Generators for non-Fantasy games?

[ELF]

I run a Vampire: The Masquerade(VtM) campaign which is set in the modern day and use CL for it, alot of the generators dont help much due to them being largely fantasy based

What kind of generators would you find useful?

 

[Eyrelliah]

What kind of generators would you find useful?

I'm also doing VTM and I reckon a modern bystander generator would be awesome. Essentially create victims for hunting, witnesses to be interrogated, etc. Having a unique appearance, life role, quirks, fears, relationships, aspirations etc to prompt ideas. If we had that I'd use it live every game whenever I need an npc to be hunted :-D

 

[ELF]

Having a unique appearance, life role, quirks, fears, relationships, aspirations etc to prompt ideas.

Hmm, that’s an inspiring idea! There are many variables and dependencies involved, so the generator would need quite a bit of data and testing, but the results could be interesting.

Even better if the generator would be able to use data sets for different genres and periods, making it useful for a larger user base.

 

[Eyrelliah]

Hmm, that’s an inspiring idea! There are many variables and dependencies involved, so the generator would need quite a bit of data and testing, but the results could be interesting.

Even better if the generator would be able to use data sets for different genres and periods, making it useful for a larger user base.

Absolutely!
The one advantage of doing it modern is that there's loads of census data and baby name lists for different ethnicities etc. With different eras and places it will get more complicated, maybe have a look at existing fake name generators online?
Here's the categories VTM recommends that you fill out for an npc - very atmosphere and story focused:

 

[jay_rab]

What kind of generators would you find useful?

There is two I currently use outside of CL, the first being chaotic shiny's Modern Character which basically gives me a good description of what they look like and what they do for a living, in addition its a nice touch to know what their likes and dislikes are and what their sin and virtues they hold.

The other is an old vtm database that I found in the past and converted to a microsoft access database, it covers concepts, archetypes, traits. clans, first names, last names, clothing style, clothing color, clothing material, clothing tops, clothing skirts, clothing trousers, hair color, hair style, hair length, modern melee weapons, modern ranged weapons, and skilled hobbies. nested in those tables (I have a ranking for names so I can pull from a range of pop. or non-pop), (weapons have a caliber, rate of fire and clip size).

Something that would be really nice for VtM would be an aura generator, there is 32 different auras and if you have someone with the skill you pretty much have to read the whole room to them, and they can have multiple auras with some auras not overlapping each other.

 

[jay_rab]

I notice that we kinda went offtopic in regards to what we want in a modern generator, any chance we can split that topic and move those post to it as to not derail RPMiller's post further ^_^

 

[JochenL]

Moved as requested.

 

[Eyrelliah]

Thanks JochenL!

 

[BahneGorkDK]

I started a rather simple quick mission generator intended to be genre neutral, the intent was to use it in a sci-fi setting. It's mission seeds strung together to spark inspiration and could be expanded upon with specific elements rather than seed(placeholders). I did try to add it to the source thing but never got my head around using that site proper so i think it failed. But the idea behind it was to quickly generate some short series of seeds for when your players suddenly decides to drop in on your local fixer asking for a special gadget and you want them to do him a favor.. or some such... could be ..

Mission: Smuggle
- Item/person:Spy
- Location: Merchants guild
- Opposition: opposing faction
- Opposition Tricks: strength in numbers

-Submissions:
2nd Mission: Smuggle
- Item/person: Military Officer
- Location: Merchants guild
- Opposition: animated entities
- Opposition Tricks: superior weapons

I also threw in some submission idea.. so that it randomly runs through the generator 0-4 times, those you need to do A.. but you have to do B .. but to do B you have to do C... etc.. as you can see it's placeholders which if you have a running campaign these tags should prompt a GM pretty quick with ideas. But it could be expanded upon to include more specific info.

 

[JochenL]

That sounds and looks a lot like Traveller Patron Mission generators - I instantly liked your approach

 

[BahneGorkDK]

That sounds and looks a lot like Traveller Patron Mission generators - I instantly liked your approach

I have yet to put it to use in my game though.. i have since then started the party in a military special ops endeavor. The whole setup is that they are previous spec ops, thrown into another part of space and hired themselves out to a rogue trader. He loaned them a ship and gave them a full pocket and they are given 1-3 missions to choose from while are also allowed to chase personal stuff but are expected to jump on a mission if so instructed. I have created a small hierachy where there are several of such operator teams in this Rogue trader's employ and they have a handler and can generate reputation within the dynasty to climb the ladder. So they are now on loan from their employer to one of his good friends a rogue trader who has lost a planet to invading chaos forces, they are to aid as special operators in liberating the planet. So it hasnt come up yet. But i'm trying to tie different methods together in CL.. one thing is a POI style mapping of the world where locations in CL are the POIs and i have a few maps on paper one of them is a POI work in progress with color codes and lists of keywords for them.