D&D Questions to Ask Your Players
For Dungeon Masters who want to know what their players are hoping for before the dice come out, and who mean to keep asking once the campaign is running. The 68 questions follow the order a campaign does, in five groups: Session zero, Characters, The party, At the table and Feedback. Every question has a note for the DM on what to listen for in the answer and what to do with it.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Session zero
What kind of game are you hoping this will be: heroic, grim, silly, or somewhere in between?
Why ask it
Collect every answer before you react. If one player says grim and another says silly, you have found the campaign's first problem while it is still cheap to fix, and a pitch that names a show or a book both of them like usually settles it.
How do you want a typical session split between combat, roleplay and exploration?
Why ask it
Ask for rough thirds, or a pie chart drawn on scrap paper. A table that mostly wants to talk will find a three-hour dungeon fight long, so put your prep time into the biggest slice and not into the part you most enjoy building.
Would you rather follow one main story or wander an open world and pick your own trouble?
Why ask it
Plenty of tables land in the middle: a clear goal and freedom in how to reach it. A group that asks for an open world and then waits for you to point the way wants more story than it said, so keep a main thread ready. If everyone says 'main story', you can prepare deeper and stop worrying about the edges of the map.
Is there anything you do not want to see in this game at all, and anything you would rather have happen off screen?
Why ask it
Take the answers without asking for reasons, and offer a private message to anyone who would rather not say it in front of the group. Write the list down and treat it as settled: a limit that has to be defended is a limit people stop mentioning.
How do you feel about your character dying?
Why ask it
Some players want real risk and others have a three-year story in mind. A good answer comes with a condition, such as 'fine if it means something', and you can run with that. If the table splits, say out loud how lethal you plan to be before anyone fills in a sheet.
What has been your favorite moment in any game you have played, tabletop or not?
Why ask it
People describe the thing they want more of: a heist that went wrong, a villain's speech, a lucky roll. A new player can answer from a video game or a movie and it works the same. Note one per player and build a chance at it into the first few sessions.
What made a past campaign fall apart or stop being fun for you?
Why ask it
Scheduling, one player taking over and a story that ignored the characters are the usual answers. Listen for the one that could happen at this table. A player who blames every old group and never themselves is worth watching, kindly, for the first month.
How new are you to this, and how much do you want me to explain as we go?
Why ask it
Veterans and first-timers need different pacing, and few people will say in front of a group that they are lost. Agree on a signal for 'slow down', and seat an experienced player beside a new one so help arrives as a whisper and not as a correction from across the table.
How long do you want this campaign to run: a handful of sessions, a few months, or as long as it lasts?
Why ask it
Length changes what you build. A ten-session story can promise an ending, and a player who is unsure about the hobby will say yes to that more easily than to 'forever'. If the answers differ, pitch a short first arc with a clear finish and put the question again when it is done.
How often can you honestly play, and how long can a session run before you fade?
Why ask it
The word 'honestly' matters. It is easy to promise weekly and manage monthly, so plan around the lowest number anyone gives. A campaign built on three hours every other week tends to outlast one that needs everybody every Sunday.
What should we do when someone cannot make it: play on, run a side story, or cancel?
Why ask it
Settle a number now, for example 'we play if only one person is missing'. Decide too what happens to the absent character, who can stay at camp, be run by a friend or fade into the background. A rule made in advance does not feel personal on the night.
How strict do you want me to be with the rules?
Why ask it
One table wants every rule looked up and the next wants a ruling in ten seconds and a correction next week. Promise one approach and hold to it. The worrying answer is a player who wants strict rules for everyone else's character and loose ones for their own.
Should characters level up at story milestones or by earning experience points?
Why ask it
Milestones keep the party at one level and spare you the arithmetic. Experience points suit a player who likes to watch a number climb, and they tell the table that every fight and clever shortcut counts. Find out how fast people want to advance as well: a newcomer may want several sessions at a level to learn what the character can do.
Are you comfortable with characters keeping secrets from each other, stealing from each other or fighting each other?
Why ask it
Treat these as three separate answers. Plenty of groups enjoy secrets, put up with theft only as a running joke and want no fights between player characters at all. One 'no' is enough to rule a thing out, since whoever is on the receiving end did not sign up for it.
Should romance come up in this story at all, or would you rather it stayed out?
