In the distant, foreign land that is the past, Scrap Princess wrote a list of 20 setting questions.
This is not that list. I like that list a lot but honestly they aren't all questions that I would ask as a player. This list is that - if I'm going to play in your game, I want you to answer these. I did try to channel the aesthetic of that list, though.
Here are the questions:
1) What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?
2) Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?
3) Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the timelost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?
4) If I eat someone's heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?
5) These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?
6) If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?
7) Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all? Actually, how do I win in general?
8) What language stands in for 'Common'? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?
9) How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No not once a day just, like, normally?
10) Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers and shit and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?
Some people have already answered these, incredibly:
And here they are again, because I should probably answer them myself:
1) What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?
I think the class that knows the most made up martial arts and the most martial arts in general has to be the Templar Contemplative, or "paladin monk" if you're crude. It's in the Mountain PHB. The one that knows the most real martial arts (historical european ones, I suppose) would be the FIGHTMASTER.
If you count BATTLEMAGES, I guess they each know a made up one too.
2) Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?
You could definitely argue that (true) Witches (they're in the PHB, I'm not linking it again) have already made deals with devils, or similar beings. If you don't want to be a Witch, you'll have to make one with a Satan in-game. You can find them at any crossroad, but only sometimes.
3) Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the timelost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?
Not particularly but I'd be flattered as long as you're aware that you might die; yes sure if you'd like; the planar stuff is a no-go but elaborate backstories that set you up as a Person of Importance are totally fine.
4) If I eat someone's heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?
If they're magic or you're magic, probably. If they're magic and you're magic, with 100% certainty. Spellcasters eating each others' brains for power is even in the core rules.
5) These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely?
Not if you're the very first round of characters, I've invested too much in my theme and tone to see it spurned like that. And also it would sort of ruin the 'unlocking' aspect of play. If you want to see a class in the game, though, you tell me about it and I'll tell you what you'd have to do to unlock it. I can probably adapt from anything else pretty easily, too.
6) If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?
I do, unless you have a really good idea. Swords are not named by their creators, they tell their creators their names. Unless you're a god or something, then I guess you can name it.
7) Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all? Actually, how do I win in general?
No. You win by resolving the question of why you're all on the Mountain, and why the Sun went out, and why people get horrible visions of great birds on wings of ash and bone issuing forth from its depths and its peak.
8) What language stands in for 'Common'? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?
Trader's Cant, a sort of pidgin tongue that everyone who is anyone knows how to speak. Not great for complex wordplay.
9) How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No not once a day just, like, normally?
If you have an intelligence bonus, you can start out with that. Well, not rocks specifically, they're too stupid. But there's a language for gems and treasure, and one for swords, and one for bugs, and...
If you don't have an intelligence bonus you can probably still learn, but it'd be more of an undertaking.
10) Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers and shit and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?
There are proper Wizards back in the civilized lands, I think, but you can't be one of those, you're too poor and crazy to be one and/or they're too sane and well-compensated to come to the Mountain. Your options are Witches, which are solidly in the "run out of town" category, and BATTLEMAGES, which probably should be run out of town but who's gonna do it, huh?