“Random NPC Generator” is, as its name suggests, a generator of random NPCs!
GMs, since time immemorial, have had to create characters to populate their game-worlds, often on the spur-of-the-moment. Some take easier to this task than others. I am one of the ones who does not take to it well at all. So to help my gaming, and hopefully other peoples’ as well, I wrote “Random NPC Generator”
An NPC
Now, at the click of a button, you can produce a Character, complete with Name, and a set of Traits, that can easily be used in your Fantasy Role-Playing Games!
If you don’t like any of the values, you can simply click to produce a different one!
Each Trait has many options available, and with literally Billions of combinations possible, you’ll never see the same NPC twice!
And all this available for free, to download to your Android phone!
Never be without an idea for an NPC again!
But wait, there’s more!
A Villain!
For the low, low price of just 99 of your English Pennies, you can upgrade to the PRO version!
The first added feature is Villains! Need an antagonist for your players to defeat? No problem! You can create Evil-named Villains, with Schemes, methods and Weaknesses, along with a location for their Lair!
Also included, as seen in these screenshots, is the ability to export your data! PRO version allows you to save both an image of your results, and also a text file, for easy reference later.
Just one more thing …
The other Feature that PRO brings is the chance to add your own data to the Trait tables! If there is some option that you would like to see, you can simply add it in!
So, if you struggle to know what people inhabit your World, download Random NPC Generator, and never be caught out again!
Well, the one Lucretia has been asked to run is. “Bean” gaming cafe is opening soon, and have been looking for people to run some intro games. Lucretia stepped up to the plate, and we have been discussing what to run.
Oops, wrong picture! 😉
With a proposed player-base of six 10-13yr olds, and a 1-hour time slot, I suggested to keep everything as simple as possible, and concentrate on the players’ enjoyment.
So, here is what I came up with:
System
Some dice!
Opposed rolls.
The player must beat the GMs roll. The Warrior might have a Strength of d8, and the GM rules that Moving the Fallen Tree is a d10 task (It is a BIG tree!).
Player wins: Task Completed!
Tie = Player Wins.
GM Wins: Task eventually completed, but at some cost.
Costs can be ad-libed, to suit the situation, but can include:
Lose a Health Token.
Add a Minion Token to the Final Battle, or other Encounter (to represent the task taking longer, and the Big Bad having recruited more minions).
Use a Special Token (e.g. a Mage “Spell” Token, or Elf “Nature” Token)
Add an extra Encounter.
Overall, the players WILL succeed, but they will be somehow hindered later (less Tokens to use, more Enemies to face, etc)
Characters
A set of pre-generated Archetypes. The Elf, The Mage, The Warrior, etc.
Each will have an Index Card with their abilities on it, and a space to put some Tokens (more on these later).
Abilities:
All are d6 unless noted.
Strong: Warrior has d8, Mage has d4.
Quick: Rogue has d8, Dwarf has d4.
Clever: Mage has d8
Fighting will usually be a Strong contest, but a player may come up with a way of using Quick or Clever. Losing a Fight roll means losing a Red Health Token (Minions only have 1). Especially with younger kids, fighting should never be “to the death”. Minions are knocked out (complete with stars spinning round their head), run away, or surrender.
Plot
Twirly McMustache. (Note: Evil)
The base plot-line for such a short Adventure is: Follow the clues to find and defeat the Evil “Twirly McMustache”!
The players will need a plot-hook to get them into the action. Some ideas to get kids involved:
Your dumb sibling has been kidnapped
Your Teacher has given you some Homework, but Twirly has run off with the answer sheet!
Twirly has stolen your pet’s favourite toy!
You get the idea.
Players must follow clues, overcome challenges and face T. McMustache in a Boss Fight.
Challenges/Encounters
Suggested Encounters:
Nature Challenge: A large tree blocks the path. A river or chasm must be crossed. A cliff to climb. A Twisty Forest where you might get lost.
Minions: Usually a Combat Encounter.
Puzzles: Keep to a minimum, due to time-pressures.