Why ask it
You need one word from each person, and 'out' wins a tie. If the table does want it, agree that such scenes end on a look or a held hand and the story moves on. It spares a player a flirting shopkeeper they never asked for.
Do you like tracking rations, arrows and gold, or should I wave that away?
Why ask it
Bookkeeping is a taste. A survival game needs it and a court intrigue does not, so weigh the answers against the campaign you pitched. If a single player loves it, hand them the party ledger and let the rest forget about it.
What table habits should we agree on tonight: phones, side chatter, snacks, who hosts?
Why ask it
Small things are what a table grumbles about six sessions in. Let the players propose the rules and they will enforce them for you. 'Phones face down during someone else's scene' goes over better coming from a fellow player than from behind the screen.
How do you want to tell me, mid-game, that something is not working for you?
Why ask it
Offer choices: a word, a card tapped on the table, a private message. The signal should need no explanation and should stop the scene without a debate. Use it yourself once, early, so everyone sees that it is ordinary.
What is one thing you want to do in this campaign that you have never done at a table?
Why ask it
Ride a dragon, run a shop, betray a king, play a villain who turns good. These wishes are free plot. Keep the list beside your notes and try to deliver one per player before the campaign's midpoint.
Characters
In two sentences, who is your character and why did they leave home?
Why ask it
Two sentences keep it usable. A player who hands you eight pages still needs the short version, because the short version is what the rest of the table will remember. If no reason for leaving comes, ask what they would go back for.
What is your character trying to get, find or fix, and why can't they do it alone?
Why ask it
The second half is the reason they travel with a party. 'Become powerful' gives you nothing to put on a map, so push for something with a name: a stolen sword, a missing brother, a debt to a guild. That name becomes a destination.
Who from your character's past would they least like to run into?
Why ask it
You have just been handed a recurring character. Ask what this person looks like and what they want, then wait a few sessions before they appear. A rival or an old creditor works better than an outright villain, because the party can disagree about them.
Who does your character love or feel responsible for, and where is that person now?
Why ask it
The player of an orphaned loner will often say 'nobody', which leaves you with no strings to pull. Ask for one living tie anyway: a mentor, a sibling, a dog. Then promise, and mean it, that this tie does not exist only to be kidnapped.
What is your character afraid of?
Why ask it
Steer toward something you can put in a room. 'Failure' is hard to stage, while deep water, fire or being recognized can stand between the character and the door. Bring it in rarely, and let the player decide how their character copes.
Is there a secret your character is keeping, and are you happy for me to bring it out during play?
Why ask it
Get the permission before you plan a single scene around it. Some players want the reveal on their own schedule and some want to be ambushed by it. Find out as well whether the other players may know even if their characters do not, since a table that is in on it will help set the scene.
What mistake is your character still trying to make up for?
Why ask it
Regret gives a character a reason to say yes to dangerous work. If the player has nothing, offer to leave it blank and fill it in during play. A flashback in session eight often beats an answer invented under pressure tonight.
Where did your character learn to do what their class does?
Why ask it
The answer builds your world for you: a temple, a mercenary company, a hedge wizard in a swamp. Follow up with who taught them and whether they parted on good terms, and you have a place the party can visit and a favor somebody can call in.
If your character serves a god, a patron or an oath, what does it ask of them, and what happens when they would rather not?
Why ask it
This is a relationship you will be voicing, so agree on its tone. A patron can be a demanding boss, a distant voice or a bargain the character regrets. Check that the player wants pressure from it at all, since some chose the class for the spells and not the drama.
What is your character bad at, in a way you would enjoy seeing go wrong?
Why ask it
A player who wants to fail now and then is a gift, and this tells you where. A fighter who cannot lie or a wizard who gets lost gives you comic scenes at nobody's expense. No answer at all can mean a character built without gaps and a player who dislikes losing.
What would your character never do, even for the party?
Why ask it
A hard line is a future scene: put the quick solution on the far side of it and watch the table argue. A good answer is specific, such as 'never leave someone behind'. 'Nothing, they do whatever it takes' usually means it has not been thought about yet.
Where does your character call home, and what is going wrong there?
Why ask it
Half the time the player has not decided, and you can offer a spot on your map. Trouble back home is a ready-made adventure for the middle of the campaign, and returning there gives a quiet player a session where they are the guide.
