So I'm going to be running a F&D one-shot for a couple of folks who've only played the EotE BBox. They know the basic mechanics, but the particulars of F&D will be new to them. Not a problem, of course -- this is still going to be still a teaching game. I want to make a couple of pregens that they will enjoy. So I want to send them each a little questionnaire to tease out their preferences in plain language without reference to F&D's jargon (career names, power names, etc.), only fictional elements. (Yes, they are SW fans, at least of the OT, so the goal is also to have fun telling a SW story without the mechanics interfering).

Thus the task I set before you all is this: what questions should I ask? I'd perfer questions that can be answered with one sentence, and I don't want to pose more than 5 or 6 questions.

Thanks in advance.

A branching questionnaire would be way easier, a la:

Do you want your character's focus to be?

• Combat (Guardian, Warrior)
• Force use (Mystic, Consular)
• Utility (Seeker, Sentinel)

Combat -> Do you want to more focused on:

• Defense (Guardian)
• Offense (Warrior)

And then just figure out which of the specs fits their character class best, e.g. Warrior ->

• Dangerous personal combatant (Aggressor)
• Vehicle combat (Ace pilot)
• Lightsaber combat (Shii-Cho knight)

It's 3 emails back and forth, but its WAY easier than formulating a single, reliable survey.

Back and forth would probably be too much -- they are people with busy lives, after all. However, the multiple choice approach has much merit: A series of "When confronted with situation X, would you a), b), c) or d) it?" or somesuch might do the trick. I am going to be interpreting the results, so it's not like vagueness or apparent contradiction is going to stump me...

Back and forth would probably be too much -- they are people with busy lives, after all. However, the multiple choice approach has much merit: A series of "When confronted with situation X, would you a), b), c) or d) it?" or somesuch might do the trick. I am going to be interpreting the results, so it's not like vagueness or apparent contradiction is going to stump me...

As someone who's designed questionnaires for studies, separating out 18 types from 6 questions (or any number of questions, for that matter) is a nightmare.

I get that you're interpreting these by hand, but your vastly magnifying your work. You're gonna get way more information way quicker with a fraction of the effort from a 5 minute conversation with each player about what kind of jedi they want to play when compared to what your describing.

If three e-mail responses is too much effort for your players, godspeed.

The question you should ask is do you want simplicity? If so make them all human - part 1 done. If you want the other races, maybe scan the images of the races and email them and ask them to pick one.

Next a simple description of each of the major classes, and bob down a SW reference for them. Then ask what they fancy playing.

Another option - and this would be my choice for a one-shot is to generate 1 more pre-made characters than the number of players and ensure they are suitably tailored to the story you intend to run.

Give the characters out randomly. This gives the players a choice to swap with the one unused character should you want to that.

As 1 character won't be used there will be times when the skills this char had would have been useful (depending on your tailoring) so the players may have work around some encounters.

I find in tournaments folk get on with what they are given, so spend the time on a nice background for each character, rather than interpretation of an email response...

Back and forth would probably be too much -- they are people with busy lives, after all. However, the multiple choice approach has much merit: A series of "When confronted with situation X, would you a), b), c) or d) it?" or somesuch might do the trick. I am going to be interpreting the results, so it's not like vagueness or apparent contradiction is going to stump me...

This is what I was going to suggest. Go all Eldar Scrolls or Mass Effect and give them a multiple choice test type thing that will not only narrow down Career/Spec but also provide insight into Motivation, Obligation, Morality, Duty, Species...

You are working with your parent/guardian repairing a broken power generator and you notice a hot pipe is about to blow and fall on them:

A) I push them out of the way (leaning toward Guardian types)

B) I put myself in front so the pipe falls on me (Warrior)

C) I hit the purge valve (Sentinel types)

D) I shout a warning (Consular types)

E) I let it fall, not my problem they were in the way (Start Darkside?)

You're driving into town and come across a man on the road who's been beaten and robbed by a swoop gang.

A) I treat his wounds and give him a ride into town (Consular)

B) There's not many places to hide out here, so you report it to local law enforcement. (Mystic)

C) You track down the gangers camp and try and recover the loot (Seeker)

D) You immediately give chase. (Warrior)

You were traveling with your family and the commercial passenger starship you were on was attacked by pirates. You...

A) Hopped on the guns, destroying the pirate craft and saving the ship (Bravery/Anger)

B) Helped other passengers get to the escape pods, saving dozens. (Caution/Fear)

C) Realized they only wanted one thing in the cargo hold, and simply secured the passenger compartment, earning a thanks from the company for avoiding bloodshed (Discipline/Stubborn)

D) Fashioned a weapon from available materials, and attacked the boarders directly, earning a medal for bravery from the local defense forces (Enthusiastic/Reckless)

A couple dozen questions like that may be a pain to put together, but they take no time to answer and will leave you with enough information to craft a Pregen that's at least in the ballpark of what the player might want to run...

Yes, they will all be human. After mulling it over, I'm probably just going to craft a Guardian, Sentinel and Consular (in the most generic sense) and let them choose.

Although, I did find some good material here, so might keep that in the back of my mind for later usage...

Consular/Guardian/Sentinel? What about the quiz from KotOR?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GBQ6j7JF98

Skip to about 14:40

Edit; typo

If you're making premade characters, you could probably squeeze in species selection, if you keep them to the 8 options in F&D. If you're preassisgning XP to characteristics and skills, almost every species can get 3/3/3/2/2/2, then just leave the character sheets blank in a few spots to allow for them to choose what they want.