Character Creation Questions

Jozef Frajkor
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This work is based on Ironsworn (found at www.ironswornrpg.com), created

by Shawn Tomkin, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license
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What ist this tool and how to use it

You hold in your hands a humble tool that will hopefully help you
establish better relationships between characters or beetween characters and
NPCs in your Ironsworn game. It is a series of questions you ask other players
or yourself either at the beginning of the game or whenever appropriate.

It works like this: after the character creation, before you start rolling,
ask other characters one of the following questions (in character). Choose from
general questions, or pick from ones relevant to your asset. You can ask one or
two of them, or you can ask everyone a question.They give you a short answer
as they see fit.

Please bear in mind that the answer should be considerate to other

players, and they can refuse your answer if it would show their character in a
bad light, or they are just for whatever reason uncomfortable with the offered
answer.

The point of these questions is to build quirks and relationships between

characters even before play, not to change someone else’s character or the
way they intend to play it.

You can choose from general questions, or you can have a look at
questions under the assets you have chosen. If you come up with a question of
your own, feel free to use that one - this list meant to spark your imagination
and bring ideas, not to be followed to the letter.

This short exercise is supposed to bring fun and flesh out your characters
and their relationships before the actual play. Are we friends from childhood?
Maybe you once saved my life? Maybe you see something I don’t – people are
afraid of my mystic powers, perhaps?

If it for some reason doesn’t work for you, just skip it.

Note: Companion and Ritual assets are lumped together with a few
questions common for all of them. The reason is that while mechanically
different, they are very similar in regard to questions we would like to ask.
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General Questions

 What have I done to earn your trust?

 Why are you helping me with my background vow?
 What do I find irritable about you?
 What have you taught me?
 How did I help you when you needed it?
 How did we end up on the same starship?
 What was the best time we spent together?
 When did I disappoint you?
 What was the hard truth I showed you?
 How do you always make me laugh?
 How did we become friends?
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Companions

 Why does my companion like you?

 Why does my companion make you uneasy?
 How do you perceive my relationship with my companion?
 Does my Companion irritate you sometimes? If so, why?

Rituals

 Where you come from, is my power seen as something

unclean?
 Why does my mystic power make you uneasy?
 How do other people perceive my magic? Do I try to hide
it?
 Do you respect me for my skill, or do you think it can one
day become a liability?
 Do you envy those who weild magic?
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Paths
Alchemist
 Have I ever helped you before with my craft?

Animal kin
 Do you think I like animals more than I like people?

Banner-Sworn
 Do you think I serve the right leader? Are they worthy of
my loyalty?

Battle-Scarred
 Do you think the cause of my injury was worth me paying
the price?

Blade-Bound
 Does my blade make you uneasy?

Bonded
 What makes me good with people? Why do people trust
me?

Dancer
 Do you think dancing is too much of a frivolity in cold and
unforgiving Ironlands?

Devotant
 What are your true feelings about my religion?
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Empowered
 Do you think I sometimes misuse my title/lineage?

Fortune Hunter
 Do you think I swear vows just for the money?

Herbalist
 What do you think drives me to help people?

Honorbound
 Why is my honor so important to me?

Improviser
 Does my going with the guts make you reckless in your
eyes?

Infiltrator
 Do you think my ways are dishonorable?

Loyalist
 Did I ever save your life?

Masked
 Do you think my time spent with the elves changed me, or
made me more alien to you?

Oathbraker
 Do you despise me for breaking my oath, or do you think
I’ve had no choice?
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Outcast
 Are you familiar with my history and the reason I was cast
out? If so, do you think I did the right thing?

Pretender
 Am I hiding my true identity from you? If so, are you
aware of it?

Revenant
 Does my apparent coming from the dead scare you?

Rider
 Do you think I prefer the company of my horse to that of
other people?

Ritualist
 Do you fear I rely too much on my mystic skills?

Shadow-kin
 Do you believe there is any redemption for me?

Sighted
 Do you think I am perhaps too concerned about the
invisible mystical forces and sometimes underestimate the
mundane threats and simple pleasures of life?

Slayer
 What do you think is the reason for me to slay beasts? Am
I trying to help fellow Ironlanders? Is it just a sport? Or is
there something else entirely?
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Spirit-bound
 Are you aware of the spirit haunting me? If so, do you
know who it was? Do you think I could have done more to
save them?

Storyweaver
 Am I the kind of storyteller who sometimes invents their
own stories? Or do I always do my best to tell the true
accounts of history?

Trickster
 Do you think I lack honor?

Veteran
 While in combat, do you rely on my experience, or are you
tempted to show off just to make it apparent to an old
man that there are other ways of doing things?

Waterborn
 Do you think I feel better on a boat or in the water than
on solid ground?

Wayfinder
 What do you think is more important for me - arriving at
the destination, or the journey itself?

Weaponmaster
 Do I treat weapons like people?
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Wildblood
 Do you see me as some kind of a savage, a wildling, or an
uncivilised haggart?

Wright
 Am I a warrior who picked up a craft, or rather a
craftsman who was forced on a warrior’s path?

Combat Talents
Archer
 Where you come from, is killing a foe from a distance less
honorable than face to face?

Berserker
 Are you comfortable fighting by my side, or are you afraid
I might lose myself in my rage?

Brawler
 What do you think is the reason for me training unarmed
combat? Is it some kind of pacifism, unwillingness to harm
others? Is it so I cannot be caught unawares? Or is it just
to show off?

Cutthroat
 Do you think my ways are justified by our goals?

Duelist
 What do you think is the reason I am willing to draw a
circle - is it for honor? Or is it more for proving I am the
best? Or is there any other reason?
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Fletcher
 Do I take pride in my craft, or is it just something
necessary to fight better?

Ironclad
 What is the history behind my armor?

Long-arm
 Where does my favoritism of this common peasant’s
weapon come from?

Shield-bearer
 Is there a special social role in my bearing this shield, or
am I just a person that happens to sport a piece of wood
or iron for defensive purposes?

Skirmisher
 Where did I become acquainted with hit - and - run
tactics?

Slinger
 If I have a chance to strike first, what kind of foe do I go
after? The biggest one? The possibly most dangerous one?
Or the weakest, to take them out before the fight even
begins?

Sunderer
 Do you think I take pleasure in violence, or is it just a
means to reach a goal?
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Swordmaster
 Since swords are not exactly common, how did I get one?
Is it an heirloom? Is it a prize won by defeating a mighty
foe? Or was it some other way entirely?

Thunder-bringer
 Do you think I sometimes misuse my strength and use it
to gain advantage over smaller and weaker?