Kismet's Character Generators
"Tiefling Brothers" by captdiablo (resized) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Medieval Fantasy Character Generators
There are many character generators out there, mostly to help DMs come up with NPCs on the fly, but none of them are quite right for my needs. You know what that means, don't you? I've gone and made my own for Game Masters and writers alike! My generators are system agnostic, but you can easily add any system-related options you need. My generators focus on evocative details that give a greater and deeper picture of a person, along with aspects that make fictional characters feel more real.
The Medieval Character Generator provides life stage, personal strength and flaw, reputation, influence, health, hygiene, impression, wealth, profession, hobby, religious attitude, recent event, and current desire/goal in the click of a button! Below is a quick preview of what results look like.
The Character Background Generator swiftly generates where a character was raised, who raised them, their family's wealth, how their family lived (regardless of their means), their family's reputation, as well as major events for different life stages (childhood, teen, young adult, mature adult, and middle age are available). Along with that, the generator also covers their contact with and feelings about parents, siblings, children, extended family, and friends, as well as how many people fall into those categories.
It doesn't take long to learn how to use these files and get the most out of RPGChartmaker. You can add entries, delete lists, change colors, and a lot more!
If you'd like to generate a character's romantic history, I have a generator for that, too.
Here's a sample of what the generator looks like:
NPC Group Generator
Need quick details for a fictional secret society, criminal gang, academic club, or other organization? My NPC Group Generator is here for you! You can spin up a group's type, age, overall personality, reputation, size, wealth, power, influence, government, general disposition, origin, goal, and recent history in one go.
Sample Character
Let's look at a character I rolled up:
Age: Young Adult, Strength: Gregarious, Weakness: Envious
Reputation: Legendary, Power: Modest, Influence: A City
Health: Incredible, Hygiene: Pleasant, Impression: Belligerent
Wealth: Wealthy, Profession: Swineherd, Hobby: Inventing
Religious Attitude: Judgmental, Recent Event: Stole A Little Money, Desires: Higher Status
This character is a friendly young shepherd in his early twenties who yearns for more. He invents contraptions in his spare time, and one of them recently brought him fame and wealth when it won first place in a competition in the nearest big city. With such a boost to his reputation you'd think he'd be content, but he doesn't have a patron or connections so he's stuck in his old profession. He envies others who have the social standing he believes he should have, and he judges others harshly for their failings.
I can give him a name (or use the name lists and generators elsewhere on this site) and pop him into a game or story just like this, if I want to. But let's learn more about this character through the Background Generator:
Raised In: A Metropolis, Raised by: Bio Mother, Family Wealth: Destitute, Family Lifestyle: Middling Income, Family Reputation: Tolerated
Childhood Event: Avoided Grad Ceremony, Teen Event: Worked For Criminal Group, Young Adult Event: Witnessed A Crime
Relation with Parents No Contact with Parents; 1 Missing, Siblings: 2 Bio Siblings, Relations with Siblings; No Contact with Siblings, Relations with Extended Family: No Contact with Extended Family, Relations with Friends: No Friends
Our young shepherd was once raised in a metropolis by his biological mother. She was often flat broke but did all she could to make things comfortable for her children, taking on extra work and debt in the process. This could explain why he wants big-city status so much now. It also looks like he dropped out of school young and began to work for a gang. So it's logical to assume that witnessing a murder was the last straw: he left the place of his birth before things got worse and sought out his father. Unfortunately, he couldn't find his dad or a good job. He let his mother and siblings know when he won the contest but hasn't kept in touch since, and he hasn't gone out of his way to make friends.
Perhaps the player characters in your D&D game will commission him to build something for them, and maybe they'll help him gain the connections he needs to leave his flock of sheep behind forever!
Resources are free for personal use; please do not offer them for sale or claim them as your own work.
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