NPC Party Generator

After long hours of misreading tables and writing horrible, ugly javascript, I've completed the beta edition of an ACKS NPC Party Generator. I'm sure there are some bugs (and would appreciate feedback), but... tada! There you go!

There are a few things missing. I'd like there to be more fine-tuning; for now, I'm using a few of my own DIY stuff, including spells and languages, and I'd like a selector so you can toggle that on and off (and/or include some of your own stuff. (Oooo... that reminds me, and I need to add languages to these guys! Hello, new can of worms...)

Anyway, try it out, and let me know what you think. I've got a few additions I plan on making, including:

  • An expandable window with the spells each NPC knows (for mages)
  • Known languages
  • Ability to toggle DIY/default for languages and spells
  • A "force off" checkbox to forcefully remove a section (ie, Custom Classes)
  • Remember the state of all the checkboxes and other values across sessions (possibly via a save button, for instant reloading)
  • The ability to re-roll any given piece of information (name, stats, hp, etc.) at the click of a button, without resetting the page
  • The ability to save the resulting party as a pdf (boom, baby!)
  • The ability to run any of the random generators independently - say, just for a random scroll
  • Expand the random names, and give the option to choose a nationality if you reroll it
  • Fix a lot of the layout
  • Add some helper words ("carrying...", etc.)
  • Finish adding a random equipment generator for armor, weapons, shield, required equipment, and misc. equipment
  • Clean up the Proficiency generator (it looks weird when there are no class profs, and it often doubles things that shouldn't be doubled)
  • Add helpful icons
  • Add some help text

And, thinking of that last one, here's some of that help:

If you uncheck a class, that class won't be included in the random roll. Also, the textbox by each class is its weight (which I probably need to tweak); raise it to make it more likely that class will be chosen, lower it to reduce said chance. Also, unckeck "random count" to manually set the number of NPCs in the party.

(updated 2018-02-20)

I am in the process of writing something similar in python - a henchman generator. The interface won't be as pretty, and right now is command line, but the results are similar. Eventually this will generate all henchmen in a given market to a file. Right now it generates a single level 1 henchman to the command line.

https://github.com/Golan2072/RPG

Looks nice, Arman. Your tools are always useful.

I'd suggest having a button to turn off all your custom classes, and/or be able to rename them for our own classes. (Maybe I'm misreading your notes and that's what you meant for the selector.) Are you planning on expanding to the classes in the heroic fantasy or barbarian books?

If you click the heading, it toggles selecting and de-selecting everything under it, so you can easily turn off a whole section.

I am indeed planning on adding the new books; however, I missed the kickstarter, so I’ll have to wait until they are available for us mere mortals first. Unless I can borrow them from someone.

[quote="Arman"] If you click the heading, it toggles selecting and de-selecting everything under it, so you can easily turn off a whole section. [/quote]

It'd be nice if the "turn off your custom classes" option would remember its state; As it is, I have to disable the custom classes again every time I click on one of the "select classes to use" buttons.

That said, that's a very minor complaint about a very excellent and featureful tool. I've bookmarked this thread, and will almost certainly use this generator in the campaign I'm running at the moment. Thanks for making it!

That's a good point; I need to add that to the list. Consider it added!

I have to say, it's a lot of fun just to repeatedly create random parties, especially now I have items. I randomly rolled up an NPC (a mage, I believe) who had three silver knives, two bundles of wolfsbane, and absolutely nothing else. She was totally going werewolf hunting.

Now it actually is added. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Also, javascript libraries are awesome.

Wow, thanks!

I just noticed this can't create level 0 characters. Any plans to add that as a feature? I imagine it might be tricky, given the number of general proficiencies involved, and it's not strictly speaking part of NPC party generation, so I'd understand completely if it's not in scope.

Hmm... I probably won't make this generator do 0th level characters, but I could certainly make another page to create them. I'd like to expand this to a set of pages as an entire "everything generator", including the NPCs found in a city that are looking for work, which would include 0th level characters. My overly ambitious goal is to make an interactive page for every table in the core book and the player's companion, as well as a way to customize them.

As you can see, I am, in fact, insane! :-D

[quote="Arman"] As you can see, I am, in fact, insane! :-D [/quote] In the best possible way.