So, I might have forgotten, but I figure a poll might be fun.

So how many folks are into the 20 questions? How often do you use them?

I'm a ''Sometimes'' person. While I always at least try to get a couple paragraphs, for some reason, only some characters do I end up using the Big, In-Depth 20 for, for some reason. It doesn't matter if they are a checkered former company man or a street kid, some characters sort of just ''ask for'' an in-depth background, whole others just seem to need to be touched on a bit. I really don't know why that is. A current creation is one that seems to want that in-depth treatment. A character before that, I was able to cover with a few bulletpoints.

Though I will say, the characters that I end up doing this for I end up liking a lot more, on average. Not ALL the time(sometimes, I get hooked in game with a more basic background written), but oftentimes I do love doing some in-depth stuff.

As a GM, I don't *require* it, but I like to see it. I'm usually happy with a couple paragraphs, but for a longrunning one, I do like to see a bit more in-depth stuff sometimes.

How are you guys with this?

could you not have done thie first batch as check boxes? it depends largely on the character in question.
aside from the 20 pages one, every single answer fits my style and has been used allready once or twice
as for the GM part? i don't do that, really . . if i wanted to do something like that, i'd go work in a kinder garden with difficult children <.< . .

Fixed. I thought about it, but then I was like ''eh...the middle option of ''sometimes'' might cover that''...but choice never hurts.

thankies ^^

Whoa, I didn't expect novel writers. Saw two votes there.

I admit, I have written a few short stories about characters, before. I just don't do it very often, at all. Very occasionally, though, one will sort of present itself in a way that I can, indeed, write a decent-sized short story.

I tend to use the 20 Questions as a backbone/draft for the paragraph or four of back story I write for my characters. I answer the 20 and then from those answers re-write it into a condensed novelette or short story.

If/when I GM, I'll definitely recommend the 20 Q. to the players but I won't enforce it.

Yes, I love the 20 questions. I even updated them for fourth and have my players use them. I even use them in other (non-shadowrun) games.

What about "I don't particularly focus on background and instead develop my characters through gameplay." As a player, I've never used anything like that, as a GM, I've never asked for anything like that.

Needed an 'I don't GM' and an 'I only GM' option - you have to vote on both polls.

Some of my characters I give a backstory to, and when I do I usually just use the questions as a basis for what to touch on. More often though I leave backstory by the wayside and just give the character a personality, rather than an in-depth background. I can be a little lazy when it comes to RPing.

I guess I tend to fall into the "novel" area both as a DM and as a player, although in both cases very little is actually written down but is instead hashed out by talking with the other party(ies) in question. I never really liked the idea of "The 20 Questions" because for me they simpy, can't convey enough naunces to be worth the tempation to sterotype a character based on the answers.

I stopped writing novels when it started to be considered favouritism by the GM, when the games would collapse after two sessions, and when the GM could not be bothered on reading it. Mostly though after investing a lot of time in creating and writing a backstory on a character, the point kind of gets lost when the game ends next session.

I dislike reusing characters, but time spent making it vs. never using it again I have a few characters or character backgrounds now that I have to keep in stock.

Can anyone put down what those 20 questions are? For myself I have never heard of them since I mainly play 4th ed.

The 20 Questions were designed to draw character background details from players. In SR4 they were tweaked and updated in Runner's Companion.

As for ''developing in play''...well, I guess that means a paragraph or a sentence can sorta fill in at the start. :o but I did forget that. I guess as a GM I do require a couple of paragraphs on a character, but well, I'm far from everyone. (they don't have to be long. I also suggest/enjoy when they do 20qs, but I don't need it.)

I do understand the draw of developing them in play-i could never really do it for some reason. I have trouble getting into a character many times if I can't get into their heads; I do that via backstory, and longer backgrounds have always been a tradition in my group. But we're all different-some folks work better knowing very little about a character. I find that the less I know about a character-just by bad luck maybe-the less I can get into them. I really don't know why.

But I don't need to do long ones to get into them, I CAN do said couple paragraphs. But I admit I find myself going on-I like to explain things where the character got their goodies, how they got out of their life beforehand, a few of their quirks, likes, dislikes, etc(ok, granted-these can also be done in a few sentences. ''Got cyber and bioware from the corp before he got involved in a dirty operation that pinned him for being the bad guy and ended up having to hide'' can indeed suffice.)

Believe it or not, though...I have a cutoff point. I try to keep the short stories short. There was one instance i had so much fun writing about a certain character, he ended up in several short stories, and with his friends in the story as a running team, and my GM was having fun reading them. I...couldn't play him afterward. He was too well developed. So there is a drawback. After that, I do try to keep the short stories to back-stories only, maybe describing a past incident or something.

But yeah, I apologize for forgetting the ''develop in play option'' along with the ''i only/never GM''. It seems no matter what when I do a poll I always forget at least ONE option. I could add them now...better late than never I guess. If you already voted, you can always post ''Yeah, this one instead''. It's just a fun poll, after all.

I like detailed backgrounds, but I prefer another format than the 20 questions.

As a GM, I usually make do with asking the player questions, and let them develop the PC through play. Since our campaigns last years, after a few weeks or months I generally know the PC anyway.

I'm pretty much always the GM and didn't like 20 questions. I forget the exact questions, I remembered that I liked the idea of 20 questions but not the actual questions.

I prefir a background of a more fluid parahraph or so.

However I think I have more success with developing characters as the game goes. And I think it goes without saying that relationships and ideas developed during gameplay are orders of magnetude more significant than the sort of stuff you build up in 20 questions.

Developing characters in play is always awesome; and despite what i said above, they DO develop in gameplay. But...I'm one of those folks that at least likes to have something to start with, else it's a little difficult for me to start developing them. I wish it wasn't like that, but it is.