Cryptic Old Man: Always an annoyance! He talks in riddles, but does hold useful clues.
Boss Fight
Eventually, the Players will face the Big Boss. he will have a number of Minions, possibly boosted by previous Failed rolls.
At the start of the Encounter, Minion Tokens can be Doubled-Up to create Big Minions, that use d8 instead of d6! (They could be Ogres instead of Goblins). When these Minions lose a Fight, they lose one Token, and revert to a d6.
This should be played up for excitement. Will they defeat him? Will they be in time? Can they come up with clever, fun, interesting ideas?
There will be a load of Minions, who can get in the way, hinder the Boss as well as the PCs, and generally be used for humour value, as well as ensuring pacing (if the players are having it too easy, Minions help the Boss. If the players are struggling, have them comically hinder the Boss, allowing the Players to pull off some cool moves!).
Assuming the players Win (which they should!), give them a big cheer, a bag of sweets, and send them off with stories to tell their friends!
Also, show them the D&D 5th Edition PHB, and wonder if the more advanced players might be interested in the “real”, more complex rules.
Back to the System
I talked about a few Statistics, that can be used for Opposed Rolls.
“Health” is measured in red Tokens, Each player has 3 (Mage has 2, Dwarf has 4). When you lose a Fight Roll, you lose a Token. If you run out of Tokens, you are DOWN AND OUT (for now …)
I also envisage each Character having some Unique Powers, that they can spend their 4 Special Tokens on:
Elf: Green “Nature” Tokens. Powers: Entangle, Talk To Trees, Pass Without Trace.
Dwarf: Brown “Mountain” Tokens. Powers: Soak Damage, Dwarf Bread, Talk To Rocks.
There is a lot of talk about running games “RAW” (Rules-as-Written), and while there is certainly a time and place for such things (the D&D Adventurers’ League, for example), there is also a time and place for taking a big red pen to the rulebook, and writing your own replacements.
For public clubs, where players may drop in and out, and there are people with varying experiences of games, it can be a good idea to be able to say “I’m running D&D 3.5”, or “Who’s up for some Shadowrun?” and people will know what to expect. But even then, there may be discussion over which supplements are being used, what extra publications are allowed, etc. Not all GMs are fully up to date with every expansion, and even if they are, they may not agree to use them (our club was split over the “Chrome Books” for Cyberpunk 2020. Some people loved the extra equipment, others saw it as rapidly-increasing power-creep).
Some campaigns call for limiting the beginning choices players have over what characters to play (our current game has everyone all be in the same Street gang, which is their Character Class). An early WHFRP scenario didn’t exactly outlaw Dwarves, but made it quite clear that they would not be very welcome!
From minor adjustments through to writing your own complete systems, there is a whole spectrum of house-rules/homebrew.
Why We ‘Brew
Rip Up The Rules
Sometimes, a rule-set is almost right, but doesn’t quite capture the flavour of the intended setting. One of our group used to use RoleMaster to run a game set in Middle Earth. Removing any Elemental spells seemed to work for the subtle magics that Tolkien seemed to favour.
Other times, a particular rule doesn’t gel with a particular group. Some people don’t like the fragility of 1st level D&D characters, and rule “Everyone gets Max HP at 1st level”, or replace the usual dice rolls for stats with one that gives a higher average (4d6, drop lowest, 2d6+6, roll 3 sets and choose, and many, many more!).
A player might pitch a character concept that the rules don’t currently cater for, and the Group can work to find a way of building some rules that can fit it into the game.
Oft times, the GM just doesn’t like some section of the rules, and replaces them with their own “better” version. One area that seems very prevalent is Order of Combat Actions (“Initiative”). Do you roll every turn? Do you roll at all, or does the PC with the highest DEX/AGY/SPD always go first? Do you go round the table, with no regard for Character abilities? Some tables prefer different ways of doing this, for “accuracy”, balance, ease of play, and other reasons. In some games, getting the 1st go is very important, others less so, so it can make a difference what style of game you want.
