All of my players are new to 40k. A couple have played the Dawn of War games or played some tabletop, but not much experience with the setting itself. To help them understand the setting, i've come up with the idea of survey of 10-15 questions with multiple choice answers (A - E). Each of the different answers are suppose to give additional insight into the 40k universe.

Answer A & B are Star Wars and Star Trek responses: These two choices represent two very different points of view about technology and alien species, and for example, daemons that live in warp space.

Answer C: A feeble Imperium response. A typical citizen, insular, fearful. Not player character material.

Answer D: A strong Imperium response. A Space Marine or Commisar. A possible player response, but not nessecarily a Rogue Trader response.

Answer E: A Rogue Trader response. A response taking in the responsibilies of answer D, but perhaps with some elements in A or B.

Here's one question I made up:

I have a host of new players, and I thought a good way to introduce them "into the spirit" of the 40k universe was a quiz!: I wanted to create a humourous survey with a number of questions with some typical Imperium reactions vs other sci-fi settings, so they have a better feel for it. So I decided on a question, with 5 answers.

If you want to correct a response to make it more authentic, funny, or have additional questions, please add them.

Question : You've encounter a primitive xeno civilization that has not reached the stars. What should you do?

• A) Create an invisible outpost and observe this new culture for science and research.
• B) Contact them and begin formal proceedings to introduce them to Imperial culture, plans for a spaceport.
• C) Ignore them, but check for any remote resources that could be exploited, shoot an.
• D) Exterminate xeno population. Collect preliminary details for Administorium for potential future development on return home.
• E) Exterminate major population centers. Begin lucrative process of starting a new Imperial colony, named after you.

Question : You've discovered a lost human empire! They inhabit an entire solar system. Inexplicably they no longer worship or acknowledge the God Emperor and Savior of Humankind. What should you do?

• A) Open a amiable dialogue and seek to understand their new culture and bridge this gap.
• B) Formally request their government to open up an Imperial embassy including an Ecclesiarch Temple to proselytizing to the people.
• C) Gather as much information as possible, if it's possible to exploit them at no risk, do so. Otherwise leave.
• D) The heathens must be converted or destroyed. Gather tactical data, inform Segmentum Command and prepare for invasion. When prepared, offer an Ultimatum.
• E) Exploit the native population as much as possible. Foster business and government agency contacts that would be friendly to the Imperium. After developing exclusive rights, contact the Imperial Administratum of an exciting opportunity to overthrow a government covertly: . Alternatively, contact the Ecclisarchy and gain their favour, but lose some profit from the lack of business interest.
  

Question : You encounter the remains of an extinct technologically advanced alien civilization, vast ruins cover the surface of a habitable world.

• A) Commence science research immediately. Investigate ruins/technology and determine the reason for extinction. Report findings.
• B) Spend time investigating if it looks promising, if anything interesting turns up, take it.
• C) Note location, or forget about it. It's dangerous to investigate, who knows what horrors may awake. .
• D) Quarantine location. Do not report location until secured, may require automated defences or occasional patrols to ensure it is left alone.
• E) Leave it alone or hire an expendable xeno-archeology team through a double-blind. Might find something interesting that makes you or your ship powerful, might be tortured by the Inquisition if your double blind wasn't good enough. Or worse, you do awaken some horror - but that's not likely.

Question : While travelling through the warp your gellar field and its backup fails. Oops.

• A) If a drive related system fails, coming out warp is not going to be an issue. I'll have engineering team look into it and get everything back to nominal profile.
• B) Assuming I'm not about to fly into a sun or an asteroid field, there is no problem. I'll have my xeno co-pilot and a robot look into the issue. I'll sit back in the cockpit with my legs up and wait for them to get done. Do I even go into warp?
• C) I stick my bolter in my mouth, hopefully pulling the trigger before I am possessed by a demonic entity and used by the Ruinous Powers.
• D) Clutch my Holy Aquila and steel my nerve, bellowing hymns to the God Emperor. Start shooting anyone who isn't doing the same. I die shooting myself as I feel the tainted touch of the unclean try to claim me.
• E) Lament the loss of your crew. Your expensive tertiary gellar field generator that covers your personal suites and the throne of command chamber have protected you. I choose not to burn a fate point: the specifics of how lucky I get may change, but the end result is, I die. Burn a fate point, you return to real space, send out a distress message, get picked up by the Holy Fleet almost starved to death. Should you chose, your house loses considerable resources cleansing the vessel - over a period of months - it also gains an unsavory reputation, and perhaps taint, otherwise you take a lesser vessel: you get a great story and live.

