The random background generator for fantasy roleplaying games
by Aron Postma.

Introduction

Ever had to make a character for a RPG campaign, but couldn't 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.
A 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 usefull in the campaign, and what parts are not.

Usage

Simply type `backgrnd' 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 fear
ed for there 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 lawfull 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.

Don't 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 show 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 show 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 lawfull 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 colour 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 Tammy@dolfijn.nl

History.

2.87 - 04/06/2000

First released version.

Unfortunately, I don't have information about the earlier version
because of harddisk crashes, and lack of interest in writing up
the changes instead of working on the new version. I'll try to do
so in the future though.

Known bugs.

Sometimes, the program shows that something has happened to a number
of your brothers, but not to how many.
After examining the code, I still can't figure out why it does this.
Theoratically, when it reaches the part where it prints "when you were
AGE, XXX of your brothers" etcetera, it must print the number as well,
but it doesn't.

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 can't 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.