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GURPS^® NPC Generator is Freeware, which means that you can use it and freely distribute it as you like. If you use the tool frequently and are over-burdened by a nagging sense of morality, feel free to send the author (that's me) a nominal fee of like, oh, 5 or 10 dollars of your hard-earned money. You may contact me at: andrew.yinger@gmail.com, where I will provide you with a mailing address; it is at this stage that I will forge the cornerstone of a major financial empire.

For the online version: click here.
For the windows version: download and unzip the archive into a directory of your choice, and then run [directory]\NPCGen.exe, where directory is your 'installation' directory.

The compiled binary will run on any win32 platform (e.g., Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP, etc.). It has been most extensively tested on Windows 2000. Python source is also available that will allow the tool to run on most Linux and even some Macintosh systems. Contact the author for more info on obtaining the cross-platform source at andrew.yinger@gmail.com.

Normal Mode

1. Choose a character type, or template, in the drop-down menu. (In the above example, a Kobold Warrior has been chosen.) Note that each specific character type is prefixed with the [genre] to which it belongs. You may also choose a *Random [genre] to generate a random character type for a given genre. You may even choose to generate a *Random Random NPC, if that's your thing.
2. Choose the quantity of NPCs to generate by adjusting the number to the right of the drop down menu.
3. Adjust the relative power of the NPC that you wish to generate. 50 is the base-line, or default, power-level. The difference between the power level and 50 is the percentage change in power. In the above example, a power level of 100 means that the Kobold will be +50% more powerful than the average Kobold. (Note that 'relative power' is not synonymous with point-value.)
4. Generate the NPC. Click the generate button (to the left of the character type drop-down menu), or press 'CTRL-G', to generate the character.

GURPS^® NPC Generator is written in python (www.python.org) and the GUI front-end is written in wxPython (www.wxpython.org), both open-source and both freely available. The stand-alone binary was compiled using McMillan's Python Installer, freely available at http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/install5_ann.html. The character name files were painstakingly compiled from several sources, most notably from Kate Monk's Onomastikon: http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk.

You may contact me at andrew.yinger@gmail.com. Please notify me of any bugs that need to be fixed or additional features and rules you would like to see.

GURPS^® NPC Generator is completely (ok, mostly) data-driven, which means that every rule, every character class, type, attribute, weapon and armor and so on can all be found in xml files, typically stored in [installed-directory]/class-data. The XML is extensively cross-referenced, which means that if you want to add a new weapon, for example, to a given character type, you would have to create that weapon in the weapons data file (weapons.xml), and then reference the new weapon in the new NPC type's template data file (say, new-NPCs.xml). More on new NPC template creation can be found below.

Every NPC that is created is automatically given a random first and last name that is appropriate for his or her gender and nationality. Most NPCs simply receive a static first and last name that can be found in a flat text file, typically located in [installed-directory]/names-data. Again, the flat file that is used depends upon the character's sex and nationality. A nationality to gender name map can be found in [installed-directory]/cfg/meta-config.xml. A typical xml entry, or map, for a single nationality looks like so:

An NPC's list of advantages and disadvantages is somewhat randomly determined from a master list based on several factors. The number of advantages and disadvantages is constrained in the appropriate template data file. An NPC may also always receive or always be excluded from a given advantage or disadvantage. So a Dwarf Fighter, for example, always has two-levels of the 'stocky' disadvantage. Also, most NPC's have a certain percentage chance of acquiring rare advantages (e.g., eidetic memory) and disadvantages (e.g., epilepsy). Furthermore, many advantage-disadvantage, or disadvantage-disadvantage pairs are mutually exclusive. So a character who is fat may never be skinny, for instance. Advantage and Disadvantage exclusion rules are defined in the [installation-directory]/class-data/attribute-rules.xml file (see below).

