Hello elegan/tg/entlemen
What kind of question should I ask a new player wanting to play at my table?
How can I be sure to filter That Guys and other unpleasant individuals?
Disclaimers
> face to face ttrpg, not on the net
> playing more sessions, not a one-shot
>Are you going to inject your modern-day politics into the game?
Yes! Yes I am!
>no politics
>no evil characters
>no CN characters
>no ERP
>no munchkinism
did I miss anything?
If you have enough time, have him bring his character and run him through a short adventure. Doesn't need to be more than a couple hours, but it'll give you a damn solid idea of how he plays and what his character is capable of.
Barring that, I'd just do a handful of theoretical situation "What would you do"s, and some general "how do you deal with in-party conflict" questions.
> Can you do three consecutive push-ups?
Job? Education? In relationship? Allergies?
Each of those decrease the chance player will be able to show up for a session regularly.
Ironic as it may be, the less somebody succeeds as a person the better they potentially are as a player.
Bonus question: What's worse than racism?
>questions
>no politics
To what extent? What if I want to play a character who thinks feudalism is bullshit and has a disdain for nobility?
While this is actually a good question to ask, is this kind of behavior that widespread, or is it just a Veeky Forums legend? Or is it just an american sjw thing?
I play in Italy, and I have yet to see one single player in a fantasy setting act like he wants to throw down monarchy to instate a minority friendly democracy.
"What's your fetish?"
If they actually answer you they're not worthy.
Stop being a smartass, you know damn well what it's about.
I dunno, there are plenty of people I can quite openly discuss fetishes with, even though I don't know them very well. That is, of course, restricted to the more normal fetishes, but the point still stands.
>there are plenty of people
Are these people you know well? Because OP's premises is that this is an initial interview. If someone is that eager to discuss their fetish with a complete stranger in an interview situation you're damn sure it's gonna be in their character.
>being honest is bad
>being honest means they must insert it into the game
What are you on about?
Telling it doesn't mean *discussing* it and going into detail. You're getting a bit weird about it dude.
"Please describe your fursona's genitals."
If they do it, boot them immediately. If they get disgusted and cut off all contact, they're good to game with.
Ok, what if we want a way to keep the good players?
Male Applicant:
> How tight is your bunghole?
Female Applicant:
> Boxers or briefs?
If they can give a witty retort or a pithy comment, they're in!
>Can you do three consecutive push-ups?
It's crazy to think that there are people on this board who can't do 30 consecutive pushups.
>Explain difference between Foreign Key and Primary Key.
I ask that every interview, I'm not making exception here.
Those were random people at a campfire, at some point late at night at a larp. Conversation went there at some point, and we could have a normal, open talk about it.
The thing is, not everyone is equally open about their sexual preferences. If someone is all too eager to describe their passion for whatever in graphic detail, by all means kick them from your group. If someone can give you a plain, open answer without making it weird, I think it's wrong to judge them for it. After all, you asked.
Don't mistake how much 30 push-ups is to people who don't exercise their arms. Back when I wasn't fat and still tennissed regularly, I still couldn't get much past 20.
Hey man, the surgery really fucked me up. No need to make fun of me for it
OP here guys, imagine me meeting the new guy at a pub and taking a drink with him/her, having a relaxed chat to mainly see if we don't have any reason to get at eachother throat by just that.
Given that he/she seems a nice person and not a smelly neckbeard with a stutter or an oiled landwhale in a corset trying to destroy the patriarchy, I need questions that:
>potentially raise red flags like the red army is back
This we are covering right now, but we could use less blunt questions than "what's your fetish" or "describe your fursona sexual preferences". I don't want to scare them away, I want to get them relaxed and willing to open up sincerely.
>potentially highlight carachteristics that make them This Guy
This is trickier but I have faith that not everyone you played with was a complete shitlord. How can I build questions to make these kind of stuff emerge?
Just chat with them and see if they're cool. You can boot them later if it doesn't work out. Questionnaires might be a good idea on Roll20 because they filter out the large amount of low-effort noise, but this person is already agreeing to hang out with you. Just see if you like them.
How about this, ask yourself a question afterwards: did you enjoy your date? If so, they're probably all right.
Do you trade pull-ups 1:2 and squats 2:1 for the quota?
>What's worse than racism?
The genocide of White people. The destruction of our countries in the name of multiculturalism. Forced equality.
Well it is a fact that Drumpf is literally Hitler 2.0 and I must let everyone know that I hate him and everyone that supports him
The expected answer is gypsies, but this will do.
This is so very wrong. Healthy, successful people are perfectly capable of balancing work and leisure. There are millions of people--family men, business owners, working mothers--who make time for their bowling team every week, or their book club, or squash lessons or any other number of non-essential activities.
Being successful doesn't make you a flake, being a flake makes you a flake.
You've got it backwards.
Somebody having a job, education, etc increases the chance they'll stick around.
See, if they already have an [obligation], then they can't ruin their schedule by picking one up. They're already working around it, so they know they can commit.
What you should be denying people for is if they're looking for a job or about to start school or etc etc.
Have you ever been in an RPG before?
If yes - What's one of your favorite things that happened in game?
If no - What are you most interested in/looking forward to as part of the game?
Why yes Friend Computer, I have! It made me very happy! I'm happy to be here talking about it while being cleared to talk about it to these people who are cleared to hear about it! Happy!
My favorite thing was how happy catching the GM being a dirty commie mutant traitor made me! Doing every citizen's duty mades me happy! Seeing a commie mutant traitor go to his just fate made me happy! I sure hate those commies, Friend Computer!
You should ask them their favorite genre of film, literature, etc. It will give you some workable insight into what they might want out of the game's story.
This has probably already been said or is so very obvious that we all overlooked it but make sure to talk about scheduling with them. My group is currently being a bit stressed by the issue of 2/5 of our people getting new jobs and not yet having enough clout to change their times.
Filtering unpleasant individuals is going to be more on you. I someone meets with you and can't at least seem sociable for 5-10 minutes it is unlikely they will do well for a whole session.
Good luck user. Report back if you can.
...
>the holocaust
>Implying it happened at all
What would you say is your character's greatest weakness?
Hey man, that Shia shit was funny as fuck
Also liking traps makes you gay if you're seeking out traps to look at
das riiiiiiite
How many monsters have you killed?
How many people?
Why?
>The left is loving and accepting of all people
>unless you disagree with us, then you should die
Not even a trump supporter, but you are part of the problem as much as the fanatical "build the wall" types.
BEEG AMEYERICAN TEE TEES
>Have you ever been in a Turkish prison
Bamp
>do you like movies about gladiators?
>he doesn't come from a country where military conscription is mandatory and you have to do 100 push-ups every morning while in service
WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU FROM?
>Job
Depends if they have the same schedule every week. If so, not too difficult to plan around.
>Education
Classes are always the same times, and as long as they're capable of planning there's usually no issue with projects or studying
>relationship
A big one, but most girlfriends are willing to give up one night a week if she's reasonable
>allergies
Maybe pet allergies or if you make shellfish with peanuts. Otherwise as long as they let you know most allergies are easy as hell to work around. Of course, these things can be problems, but they can also be worked around fairly easily.
I would just ask whatever questions needed to find out if they're going to play one of those gay characters.
If they're a dragonborn, tiefling, half orc, etc and if they're going to have some min maxed uber character they stole from online.
take your pick
This is why /pol/ is a fucking containment board
Honestly, if they can't answer that, they have no business near a computer.