What does your character do with a free evening in town?
Why ask it
Downtime answers tell you which scenes to offer between fights: a card game, a library, a letter home, a forge. It is also about the easiest roleplay prompt there is, so save it for a player who freezes when asked to speak in character.
What does your character carry that matters more than its price?
Why ask it
A locket, a father's shield, a deck of cards with one missing. Objects slip into a scene easily: someone recognizes it, offers to buy it or asks where it came from. Do not steal or break it without checking with the player first.
What part of your backstory would you like left alone?
Why ask it
Players write some things as color and not as an invitation. Asking spares you the session where a lost parent walks back in and the player goes quiet. Respect the answer even when it was your best idea.
How do you picture your character changing by the end of the campaign?
Why ask it
Some players arrive with an arc planned and some are finding out as they go, and both are fine. For a planned one, ask which step you can help with first. A coward who is meant to become brave needs a moment where running is the easy choice.
The party
Which other character did yours know before the story starts, and how?
Why ask it
Have each player name one link, so nobody is a stranger to everyone. Shared history skips the awkward tavern scene where five armed people must decide to trust each other. Let the two players work out the details between themselves and report back.
Why does your character stay with this group when things go badly?
Why ask it
Gold only holds until someone offers more. Look for an answer about a person or a cause, and if a player cannot find one, help them build it now. The character with no reason to stay becomes the one who keeps threatening to walk off.
What does your character think of each of the others after a week on the road?
Why ask it
Run this a few sessions in and not on day one. One sentence per character is plenty. The opinions that are slightly wrong are the best ones, since the wizard who thinks the rogue is shallow gets to be surprised later.
Who in the party would your character trust with their life, and who with their coin purse?
Why ask it
The two lists rarely match, and the table enjoys hearing why. It works as an in-character campfire question. If one character appears on nobody's list, give that player a scene soon where they come through for someone.
What job does your character think they do for the group?
Why ask it
Two players claiming the same job is worth knowing early, since both the healers or both the smooth talkers will compete for the same scenes. Whoever claims 'leader', or pointedly does not, tells you who will decide when a plan stalls.
Is there a party member your character would like to impress, protect or prove wrong?
Why ask it
One of those three verbs usually fits. It gives players a reason to talk to each other and not only to you, which takes work off your side of the screen. Confirm with the other player that being protected or doubted sounds like fun to them.
How will you split treasure, and who breaks the tie when the party cannot agree on a plan?
Why ask it
Let the players settle both before the first hoard turns up. Even shares of coin, with a magic item going to whoever can use it, is a common answer, but it should be theirs and not yours. For plans, a vote with a tiebreaker that passes around the table stops the loudest voice from winning every time.
What should this group be called, and what is the one goal all of you share?
Why ask it
Let them argue about the name, since the argument is the bonding. The shared goal matters more, so write it down in their words. When a session stalls, reading it back to them gets things moving faster than a random encounter does.
What disagreement between your characters would you enjoy playing out?
Why ask it
Friction chosen in advance stays friendly. A paladin and a thief can spar for a whole campaign when both players signed up for it. Find the limit too, so that bickering over loot never turns into two people who are annoyed for real.
At the table
What do the others see when your character walks in?
Why ask it
First sessions tend to open with this, and it is worth repeating when the party dresses for a ball or crawls out of a swamp. Ask for three details and no life story: clothes, a weapon, the way they stand. Appearance is easy to describe in front of new people, so a nervous player gets a first line that cannot be wrong.
Who can tell us where we left off, the way your character would tell it?
Why ask it
A recap from a player shows you what the table remembers, which may not be what you thought mattered. Correct only the facts tonight depends on and leave a character's slanted version alone. If nobody volunteers, pass the job around, and consider a small reward such as inspiration for whoever takes it.
What is your character doing while the others are busy?
Why ask it
Aim it at whoever has not spoken in ten minutes. It asks for an action and not a speech, so a shy player can answer in one line. Then make the answer count: the one sharpening a sword by the window is the one who sees the riders coming.
That hit finishes it. What does the final blow look like?
Why ask it
Handing over the description costs you nothing and gives the player the camera. Keep it for bosses and big moments, or every skirmish slows down. A player who shrugs can pass, and you describe it for them.
What is going through your character's head right now?