To try to avoid a classic situation of low level PCs specialising to a degree that they can out-do any NPC in their area, I ruled in our latest game that PCs could only start with Rank 3 in each skill (out of 5 Ranks), and only progress at 1 Rank per Level. While this has still allowed them to reach the heights, it has forced them to consider a longer term view, as they can’t suddenly buy 3 Ranks in a skill if they find it useful. I have seen games where the reverse is done, where PCs may not have more Ranks than their level, they may buy from Rank 0 to Rank 5 all at once, if they have the XP.
The Undiscovered Country
Unexplored areas: Not the unmapped Dungeons, or uncharted star-systems that the Players will venture forth into, but rule concepts that the Designer did not include. How long will it take our party to build a trebuchet? Can we utilise our Media Contacts to set up a propaganda campaign? Some of this is termed “Rulings” rather than “Rules”, but if it becomes a repeated action, it can become worth formalising a system for it.
A lot of games include what has been termed the “Rule Zero” section, essentially letting the reader know that the Rules are merely Guidelines, and should be altered to fit your own way of playing. This became epitomised in our early games, where the most-quoted section of the rulebook was the section saying “Do Not Quote The Rulebook”!
How to Brew
There are several factors to take into consideration when introducing House Rules. The first, and possibly most important is the very fact that you are departing from RAW. Once the precedent has been set that Rules are merely Guidelines, expect to face a tirade of players demanding that the “obviously unbalanced and unfair” sections of the rules that apply to their character should be changed to something “much more realistic and appropriate” (transl.: Moar Powah!).
This leads to the next consideration: Balance.
Usually, Games Designers have put a fair amount of work into their Systems, and tried to make sure that no single class out-shines any other (unless that is a conceit of the setting. See: Linear Fighter, Quadratic Wizard). Changing around even seemingly-innocuous rules can have unforeseen consequences on this delicate balance.
Effort/Reward: Is it worth the hassle of poring over rule changes, judging how it will affect the game, who will benefit and who will lose out, when you could just say “No”? Some players are very good at skimming over things, with a “Whatever. Lets get to the good bit!” attitude, where others find their enjoyment reduced by apparent lack of verisimilitude.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
One of the long-lasting house-rules we use is the Good/Bad/Ugly Contacts for Character Creation. Everyone notes 3 people that their PC knows. One is a “Good” Contact, generally friendly and amenable. Another is “Bad”. Hostile. A rival or enemy. The third is “Ugly”. Complicated. Not reliable. This seems to work in pretty much any game we run, to help keep the players, and their PCs, attached to the World.
My Table:
My Rules!
At our Game, we have a long-term group of players, and tend to play ongoing campaigns. The latest has just hit the 52-session mark (just over a year of Weekly play, with a few gaps).
Fates Worse Than Death
As mentioned, I put a few restriction in place at character creation (All the same Gang/Class, no Skills over Rank 3), and the stipulation that all PCs should be “rays of light in the darkness”, and at least try to get along together (D&D translation: Good alignment). Being a gutterpunk/cyberpunk game, they WILL be using underhanded tactics, and they are part of a particularly nasty Street Gang who use their Blood-based Psionics to leverage power over people’s minds, but at least try to do things for the right reasons!
As the game has progressed, I have been asked to make several Rulings on things that the Rule Book does not make clear, and usually I come down on the side of the players.
One area that was always going to be needing House Rules was the fact that one of the Antagonists is a Voodoo Sect that I have invented new Psychic Powers for. The party is made up of two Powerful Psychers, a Psychic Researcher and a Lost Soul looking for direction. Obviously, they have all jumped on this as something to learn for themselves, and so I am tasked with producing not just some effects that NPCs can call in a narrative manner, but a fully-fledged, robust skill system for the players to interact with! The Psychic Researcher is also developing new Powers in areas I did not imagine, so I also need to figure these out.
The plus side is that I only have a small group, and do not need to worry about wider concerns. So long as it works for this campaign, it does not matter if there are knock-on effects outside the Groups purview.
