So, with two episodes under our belts, I decided that a change of pace would be good, so last Friday, I directed my group through the clan questionnaire.
I would rate the experience B- to B.
The questionnaire is problematic, I think. Here's some observations:
In many cases, the choices were not really comprehensible to the players, and as a result, maintaining interest was tough.
Although we've only been playing for a few months, we had filled in a fair amount of detail about the clan just through play, and greater effort was then required to reconcile this detail with the questions in the form.
This was made doubly difficult because, as newbies, the implications of many choices weren't really obvious to us, and in a few cases, we had to retcon the choices that "seemed to feel right" because they didn't really jive with the established setting we had built.
I thought of several things that might make this questionnaire more newbie-friendly:
For example, all the various factors involved in determining your Clan's precise wealth and Lunar Friendliness might be handled better by newbies with questions that *started* from the following two general inquiries: Is your clan wealthy, average, or poor? Is your clan friendly, neutral, or hostile to the lunar occupation?
The refinement approach could also be used to make choices based on the underlying meaning behind the many options (instead of saying "which hero does your clan revere the most, provide a series of questions that help focus on the particular hero based on clan values or behaviour that the players can more easily make choices about" -- frex, "does your clan value direct physical confrontation as a way to solve problems, or do you prefer the diplomatic approach?") These general "root" behaviour questions can then also provide initial refinement choices for not only one particular question (which hero does your clan revere the most), but rather a host of more specific questions (i.e. your clan's attitude to problem solving with violence can affect a wide variety of the choices it made in the past).
I think a combination of these improvements could help build a questionnaire that first and foremost helps the players illuminate the fundamental societal nature of the group in which they live, and then explicate and enrich that understanding with historical detail.
Perhaps these thoughts are useful?
-- Viktor Haag : Software & Information Design : Research In Motion +--+ Disclaimer mandated by employer: "This transmission may contain confidential or privileged material. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately reply to the sender and delete this information from your system. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this transmission by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful."
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