Also, using the 20 questions as a framework for some paragraphs IS more fun than writing out the 20 questions in usual form.

Sunny: what was it about the actual questions you weren't into?

Sorry. I still own my 2nd edition book. 3rd edition too. But they're deep deep in the storage room, probably next to Jimmy Hoffa. And I don't remember them in detail.

I think I may have found them trite. I believe there was a series of questions on whether the character would kill or not. While there may be some amusment factor to asking the cybertroll with the assault cannon that battery of questions it isn't a good use of time.


On a side note I did like the CP2020 lifepath. I can see what it didn't spready. But I liked it telling you what your background was instead of picking.

Because if I have to deal with another gorram character with dead parents...

All characters develop in play if their Players a re worth a toss, but, for a really deep character, one with complexity, it is always a HUGE plus to know what he did, concretely, even if you never hand anything over the GM. Especially for those of us dinosaurs who've been gaming since Hector was a pup, it can be hard separating the present tank/razor Native American troll former combat biker we are playing from the tank troll mercenary ex college professor we played eight years ago.

Isshia

I've only ever used them in my current campaign. The characters and I were going through RC as we were all building characters and I told them as per the rules, "You guys do this, you'll get bonus Karma." That was enough motivation there. All of them jumped at the chance and were more than happy to answer them. Some players gave me a sentence each, some a few words, and one about 20 pages of answers.

As a GM, I feel it's important to structure the game around what the players want, and this time I heard that my players want a whole lot of underlying metaplot involving their their characters' qualities, lifestyles and backgrounds. Lots of ghosts from the past, destruction of the present and good solid character development in reaction to events I throw at them that will change and alter their lives. The 20 questions just happened to be there to use as a universal format to discover what I would have been asking the players anyway.

As any other time? I am content just knowing how a character got the skills they did, and why they became a runner. We don't need to get into to much detail about origins, but if silly said little 20 year old orphan has a skill rating 6 in Blades and all their other combat skills at high ratings, the player better be able to explain to me how their character learned these abilities. Personality can start showing through as we play, so I don't need to know biases and preferences or quirks and emotional attachment. These will be shown to me shortly.

I use the twenty questions as homework. I assign one question between sessions, and offer one Karma to players who put some modicum of thought into their answer.

I don't exclusively use the twenty questions. I'll occasionally throw other questions in there. That's how I use 'em, though.

I wouldn't say they were "tweaked" so much as "completely rewritten," but yeah, definitely updated.

20 questions is a tool. Generally SR players seem to do fine without and answer all or most of the questions in their background as it is, so I don't press. If they haven't answered the questions, I bring them up.

When I ran the Other Game, I designed a '20 questions' questionaire for all characters (closer to 30 if I remember, a lot of them more psychological questions). Most players wrote relatively little about their characters then, so they definitely helped. Some of the questions I bring in to SR games as well. People told me it was quite funny, so I might need to dig it up again. Really, the SR 20 questions are so basic, it's hardly worth it. I felt asking things like 'put the 7 cardinal sins in order from worst to best' told me more about the character (or got the player to think more).

As a GM, I'm pretty easy going. I like to have an idea of the character's background, but I don't really need it in written form or anything. I usually expect the characters to develop during the game.

As a player, I prefer to write a few short paragraphs (3 to 10, usually), referring to the 20 Q's as a vague outline.

In either case, the main things I'm concerned with are 1) where the character learned their skills, 2) where (or for whom) they've worked in the past, 3) why they're doing what they're doing, and 4) any relevant details about the character's family.

-paws

I haven't done it yet but I think I may use the 20 Questions as optional homework assignments for my players. Give me a good paragraph for a question and I'll toss a bonus karma or two.

As a Gamemaster I dont demand the 20 Question from my players. They are free to answer them, but I also "ruled" that players that answered those questions for their chars will have the chance to get parts of their chars background aso implemented into possible runs from time to time. At the end it helps too create a more involved world for the player. I have one player in my group who doenst care to workout a background for any of his chars, and unfortunately he seems always to be 'unhappy' with his creations. I think a player should stick up to a char concept with help of a background story / 20 Questions.

Furthermore I am using the ruling from Runners Companion, and gain for every two answered questions one bonus karma point.

Not picking on the above poster just using his statement as an example and paraphrasing of what has been said here many times in this thread. So, is there anyone who actually DEMANDS that the Players in their game do one of these things, or something like it?


Isshia

I don't, but I did once award points and have been awarded points for a background. I have also played in a Millenium's End game where we used a highly detailed character building questionnaire which was 15 pages, from which I condensed in part and built up in others a 10 page background.

Shadowrun is, I think, supposed to be Fun. As such, I suspect that most GMs use the carrot more than the stick.

I used to DEMAND that my players had to have a background story and answer the 20 Questions. I even threat them that I wont allow chars that didnt have a worked out background. At the end moste of my players have a worked out background story, but not cause i threat them more because of their own, and then I still have players who dont care about it. They just show up at the day they of the Game and thats it. I think as a Gamemaster you cant DEAMAND them, its like Aaron said all about fun. Of course a good worked out team of player characters with nice backgrounds and the same imagination of the Shadowrun World they are playing together would be very nice, fact is the truth looks diffrent. According to my opinion a good RPGamer will work out his char if he is into true RPG.

I tend to answer the 20 questions as short form, then write a 1-2 page background for the character.

Then get into the game and realize I cannot consistently keep up a Danish accent and the rest of the players are laughing at my attempts.

I used to require my players to answer the 20 questions...but that was a long time ago. It's far easier just to ask them to write up a short background on their characters. Most of my players like to give me a paragraph or two that I can then take and use for inclusion in runs.