Since I’m going to be running Blades as our weekly game starting this week, I wanted to check out the “People”…

Since I’m going to be running Blades as our weekly game starting this week, I wanted to check out the “People” tables to see what kind of characters I could get! I got some awesome and detailed characters when I engaged all of the tables from those fruitful pages.

However I found that the process of using all of the tables took too much time and too many dice rolls (and I did it a few times before I realized that I was getting too much detail). Since I don’t want to necessarily just roll on EVERY table for every NPC, but I like having a common starting place for the descriptions I have of NPCs (cuz that’s what inspires me), I wanted to set up some guidelines for myself so that I could get about the same kinds of information on many NPCs, quickly. So I decided to make a “template” that would give me a sketch of NPCs to use in my game. So, based on the tables found on pg 302 in the book, I made the following template:

A [2d6 Looks “description”], [2d6 Herritage ] [1d6 Looks “gender”] (optionally: with the [2d6 “… and Faction” from pg 307])

(S)He is [ 3 x 2d6 Traits ]

Prefers the application of [ 2 x 2d6 Methods ]

– Name (chosen from the name list)

This took a little tinkering, but I used this a few times and got NPCs in a timeframe that I liked and at a level of detail which I find fruitful! So, of course I want to share with you guys a sample of this template at work. The examples:

An Athletic, Dagger Islander Man.

He is Gracious, Daring, and Sophisticated.

Prefers the application of Study and Theft.

– Vellerys Slane

A Dark, Severosi Man with The Fog Hounds

He is Cold, Secretive, and Dishonest.

Prefers the application of Strategy and Violence.

– Helles “Thorn” Skora

A Young, Ambiguously gendered Akorosi with The Hive.

They are Defiant, Vicious, and Cavalier.

Prefers the application of Commerce (rolled 2xCommerce so they’re REALLY into it)

– Arvus Haig

I was able to complete these three NPCs in about 5 minutes, which is quick enough for me and gives me enough detail to start building a character on top of. I can also roll on the tables more to add further detail (which I might do to young master Haig).

So there you have it; my “quick” NPC generator template!

How have you guys been using the tables to help your games/prep?