Dogs in the Vineyard Character Creation

Monday night was Dogs in the Vineyard Character Creation. Two of my players had work/life emergencies come up and were not able to make character creation. Hopefully, they will both be at CastleHouse Games tonight, so we can get their character settled.

I putting a lot of focus on character creation for this game. I am planning on it being a long term campaign, so I want get an idea of what the players expect out of the game. It was a good thing I did, because there was an aspect of the setting that a few of the characters wanted to explore that I hadn't considered. Thus I am going to try to incorporate it into the game.

I created a "character questionnaire" for the players to fill out about the game. I was hoping it would give the players a chance to reflect quietly about their character and the game and put their ideas down on paper. Writing things down always helped me in my creative processes, so I curious to see if it would help my players.

I've seen questionnaires used before for LARPs, but I think it actually works out better for a smaller games. You really don't pay attention to all the answers if you have twenty questionnaires to read. Also, I think the questionnaire isn't as useful for players joining in game after it starts. The storyteller already has a plot going on and might not be able or willing to include many new elements.

But, I think I will have my players fill out a questionnaire after the first part of the game. I am curious about how their characters develop as time goes on.

One of my players, John, posted about character creation in his own blog.