Why ask it
Plenty of players find a thought easier to give than a voice, so this gets roleplay from people who will never do an accent. Save it for the beat after a betrayal, a death or a door that should not have opened. Put it to one character at a time and keep it out of combat rounds.
What does your character say, in their own words?
Why ask it
Reach for this when a player announces 'I persuade the guard' and picks up the dice. A single sentence is enough, and it does not need to be clever. Tell new players the roll still decides the outcome, so nobody feels graded on their acting.
Your character has been here before. What do they remember about this place?
Why ask it
You are handing the player a piece of the world to write. Accept nearly anything and build on it: if they say the innkeeper owes them money, he does. Offer it to someone whose backstory has not had a turn lately.
What does your character notice that nobody else would?
Why ask it
Tie it to what the character is: the ranger reads the tracks, the noble spots the forged crest, the cleric feels that the shrine is wrong. It shares the spotlight by expertise, and it lets you hand out a clue without anyone rolling for it.
Around the fire tonight, what does your character talk about?
Why ask it
What you are after is two players talking to each other for five minutes while you say nothing, so hold the wolves back. If they stall when the party makes camp, suggest a topic: home, the last fight, what they will do with their share.
Before you open it: what is your character hoping is inside?
Why ask it
Naming a hope raises the stakes of an ordinary door, chest or letter. Once in a while you can quietly swap what you had planned for the best answer at the table. They will feel clever, and they were.
Does your character believe them?
Why ask it
Slip it in when an important non-player character finishes talking, before anyone reaches for an insight check. It makes the player take a position in character. If the party splits on the answer, stay quiet and let them argue it out.
This cuts against what your character swore never to do. What do they do?
Why ask it
The line has to be one the player drew themselves, and the choice has to be real. Give them time and do not hint at a right answer. Whichever way they go, have the world respond, since a hard choice with no consequence teaches players not to bother.
Who does your character go and check on after a fight like that?
Why ask it
It assumes they care about somebody, which nudges the party toward each other. The answers show you bonds that formed without your planning them. If one character is always checked on last, find out from that player in private whether they feel left out.
A month passes before the next adventure. What has your character been up to?
Why ask it
A time skip is where a player can change something about their character without needing a scene for it. Deal with most answers in a sentence and grow one into a side plot: the one who went looking for an old teacher comes back with a lead.
Feedback
Which moment from tonight will you still be talking about next week?
Why ask it
The answers are often not the scene you spent the week preparing, and that is the information. If three people name the goat you made up on the spot, plan less and improvise more. Ask while people are packing up, before the details fade.
Was there a stretch tonight where you were bored or had nothing to do?
Why ask it
Players will not volunteer this, so ask for the stretch and not for a verdict on the whole session. 'The shopping took a while' is fixable by next week. Thank them and skip the explanation of why it happened, or nobody tells you a second time.
Did your character get enough to do, and whose character deserves a turn next?
Why ask it
Players will speak up for each other far more readily than for themselves, and the second question gives them the opening. Tally how often each name comes up over a few weeks. That tally is a fairer guide to the spotlight than your memory of who talked.
How did the fights feel: too easy, too hard, too long?
Why ask it
Expect to hear about length before difficulty. When rounds drag, the cause is often slow turns and not monster hit points, so ask what would speed things up. If the table says 'too easy', try one hard fight in place of several small ones.
What are you hoping happens next?
Why ask it
This is your prep list, written by the players. They will name what they care about, and it is often not the main plot. Prepare that first. A player who cannot think of anything may have lost track of the story, so open next time with a recap.
Is there a loose thread or a character from earlier that you want to get back to?
Why ask it
Players remember the goblin they spared and forget the prophecy you wrote. Bringing back something they named makes the world feel as if it was listening. Keep a running list, because the answers pile up faster than you can spend them.
Is there something I should do more of, and something I should stop?
Why ask it
One of each keeps it balanced and makes the criticism easy to give. Voices, maps, puzzles and long descriptions land on both sides of the list. When two players want opposite things, say so openly and alternate, because a hidden compromise pleases neither.
Did anything tonight cross a line or sit badly with you?
Why ask it
Send it as a private message the day after a heavy session, not across the table. The answer is usually no, and the asking is what makes a yes possible later. If something did, apologize, update the list from session zero and do not ask them to justify it.
Is anything about your character not working, and do you want to change it?
