Last night I downloaded the free e-Book Gamemastering by Brian Jamison from gamemastering.info. It is 300 pages of all kinds of awesome! As I was reading it, I drew all kinds of inspiration for my Bloodstone game. I also noted that Burning Wheel has procedures in place that mirror Brian’s advice.
So I’m asking the players to work through a questionnaire. The player’s need not fill this out, but should be prepared to discuss these things and we’ll take notes concerning the questionnaire.
Character
- What is your character’s name. Suggested names can be found here.
- What are your character traits?
Lifepaths
- List your lifepaths.
- For each of your lifepaths, tell me about a defining moment during that lifepath.
- For each lifepath transition, tell me why/how you changed lifepaths.
Background
- Where were you when Vaasa attacked Damara, and declared war (13 years ago)?
- Where were you when you heard that King Viridin had died (3 years ago)?
- How is it that were you spared on the Night of the Long Knives (2 years ago)?
- Tell me about someone whom you lost on the Night of the Long Knives?
- Tell me about someone that thankfully survived the Night of the Long Knives?
- What have you lost with the collapse of Damara?
- Why did you flee to Valls?
- Tell me about one of your foes…A feud? A person of authority? A superior? A rival/peer? You need not spend starting resource points on this character.
Beliefs and Instincts
I would like each character to have a belief that relates to one of the other characters. I would also like each character to have a goal-based belief. Think in terms of your character’s long-term goals, then determine what the first step towards achieving that goal will be…That first step should be codified into a belief.
Skills
One of the recommendations from Gamemastering is that I should write down all of the character skills. This is to ensure that each character has a chance to shine. There are a lot of skills in Burning Wheel, so help me understand what skills you want to use. I’m planning on writing down all of your skills, so I have a frame of reference for working on adventures.