Random Character Creation in Warhammer Fantasy Role Play
Letting fate decide
In the tabletop roleplaying game, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, players are invited to create their own characters using a randomisation mechanic that supports its social class and oppression themes.
Of course, players can choose their own class and character with no restriction if they want, but players are offered a juicy XP bonus if they accept a random class and character dictated by a d100 roll.
If the result of this d100 roll is unappealing to the player, they can re-roll two more options to bring their total choices up to a total of three and select one of these. Their XP bonus for playing along at this point is reduced by half, but still worth considering all the same. The player can simply choose their own class and career by hand, but receive no bonuses for doing so.
A similar exchange is offered when choosing the species for their character, earning an XP bonus for accepting the result of a d100 roll against a species table much like this one:
And you will notice immediately that the probability of your character being born a human in this setting is 90 whole per cent. If you play along with this microsystem and accept a loss of control over your fated role in this fantasy setting, you will most likely be a human.
If you continue to accept fate as the d100 rolls offer it, it’s far less likely that you will play as a Wood Elf Bounty Hunter than a Human Solider, reflecting the intended population demographics of the setting.
The above table can be described as an empirical distribution of species in this setting, which reflects the commonality of humans, and the relative scarcity of Elves.
See the result of building a “community” of 32 randomly rolled characters this way as below. Mostly human with a few halflings and dwarves, but not an Elf to be seen!
You can also try it yourself by accessing this example spreadsheet
A small challenge: What would you do to this spreadsheet in order to randomly simulate a dwarven hold, where very few humans and even fewer elves dare visit?
Now to extract some small amount of value from any reader making it this far. Like this post, if you would like to see the Class and Career aspects of this worked up in spreadsheet form. Better yet, make it yourself!