“What if the Immortals get hold of these powers?”, “How will this interact with the Animalists’ situation?” – Not a big part of this campaign. I’m not going to worry about it. And next campaign, I will probably rule that no-one can play a Bleeder, and so can’t have these powers!
I do need to keep some semblance of balance across the party. The powers developed by the Psychic Researcher should be better/easier-to-learn than the stuff knocked together by the Psychers, without overshadowing them. What we’re really talking about here is Spotlight Time. Do each of the Players think they are getting a fair deal, are their efforts paying off?
And this is the aim of all Home Brew, I feel. Keep the players interested. Adapt to their wants and needs, while preserving the World they are playing in. We very much play as “GM builds the World, Players play in it”, rather than some of the more player-based systems/styles out there, but player-input is still very important in what the GM builds.
Summary
There are several reasons to alter the Rules of your System, but it should be done towards one main Aim: Improving the Fun for Everyone!
Do you Home Brew/House Rule? Why? What are your favourites?
We have hit Session 51 of our Weekly Game of Fates Worse Than Death, so here is a bit of a Summary. It will be a bit rambling, but bear with me:
The State of Play
As detailed in our Game Summaries on The Mute Point forum, the PCs are now quite powerful (Level Five! The book suggests that this is better than 90% of the populace).
Although Vinnie still struggles for cash, the group as a whole have enough folding money to live comfortably, and purchase any special equipment they need (Mack and Dr Watt spent their “big score” on a cryo-chamber, so that their Blood Samples do not decay).
The group have quite few Minions at their disposal, Mack and Vinnie are carving out their own little sections of Turf, and Dr Watt has a Secret Laboratory! Grendel is building a Voodoo Temple behind her Martial Arts dojo.
Politically, the PCs have played a good game (mainly at Mack’s pushing), and are well placed to ask for favours from Masters. They are also in a position to have favours asked of them!
Voodoo-Power is building up. Mack and Vinnie are bastardising the Faith-Powers into Blood-Based powers, and Grendel is insinuating herself as Voodoo liaison.
External Relations are still a bit stilted.
Psionics/Blood-Magic
Blood Sampling skill, combined with Blood Memory, is VERY powerful.
Blood Sampling allows one to taste a person’s blood, and gain access to their higher-level skills (depending upon how good your Sampling skill is).
Normally, a Blood Sample can only be used to fuel a Psychic Power whilst it is being tasted (a round or two), but Blood Memory allows that to be boosted to an hour (Vinnie can only manage a few extra rounds, but still useful).
As the players have access to Blood Samples for most skills (either directly, through their Minions/Contacts, or buying from other Bleeders), they can be effective in any area they choose!
Belief Attacks are useful as they can implant a Belief in a subject, but only if there is an “attack vector”. What actually happens is that the subject believes what they are currently experiencing, so using during your own Preaching, or arranging for Tannoy Announcements, can be useful!
Emotion Attacks are unpredictable. Firstly, the Psycher must be experiencing the Emotion, to be able to transmit it (I have been generous with this, and Vinnie has played cautiously), and it does not determine Actions. If someone is “Very Sad”, will they attack, run away, hide, call for friends?
We have ruled that Psychic Sensory skills (Mind Reading) cannot be directly blocked. A target may notice the Psychic intrusion, but cannot “shunt them out of my head!”. But usually, only surface-thoughts can be read, so singing a popular tune, or reciting a Mantra can hide any important information. (There are other defences, such as the Math Addicts’ predilection for thinking in Equations. It can be read, but not understood, and ranking Humankalorie have learned Alien ways of thinking, rendering them immune)
Individuals
The premise of the game was “We are all individuals”. Everyone plays members of the same gang (which translates to the same Character Class in other systems), to see what would happen*.
We chose a Gang that has a Generic skill-base, not as focused as the Technophiles, or the Runners, or Roofers, allowing players to choose a few Merits in their specialised areas.
