Central Casting

[Agamon]

Yeah, I sold mine for about $100 around 5 years ago. It's tough to find these days. A pdf would sell well, I'd bet.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I managed to pick up a copy a few years back, for about $50. Not in the best condition, either. Anyway, I would certainly pay for a decent PDF version.

As for alternatives, CP2020 has its lifepath thing, of course. And now, there is also Interlock Unlimited, a fan-made RPG based on its fundamental system, but for a variety of genres and styles. Along similar lines, but definitely fantasy - and also quite tied into its setting - there is Artesia, the very pretty Fuzion-based RPG (well, its charater creation system, being the relevant thing here). And, while I'm on Fuzion, there is a multi-genre lifepath document for Atomik Fuzion floating around the interwebs too. There are a number of lifepath thingies online, here and there (e.g., this one). Also, there's a PDF available on RPGNow / DrivethruRPG called Background Noise (by 'Second Rat Games'). And, before I forget to mention it, Savage Worlds has this.

That's all that comes to mind right now, other than the things previous posters have named.

Oh, one more - the Hero Builder's Guidebook.

edit --- Here are some places that have copies: Amazon, Noble Knight, eBay

 

[Insight]

You know...

An enterprising game designer could come up with something similar to Central Casting and make some money, it sounds like.

 

[Treebore]

You know...

An enterprising game designer could come up with something similar to Central Casting and make some money, it sounds like.

Well, you may just see that in the near future. I have been talking to the author for the last 12 hours or so via e-mail, and two of my friends and I agreed about 2 hours to write up a new one based off of the original for publication. I even did a trademark search on "Central Casting" and the TM is definitely expired.

So as long as my friends and I don't flake out on the project...

 

[sjmiller]

I bought copies of these years ago, well over a decade. I remember finding them shortly after I got a scanner and scanning them so I would have access to them when I take my gaming CD-ROMs with me. I think I still have the disk somewhere, and I know if I dig around I can find the books. Hmm, maybe I should think about writing something similar, or at the very least selling my copies.

 

[Insight]

Well, you may just see that in the near future. I have been talking to the author for the last 12 hours or so via e-mail, and two of my friends and I agreed about 2 hours to write up a new one based off of the original for publication. I even did a trademark search on "Central Casting" and the TM is definitely expired.

So as long as my friends and I don't flake out on the project...

PM me if you want or need any assistance. This sounds like a fun project! And I may know someone who would publish it.

 

[sjmiller]

I got distracted when I was writing my response, so I did not see Treebore's last comment. I actually have very close connections with a publisher who would be interested in a project like this. That is why I have thought about this before.

 

[Treebore]

I got distracted when I was writing my response, so I did not see Treebore's last comment. I actually have very close connections with a publisher who would be interested in a project like this. That is why I have thought about this before.

If you and Insight are interested in signing on PM me. Right now we are looking to have certain chapters written by specific authors, so if you guys know anyone who would be a good editor and especially good at helping give the project a singular voice/look, would likely be a big boon.

This is going to be done with people who have busy lives, so its going to be a slow going project. Fortunately we already know some good artists.

We are hoping to keep the book at 100 pages, but we are throwing around some new ideas that might up the page count an unknown amount. I would like to have it come in at/under 128 pages for sure.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I bought copies of these years ago, well over a decade. I remember finding them shortly after I got a scanner and scanning them so I would have access to them when I take my gaming CD-ROMs with me. I think I still have the disk somewhere, and I know if I dig around I can find the books. Hmm, maybe I should think about writing something similar, or at the very least selling my copies.

I scanned my own copy too as I had the idea of re-doing/adding to it. I intended to eliminate the, "This character is the descendant of a deity and has massive psychological trauma," sort of results unless you specifically wanted them. Also I wanted the charts to use fewer different kinds of dice - convert most/all of them to percentiles just to make it faster to use. I did find missing and misnumbered entries that needed correction. I also made up my own worksheets since the one in the back of the book wasn't organized terribly well if you were using it with any frequency.

I never did much with it after doing the initial conversion as there wasn't a need for it in any ongoing game I had but I keep it handy and I no longer have to add wear and tear to my hardcopy - which IS worn and torn from use.

 

[Thanael]

For D&D i sometimes use the Character Background tables from Unearthed Arcana.

Some googling and reading Enworld's
Lifepath thread1
Lifepath thread2

...revealed these:
Character Lifepath on dandwiki
Atomik Lifepath pdf
Lifepath (very interesting, the navigation is a bit strange but this is the most complex system i have found yet, aside from Central Casting.)

There's also the fairly recent Background Noise pdf by Second Rat Games