The one thing I have to put out there, is that my players are casual and sometimes getting info out of them can be difficult, until their creative motor gets going… I find that either what I posted in the chargen of just two simple plot hooks and one (or more) NPC’s (plus the hinderances and edges of SW) all generate story fairly well.

My questionnaire, I feel, is pretty concise. It gives the and when all filled out usually averages a page to three pages long, depending on player. It does give each player a very good idea of their character and gives me an idea how they are going to handle different things, as well as something they want to see happen to their character.

You mentioned in your reply to the Chargen post that sometimes you felt like you were getting too much information. I’d liken that to the times as a DM that I’ve been sitting there with ten pages of story and we’ve played for four hours and we’re still on page one. Yeah, most of that will never see the light of day… But it’s there. And it will add depth. I’m really excited about getting my players more involved with world creation, an area that I have always guarded very, very jealously. I now realize that the key to a great, long-lived campaign lies in that kind of player involvement.

I like that yours goes a bit deeper than mine, and asks the right questions. Something like this can help a player who doesn’t do a great job at inner visualization.

I am a player friendly DM who loves the character development process, and likes to be there with the player all the way. This is another great tool to help be a “Godfather” to the PC.