We have ended up with four VERY different characters (even though Vinnie and Mack overlap in certain key Skill areas). To be honest, I think we still would if they had all been given the same Character Sheet! My players see things in very different ways (Not so different that it makes the game untenable, thankfully).
Where Next?
Despite my natural instincts, I want the players to succeed, and they are in a position to do so.
I would like them to continue to combine Voodoo and Bleeder, and come up with the “Game-Changer” power that has been predicted.
This will, of course, lead to them being blocked, attacked, and otherwise hindered!
I would like to leave the City in a state that I could run more adventures there. If this new City is controlled by a small sect of Powerful Bleeders, who demand blood-tithes, I can work with that! There is still the matter of the Skin Borgs, though, who wear advanced armour that needles cannot pierce!
So, lots still to do!
*I would still like to see the game we considered playing: Bin Men! In a dystopian future, someone still needs to empty the trash!
Building Random Lists turned out to be a simple procedure. Buttons to choose which Category. Pick Lists (and grammar). Display in Recycler View.
I added a few extras, such as One Button to choose “Furniture”, with a sub-menu for Kitchen, Lounge, Bedroom etc. Quests included a Reward built from the Treasure Lists. Shops called from the Names Lists.
For the Pay Versions, I added some extra Features:
NPCs. Names became clickable, and built a random Person, with Traits pulled from other Lists. Personality, Valued Possession (Treasure), Mundane Items (new List), etc.
Add Data. This was a tricky one. I added the capability to add to the existing Lists. This data is stored in Text Files on the user’s phone, and added to the Array when the App draws up the Lists. I had quite a job figuring out where these files are stored, how to call them, and how to add them to the Array. In the end it worked though.
But we’re just calling Lists, and combining results.
Rome Wasn’t Built In a Day
And neither were my Apps!
But I did build a City-Builder. Not, unfortunately, a map-creator, although I am working on that. This is another Random Lists app that call up traits and features for a Fantasy City, such as Government Type, Local Features, Main Export, etc.
A Random City
Again, each Feature was called from a List (still working with XML String-Arrays). Some used combined-lists (such as Renown). The Export facility was also included, and as can be seen from this picture, Exporting also saves a screen-shot.
A new feature for this App was to allow the User to “re-roll” a Trait. Clicking on one of the results will call up a new Trait.
The City is an “Object” (or “Class”) that holds information about each Trait, and when a Trait is re-rolled, the Class is updated with the new information. (Only one City is held at any time. Creating a new one over-writes the old one).
The City Names are created from two sections. One is a list of predetermined Names, and the other a prefix-suffix combo. Here we see “Pen” + “dale”. It could have produced “Pen”+”wood”, “Pen”+”ford”, etc. (As an aside, I am working on a Planet Creator, and those names can pull from an algorithm similar to the one used in Elite, that combines some syllables to form a real-sounding word. The Starport names draw from combos that include a “mixer” between the prefix and suffix. “Hadley’s Hope” might be “Hadley’s New Hope”, or Hadley’s Last Hope”).
Next …
I am reaching the limits of my imagination, and what can be done with Random Lists. While there are many more “skins” I could put on them (Dungeon, Modern City, Monsters, Furniture, you name it …), I need something to allow me to learn more about programming. One area I have been meaning to investigate is Databases. While I did some simple work on them for my RPG pages, I need to know how to fit them into Android!
An idea soon brews up: Random Loots! D&D has always included random Treasure Tables, so I could write something inspired by the latest version, saving all the raw data in in tables, and calling it as needed!
It turns out that the worst part of this is typing in all of the data! As with all of these apps, there is a lot of information that needs storing.
The main structure of the database was easy enough to build, using “DB Browser for SQLite“, although I did have to keep adding more columns as I realised what code I needed.
There are two types of Treasure: Individuals and Hoard. Individuals just carry Cash, which is easy to define the range (dependant upon Challenge Level) and roll some dice. Hoards can include Gems or Artworks, and the chance of Magical Items (OOooh!!). Roll on the Table to determine what sort of thing is in the Loot Pile, and then on each sub-table to find the details.
