I've had a surprisingly hard time finding any. I did find a Star Wars d6 random character generator -- but it's an RTF document rather than an HTML page.Land Outcast said:
Roll Up a Life Path
- Thread starter mmadsen
- Start date
The Cyberpunk book had a great lifepath generator. Depending on your age, you rolled for every year above a certain cut off. If also had parts in there for your look, your style, etc. It was all optional, but if you wanted to it could define to a large degree your character's past as well as his style in the present. I really liked using it, for PCs and NPCs, and my players enjoyed it because it provided a frame for them to build their character's background.
But Cyberpunk had a fairly defined setting, and character's were from a set range of possible classes/archetypes. The problem with D&D is taht you'd have to account for which setting you were from (each may have pecularities), including home brew worlds, and you'd have to account for all the races and half-races, and all those weird classes.
IF someone came out with a sourcebook that had pages and pages of rollable life paths and backgrounds for all types of characters, I'd get it.
Of course, if you stick with doing one just for the core PH, core races, core classes, in a generic world, then it becomes LOADS easier. heck, we could put that together here.
But Cyberpunk had a fairly defined setting, and character's were from a set range of possible classes/archetypes. The problem with D&D is taht you'd have to account for which setting you were from (each may have pecularities), including home brew worlds, and you'd have to account for all the races and half-races, and all those weird classes.
IF someone came out with a sourcebook that had pages and pages of rollable life paths and backgrounds for all types of characters, I'd get it.
Of course, if you stick with doing one just for the core PH, core races, core classes, in a generic world, then it becomes LOADS easier. heck, we could put that together here.
Land Outcast
Explorer
that sure is extensive... I found this: http://www.paper-dragon.com/2026/lifepath.html
a bit less extensive, about Cyberpunk 2020 (but so generic it can be used with a slight modification for D&D)
a bit less extensive, about Cyberpunk 2020 (but so generic it can be used with a slight modification for D&D)
jmucchiello
Hero
It exists and is very out of print. See Henry's comment above.Dremmen said:
Land Outcast said:
That's pretty much out of the book verbatim. As you can see, for a DM running a game, simply havin the characters roll through their lifepaths could produce games and even campaigns. Ex-lovers, murderers, artifacts...hmmm...methinks I'm getting inspired. What do y'all think? Work on a D&D lifepath using the Cyberpunk format here on a thread?
Pbartender
First Post
mmadsen said:
Roll, roll, roll. "Let's see here... I'm an orphan..."
Roll, roll, roll. "...and a farmboy..."
Roll, roll, roll. "...and I've got a long, lost twin."
"What a surprise."
HellHound
ENnies winner and NOT Scrappy Doo
Land Outcast said:
Here's my version of the CyberPunk 2020 lifepath generation.
http://www.ambient.ca/cpunk/lifepath.html
mhensley
First Post
Henry said:How many times have people clamored for a reprint or re-creation of the Central Casting supplements by Paul Jacquays? I've lost count by now...
Waaaay too much rolling for my tastes. You could easily spend an hour or two just rolling up your background with no real expectation that it would make any sense.
HackMaster has a pretty decent system for rolling up your background that could easily be dropped into a d20 game. Also, didn't the much criticized Hero Builders Guidebook have tables for backgrounds?
Personally I would just rather that the pc's wrote it without any random elements. Here's the questions I posed to my WFRP players just for this purpose-
3 Questions:
Answer me these questions three and I'll grant your character an xp
bonus. How much? It depends on your answers, but in any case it will
be worth your while. Your answers to these questions are not set in
stone. They are here to help you to roleplay your character. They are
guidelines, not rules.
Ready? Good, you may pick up your pencils and begin. If you need any
help or have any questions, please ask.
1. Who are you?
What happened to you before the campaign began? What was your family
like? Are they still alive? What did they do and where did they live?
Why are you in your present career?
2. What do you want?
What motivates you? Write down 3 - 5 core beliefs of you character and
how it influences him.
Examples-
I trust in Sigmar and will not fear Chaos nor allow their followers to
live.
If I could just get enough gold, I would move to Tilea and get away
from this god forsaken place.
One day I will go to Karak Azgal and find the Axe of Truth.
I will avenge my father's death.
I will not die penniless like my parents did.
Anything will work as long as it provides your character with some
motivation and/or a goal. Don't worry about being as specific as the
examples. I can work with you to detail things. Just think of these
items as what you want the game to be about and what you want your
character to be doing.
3. Who do you know?
Write down 3 - 5 people that your character knows and is a part of his
life for good or for ill. They may or may not be tied to your
motivations above. In some cases, they provide yet more motivations.
They are people that you want to be involved with the story at some
time or another. Again, don't get too hung up in details or names. I
can help you out with that.
Examples-
Baron Heinscheld - the bastard had my father hanged for forgetting to
bow in his presence.
Mom - she lives by herself now and I need to check up on her.
Renfeld - drinking buddy from back home. I hear he's in the army now.
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