I've been gaming for a long damn time and over the years I've developed a few useful tools to aid me as a GM and as a Player. As I was recently asked to share one of those tools I thought I might put up here in the Resource Collection for others to use as they see fit.
Both of these are tools to help players, and GM's develop characters.
The first item, the 3x3x3, is something I borrowed from a Serenity RPG board awhile back and I've used it in every campaign I've run since then. Its a list of 3 Friends/Allies, 3 Contacts and 3 Enemies/Rivals that the character knows. I am using this in addition to the regular character background generation as NPC's the GM and PC can use later on to help aid in immersion and if a player or GM needs a quickie contact for any reason. Players can go "Hey I have a friend who has some knowledge that could help us out" or the GM can pull out one of their enemies and when he shows up the player will get hooked in because suddenly here is someone that KNOW wants to hurt them. Adds to immersion that way and heck can even be used as a Compel to further advance the game as well as for plot hooks!
The second item is a list of 20 Questions that can be filled out to help add more to the development of the character. You'd be surprised how often filling out the 20 Questions can cause changes to how a character is built.
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3x3x3
Friends/Allies:
Name:
Quirk/Personality:
Ties / Background:
Notes:
[sadly the nifty table I had created doesn't translate to forumn format...but just make a 3x3x3 Grid and copy the template into each box and fill out from there.]
Twenty Questions and More;
How would you describe your character (Physical Appearance)?
What about family and childhood?
Mother:
Father:
Mother’s Mother:
Mother’s Father:
Father’s Mother:
Father’s Father:
Siblings:
What is the character’s Main Motivation?
What is the character’s greatest strength?
What is the character’s Weakness?
Does your character have any prejudices?
Is your character married; if so, to whom?
To whom does your character owe the most loyalty?
Does your character have any recurring mannerisms?
How would you describe your character’s psychology & personality?
How would your character’s parents describe your character?
What are your character’s highest ambitions?
How religious is your character?
If you could, what advice would you give to your character?
What is the character’s secret, if any? And what will happen if it’s discovered?
What does your character think of the political climate?
What does the Character do to relax?
If the character were given a financial windfall, what would they do with it?
What is the characters view of the various social classes?
What reward would the character most want to receive?
What is your character’s favorite possession?
Who is your character’s closest friend?
What does the character Love, Hate and Fear the Most?
How will the character most likely die?