A section of the Random Treasure Tables from the Dungeon Master’s Guide
There are sub-tables for each Value of Gems and Artworks, and (as noted) multiple Magic Item tables. These are all easy to produce.
More difficult was deciding how much detail to display! Do the players want to know the full details of each gemstone, its exact value (for I introduced a randomiser for that!), what cut it has, etc, or just a Total Value for selling? I decided to include both! The App presents a Total, and clicks to present a list of details (using the previously-mentioned Recycler View).
New addition for Magic Item details was the Pop-Up window. This does not change what Activity you are in, but adds a new display over the top of it. Here I included Maker, Minor Power, and Quirks that the Item may have.
Loot!
Finally the Export Code was added. Again, I used the Screenshot, but also looked at Formatting the Exported Text, so that it was easier to read. This mainly meant iterating the Treasure List and adding a few Line Breaks, with Section Titles.
With the addition of a few details to prettify the App (background Picture, Icons, nice buttons), it was ready to publish!
Finally
It may sound like a lot of this went smoothly, but I spent an inordinate amount of time struggling with sections of code, hunting typos, retyping functions and searching Google/StackOverflow for error-messages. Eventually, I have some workable Apps! You can download them here.
If you would like more detail about the actual Code I ended up with, or if you have ideas for new Apps you would like to see, ytou can contact me at:
If you copy from one book, that’s plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that’s research.
(Professor Wallace Notestein, 1929. Much re-quoted)
I’m often asked about sources of inspiration, and while my previous article mentioned some forms that I use, it still leaves out a lot of the details.
When I am hoping for a particular theme, I will research other literature and media from that theme. For example my previous Fates Worse Than Death game had a dark, gothic feel to it, and so I included characters named Patricia and Dr Avalanche.
Other names come from mangling themes. In this game, we had a Gang named the “Tea Drinkers” (after their predilection for Soma tea, that supposedly improved their Psychic Powers). Major Players included Cam(from chamomile), Tets (from Tetley), and Ty (from Typhoo).
In Mathematics, an “abelian group” is defined as “a group for which the elements commute“. So my group of Math Addicts, who lived outside of Gang Turf, took the name “The Abelians”. A subtle in-joke that only I got, but I used nonetheless 🙂
Foreign Languages:
The first port of call here is Latin. I was recently asked about a name for a character that was a Butterfly. I instantly brought up a page of Biological Latin Names to choose from, and/or alter to suit.
In D&D, there are creatures called Illithids (or Mind Flayers) that have tentacled faces, making them look like an octopus or squid (similar to the Ood from Dr Who). My natural tendency when I got to play one of these monstrosities was to call him “Ceph“.
Lists of foreign names are plentiful across t’interwebs, so browsing for one with a particular meaning is quite fruitful. My “Spanish” ex-noble in a fantasy-based New World game was called Sancho (“sainted. holy”), to clash with his obviously-tainted appearance (albino).
Others:
Some of my favourite names have included:
Brian’s Little Brother. (We never knew who Brian was)
Hexametric Ice (a group of Math Addicts. Considered to be “special snowflakes” by their peers)
Place Names
Several of my games are set in Urban areas, with large housing blocks. Often, I name these after politicians. A previous Cyberpunk game centred around Tebbit Block, with Lawson Towers, Lamont Park, Hurd Housing and Howe Block all playing their parts.
Pub names are usually randomly generated, but occasionally I manage to mangle something well enough for my needs. The latest is “The Happy Greeter”, where a gang of Bikers hang out. A mix of “Happy Eater” motorway services chain, and “The Salutation” (a biker bar in Nottingham, UK).
Summary
Overall, I take inspiration for any and every place I can get it! Mix it up, mangle it, twist it until it fits!
Take a favourite TV show, poem, song, and change it just enough that it is not instantly recognisable, but still traceable. Draw on your own hometown, or places you have visited (when I re-ran B2 – Keep on the Borderlands, I cribbed all the names from a local street-map!).
Do not be afraid of your players finding out where you got the ideas! It can be good to watch them look out for other references!
