Hello There!

Well I have been working on the story aspect of my game and soon I shall be working on the mechanics of it. However, I don't feel like creating each of my enemies by hand - is there a quick enemy builder/generator online out there?

I have tried my hand at Google, but alas I can't find one for the life of me. I would greatly appreciate any and all help.

Thanks

I don't know any program to do that.

However, I can share with you how I proceed when building any NPC for my scenarii.

First of all, I think of what he or she does (is he a worker, a governor, etc. ?)

This help me to define a sort of template.

Then, I read through my DH, RT and/or DW books to see if I could find any NPC similar.

If I find one, I juste use the same profile, with or without some modifications.

Most of the time, it works very well.

Of course, in the rare cases when I can't find any fitting existing caracter, I have to build one.

In that case, I mostly use the rules from Ascension or Heed the Higher Call, to speed the build.

Ordo Malleus has done a very nice job of making a fast character builder. It isn't perfect but if you need a quick character that is fleshed out with talents and skills, it does the job well.

I tend to do little more than a stat line with wounds, armor, and weapon for most characters, maybe one or two skill bonuses. I find full builds to be overkill for most NPC's. Even the big bad may or may not get a full build.

Hi Grimsson,

do you talk about "minor npc" or the major antagonists of your story?

1) Build your major antagonists. Its worth it.

2) Create a basic template for the stats for mooks. If your particularly hurried, 30s across the board, subtract 5 from things they're bad at, add 5 to things they'e good at. 13-16 wounds, using the instant death rules for crit damage, or even the two strike rule. Move that base number up or down depending on the threat level the group can handle.

3) The "that makes sense" rule. Don't want to bother explaining who has las training and who has the pilot skill? Don't bother. The guy driving the truck can drive the truck, the guy with the rocket launcher know how to use the rocket launcher. The guy talking to you..can talk yo you. Think in hindsight, that really, the seneschal for the trader house should have the carouse skill? Presto, he does.

So long as you remember not to go insane, you should be fine. Rule of thumb: plan for talents, ignore skills, in mooks at least. No one is going to question why the cultist can swing a knife or lie. If you start saying "then he uses his lightning attack..." and you hand't planned for this, thats when your starting to cheat. of course, sometime, after an entire session of enemies dies horribly in two rounds, the occassional "special case" is acceptable.

Works for minor NPCs too. Didn't expect them to shoot the hotel clerk? Well, guess waht, now hes a 25's across the board guy with 12 wounds and a broken bottle.

@Gregorious21778 - Technically I was wanting to use a program that could create both. Something akin to D&D Adventure Tools.

To the rest - Thank you very much. AppliedCheese, you are very wise and your advice seems very good.

Follow up Question: How do you record all the information? I plan on using a spreadsheet, however if the community has found a better solution I would greatly appreciate any help.

I go old school and wasteful (and usually unoriginal). If i am using a specific foe quite a lot, i will just write down the pertinent stats on a scrap of paper and keep that with me, rather than having to keep flipping to the books. They are used only for combat fodder mostly. If i am including a 'boss' mob, i usually add either +5 or +10 to one or two of the profile characteristics, maybe bump up a perception related skill to make the players life a little harder. But usually, the boss never has more than a +10 difference in a single skill to the generics. I try to write it out by hand as much as possible on scrap paper, as my scribbling acts as a primitive cipher that requires a -10 Int test to successfully decipher.

If i use a online random npc generator, i usually copy-paste it to Word so i can then adjust it however much i want, tweak inventory items, etc. basic stuff. But i only do this for 'major' npcs, as the layout provided by the generator is far superior to my lines-on-fullscap.

But none of this is particularly revolutionary. Simple is best, as you don't want to spend hours and hours creating the perfect badguy only to have a stray/fluke shot kill him the moment he reveals himself.

If you play face to face, just keep a single stat line with mooks 1-100(or whatever) on the wound tracker, and indicate any standouts.

Over the internet, excel is your friend.

AppliedCheese said:

Mr. Cheese - I believe this is where we part ways. While I do play face to face, I prefer to use my laptop as a GM screen - which enables me to have lots of information at my fingertips. So I have the ability to have a spreadsheet filled with goons, plus i can arrange all my notes in an orderly manner.

