Central Casting

[billd91]

One thing to avoid if you are planning on working a new Lifepath book... try to avoid making moral judgements in your product like the writer of the Central Casting books did. He turned off at least a few readers who did not agree with how his personal morality and religion filtered into the charts. For example, homosexuality is classified in the section on Mental Disabilities... along with things like psychosis and bestiality.

I don't want this post to go over the line into politics, but suffice it to say that you'd probably do well (and make more profit in the long run) if you limited the influence of your own personal beliefs into how the charts are written.

Worthwhile thread resurrection:

FYI, Jennell Jaquays has addressed the issue fairly recently:
She is re-doing the Central Casting project now.

 

[Ulfgeir]

I'm very surprised we never saw any one else attempt something like this. Mongoose has a book for Paranoia that is similar to them for Alpha Complex but that's the only thing like them I know of.

Operation: Fallen Reich hade a kind of boardgame you played to make the characters. Sadly out of print though.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

She is re-doing the Central Casting project now.

Looking forward to it.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You MAY want to check out Kobold Press, think they put out a rogue gallery and other books like that.

 

[aramis erak]

I've had
Central Casting Heroes Now,
Central Casting Heroes of Tomorrow
Central Casting Heroes of Legend
Central Casting Dungeons.

The dungeons one I use still, in both the "it taught me how to write a really good dungeon," and in the "I need some ideas, where's the book."
I've never found the other CC books worth the incompatibility with the games I use,

Noting that the ownership of Flying Buffalo changed somewhat recently (Rick Loomis died 23 August 2019), there is room to hope his heirs will spearhead getting all the old IP back up electronically.

 

[aramis erak]

One thing to avoid if you are planning on working a new Lifepath book... try to avoid making moral judgements in your product like the writer of the Central Casting books did. He turned off at least a few readers who did not agree with how his personal morality and religion filtered into the charts. For example, homosexuality is classified in the section on Mental Disabilities... along with things like psychosis and bestiality.

All of which were in the Diagnostic Statistics Manual at the time he wrote it. They were definitionally disorders. The DSM and the law have both changed since he wrote them.