Where do you get your names from? What have you been pleased with?
So say the Beatles, and who am I to say they are wrong.
We all need a little help now and then, and GMs writing story-lines are no exception. From the names of antagonists to the location of their lair, from Quests to Completion-Rewards, sometimes our creative juices run dry.
So where do we turn?
Dice.
One Standard Set of Dice
Our go-to source of randomness. Mostly our “Standard Set” of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d100. Very useful for creating numerical values. But what if you need something else?
The more resourceful of you may already own some Other Dice. Amongst my easily-to-hand collection, I found Emoji, Rock/Paper/Scissors,
Other Dice
Body Location, Dungeon Maps and more! There are a large range of dice, featuring Weather, Mood, Grammar, and much more!
But what about when you don’t have the right dice to hand? You need to check for Random Weather, but the only dice you have are Body Location and Who-Takes-First-Turn! This is where we turn to:
Tables!
Table of Magical Rings
Lists of possible outcomes, Tables can hold a huge amount more information than simple dice, and can be chained together to produce complex results. They can also shift the probabilities of results occurring. Usually they are designed to roll dice, and compare the result against the entries, or you can just choose an appropriate one.
The Internet is full of these tables, designed for each different Game System/Setting, and lots of Generic ones.
To make life simpler, and avoid having to hunt around for either dice or sheets of paper, or the right page of the Rule Book, we also have
Apps
A Random City
Loaded on to a mobile phone, or tablet, these tend be be combinations of dice and tables. Tell the App what Feature you are wanting, and it will generate a random result, according to how it is programmed.
My current favourite App is (unsurprisingly) the one I wrote!
Combining Lists of Names, Places, Treasures, Quests and others Features, along with a Personality Generator, and lists of Features of a Fantasy City, The Mad Dwarf Inspirational Apps also allow you to add your own entries to the Lists, and save the results for use in later games.
There are Apps designed around most of the popular Games Systems, providing access to as much inspiration as you can handle!
Summary
Other ways of finding inspiration include reaching for a nearby book, and turning to a random page, loading a random Wikipedia page, or asking your Players to make a decision!
Most people will use a combination of methods to produce some interesting results, and the best way is often to interpret them in a way that fits your game.
When do you tend to run out of steam? What methods do you have for recharging your Creative Juices?
The free version is finalised, and will only be receiving security/stability updates.
EDIT: The Pro version is now available for UNDER ONE POUND! A mere 99 pence will get you access to expanded lists, and extra categories!
What it does:
Available Categories
The opening screen shows the different Categories available. This will hopefully grow as more data becomes available, and feedback is received.
I may choose use coloured Icons, but the basic format should be fine.
Currently the data-sets are based around Fantasy/Medieval styles. Treasures include Ornate Goblets and Lifelike Animal Statuettes, but not Smart-Phones, or Alien Artefacts! Quests involve Rescuing the Fairy-Queen, but not flying to other planets or destroying the Moon-Sized Space-Station!
Treasures Abound!
Treasures are pulled from four separate lists:
Gems Will have a Type (Diamond, Emerald etc), and a Cut-Style.
Jewellery/Clothing will have a Type (Ring, Earring, Belt), and a Style (Gem-Encrusted, Silver-Plated).
Art has a Type (Painting, Sculpture, etc) and a Style (Plain, Gaudy, Cubist, Baroque).
Coins have a Type (Gold, Silver) and a value (randomly generated between 1 and 1,000).
The app is clever enough to notice which Category the Treasure is in, and use the appropriate Icon.
Personality Traits
Furniture is split into four categories: Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen and Lounge. Items will all have a Material (Stone, Wood, Tin), and are displayed the same as Treasures.
The new Alchemy section also follows this format, and includes Retorts, Flasks and Crucibles.
Personality takes a slightly more complex route, and calls three World Views and three Personal Ideals. One of each are Prime traits, and the others Secondary.
The (descriptor) (place) of (fate)
The Location section adds a little more, again, with each location having a descriptor, as well as guardians!
