Re: The 'Clan Questionnaire'

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 17:48:08 -0000

>
> 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.

I'd wondered how that would work out for most groups.

I really like your idea of working from the present backwards. Although it is somewhat mythically nice to see how things snowball from some early beginning to where we are now, I can see that being a problem too. After all, you are taking the time away from adventure (!) to let the players influence the setting. So having the results of the whole experience seem fairly random to them isn't apt to make them feel it was a good use of time.

Doing it in a more random sort of way (say, emailing each player 10 questions to answer, then compiling the overall results and presenting it at the start of the next session) might not make them feel they were robbed in the same way. But if you want to make it part of play, making it more controllable seems good. Working present back-wards makes the results seem more controllable I think.

Also, and perhaps just as useful, working from the present backwards, you could answer just part of it at the start of each session. That way you don't have to take as much time to answer it, and each set of questions and answers has a better chance of being retained by the players (although it may take a while to get certain fundamentals decided that way).

Obviously it isn't apt to get changed now that it is printed in a book, but it could be useful advice for those using it in the future.

-Bryan