Forked Thread: What game systems have character generators? (focus slightly changed)

[jdrakeh]

Much to my amusement, I just discovered that Risus has a character generator.

 

[darjr]

Free GURPS Lite char gen: GURPS Lite Character Creator

Another commercial GURPS one: Downloads

Never used either of them.

Great web based GURPS NPC Generator: GURPS NPC Generator: online version

Source for Megatraveller generators... have not tried them. http://seegras.discordia.ch/Roleplay/Traveller/Software/

Another classic traveller char gen, this a web site. SignalGK: Online Traveller Resource

Almost forgot about the javascript 3.5 D&D and D20 character generators: Javascript D&D 3.5 Character Generator

There is a 4th ed one though I think it is on hiatus Javascript Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Character Generator

The javascript generator guy has a couple more at his site The Pathology Guy go to his 'Fun' section of the web site. Looks like a d20 Cthulhu, Star Wars, and a list of AD&D 2e settings specific character generators.

All of those use a ton of javascript and may take a bit to load... it may seem like it has ganked your browser... just give it a sec.

There is this Third Edition (3.5) D&D Character Generator from Free Character Generators | D&D Nerd.com

There is a Call of Cthulhu char gen free for windows, never tried it: Cthulhu Character Generator 1.00 - Call of Cthulhu 1920s Character Generator

Don't get me wrong, I think the CB is wonderful. I'm a happy paying customer.

 

[Nifft]

When did games become so complex that character generators became necessary?

My guess would be the year 2000 (thanks to 3.0e), but I'm not very familiar with White Wolf games of & before that era.

Cheers, -- N

 

[darjr]

I'm not sure I'd put Classic Traveller or Call of Cthulhu in the 3.5 or 3.0 level of complexity... but they do have character builders.

A CB can be a great tool. Cheap printing, copious amounts of storage and 'idle' hands are the things I'd put down as the big motivators for character builders.

 

[Glyfair]

When did games become so complex that character generators became necessary?

My guess would be the year 2000 (thanks to 3.0e), but I'm not very familiar with White Wolf games of & before that era.

Cheers, -- N

"Necessary" is such a loaded word. I know that even the most complex systems have people who say they can easily do characters without computers. The key is when they started to make things simple.

When did they become "desirable"? I remember a few systems in the early 80's where they were desirable. I would have loved one for Chivarly & Sorcery (pre-1980), Space Opera (early 80's) and Powers & Perils (mid-80s). I know many who would have liked one for Champions (1981), but I never wanted one until the 90's.

Personally, I love them now because my handwriting is horrible. A good character sheet that's editable is nice, but once there are a number of a laundry list of choices a character generator becomes more useful.

 

[Maggan]

When did games become so complex that character generators became necessary?

I wrote one for Traveller in 1987, using some variant of BASIC, so for me, 1987. I would have loved to have one when we were playing Rolemaster heavily.

/M

 

[Nifft]

I would have loved one for Chivarly & Sorcery (pre-1980), Space Opera (early 80's) and Powers & Perils (mid-80s). I know many who would have liked one for Champions (1981), but I never wanted one until the 90's.

I wrote one for Traveller in 1987, using some variant of BASIC, so for me, 1987.

That's significantly earlier than I'd expected!

Thanks, -- N

 

[coyote6]

When did games become so complex that character generators became necessary?

My guess would be the year 2000 (thanks to 3.0e), but I'm not very familiar with White Wolf games of & before that era.

They aren't necessary today; what they are is convenient. You can email characters, copy PDFs to flash drives, update them, and do it all legibly.

Didn't AD&D 2e have a CD-ROM that included a character generator?

HeroLab has official modules for Mutants & Masterminds, Savage Worlds, World of Darkness, and 3.5e. There's an authoring kit, too, so users can add systems.

Hero Games has Hero Designer. SJGames sells GURPS Character Assistant.

 

[Glyfair]

I wrote one for Traveller in 1987, using some variant of BASIC, so for me, 1987. I would have loved to have one when we were playing Rolemaster heavily.

/M

Thinking back, I wrote an NPC generator using BASIC for Top Secret (the original version).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

When did games become so complex that character generators became necessary?

My guess would be the year 2000 (thanks to 3.0e), but I'm not very familiar with White Wolf games of & before that era.

Cheers, -- N

I'd say Shadowrun and The Dark Eye also benefit a lot from character generators.

A Shadowrun character builder would help managing character generation points (if you use the system), money (that's even an issue if you the priority system of 3E) essence, bioindex, Ki Adept Powers, and it might be helpful for spell management or Karma management (Reputation, Total Karma, Karma Rolls - 4E might simplify this in some areas.)