the top of a feudal pyramid, they remain innocent and untouched by the brutal reality of power politics, yet are expert martial artists, duellists, and space pilots. The players of such characters tend to get upset when an Imperial Navy battlegroup jumps in-system to inquire about the tardiness of the year's tax revenues. These players also tend to get a bit surly when an adventures requires that they leave their planet and go somewhere else, where no one cares who they are and their entourage isn't there to pay attention to them and solve their problems.

 

[Tiikeri]

That almost sounds like informal survey for "aspects" from the Fate system. That's not intended as an insult, either.

I'm not acquainted with Fate, but I developed those questions for pbp games with people who have never heard of Traveller. They're really not accustomed to something like Traveller's character generation system, where players have little control and their characters end up being older. In my opinion, players today have little experience with 80s style simulation-focused game systems, and they've grown up on a diet of narrative focused systems. I see an consistent trend away from intellectually stimulating complexity toward 'streamlining' and 'simplification' and 'narrative' gameplay where it's more about how the players feel rather than the challenge of resolving the conflict with the characters one has according to impartial rules.

I decided to get a feel for what the players were interested in and sketches of characters they wanted to play, and then customize the adventures to their interests instead of going for the pure simulationist experience I prefer.

Edit:

A very large portion of players have experience with the various D&D systems, including Pathfinder and other variants, which is a positive thing, I think, since those systems are descendants of the 80s systems. The Chaosium D100 system also survives in one form or another, and that's another positive.

 

[flykiller]

I see an consistent trend away from intellectually stimulating complexity toward 'streamlining' and 'simplification' and 'narrative' gameplay where it's more about how the players feel rather than the challenge of resolving the conflict with the characters one has according to impartial rules.

(heh. not just in rpg's ....)

can't myself. there's a big fat line between "fantasy" and "irrationality".

watched a d&d game the other week. mostly older guys, probably 30's / 40's. they spent an entire hour ordering "mead" and counting silver pieces and chatting and looking around the "inn". the dm looked lost, but the players ... the players were smiling and waving their arms and having a GRAND old time. I just stared, I couldn't figure out what they were doing. guess now I know - they weren't doing, were feeling.

 

[Shadow Shack]

{OT cracking wise}

mostly older guys, probably 30's / 40's.

Damn, I wish I was that kind of older...

 

[Leitz]

I prefer a game with more shared narration; it has more of a story than random rolls. Not really fond of computer games, either, there's no real story there. You can't "play" someone with an agenda the programmers didn't think of. Fortunately, how we each play is up to us. I'm sure there are folks who prefer a style different from mine.

 

[aramis]

(heh. not just in rpg's ....)

can't myself. there's a big fat line between "fantasy" and "irrationality".

watched a d&d game the other week. mostly older guys, probably 30's / 40's. they spent an entire hour ordering "mead" and counting silver pieces and chatting and looking around the "inn". the dm looked lost, but the players ... the players were smiling and waving their arms and having a GRAND old time. I just stared, I couldn't figure out what they were doing. guess now I know - they weren't doing, were feeling.

They were getting into character.

Some people even enjoy doing shoppie-store in character, haggling with the merchants, making a roll here or there to see if they manage to convince the store-owner...

I've had groups like that. They're actually quite a lot of fun... especially if you allow a little PVP...
... Set a situation...
... turn them loose in it...
... watch them create a whole session out of getting the job.

 

[flykiller]

they were getting into character

... I'd always thought the point of rpg's was living out other possibilities, not replicating a mundane existence in a mundane setting.