Why ask it
A subclass that is dull in practice or a personality that has become a chore can sour the whole game for someone. Letting a player rebuild or retire a character costs a little continuity and often keeps them at the table. Offer it before they have to ask.
Is this still the campaign you signed up for?
Why ask it
Worth asking at the end of an arc. Campaigns drift, and a horror game that turned into a comedy may suit the table or may have lost someone along the way. A player who hesitates before answering has earned a one-on-one conversation.
How to use these as a Dungeon Master
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running session zero
Pitch first, then ask
Players answer better when they have something to react to. Give a two-minute pitch (the setting, the tone, how long you expect the campaign to run), then go to the Session zero questions. 'What kind of game do you want?' asked into silence gets shrugs. Asked after 'I was thinking of a pirate campaign with a horror streak', it gets opinions.
Send the heavy ones ahead
The questions about limits, character death and conflict inside the party are easier to answer in writing than in front of four people. Send them a few days early, tell players they can reply privately, and read the group's answers back at the table without attaching names.
Pick eight, not all of them
A session zero that works through every question becomes a survey. Choose the ones this group needs: an old group of friends can skip the table habits and spend the time on tone, while a table of strangers from a game store needs the scheduling and conduct questions most.
Write down what was agreed
Put the answers on one page: tone, the content list, the absence rule, how strict the rules are. Share it where everyone can see it. When a dispute comes up in session nine, the page settles it, and a player who joins later can read it in two minutes.
Turning answers into prep
One card per character
From the Characters questions keep four things for each player: what the character wants, who they care about, who they would hate to meet and what is off limits. That fits on an index card. Glance at the cards when you plan a session and ask which one has gone longest without being touched.
Spend an answer within a few sessions
A hook that waits forty sessions is a hook the player has forgotten writing. Bring in something small from every character early, even a letter or a familiar face in a crowd. It shows the table that answering your questions leads somewhere, and the later answers get better for it.
Tie two characters to one thread
The best use of the party questions is overlap. If one character is hunting a stolen sword and another owes money to a guild, let the guild hold the sword. Two players now care about the same scene, and nobody sits out while another person has their story.
Leave blanks on purpose
Not every player enjoys writing backstory, and a blank is not a failure. Tell them an answer can be supplied mid-campaign, and keep a few of the At the table prompts ready for the moment. A detail invented in play, with the party listening, tends to stick better than one filled in on a form.
Asking during play
Name the character, not the player
'Sera, what is Brannoch doing?' invites a report. 'Brannoch, the others are arguing with the captain. What are you doing?' invites roleplay. Addressing the character by name is the smallest change you can make, and it moves a table toward speaking in character without anyone being told to.
One prompt per scene
These questions slow the game down on purpose, so ration them. One per scene, aimed at one person, is enough. If every door comes with 'what is your character hoping for?', the players will start answering in a flat voice to get on with it.
Aim at the quiet seat
Loud players need no prompting. Keep a rough count of who has had the last few scenes and send the next question to whoever is lowest. Pick a prompt that can be answered with an action, and accept a one-line answer warmly. Pressing a shy player for more teaches them to dread the next question.
Make the answer true
When a player tells you what their character remembers, notices or hopes for, build on it as far as you can. If you asked and then overruled the answer, they learn that the question was decoration. Where an answer breaks the plot, keep part of it: the innkeeper does owe them money, he just cannot pay.
Getting honest feedback
Two questions, every session
Choose one about what worked and one about what the players want next, and ask them as people pack up. It takes three minutes. Because it happens every time, nobody reads it as a sign that something is wrong, and the answers stay small enough to act on by the next game.
Save the bigger ones for the end of an arc
Whether the campaign is still what people signed up for, and whether a character needs reworking, are too large for the doorway. Ask them when a story arc closes, in a group chat or over food before the next arc begins, when there is room to change course.
Do not defend the session
When someone says the dungeon dragged, the useful reply is 'thanks, which part?' and nothing more. Explaining why it had to be that way sounds reasonable to you and sounds like an argument to them. Take the note, decide later whether you agree, and let them see the next session change.
When one player always says it was fine
Some people will not criticize a friend to their face. Try a private message with a narrower question, such as which of two scenes they preferred. A choice between two things is easier to give than an opinion from nothing. If they still say fine, take them at their word and watch what they lean forward for.