Persona Worksheet
This document is compiled from numerous persona worksheets available on the internet, for the SCA and other recreation/re-enactment groups, from trawling through info resource sites for subjects and questions that it might be interesting or useful to know about your persona's life, and stuff I just made up.
If you have any suggestions for additions, please feel free to add them, or to contact me at redmagpie @ hotmail (dot) com.
Persona Worksheet
1. NAME
What is your name?
How did you get your name? Why were you given that name?
What does it mean?
How would you be addressed by non-family members of equal rank? Higher rank? Lower rank?
2. TIME PERIOD
What year is it?
When were you born?
Are you considered a child, an adult, or elderly?
3. BIRTHPLACE
Where were you born?
Why were you born there?
If you lived there long enough to remember it, what was it like there?
4. STATION IN LIFE
What station or class are you of?
Is this the same as the station or class you were born to?
Is it likely to change in the future?
Are you wealthy, poor?
Is this likely to change?
5. FAMILY
Who is your father?
When was he born?
Where was he born?
Is he still living? If not, when did he die? If he died, how did that affect you?
What was/is his social position? Occupation?
Did your father help raise you?
What did you learn from him as a child?
What is he like?
What is your father's family like?
How did his family help or hinder you in your life?
Who is your mother?
When was she born?
Where was she born?
Is she still living? If not, when did she die? If she died, how did that affect you?
What was/is her social position? Occupation?
Did she raise you?
What did you learn from her as a child?
What is she like?
What is your mother's family like?
How did her family help or hinder you in your life?
What does your father's family think of your mother's family, and vice versa?
Are your parents married?
Is their marriage happy?
What did you learn from their marriage?
Do you have brothers and sisters?
Do you have a favourite, and why?
Do you have any siblings you dislike, and why?
Do you have any half-siblings?
Who are they?
Is there tension between you and them, and why?
Did you know your grandparents, and what were they like?
Is there anyone in your more extended family that is important to you? Why?
Do you have a favourite relative? Who and why?
Whom in your family do you dislike and why?
Are you still in contact with any of your family?
Are you married? To whom? Are you happy in your marriage?
What is the name of your spouse's near relatives?
Is this your first spouse?
If not, did the spouse die, or are you divorced, and what were the circumstances?
Do you have children?
What is the structure of the family/clan/tribe?
How is sex outside of marriage viewed? The offspring of such a relationship?
Are children raised at home or fostered elsewhere?
How many generations of your family are you really aware of?
How important is knowledge of your lineage?
6. CHILDHOOD
What was your daily life like as an infant?
As a child?
What tasks were you set to do?
What kind of toys did you play with?
Where did you get them?
Where did you play?
With whom did you play
With whom do you live?
Who were your neighbours?
At what point did you stop being considered a child?
7. CURRENT LOCALE
What part of the country do you live in?
How did you get here?
What is your first memory of this place?
What is the climate like?
What is the terrain like?
Can you describe life in general in this place?
Who are the people who live in this place?
Who are the people who travel to or through here?
What kinds of structures would you find there?
What kinds of monuments or place-markers?
What kinds of crops are grown?
What is the largest road and where does it go?
Where is the nearest market? What do the things you typically buy there cost?
The nearest church or cathedral?
Nearest waterway? Is it navigable and how?
What is your capital?
How far is it to the capital city? (in units of measure your persona would have used?)
Have you ever been there?
Who is your ruler?
Who rules the local area you live in?
If you were to meet them, how would you behave?
Who rules the neighbouring peoples?
Are you allies or enemies?
8. FLORA AND FAUNA
What trees grow where you live?
What plants grow wild?
Which ones are useful?
Which ones are hazardous?
What wild animals live near you?
What kinds of birds?
What kinds of fish?
Which ones are hunted/fished for food?
How is this done?
What use do you make of these animals beyond food?
What pests do you have to deal with?
9. HOME
Are you from a city, village, manor, or farm?
What kind of building do you live in?
How big is it?
What does it look like outside?
What does it look like inside?
What is your house built of?
How do you keep warm/cool?
Where do you eat, sleep and work?
What part of it do you spend most of your time in?
What is your favourite place in or around your home?
What do you do there?
