Current Version: V7.2 (20 Aug 2020)
Recent updates
- Gender changes - added gender pronouns, allowed removing of stereotypes
- Improved descriptions - split into portrayal, appearance, power base, personality,
wealth.
- Simplified character complexity while giving them more depth
- Added plot hooks
Upcoming
Writing descriptions and content is currently the bottleneck in improving the system. I'd
like to speed it up but I feel like the whole system is still not perfect.
It's been over a year since the V7 engine. It's time to go somewhere new. The next phase
will focus on rapid experimentation.
V8 will go for a more 'draw a card' approach. The interface will show it as sort of a
deck, like modern, fantasy, apocalypse, disaster, romance, war. Users can reroll if they get something they
don't like, which lets them evolve their characters into something interesting, rather than just going with
whatever the RNG throws at them.
Some plot types are a bit too heavy. For example, Disaster (tsunami, war, zombie
apocalypse), Fugitive, Murderous Adultery. These affect the entire story and are unsuitable for a "random
character".
I'll try to do different types of character development.
- Type One might be a static character who is encountered at some point; someone you come across, who has a
background and their own pre-existing problems. This is the existing model. The idea is more to flesh out some
random person in a story, but it doesn't tell good stories.
- Type Two is an encounter or episode. They have a small story arc, with an intro, conflict, and resolution.
This is more for GMs looking for filler. Or say, Book 2 of a trilogy.
- Type Three is a full story. The story revolves around them. This tool acts more as an "autotune" for that
story, or helps writers to get unstuck and move somewhere interesting. Pixar has said that the hardest part
of a story is the ending, and this tool helps writers work on the ending before finishing the middle.
- Type Four would be a world generator. The system focuses more on creating a world that is ripe for drama.
Zombie apocalypse is common, because it has every single kind of drama trope - saving a family member,
sacrificing loved ones, being betrayed by a sibling, selfish ambition. Similar with fantasy and sci-fi war
worlds. A romance might have a different world, maybe one with corrupt CEOs or rival corporations/gangs. A
combat heavy story, will focus on reasons for larger conflicts and MacGuffins, and less on things like like
romantic betrayal.