100 Warm Up Questions

This is, as the title says, a list of 100 warm up questions. I've spoken about how to use warm up questions before, but I wanted to make a more thorough list for people to use. Many of these are ones I've used, others are ones I would like to use. Feel free to try these out, or recommend some you've had good luck with, and let me know on Twitter @rollforkindness!

Character Building questions

These are fun questions to help the students start thinking about their character's personality and history. They're really helpful for building rapport and switching into game mode, especially early in the campaign.

-What was your character's childhood like?
-What is your character's relationships with their parents?
-Who does your character trust?
-How does your character approach a complex problem?
-What does your character do in their free time?
-How did your character come to the adventuring life?
-How does your character plan to retire?
-What is your character's hobby?
-If your character lived in this world, what would they be like?
-What alignment does your character consider themselves to be?

-What is something your character thinks about a lot?
-What is something your character carries around constantly?
-Does your character have a romantic partner? Any exes?
-If your character inherited a massive pile of gold, how would they spend it?
-What sort of pet would your character want to have?
-If your character could open a restaurant, what would it be like?
-If your character could write a book, what would it be about?
-What is your character's dream house like?
-If your character was hosting a dinner party, what would it be like?
-What was your character's last paying job, if any?

-What was your character's home town like?
-When did your character start adventuring?
-Does your character consider themselves a hero?
-Does your character have a rival?
-What is your character's dream vacation?
-What really annoys your character?
-What is your character really passionate about?
-What is your character afraid of?
-Where does your character hang out when not adventuring?
-How does your character dress when invited to a fancy party?

Plot related questions

Plot related questions are questions that provide some foreshadowing to the plot. This is helpful to prompt the students to start thinking about a decision that will arise in the game, and give them some processing time to think about it so they can feel more prepared when the decision arises. I often like to drop these questions before hand, so students can have extra time to think.

-What role would your character take in guarding a caravan?
-How does your character prepare for an ambush?
-If your character was involved with a pro wrestling show, what would they be doing?
-How does your character deal with people who can read thier thoughts?
-How would your character help someone who doesn't understand their language?
-How would your character prepare to explore a cave?
-How would your character go about preparing a legal court case?
-How would your character deal with not having the correct papers to get through a checkpoint?
-What role would your character take on an airship?
-How would your character deal with being falsely accused of a crime?

Funny questions

These are goofy warm up questions, and are helpful as ice breakers or helping build table chemistry, especially once the campaign has been going on for a while and the students are familiar with their characters.

-If your character could create a D&D character, what would it be?
-What would your character as a DM be like?
-What would your character as a player be like?
-What is your character's favorite dessert?
-What was your character's favorite children's book?
-What would your character's favorite TV show be?
-What sort of videogames would your character play?
-What is the most embarassing thing that has happened to your character?
-Has your character ever had a really bad date?
-If your character woke up in jail, why would they be there?

Therapeutically oriented questions

These are questions that may be helpful for a more therapeutic group that help the students reflect on their characters, the group goals, and their own lives. Note that while these questions can be helpful across a variety of groups, you should not be running an explicitly therapeutic group if you are not a licensed therapist.

-What is something you wish you could tell your character?
-What is something your character could teach you?
-How would your character help someone who is struggling with sadness?
-How does your character deal with stress? Is this the same as you?
-What helps your character calm down when they are angry? Does this work for you?
-How does your character show they're anxious? Do you do the same?
-What is something you like about your character that you wish you could embody?
-What does your character do when something isn't going their way? What do you do?
-How does your character calm down when they're feeling overwhelmed? What do you do?
-How does your character deal with conflict and arguments? How do you?

-What is something you could teach your character to help them grow as a person?
-How does your character deal with grief? Is it healthy?
-Does your character have a temper? How do they manage it?
-How does your character deal with feelings of guilt?
-Does your character feel different than other people? Do they feel bad about that?
-How does your character express friendship? How do you?
-How does your character like others to show friendship? Are you the same?
-What motivates your character to do things they don't really feel like doing? What motivates you?
-When your character is struggling with something, do they reach out to others or try to solve it themselves? What do you do?
-Does your character have any advice for someone dealing with anger?

Dungeons & Dragons questions

These are more Dungeons and Dragons oriented questions, which are helpful fairly early in a D&D game to help the kids express their preferences around the game. A lot of these questions can be swapped out for other RPGs as needed.

-What is your favorite monster?
-What is your favorite campaign setting?
-Do you prefer dungeon crawls, open world, or combat heavy campaigns?
-What is your favorite alignment to play?
-What class do you prefer to play?
-Are there any classes do you never want to play?
-What role do you like to play in a party?
-Do you enjoy DMing?
-If you could run any RPG, what would it be?
-If you could play any RPG, what would it be?

-What is your favorite spell?
-Do you prefer puzzles or combat?
-Do you prefer milestone or combat based XP?
-What house rules do you want to add to game?
-Are there other characters you would like to play?
-Is there anything in this campaign setting that you are really interested in?
-Is there anything in this campaign setting that you really don't care for?
-Do you have any dice that you prefer to use?
-What are your thoughts on character death?
-Are there any digital tools or suppliments you want to use?

Ice breaker questions

These are good questions to help the students get to know each other and identify shared interests.

-In character, ask another player a question, and have them respond as their PC
-As your character, describe yourself (the player)
-How long have you been playing RPGs?
-What is something interesting about you?
-What is your favorite dessert?
-Tell me something that you're excited about with playing your character
-What is your favorite videogame?
-What is your favorite movie?
-What RPG would you like to play?
-What is your hobby/talent?

Thanks again for reading, and please let me know if you have any you'd like added to a future list, or if you've had any luck with any of the ones listed here!