The above PDF includes some tables and procedures from the Planet Algol booklet for generating NPCs.
You can consult the Algol Encyclopedia sidebar to the right for races, classes and so forth (aside from mutants...).
The appearance & traits material is currently far too shallow for display, and the NPC equipment generator is hampered by my inchoate technological and magic item resources.
The names lists are is desperate need of a ruthless go-over (and I should come up with another 200 or so).
This doesn't include all of the specific bits like "don't roll class for cactoids," "don't roll gender for Nire Witches" and the like, it's just a rough skeleton & guts document intended as a resource for NPC generation for oldschool D&D-style games.
I hope I can be forgiven the gender determination percentages, I went with 20% both for purposes of of genre emulation and as an artifact of the unfortunate social attitudes of the majority of Algol societies...it's an evil, dying world.
The NPC ability score arrays included are for the three classic classes. I started bolding ability scores of 8 or less and 13 or higher as way to quickly get a grasp of what that particular NPC is all about, ability-wise. The bolding is incomplete, I knock off a chunk here and there.
Hopefully portions of this document can be of use for some of your campaigns, and please let me know what you think of it!
EDIT: Regarding Lawful/Chaotic Alignment, use the following:
d6 Civilized/Lawful Regions
1-2 Lawful
3-5 Neutral
6 Chaotic
d6 Borderlands *
1-2 Lawful
3-4 Neutral
5-6 Chaotic
* Usually being an area surrounding civilized regions, settlements and strongholds for a few to several hexes dependent upon the size and strength of the settlement.
d6 Wilderness/Chaotic Regions
1 Lawful
2-4 Neutral
5-6 Chaotic
A most handy tool, I was wondering why nothing on the Houri in the tables? Have you changed your mind about using them?
ReplyDeleteWell, the Houri character class is from White Dwarf, so I can't really use it as is.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on making a Houri-analogue race/class, the Lilim, but I'm belaying any work on them until I've finished the first Planet Algol booklet.
Gotcha, I've got that White Dwarf with the Houri, its a cool class. Might get to run a game of Planet Algol soon and my wife is thinking about playing one. There's some cool stuff in those old issues of White Dwarf. Regarding the Algol booklet, do you have any plans to do any additional info on the various human races? outlook? racial tendencies? etc... or are you leaving that open?
ReplyDeleteWell, my concept of Algol humanity is that there are all these scattered, insular, eccentric societies...so there's no real widespread cultural characteristics among the races of Algol Men. Among every race of Algol Men there are savages societies and technocratic societies.
ReplyDeleteA most promising beginning. I am always in the market for good at-the-table resources and this is up to your usual inspirational standard... Can't wait until I can get my hands on the full product!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dave, I can't wait to get the final product. I've already started working on the notes for my Planet Algol Campaign.
ReplyDeleteBlair,
Thanks for the clarification regarding your concept of the Algol races that is quite helpful.
Dave: Thanks!, one of my design goals is to provide a campaign setting and a suite of DM tools useful for a variety of campaigns.
ReplyDeleteBill: Thanks, I am freaking stoked to hear about another possible Algol campaign. I'm going to try an do a post to better organize the material on this blog to facilitate usage for such endeavors. (yikes...it just automatically comes out of my brain gygaxian)
Please keep me posted on how it work out for you!
@Bill & others: The following may be helpful! :)
ReplyDelete"...These extraterrestrial, yet wholly human races are the descendants of the sorcerously and technologically advanced prehistoric societies of the Ancients; civilizations that were in some cases millions of years old. As a whole the character of Algol Men could be describes as callous, decadent, jaded, vain, venal and worldly. The practices of slavery, dueling and intoxicant abuse are widespread. Most societies place little value on human life and the many have a rigid class or caste system with a privileged minority while the masses cower in squalor and oppression (and in some cases subject to sorcerous, psychic or technological mind control!). Ennui, and questionable practices to combat it, is widespread among Algol society.
Despite the immense knowledge and power possessed by the Ancients, their remnants, called "Algol Men," have lost the arts and lore of the Ancients in the holocausts that destroyed their civilizations and the tens of thousands of years of decadence and savagery that followed. Algol Men societies vary wildly: from thousands-year-old enclaves possessing some degree of technological sophistication to nomads with little more than the knowledge of how to work iron; from aesthetes that live of life of quiet meditation in crystal domes to demon-worshiping cannibal savages draped in the grisly remnants of their prey. The majority of "civilized" Algol Men possess a technological ability similar to that of Earth's Ancient or Dark Ages societies; there also being many that have a Stone Age equivalent culture; as well as scattered enclaves of technology."
That helps tremendously.
ReplyDeleteThanks!