I'm preparing once again to run Coda Trek, and so I dug out this questionnaire I wrote up last time I ran the game. It may help your players to flesh out their characters in their minds a little more before actual play begins.
Note: The questionnaire assumes a TNG/DS9/VOY-era campaign with its questions, but I'm sure that excluding or rewordinga few questions would make it perfectly valid for ENT- or TOS-era campaigns.
<ul>
<li>1. What is your character's full, legal name? Nickname(s)? Aliases? Do they like the nicknames/aliases?<p>
<li>2. What species is your character (if they're a halfbreed, what two species)?<p>
<li>3. What is the character's height, weight, eye color, hair color, and skin color? Any other distinguishing features (tatoos, scars, etc.)?<p>
<li>4. What organization(s) does your character work for -- Starfleet, the Federation government, Section 31, the Imperial Klingon Defense Forces (I.K.D.F.), the Romulan Tal Shiar? If the character works for a spacefaring military power, which branch of service (Command, Sciences, etc.) does the character work for?<p>
<li>5. Is the character patterned off of a character(s) from one of the Star Trek movies or TV series? If so, how does the character differ from their inspiration(s)?<p>
<li>6. Where was the character raised (planet, city, type of environment)? Was the character raised by their parents? If not, were they raised among others of their own race(s)?<p>
<li>7. What did the characters' parents (or guardians) do for a living? Did the character have any siblings, and if so, what do they do? Are members of this family still living, and if so, which ones, and where are they now?<p>
<li>8. What is the character's most treasured childhood memory? What is the most disappointing, infuriating, or fearful episode from their childhood?<p>
<li>9. When did the character enter formal training (Starfleet Academy, Vulcan Science Academy, etc.)? How did they do, did they excel, make friends, make enemies, flunk out?<p>
<li>10. Is the character currently working for any (para-)military organization ...
<ul>
<li>10a. If a member of a (para-)military organization, how many tours of duty has the character served (specify length, each tour lasting 3-5 years)? On what planet/station/ship(s)? What noteworthy events happened during each tour? <p>
<li>10b. If not a member of a (para-)military organization, what careers has the character held (for each 2-year period)? Who was the employer? On what
planet/station/ship(s)? What noteworthy events happened during each occupation?
</ul>
<li>How does the character feel about the following groups/concepts ...
<ul>
<li>11. The Federation?<p>
<li>12. Humans?<p>
<li>13. Starfleet?<p>
<li>14. Klingons and the Klingon Empire?<p>
<li>15. Romulans and the Romulan Star Empire?<p>
<li>16. Ferengi and the Ferengi Alliance?<p>
<li>17. Cardassians and the Cardassian Union?<p>
<li>18. Vulcans?<p>
<li>19. Androids and artificial intelligences?<p>
<li>20. The Founders and the Dominion?<p>
<li>21. The Prime Directive?<p>
<li>22. Time travel?<p>
<li>23. Q?<p>
<li>24. The Maquis?<p>
<li>25. Genetic engineering?<p>
<li>26. The Mirror Universe?<p>
<li>27. Their current assignment/posting?<p>
<li>28. Any other races, governments, directives, or technologies?<p>
</ul>
<li>29. What is the character's most treasured personal possession? How did they come to possess it?<p>
<li>30. What is the character's favorite food? Favorite non-alcoholic drink? Favorite alcoholic drink?<p>
<li>31. What is the character's favorite holodeck/holosuite program? Do they play sports like kayaking, mountain climbing, or springball, play through famous novels and books like "The Big Goodbye", practice their phaser marksmanship or bat'leth training, play through "seedier" fantasies like "Vulcan Love Slave II", enter a Las Vegas nightclub circa Earth's 1960s, re-enact famous battles from Earth's history like the Alamo or the battle of Thermopylae, or what?<p>
<li>32. What is the character's current marital status? Are they seeing anyone (else)? What kind of S.O. do they prefer? Are there any children?<p>
<li>33. Does the character have any pets? What species -- Earth cat, Klingon targ, or what? How did they get the pet? What is its name? What did they name their pet? How does it act? Have they ever had any other pet(s), and if so, what kind?<p>
<li>34. What is the character's favorite weapon or combat style (if any)? Sure, compressed phaser rifles are nice, but maybe they prefer hand-to-hand combat (such as a student of Klingon mok'bara), or a melee weapon style (such as Andorian chaka hramdal).<p>
<li>35. What planets has the character visited? Which did they particularly like, and why (name at least three, if applicable)? Which did they particularly dislike, and why? Does the character own any property on any planet? Is it developed to any degree? <p>
<li>36. If the character had to leave their current occupation tomorrow, what would they do for a living instead? Where would they go, and why?<p>
<li>37. Does the character play any games in their spare time, like poker, tongo, 3-d chess, Wadi chula, darts, or what?<p>
<li>38. How does the character dress on their "days off" or when "off duty" (other than visiting the holodeck)? Do they read old Earth classics, study alien philosophy, go to the observation deck with their S.O., volunteer to help orphans, scheme to make money, or what?<p>
<li>39. What is the character's favorite non-weapon piece of equipment for use on "away team" missions? Sure, a lot can be done with a tricorder, but some characters might prefer the thrill of jet boots, the versatility of an engineering kit, or the safety of armor (such as Klingons, Cardassians, and Jem'Hadar wear).<p>
<li>40. What plans does the character have for self-improvement, or, put another way, what are you going to spend Development Picks on to improve this character? More Edges, buy off certain Flaws, add Professional Abilities, etc.?<p>
<li>41. What Flaws might this character develop in the future? How might one Flaw change into another, such as a Rival becoming a full-blown enemy? Might any Flaws get worse, such as an extant Enemy becoming more powerful?<p>
<li>How does the character feel about (or, what could justify) ...
<ul>
<li>42. Lying/Dishonesty (is the character purely honest, mostly forthright, a little shady, or an outrageous liar)?<p>
<li>43. Theft/Embezzlement (is the character a "hands-off" type, or do they pocket small things on occasion, or would they make off with lots of others' stuff if they could)?<p>
<li>44. Bureaucracy and paperwork (does the character love "red tape" and "paper trails", hide behind bureacracy when convenient, or hate and avoid needless paperwork whenever possible)?<p>
<li>45. Collateral damage (deaths of innocents for a "greater good" -- i.e. the Vulcan aphorism "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one")?<p>
<li>46. Sacrifice (willingly giving up one's life for another, or asking for volunteers for an obvious suicide mission)?<p>
<li>47. Treachery and betrayal (would the character betray someone's career, or their life, for noble aims, or even for ignoble ones)?<p>
<li>48. Dogmatic religion (is the character an agnostic or atheist, do they have a curiosity about religions in general, or do they follow a given religion, like the Bajoran faith in the Prophets/wormhole aliens)?<p>
<li>49. Has the character ever faced reprimands or disciplinary action from their employers/(para-)military organization for their behavior? For behavior they did NOT do? If either is true, what punishment did they face? How does the character feel about it?<p>
<li>50. Has the character ever received commendations, medals, awards, or other forms of acknowledgement from their employers/(para-)military organization for outstanding service? How does the character feel about it?
</ul>
</ul>
Part of what the questionnaire tries to establish is, what does the character feel strongly about? Because (to oversimplify), space opera (like Star Trek) = (drama) + (sci fi tropes).