The long list of Guardians have various ways in which they protect the Location, either guarding, watching over, surrounding or holding sacred!
And now we come to the penultimate section: Quests! Different types of Quest are available, Find, Recover, Destroy, Document or even Authenticate! And Maguffins of all varieties! Flying Carpets, Dragon Shields, Saint’s Bones! Kittens! All need Hiding, Exposing, or even Protecting! Each Quest also has a Reward (taken from the Treasures list) associated with it, so our brave adventurers can assess the risk!
Greta Vernon, Adventurer, at your service!
The last section begins quite simple, but then opens up a whole new area! Names are picked from an ever-growing list, with a 50/50 chance of Male/Female. This is simple enough. But click on any name, and you will be shown their Personality Traits, Prized Possession (Treasure), several Mundane possessions, and what Location they are seeking!
This section is currently unfinished, but should not take too much neatening up to make it Publishable, and I can add to it in later Editions! The Mundane Possessions list is already growing significantly!
From the Dessert Trolley
EDIT: I have also added a section for Desserts! All of your favourite fruit (plus a few you may not have heard of!) in pies, cobblers, crumbles and fools! Infused, sprinkled, drizzled and layers with your favourite (mostly cream-based) toppings!
So, if you are ever stuck for inspiration, why not download the Random Lists app from the Play Store! Who knows what Wonders await you?
Some GMs are masters of making things up as they go along. Winging it. Improvisation. They are never short of new, interesting locations, and characterful NPCs. Plot lines seem to grow organically as the game moves along.
I am not one of those GMs.
Players will, inevitably, come up with new and innovative ways to side-step challenges, derail story-lines, and chase tangent-bunnies. When they do, I tend to run into the GMing equivalent of writers’ block. Over my many years of GMing, I have come up with coping-strategies to keep the game flowing, rather than stumble through, uming and erring over details.
The first tactic I use is to try to keep the geographic scope of my campaigns quite small. This allows for locations to be reused many times, and detail to build up over time. The NorthHills sprawlzone that I used for my cyberpunk campaigns started as a rough map, and as we played, built up into a well-detailed area. The Mall had shops (with staff) noted, and was visited many times. I ran several adventures using The Crow Bar, and it has built up a history of its own. I particularly like Fates Worse Than Death for this, as it is set exclusively on Manhattan Island. Large enough to allow quite a lot of scope, but small enough to keep coming back to the same places, meeting the same people.
Another ploy is to keep sets of lists handy. People’s names. Business names. Emotions and attitudes. Some of these I pen myself, between sessions. Others I pull from many sources. Particular favourites are Lee’s Lists and Random Generator. Vajra have some good random creators, specifically for their FWTD setting, but it can easily be used for other games.
Some games produce very good source-books for this, and I particulalry like Shadowrun’s Sprawl Sites. Containing details on quite a few potential locations, plus a whole list of encounters, it provides useful inspiration should ideas dry up.
Also, keep a thesaurus handy. Treeware versions are fine, but nowadays I tend to rely on thesaurus.com for getting good words appropriating superior lexicons.
And, of course, I have my many years of experience to draw upon! I have been known to use ‘similar’ NPCs from game to game, even radically different settings, and tweak locations from one game to fit another. Even plots and adventures are lifted wholesale! Sometimes it is obvious, even highlighted, other times more subtle. (Notable example: When I ran an AD&D campaign many moons ago, one player created character sheets for the 30-40 NPCs in his care (the “We Hate The Dark Lord” club). As they, in turn, inevitably met their fates, they were handed to me, to re-use as ready-made NPCs for that, or any other, game. I still have that folder.)
With these tools at the ready, I tend to spread my preparation thinly, sketching several fledgling ideas, ready to develop the ones that the players interact with, adding detail as play progresses.
So, my improvisation is not about on-the-fly winging it. It is the result of much preparation. Roll a dice on this table. Choose an appropriate item from that list. Pull a character sheet from that folder. All prepped beforehand, ready to be improvised on-the-spot!