As per GURPS^® rules, skill values are initially derived from an appropriate stat (e.g., acting is based on Intelligence) and is usually further adjusted according to two factors: how difficult the skill is, and, any range constraints for the skill of the NPC's class type. Furthermore, all skill levels are automatically adjusted if the NPC has a relevant advantage or disadvantage. So, for instance, an NPC with animal-empathy will automatically get a +4 bonus applied to his or her animal-handling and riding skills. Also, some skills have prerequisite powers, abilities and even other skills (most notably, spell skills). All of this is handled automatically by the NPC Generator, which determines the appropriate set of prerequisite skills or maneuvers from the [installation-directory]/class-data/attribute-rules.xml file.

Weapons

Ah, my favorite part about generating random NPCs. First off, an NPC may only have a weapon for which he or she is skilled in (as determined for each weapon in the [installation-directory]/class-data/weapons.xml file). Also, an NPC's possible set of weapons and armor is usually constrained according to his or her class. So, our friend the Kobold, will only get weapons that he or she can handle -- typically light weapons such as short-swords, short-bows, and half-spears. Again, all of this is completely data driven and utterly configurable. All weapon damage is automatically calculated based on strength.

Many of the unique item descriptions are magical abilities straight out of GURPS^® Magic. Others are not so obvious. Typically, an ability value is either a special bonus or limits the number of times a day the NPC can use the ability (GM's discretion). Note that any weapon or armor stats that are always affected by a special ability have that ability score modified accordingly and marked with an asterisk, or '*'. In any case, I will give you my interpretation of the Kobold's cool items above. His Knife is a heart-seeker, which means any hit to the vitals automatically hits the heart (always on). It also does +3 damage against any Orc (orc-bane: 3, always on) and doubles any initiative bonuses the Kobold may have (while the weapon is being wielded, of course). The Amulet gives the Kobold the mobility ability (which just means he is effectively immune to the effects of entangling spells, always on). Also, he can invoke the amulet (by spending the requisite fatigue) to block a hand-weapon attack (as per the iron-arm spell) three times a day. In general, the skill of a special ability (where relevant, such as with the iron-arm ability) is 15. These are just rough guidelines. Again, GM's discretion always rules.

One of the coolest things that a GM can use this tool for is to create their own custom character templates for generating NPCs. As mentioned several times above, all NPC class type data is ultimately stored in flat XML data files (usually in the class-data directory, although this too is configurable). If you are new to XML, you may want to check out: http://www.w3.org/XML.

The only hard-coded data file name in the system is meta-config.xml, located in [installation-directory]/cfg. This is the master data file that tells GURPS^® NPC Generator where to find all other data files, including the files used for all NPC or class templates, rules, weapons, armor, and generating random character names, as described above.

Note that currently all class files are stored under a single class-file-set, or list -- that way they can all share the same subdirectory, or 'path-infix', which happens to be class-data. To add a new custom NPC template, it is recommended that you do so in a new class data file and then add a reference to the new file in this list.

The first thing to decide when creating a new NPC template, or xml class, is which parent(s) it will inherit all of its default values from. Usually, it is best to inherit from "Normal Person" (alias: np) which can be found at the top of standard-classes.xml. Ultimately, all NPC classes should point back to this base class in their inheritance tree, as all basic skills, advantages and disadvantages are defined here. Incidentally, a convenient way of deciding on a good class parent is by browsing the inheritance tree (by clicking on the right-most button in the NPC Generator tool bar):

As the example above shows, the Dwarf Barbarian NPC template, or class type, directly inherits from Barbarian - Abstract, and Dwarf (in that order -- note that multiple inheritance is supported, more on that below). This was achieved by entering the appropriate class aliases as parents in the following line of xml (which can be found in standard-fantasy.xml):

What happens if the same sort of attribute is described in more than one of a class's parents? In the above example, both the 'Barbarian - Abstract' and the 'Dwarf' parent classes describe the axe-mace skill and its appropriate range of values. Which set of data takes precedence? The rule here is: depth-first search. The class template parser first looks for the values found in the class template itself (so, the axe-mace skill data inherited from a parent could be overridden here -- which, as it turns out, is in fact the case for the Dwarf Barbarian class), then in the first parent listed, and then in that parent's first parent (the 'grand parent') and so on, until the data -- in this case -- for the axe-mace skill is found. Needless to say, multiple inheritance can be a bit dicey, which is why the NPC generator has the ability to understand so-called 'abstract' classes -- or, classes that are intended solely to hold parent data, and not to stand alone as classes in their own right. In the tree listed above, an abstract class is denoted with a . (Note: to create your own abstract class, use the syntax 'abstract=1' in the class definition header.) For a good example of judicious use of multiple inheritance, see the 'Demigod' template in the exotic-classes.xml file.

