Simple Questions

Anyone who knows me will confirm that I am one of the nosiest people alive. I’m always asking questions about this, about that—I’ve got to know everything before I’m satisfied with anything. Whether it’s a quirk, flaw, or fumbling neurosis is a decision I’ll leave in your capable hands.

But what this, err, trait has helped me to happen upon is a useful way to build characters without writing twenty plus pages of background. It’s simple, really. Just ask the most obvious questions of characters during downtime. The obvious questions about a character’s life are those that we often fail to ask, the “insignificant” details that can end up telling us the most about that character. Some examples include (and I won’t tell you which ones I’ve actually used): “Does your character brush his teeth regularly?”; “What kind of vidgames does your decker play?”; “What’s your religious upbringing? If it changed, what is it now?”; “Do you sleep on the left or right hand side of the bed?”

“What’s your favorite color?”, etc.

They might seem like silly questions to ask unless you consider that these details that we most often forget are what really builds character. It’s not involved backgrounds (although that helps immensely), it’s the details that really help a character grow within the context of a gameworld and feel real.

If you ever try this, don’t just barrage people with questions at character generation. The questions work better if you use them to spice up downtime in an adventure, when certain characters are inactive or everyone is doing rules-related maintenance. Just take turns with questions and let the players go off. You might be surprised at the level of detail that a person might go into if you ask them a certain question (you might also be scared).

You can also use questioning as a dramatic hook to start a session. This helps a character relate to either the game setting or his character (depending on whether you ask a personal question or a more thematic/philosophical question). You can use this starter question to place players directly into the situation, to enhance the mood of your opening scene or to throw the players off guard for something devious.

For example, you could ask the players how they feel about killing, asking them what they might feel like to be in the process of being killed and to be doing the killing, what might make them do that in real life, etc. Then you could start the run in media res in the middle of a blazing gunfight. Or, you could start them into a more ambiguous situation, where they have a security guard in sights of a sniper rifle. All they have to do is pull the trigger… The possibilities are endless (and that’s why we play, right?).

So that’s it. It’s a simple enough method for adding extra character depth that I think will serve you well.

Enjoy.

“If you want the answers then you gotta ask the questions”

-Lauryn Hill