NPC generator

[SangoProduction]

Preamble: I've had a basic system, where I essentially just jotted down like 3 words about each noteworthy npc. Or more, if they were more noteworthy than that.
These were the basic outlines of what made that character, that character. For example: "Sarcastic Divorced Farmer." That tends to be more than enough for me to improvise from there what they would do in given situations. (I am personally a very light-on-prep DM. I love improv. And hate players who only want to "experience" the story rather than "interact with" the story.)

But... I never formalized the process. (I didn't need to.) I also didn't really share my opinions on the matter, until recently when I responded to a thread about creating FFd20 NPCs. Then I was prompted further by some discussions about a Skyrim mod (yes really) that implemented ChatGPT.

So... here I am, for some reason feeling like it would actually be useful for some people. Perhaps with the hope that, in showing just how simple it can be to make innumerable NPCs that are fresh and distinct from each other, it would be less intimidating to DM.
Made generic so as to fit as many campaigns as possible.

-Oh, and feel free to suggest your own lists, or expansions of any said list. There are plenty of ways to do so. I considered making a "type of mage" list, but that would be used by exclusively one type of character. Probably still useful though.-


How to generate: Step 1: Determine primary function: Are they combat-oriented, or civilly-oriented? If the former, roll 1d6 on Adventurous. If civil, roll 1d6 on Profession.
Then roll 1d6 on Personality Traits. (Even for combat characters.) A cocky swordsman may actively insult the party's fighter whenever they miss him, while a pessimist may run if it doesn't look good.
Next, roll 1d6 on the Physical Characteristics, to give you a top-level overview of what the character looks like. Embellish as needed / desired.
Lastly, pick 1-4 additional lists to roll on, depending on intended relevance of the character. Or roll 1d4, and let fate decide which characters ought to be more relevant to the story you're coming up with.

For quick combat stats, civil characters should probably be KO-d in 2 hits, and be relatively easy to hit (6 or higher on the martial's dice ought to be fine). And they might hit the mages at a 10, but the typical martials would probably be all but futile. Adjust particulars for the character, of course. A bartender might be tougher, if slower, and a guard probably has seen his way around a fight before, while the kid down the street is probably just running / surrendering.
For combat NPCs, you can actually just use your party's own stats, if you don't want to pull out a monster sheet. Then adjust their stats up/down, based on intended difficulty.
Spell casters (tended) to actually be a pain, because you kind of have to prepare their spells. With ChatGPT though, spell lists can be effectively randomized and adapted for a particular character on a whim. Just ask it "What would a shy, tragic mage prepare as spells in pathfinder," for instance. It really is that simple now, and I love it.

(Remember these are quick combat stats. Perfectly workable. But if you do expect the NPCs to see combat, then coming up with their own stats is probably worth the time.)


Primary Lists

Adventurous:

Swordsman
Archer
Mage
Musician
Healer
Mechanic


Profession

Blacksmith
Baker
Farmer
Teacher
Chef
Guard


Personality Traits

Sarcastic
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Rebellious
Shy
Heroic


Physical Characteristics [presented as logical packages to simplify generation with minimal frustrating combinations]

Athletic, Tall & Broad-Shouldered
Petite, Graceful & Delicate
Stout, Powerful & Thick-Necked
Lanky & Awkward
Exotic, Striking & Tattooed
Wizened, Stooped & Sharp-Eyed



Secondary Lists

Relationships

Siblings Nearby
Divorced
Parents Nearby
Married
Has Children


Background/History

Tragic
Abusive
Privileged
Immigrant
Orphaned


Hobbies

Gardening
Painting
Reading
Traveling
Fishing
Gaming


Social Status

Wealthy
Middle-class
Impoverished
Noble
Outcast
Celebrity


Motivations/Goals

Revenge
Love
Wealth
Power
Redemption
Discovery


Quirks [careful not to go too hard on the quirks]

Superstitious
Obsessive
Clumsy
Introverted
Extroverted
Forgetful


Beliefs/Values [feel free to invert the values to fit the character's role, from Pacifist to War Hawk, for example]

Religious
Altruist
Integrity
Perseverance
Traditionalist
Pacifist


Alliances/Affiliations:

Guild Member
Rebel Group
Royal Court
Criminal Organization
Religious Order
Independent

[DrMartin]

Thanks for sharing your process!

I have a similar approach. The single trait that I find helps me the most in playing out an NPC is their motivation, as that puts me on track to have the interaction carry somewhere, as well as giving unusual spins to "how do we get this person to help us".

On the other hand I have no clue about what helps making an npc consistently memorable for players. sometimes it works, sometimes ti gets forgotten within the next 20 minutes. quirks or unusual speech pattern sometime help with this, but sometime it's just something memorable that came out in the conversation that sticks.

anyway, to contribute something: to generate them on the fly I usually use online oracles, as I mostly GM with a laptop at my side. My favourites are chaoticshiny and GM apprentice (this one sits comfortably in an embedded tab in my Notion-based GMing dashboard, super comfortable). Usually chaotic shiny if i have time to prepare between sessions, and GM apprentice as a tool during play.

http://chaoticshiny.com/rpgdggen.php

https://jamesturneronline.net/game-masters-apprentice/

[SangoProduction]

Thanks for sharing your process!

I have a similar approach. The single trait that I find helps me the most in playing out an NPC is their motivation, as that puts me on track to have the interaction carry somewhere, as well as giving unusual spins to "how do we get this person to help us".

On the other hand I have no clue about what helps making an npc consistently memorable for players. sometimes it works, sometimes ti gets forgotten within the next 20 minutes. quirks or unusual speech pattern sometime help with this, but sometime it's just something memorable that came out in the conversation that sticks.

anyway, to contribute something: to generate them on the fly I usually use online oracles, as I mostly GM with a laptop at my side. My favourites are chaoticshiny and GM apprentice (this one sits comfortably in an embedded tab in my Notion-based GMing dashboard, super comfortable). Usually chaotic shiny if i have time to prepare between sessions, and GM apprentice as a tool during play.

http://chaoticshiny.com/rpgdggen.php

https://jamesturneronline.net/game-masters-apprentice/

Yeah. Without knowing your players, any attempt to make any character memorable to players is doomed to failure. They will inevitably latch onto that weird guy that they found that one party member contagiously found quirky in the right way, and memes him into relevance.

But... Good idea. I could actually make an html deal that I could just continually add more traits to, without making using the lists cumbersome.
The only question is how would I actually share that, without having a website I host. Google Docs? GitHub? Seems excessive for a web page.

[DrMartin]

Both are good options. for github just add a readme file and put your stuff there, and it's visible on the front page of the repository. google docs is what you are already using for your sphere review stuff, so it won't be adding any new component to your rpg ecosystem.

if you wanna get fancy you can create a text generator and then get a url to share it (or embed into an iframe) with perchance
https://perchance.org/welcome