My first encounter with the whole "20 Questions" as part of character generation came with 7th Sea. I've used it, or some aspect of it, for nearly every game I've run since. I just find it a cool way to get a better concept of your character – much better than trying to get my players to write a page or more of bad fiction that I'll never read.

So when I started getting the materials together to run a Witch Hunter game, I decided to mess with the formula a bit. I'd read up a bit on Dread's character questionnaires and liked the idea of pushing the players to give their characters dark aspects. I also wanted to condense the questionnaire a bit since a lot of the players are married/with kids and, being in the same situation, I just don't have time to bother with what vintage of wine your character prefers. 13 seemed like a reasonable, ominous number of questions. 7th Sea and Amber Diceless were borrowed from liberally. It went through a few iterations to get to the final version, which I'm pretty happy with. So I thought I'd post it here for other WH GMs to try out on their groups.

There is a gimmick to it. I sent my players the first 12 questions to start with, only revealing the 13th question once I had their first questionnaire back. In about half the instances, it worked as I had hoped. The rest just used it as an opportunity to restate things they had previously covered, which was disappointing. I still like the idea, though. So try it out. Let me know if it works out for you.

Thirteen Questions: A Witch Hunter Character Exercise
1. Describe 3 recurring mannerisms, quirks or distinguishing features your possess. What about you would annoy anyone after awhile?

2. How would your family describe you? One member of your family believes the opposite. Who is he/she and why does he/she feel that way?

3. Who is the most important person in your life?

4. What is your greatest fear? Who would you tell? Who would you never tell? Why?

5. What gives you courage?

6. What are your prejudices?

7. Are you a gentleman/lady or a scoundrel? Do you follow a code of honor? Is your word your bond? Do the ends justify the means?

8. How religious are you? What faith do you ascribe to? What sect of the church do you follow? What is religion and faith to you?

9. What is your opinion of magic?

10. What is your blind spot?

11. Answer any ONE of the following questions:
a) Who is/was your greatest love? Is he/she still in your life? Are you betrothed? Married? How many children do you have?

b) You have some small item you regard as sacred: a piece of clothing, a memento of some event, whatever. What is this item? How did you come by it? Why is it so important to you?

c) Describe your greatest victory? Where did it take place? Who else was involved? What did you achieve? What did it cost you?

12. An elderly family member gave you a piece of advice on his/her deathbed. What was it?

13. Now that you've discovered a bit more about your character, its time to explore his/her dark side. Answer any ONE of the following questions:
a) Describe a time when you crossed the line. What forced your hand? How do you feel about it now? Who else knows about it?

b) Name one place you can never return to? A village or city? A house or building? A country? Why? What other person knows about this?

c) You were defeated and left for dead. By what? Was it a person or creature you were familiar with? If not, describe it. If it wasn’t an agent of the Adversary, who did it serve? How did you survive the encounter?

d) An influential member of your Order doesn’t like or trust you. His/Her reasons may or may not be justified. How did it come to this? What danger does he/she pose to you?

e) Your family harbors a dark secret, one that may have been going on for generations. Perhaps they were involved in a conspiracy against their liege, or were in league with the Adversary itself! When did you discover this secret? As a child or an adult? What was your reaction? What are you willing to do to protect this secret, knowing that it could destroy not only your family but yourself as well?

f) You are plagued by a recurring dream or nightmare. Describe it. Why does it frighten you?

g) You’ve been beaten, bruised, and battered in a recent adventure, not to mention frustrated by a vile ending to the whole affair (a scorched earth situation where you won but your objectives were destroyed). Describe the event? What did you lose?

A great idea!