It was in this vein I was looking for some electronic tools made for DH that would help considerably. Alas, this game doesn't seem to have the same amount of third party support as D&D. Maybe it is a good thing though, D&D 4e now has over 3,000 feats due to all the splat books, magazines, and third party ideas.

Major NPCs get their own personalized writeup. This applies to important villains as well as any named character the PCs will spend any reasonable amout of time interacting with.

Mooks and other "unnamed" NPCs get a nice yummy template. Slap that good handy "Underhive Thug" template on the copier, punch in 27 on the keypad and press the copy button....

For Mook "leaders" or other semi-notable types give them a "modified" template. For example the gang leader in charge of thug 1-27 above uses the same template, but add +10WS, +5BS, +5S, +5T, Intimidate +10, Swift Attack, has 15 Wounds. Same gear but add Handcannon and a Chainsword....

You get the general idea.

Someone on Dark Reign posted a handy NPC reference sheet that I use for my game. It has name, template type, stats, movement, wounds, armour, skills, talents/traits and gear entries..... And has three of them to a page! I usually print off about 20 blank pages of this before I sit down to plan out my own stories. Any tweaks I make to NPCs in published adventures usually end up on one of these as well so I don't have to flip through notes in the middle of gameplay. "Oh yeah, I forgot that one of them had a missile launcher. Oh well. So anyways, he shoots it..." Not a golden GM moment there...

A slight addition I'd make to everything that's been said (and in special light with regards to AppliedCheese's wondrous observation of 'and then you're cheating', excellent rule to keep in mind!) is as follows:

- Plan 'ambushes' or 'sequenced/expected' fights/encounters with some detail (e.g. mooks are still brushstroked, but the beefy 'unexpected challenge' girl and the rocket-launcher-toting surprise are noted specially) so as to have an actual metric of Acolyte success. I.e. they can win and they can loose without the GM having to wing it.

- Have a loose backup of things that might happen, but don't be ashamed of winging it in unexpected situations. If your players are seriously invested in it, you might want to note that they've gone off the beaten track and ask for a few minutes to build properly for them and for them to plan accordingly.

The hope is to keep 'critical' moments reasonably fair (i.e. the GM not just pulling out challenges willy nilly/from nowhere on a whim) whilst affording tons of opportunity for going off the beaten track and improvising.

A little pre-planning (using mook-generating techniques described and putting some more serious effort into 'memorable NPCs/antagonists') makes everything run smoother, but too much will simply mean an immense amount of time and effort wasted.

Key details are important (numbers, purpose, relative competence, potency), specifics are usually not.

For 'grunts', I start with one of the archetypal NPC packages from the back of the main Rulebook, then tailor them to fit their role in the scenario. Major adversaries, I create from scratch.

I cant quite remember which book it was in, but rules for minions both simple and colorful exist which could be the ultimate in quick badguys.

Likewise for bad guys an excel sheet as already suggested would work out nicely, especially given how small the stat block could be.

Lots of good advice here. I'll add some of my own. I give unnamed NPCs even tens in their statlines. That way I only have to roll one D10 for their checks (and consider it the tens of aD100 of course). It really helps with large battles. Most of the time I make things up like this: 20 for things you are not good at (civilians shooting) 30 for unqualified skills (ganger shooting). 40 for things you are good at (guardsman veteran shooting). 50 for things you excel at (sniper assassin shooting) etc. I decide beforehand what things an NPC would typically do, and I dont really bother telling my players what stats I'm rolling against and I often roll the dice hidden, so it doesn't matter if I forget some numbers between sessions or if I even make up some results now and then.

Remember that the main purpose is to tell an interesting story, not to play a strategy game against the players. Feel free to add or reduce numbers and abilities as the scene develops.

I make all my notes on loose papers that I keep in folders. I keep the notes relevant for this moment on top of the pile or visible in front of me. My best companion is a long list of general-purpose names that I strike out as I use them. They are quite useful to add personality to the single goon who survived the combat or similar. Hint: mix in at least 50% female names, it will make your universe seem more realistic.

Ah. The Laptop screen is excellent. In that case, still use excel...and keep a copy of the plot outline (or at least the factions/objectives) right under it, so that you can recall whats supposed to happen next, write in suddenly developed characters, and look down the road to see how this partiucalr player decision might cause some editing, and where it will fold back into the path.