What is it like at night?
What do you do then?
Where are the places around your home that you would never go to if you could help it?
What does your favourite chair look like?
What do you sleep on?
What do you see when you wake up in the morning?
How do you light your house?
What do you use for storage?
Do you have any pets? Do they have a function in the house?
What domesticated animals live on your property?
Who cares for them?
What function do they serve?
What are they worth at market?
Who owns the house you live in? The land it is on?
10. HOUSEHOLD
Who are the household servants that you see every day?
What do they do?
What do you think of them?
How do they interact with you?
How are they paid?
What social obligations do you have to them?
Are there military retainers to your family?
Who are they?
What do they do?
What do you think of them?
How do they interact with you?
How are they paid?
What obligations do you have to them?
Do you have any religious personnel associated with your family?
Who are they?
What do they do?
What do you think of them?
What are your obligations to them?
11. LIFECYCLE
Where was your mother when she gave birth to you?
Who assisted her?
What was done with you immediately after birth? Over the next 24 hrs? The next week?
What rites of passage have you undergone during your life?
What rites of passage do you have yet to undergo?
If married, how old were you when you married?
How was the marriage arranged? Why?
What bride price or dowry did your marriage entail/do you expect to have provided or receive?
Where was the marriage performed? By whom?
When you die, what will be done with your body?
How will your body be prepared?
Who will prepare your body?
What, if anything, will accompany your body in it’s final disposal?
How will you be mourned and/or memorialized by your family and community? For how long?
How are children viewed in your society?
How are the elderly viewed in your society?
12. DAILY LIFE
What time do you awaken?
Where and how do you prepare for your day?
What household tasks are yours?
What do the other people in your house do?
What do you use to accomplish those tasks?
What household items do you make yourselves? What do you buy?
What are these items made from?
Where do you get the raw materials?
How do you tell time? What sorts of time are you measuring?
Where do you get water for your household?
How do you light the fire?
13. PERSONALITY
What kind of person are you generally? How do you see yourself?
How do others see you?
What particular skills do you have that aren’t necessarily related to your occupation?
What is the one thing about your life you love the most?
What is the one thing you most dislike?
What is your fondest memory?
What do you wish you could forget?
How do you deal with conflict within your family? Your community?
Do you question authority figures around you? How do you do this?
Do you hold authority over anyone? Who? Why? How do you wield this authority?
Who do you consider the wisest person you know? Why? Do you try to emulate them?
14. OCCUPATION
What do you do?
Where does your money come from?
How much wealth have you got?
What do you do with it?
Do you have a job outside your household duties?
What are your daily responsibilities in this occupation?
Do these activities vary seasonally, and if so, why?
How do you get paid?
What is the basic unit of money?
What tools do you use in your daily work?
Where do these tools come from?
What raw materials does your trade require, and where do they come from?
Do you sell what you produce, and if so to whom and for what value?
If you are a member of the landed aristocracy, then how do you manage your property?
Your household?
Your family interests?
Are you satisfied with your current place in your society? Why?
If you wanted to change it, how would you do so?
15. CLOTHING
What do you wear?
How do you obtain or make your clothing?
What is your clothing made of? What does the cloth look like?
How is it embellished?
Do you have different kinds of clothing (everyday vs. special occasions)?
What are the differences between what you wear in warm weather and in cold weather?
Do you wear underwear? What kind?
How do you care for your clothes?
Do you have many clothes?
What jewellery/accessories do you wear, and what are they made from?
What kind of shoes do you wear?
What do you wear on your head?
How do you carry small personal objects around? How do you carry large things?
16. FOOD
What meals do you eat? When?
What is your typical daily menu?
Does your menu change during the year?
How & where do you get what you eat?
How is your food cooked & preserved?
How is it served?
What spices do you use? Are they imported? Are they expensive?
What do you drink from?
What do you eat off of?
What utensils do you use?
Are there special foods at various times of year?
Why are they special, and why are they served at that time?
What are the rules of proper etiquette at the table?
What special dietary restrictions or requirements do you have?
17. LEISURE
What do you do for fun?
What entertainment is available to you?
Do you provide entertainment for others? How?
What kind of music is common in your culture?
