The random background generator for fantasy role-playing games
By Hakar.
Introduction
Ever had to make a character for an RPG campaign, but could not think
of one? This program is all that you need to generate a background for
the character. All you have to do is convert the information to the
desired game-system.
Requirements
A computer. Needed to use the program.
An RPG-system (recommended). Needed to use the character.
Imagination (recommended). Needed to fill the gaps and convert the
character.
Common Sense (recommended). Needed to determine what parts of the
background are useful in the campaign, and what parts are not.
Usage
Simply type `backgroundpc.exe' or `backgroundami.exe' (depending on
your OS) in the CLI to generate a new character.
The program generates a lot of information about the character like
race, gender, age, height, weight and more.
With the help of the GM, convert this information to a suitable
character for the game system and the campaign set by the GM.
If too many parts of the background contradict with the campaign,
generate a new character. For example, if it generates an orc, and
there are no orcs in the campaign, generate a new character. Likewise,
if the character is female, and all characters should be male,
generate a new character.
To keep things fair, the GM may allow each player to generate several
characters, and choose which one he/she wants to play. It is no fun
if three people get to play elven rangers and the fourth a goblin
prostitute.
The output
Here is a typical background as generated by the program:
A background generator for RPG characters.
Written by Aron Postma on 01-06-00
Version: 2.87
You were born to be a female elf, in a world of darkness, where
everyone feared for their life.
Your father was a mad hunter, and your mother was a mighty
warrior.
You were their only daughter beside one brother.
When you were 28, your only brother died in an accident.
In your youth, you had many friends.
You always knew your future, you decided to become a farmer.
After several months of hard work, you managed to make a decent living.
Recently, you became bored with your life, and wanted to have an
adventure.
You are now 292 years old, and ready to take on the world.
You are of lawful good alignment.
Earlier in your life, you found out you preferred clubs for their
ability to do damage.
You have gray eyes, black hair, and a light-brown skin.
You are 5'7" high, and weigh 135 lbs.
You are not married.
>A background generator for RPG characters.
>Written by Aron Postma on 01-06-00
>Version: 2.87
These lines introduce the program and show the date and version of the
program.
>You were born to be a female elf, in a world of darkness, where
>everyone feared for there life.
This line shows your gender, race and the background of the place you
were born.
Do not change any part of this line, because too many things depend
on them.
>Your father was a mad hunter, and your mother was a mighty warrior.
This line shows the professions of your parents, and how good they are
at it.
>You were their only daughter beside one brother.
This line shows the make-up of your family and how many brothers and
sisters you have.
The number of brothers and sisters depend on the race and world
background. Orcs are more prolific than elves, and more children are
born in a world of peace and quiet than one torn by war.
>When you were 28, your only brother died in an accident.
This line shows a major event in your youth, or lack of one. There are
many possibilities, from members of you family being kidnapped to losing
a leg.
>In your youth, you had many friends.
This line shows how many friends you had during your youth.
>You always knew your future, you decided to become a farmer.
This line shows your profession, and how you came to choose it.
>After several months of hard work, you managed to make a decent living.
This line shows how well you fare in your profession.
>Recently, you became bored with your life, and wanted to have an adventure.
This line shows the reason why the characters joined the party as an
adventurer.
>You are now 292 years old, and ready to take on the world.
This line shows the current age of the character.
>You are of lawful good alignment.
This line shows the character alignment.
>Earlier in your life, you found out you preferred clubs for their ability to do damage.
This line shows what weapon you like to use, and why.
>You have gray eyes, black hair, and a light-brown skin.
This line shows the color of your eyes, hair and skin (scales/fur).
>You are 5'7" high, and weigh 135 lbs.
This line shows your height and weight.
>You are not married.
This line shows whether you are married or not, and how many children
you have.
Send_Me_Your_Ideas/Suggestions-ware notice.
This program is Send_Me_Your_Ideas/Suggestions-ware. If you like the
program and decide to use it a lot, you are required to send me your
ideas or suggestions for the next version.
Things I like to receive are new races, professions, monsters, or
anything else you can come up with.
Send them to me at hakar@dolfijn.nl
History.
2.87 - 04/06/2000
First released version.
Unfortunately, I do not have information about the earlier version
because of hard disk crashes, and lack of interest in writing up the
changes instead of working on the new version. I will try to do so in
the future though.
2.94 - 21/09/2000
Added a new race.
Extended the text for the number of sons and daughters you have.
Increased the accuracy for calculating your height.
Included a line that shows how attractive others of your race consider
you.
Fixed a spelling error.
Increased the number of factors that affect your chance of marriage.
3.00 - 12/10/2000
Fixed a bug.
Removed a few factors determining your chance of marriage.
Added a lot of factors that determine your attractiveness.
3.19 - 29/10/2000
Added another race.
Added wealth and posessions.
Known bugs.
The words are cut off at the end of lines, but continue on the next
line. This happens when the program tells the computer to display text,
and it does not fit on the end of the line. Instead, it puts the
remaining text on the next line.
I cannot be bothered to even find out how to prevent this, since this
would mean locking the program to a certain resolution/font size, and
because some words are made up of two or three parts anyway.
The program sometimes generates a line twice.
You can get the Amiga version here and the pc version here.
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Last revision: 28-04-02 13:50