The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc]Ask frequently during character generation, or at any point thereafter when you need to entangle characters' lives. Don't ask all these to the same player; pick and choose.

Don't be afraid to overlap NPCs, so that the same NPCs turn out to be the answer to more than one PC's questions.

Ask questions that presume a lot. Players can still answer in the negative ("Who did you step on to get to where you are today?" "Nobody! I have a clean conscience!"), but go with the leading questions anyway.[/ooc]

What did you do that you most regret?

Who was your mentor? Why did you part on bad terms?

What is your most important principle, the one you'll never compromise?

Describe your greatest triumph. What rival did you best?

Who was your first lover? Why didn't it last?

What recurring nightmare do you have that won't go away?

Who owned [character's key item] before it came into your possession? Who is trying to get it now?

Who's looking for you to settle an old score? What happened?

Who do you trust more than anyone?

Who ditched you in a dangerous situation and left you for dead?

[ooc]Now, your turn.[/ooc]

[ooc]Do I detect the influence of a certain D Vincent Baker?[/ooc]

Mine aren't questions but they serve the same purpose. What we normally do is write the following prompts on some cards and have each player draw two or three. Otherwise we just let them pick. Here are just a few.

This person
1 Is dear to me, but would kill me if they knew
2 Has done many terrible things for me, begrudgingly or with pride
3 Gives me a new and humiliating scar every day
4 Demands that I return favours I did not ask for
5 Cannot be permitted to repeat what they have heard

This person wants me dead but
1 I will offer no resistance
2 Has got it all wrong
3 Should thank me for what I did
4 Is only one among so very many
5 Unbeknownst to them, has already succeeded

I will never
1 Draw my weapon in the presence of X (where X is something ubiquitous)
2 Prostrate myself before any authority
3 Confess my name, for fear of X (where X is something scandalous)
4 Make a promise, of any kind
5 Emancipate those who are sworn or bound to my service

Whenever I enter X (where X is somewhere populous and unavoidable)
1 It causes me genuine, physical pain
2 Onlookers are reminded of a certain person, of whom I am a petty imitation
3 There is rampant rumour and speculation
4 The authorities do their best to dissuade me
5 It is always at the worst possible moment

Every morning I wake in the bed of
1 An ally
2 An enemy
3 A stranger
4 A family member
5 Something inhuman

From a certain person I will
1 Take my pleasure, willing or no
2 Demand satisfaction, even if X stands beside them (where X is somebody powerful)
3 Extract an oath and enforce it with X (where X is something unscrupulous)
4 Draw the strength I need to endure
5 Never, ever avert my gaze

[ooc]One of the cards must apply to a fellow PC. We usually let the player determine which one after all cards are drawn, but sometimes we decide before the draw, just to make it interesting.[/ooc]

Quote from: Exegesis[ooc]Do I detect the influence of a certain D Vincent Baker?[/ooc]

Indirectly, but still definitely present! Let's say... the influence of V.B. ("influvince"?), run through a green lens and a used coffeepot filter.

Salacious Angel, your questions and the pick-pick list look similar to the ones they adapted in Fiasco http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/; guess good ideas get around :)

Quote from: Light DragonSalacious Angel, your questions and the pick-pick list look similar to the ones they adapted in Fiasco

I just checked out fiasco's preview pdf, and the resemblance is definitely there. I know a few awesome rpgs with plot/character-generation mechanics like this: In a Wicked Age is our chief influence, but I might have to crib some style from this little gem as well. (I particularly like how, in the example of play, the players are willfully complicit in their own characters' destruction)