What stories do your people tell? To whom do the stories belong? Who can tell them?
What kinds of ‘table’ games do your people play?
What kinds of physical games do your people play?
Who plays them?
18. EDUCATION
How were you educated?
What language(s) can you speak?
Can you read or write?
Did you go to school?
What did you study?
How did you learn to do your work?
Who taught you?
19. HYGIENE AND GROOMING
How do you keep clean?
How often do you bathe?
How do you clean your teeth?
Where do you "go to the bathroom"?
How is waste disposed of?
How do you wear your hair?
What daily grooming habits do you practice?
What frequent but not daily ones?
Which ones rarely (for special occasions, or once-in-a-lifetime)?
What do your grooming and hygiene implements look like?
20. RELIGION
What is your religion?
What are your daily religious practices?
Which are frequent, but not daily?
Which are rare or once-in-a-lifetime?
Why do you practice this religion?
Is it important in your life?
What objects do you have in your house that are connected to your religious beliefs?
Does everyone around you practice the same religion?
How does that affect you?
What church/religious space is closest to your house?
Who is your religious leader/advisor?
Who is the head of your religion, if any?
21. SPIRITUAL BELIEFS
What superstitions and beliefs about the occult or otherworld do you have?
What behaviours and customs do you practice as a result of these beliefs?
What superstitions do you have and why?
What behaviours and customs do you practice as a result of these fears?
22. FESTIVALS
What celebrations and festivals are observed?
When do these occur, and what do they celebrate?
Where do they occur, and do you have to travel to attend or are they held nearby?
How do you prepare for these festivals?
What do you do at or for these festivals?
23. TRAVEL
Have you travelled? Where?
What were the circumstances?
How did you prepare for the journey?
How did you travel?
What did you see on the way? When you got there?
Where did you stay while travelling? When you got there?
What did you eat on the journey? When you got there?
What stories can you tell about your travels when you get back home?
How will the folks back home receive these stories?
24. ILLNESS AND INJURY
What kind of medical care is available to you?
For injuries?
Illnesses?
Who provides your medical care?
Do you supply medical care for others?
What happens to people with handicaps?
25. MEMORABLE EVENTS
Have any events made a profound difference in your life?
Have you witnessed or taken part in any important events?
Who are the most famous people of your day and age?
What is the most distant land you know of?
Who are the heroes (contemporary, historical, or legendary) of your people?
26. LAW
What kind of legal system do you live in?
Who makes the laws?
What happens to those who break them?
How does this affect you?
What obligations are owed to you by those in authority?
What does your society believe is the basis of their authority?
Do you support those who rule you? Or are you in rebellion against them?
27. WAR
How have you been affected by warfare?
Do you fight? Under what circumstances?
What armour and weapons do your people use? Do you personally use?
How do people of your time & place get weapons and armour?
What kind of military service does your region require, and to whom?
28. HERALDRY
What is the heraldry of your ruler? Your local lord?
Do you have heraldry? What is it?
Why is that your heraldry?
Do you have a motto?
29. WOMEN
What is the status of women among your people?
Can they own land or property?
What trades can they enter?
30. SLAVERY
Are there slaves in your culture?
Where do they come from?
How are they treated?
Can they be freed? How?
What do they do?
Do you own any? Does your household?
31. HOSPITALITY
What obligations do you have to a guest in your house?
What obligations do you have as a guest in another’s house?
Does this change depending on which of you is higher in rank? How?
What obligations do you have to itinerate travellers?
What gift-giving customs does your culture practice? What sort of gifts? To whom?
What feasting traditions are practiced? Who holds feast? Who attends them?
To whom would you offer patronage? Or be offered patronage by?
32. CHARITY
Do you give charity?
Why?
What do you give?
To whom?
33. WORLDVIEW
How does your society view:
Dreams
Magic
Love
Allegiance to authority
The Body
The Self (non-physical)
The surrounding landscape
The stars
What virtues are valued? Why?
What faults are reviled? Why?
34. PERSONAL MORAL CODE
Do you follow an external moral code, religious or social?
Do you have a personal moral code? What is it?
Does it agree or go in opposition that of the society around you?
How rigidly do you adhere to your moral code?