Question 5: You find an abandonded human colony from the Age of Technology. During your survey you find the original colony hub has a working Standard Template Constructor that has been queitly maintaining itself and the colony for 20 000 years. What do you do?

• A) I report my findings excitedly to Imperium command, become a legendary hero.
• B) I report my findings and become a legendary hero.
• C) I report my findings, am Sainted and Immortalized. Die rich and fat on your back in a bed. Women/and or men optional.
• D) I report my findings to Segmentum Command. The second golden age of Humanity quickly begins. Xenos, Heretics and Mutants alike are swept aside in waves of unstoppabe righteous crusades, Humanity dominates the galaxy. I sit on the High Council of Terra, and held only just below the God Emperor himself in esteem. An entire galactic segmentum is renamed in your honour, entire worlds are dedicated to your greatest, you are immortalized forever.
• E) Loyal to the God Emperor, like all Humanity should be, I report my findings to Segmentum Command. You become the leader of your Dynasty, and your Dynasty becomes a new and vital Imperial Insitution of the highest esteem and ultimate power, only held in check by the other mighty Imperial agencies. Your Dynasty influence covers the entire galaxy, and eventually beyond.
  

If you have any more questions, please! I'm looking for questions that show some insight into the setting, and might grant a very specific setting response (the gellar and STC question, for example).

After a heroic fight you dispatch the ambushers. They leave besides a satisfying pile of corpses plus a bunch of varied weaponry,armour and cash.

A) Better leave those for the proper authorities to take care of.

B) Phat loot, time to check for an upgrade and who knows it might be enough to pay for the landing fees.

C) Oohhh, I am rich rich

D) You stride along, what use do you have for their puny weaponry that failed to hurt you?

E) You ignore the loot, after all it is just petty cash.

7) An Astropath comes into your chambers sweating and trembling with a ceremonial looking knife burred to the hilt in his abdomen. In a shaky odd voice, he states that he fears that there's "something else in [his] head." You;

• A) Try to comfort the poor man while anouther summons a medic. The man has obviously gone mad and become a danger to himself, is in system-shock, and needs medical help immediately!
• B) Try to comfort the poor man while anouther summons a medic and a priest. The man has obviously been stabbed by some cultist and they might have altered his mind or placed something in him that must be removed through a proper exorcism.
• C) Run away! Run away as hard and as fast as you can as any wise man should do when an Astropath (or anybody) begins talking oddly about things in their head.
• D) Say a prayer to the God Emperor as you administer The Emperor's Mercy to the poor man and hope you can do so before the situation becomes more dire.
• E) Shoot him in the legs and arms while calling for help and a stasis crypt. He will be locked inside the crypt in a warded room until you can assess the situation better and ascertain whether you can get along fine without any communication with the world at large or not. Likewise, he could very well release knowledges to you at a latter point, once properly contained, that could prove valuable if not highly risky. However, if he starts crawling about or anything odd after you disable his limbs, then you'll promptly insert the rest of your ammo into him, reload, and do it again.

8) When delivering The Emperor's Mercy, you should:

• A) Help the recipient into a bed or the most comfortable spot available given what ever situation you find your self in. Then insure that they have plenty of fluids to drink and keep them on a clear liquid diet for the first three days of convalescences before moving them to ticker forms of nourishment. Continue administering His Mercy to the stricken until they are back on their feet and healthy again.
• B) Since recipient is probably done for and will only hold your party back, you should leave him behind. However, you'll show him some mercy and won't take his stuff. You'll also keep the rest of your party from looting him as well and give him enough food and water for a week and make sure he has a weapon to defend him self from scavengers and others who would try to loot him -maybe hell get lucky and pull through.
• C) Sob a prayer to the Emperor to have mercy on the recipient's poor soul as you pull the trigger on your bolter and send an armor piercing explosive round through his skull.
• D) Through a short prayer, commend the recipient for his life well spent in service to He on Terra and inform him that he may rest easy for his duty is finally done. Then you do your duty and put an armour piercing explosive round through his skull.
• E) Mumble a quick prayer to the God Emperor for propriety's sake before quickly putting an armour piercing explosive round through the recipient's skull and taking all his stuff if it's particularly rare or valuable. Likewise, now would be a good time to start formalizing a plan on how to fleece any family and holdings he might have left behind and secure them in your name before some relative can show up and lay claim to them. Also, now would be a good time to go over the dynasty's holdings that the recipient had been heavily involved with and insure that all rights to such holdings clearly belong to the dynasty. If their ownership could in any way be contested by a relative of the recipient, then it's time to prepare the assassins.

Edited to correct wonky answer wording.

Just thougfht of anouther one.

9) The greatest sin one can commit is:

• A) Slavery
• B) Murder
• C) Doubt
• D) Tolerance
• E) Cowardice

I really like this idea.

@ Graver: In Answer C (supposed to be the typical citizen answer) to question 8 you mention a bolter. The Imperial standard citizen would not possess a bolt weapon. I suggest you change that to stub gun or the like. Alternatively, you could also write "Look for some highranking officer to let him do it."

Terelo said:

hey, the OP used a Bolter in answer C to question #4 ;-p I think the common citizen clause is more for reaction then trappings and it's best to keep a theme with the answers least an unimportant change is seen and used for the justification of an answer above the part that matters ;-)

I've used similar surveys in the past. I suggest limiting it to 5 questions. 10-15 will take up time that could be spent playing.

Attila-IV said:

There's no point in playing if the players do not understand what is expected of them. Wiping out a peaceable race of Xeno's is perfectly acceptable, and quite profitable in 40k. Not so in many other settings.

The same applies for shooting cowards. Context is very important.

Those extra questions are very helpful, new angles I hadn't thought of.

here's anouther:

10) The Emperor asks only that you...:

• A) Love
• B) Teach
• C) Serve
• D) Hate
• E) Conquer

Just answer these questions in your own minds and in your own hearts.
Most importantly, answer these questions honestly

1. You're walking along the hive city one dimly lit day with the millions of other peons coming to and from work. As you walk along, you notice that up ahead in the distance is a tiny baby mutant, all 3 of its legs broken and begging for food.

You have... a hammer

2. You're an acolyte in the inquisition, working for the man, but because of the personal choice of being a Scum, you've been forced to live with your grandmother for economic reasons. She's a tattoo artist and on every third week hosts a coven of Slaanesh worshippers in the basement for Fornication Friday celebrations. Its noisy, you can't sleep, aren't invited and she makes rubbish coffee.

You have... a hammer

3. You're a young and upwardly mobile Inquisitor, your most senior and loyal acolyte has just fallen pregnant, worse yet, its probably yours. You think a child at this point could be detrimental to their future career prospects and a cubic tonne of blackmail just waiting to happen for yourself.

You have... a coathanger.

My group had a simple 'heretical leanings evaluation form'. It consisted of a single, multiple choice question.

"Have you, at any point in the last [time frame here] done any of the following? Tick all which apply:

Killed

Maimed

Burned"

One out of three is acceptable behaviour for a servant of the Inquisition. Two out of three is generally commendable, but should not be indulged in two frequently. All three is cause for concern...

Another 'cause i really like writing these...

#) Ignorance is:

• A) An unfortunate condition which must be remedied with knowledge and education where-ever found.
• B) What those backward hill-planet folk live with.
• C) One of the highest virtues one must strive to maintain.
• D) A blessed condition that a few must relinquish to insure that it continues to save the masses.
• E) An exploitable resource.

Graver said:

I really liked that one

I had only thought of making up long-winded questions, however the short questions do have a very.. poetic quality to them.

Thanks for the help! keep them coming if you, going to be putting it together this Saturday.