This class's nationality is defined as 'exotic', a special reserved nationality which uses a custom exotic name generator. Remember, nationality is part of what determines the set of names that your NPC gets to choose from. Also used to determine name is gender; here the 'gender-ratio' is defined as 58, which means that 58% of the Demigod NPC's created will be male.

Finally, both the hair and eyes key words can be used to override default hair and eye color. Note that any such trait must be followed by a list of comma-delimited (", " -- don't forget the space) words.

(Incidentally, 'item-mod-inc' is the increase in chance for the NPC's weapons and armor to be unique or magical ... Demigod's have a 94% increase in chance to receive magic weapons and armor. Each weapon and armor item itself has a 'mod' key, which is added to a class's item-mod-inc value to determine the item's chance for uniqueness -- more on this below.)

We want our Demigods to be very powerful, so we constrain the stat (e.g., strength) value ranges using the 'min' and 'max' key words. But what if we want some attribute value or values to be more likely than others? That is where the 'mode' key word comes in. Using mode, we can in effect create a random distribution with a nice bell curve. From the above example, a Demigod can have strength score that ranges from 10 to 26, but is more likely to receive a strength score of 17, 18 or 19.

For example, if we want every Demigod to be attractive, we add this requirement to the 'advantages' section of the template:

Here, 'req="1"' means that every Demigod NPC will be attractive, to some degree. You can also define the percentage likelihood using the 'req' key word: for instance, 'req="33.33"' means that there is a 33.33% chance that an NPC will acquire a given characteristic. 'req="-1"' means that the NPC may never have a given trait. (Note: if you want there to be a 1 percent chance, be sure to prefix the 1 with a zero, like so: 'req="01".)

As been mentioned above, all the rules followed by the NPC Generator are data-driven, all defined in XML (with very few exceptions). Therefore, if you want to add a new skill that NPC Generator doesn't yet know about, you will need to add it to the attribute-rules.xml file and then cross-reference it in your new class template.

The above example introduces several new concepts. Reading from left to right, we see first the name of the new skill is the XML tag, in this case 'language-celestial'. Then, we add prerequisite skills or advantages (if any). Here, we have decided that anyone who knows the celestial language must have one or two ranks in the awareness advantage: prereqs="awareness:1~2". (Note that attribute ranges in the rules file are delineated with a '~', or tilde, character.) Finally, we add all of the 'stat's (in this case, advantages and disadvantages) that may affect this skill. Since this new skill is a language, this is pretty straight forward: stat="language-talent, eidetic-memory, intelligence". Oh, I almost forgot. The celestial language is super hard to learn, so we define a very low minimum for the skill, -7. (Note that we do not define the maximum; that is done in the class template.)

In this case, we make the skill required ('req="1"') and constrain the values to range from --2 to 2.

Creating a new item, such as a new weapon or piece of armor works very similarly. In the appropriate XML file, you need to first define the new item. Here is an example of a new piece of armor (in the armor.xml file) that an NPC may receive:

In the above example, we have created a "Mithril Chain Shirt", with a short name (to be referenced in the class template file) of 'mcshirt'. mod="7" means that there is an additional 7 percent chance that these items will be magical or unique in some way. We can also ensure that a given item will always receive some magical or special abilities: req-mods="lightened, high-quality" means that a Mithril Chain Shirt will always be lightened and of high-quality. (Note that these special abilities are defined that the end of the armor.xml and weapons.xml files.)

To add this item to a new template, all we have to do now is reference its short name, or 'mcshirt'.