So I've been doing some soloplay in the City State of the Invincible Overlord - and I came to a place where I need to generate a number of NPCs travelling together. This got me wondering about the make up of the human population of the City State. Which lead me down this rabbit hole.
In addition to the information scattered and repeated in the classic City State booklets, I found a pdf about the languages of the City State of more recent origin. I
thought at the time that it was a preview of the updated Players Handbook - now I'm not so sure, so I'm not going to link directly to it. I did use it create a list of human languages commonly spoken in the City State, which forms the Culture/Primary Language column of my Backgrounds table. I added an Abbreviation column for cross referencing the culture to the Hair, Skin and Eye color tables.
Besides that I wanted to add color by having each culture have their own naming style. There are lots of random name generators on the web, I even
wrote my own for a previous campaign that I'll use for the Altanian, Viridistan and Amazon names. For the others, I usually go to
Fantasy Name Generators.
Height and Weight Adjustments refer to some character generation tables out of Chivalry & Sorcery that I use when fleshing out physical descriptions. The adjustments don't change the range of the results, just the probabilities of a character being short, fat, tall, skinny etc.
Backgrounds
Roll |
Culture/ Primary Language |
Abrv |
Naming Style |
Height Adjust |
Weight Adjust |
01-36
|
Common
|
C
|
English Renaissance |
0
|
0
|
37-61
|
Tharbrian
|
T
|
French Renaissance |
0
|
-1
|
62-74
|
Altanian
|
Alt
|
Early German |
+1
|
+1
|
75-83
|
Skandik
|
S
|
Norse |
+2
|
+2
|
84-90
|
Duneal
|
D
|
Celtic |
-1
|
-1
|
91-94
|
Viridian
|
V
|
Latin |
-1
|
+1
|
95-97
|
Antillian
|
Ant
|
Spanish Renaissance |
0
|
-1
|
98-99
|
Amazon
|
Am
|
Classical Greek |
0
|
-1
|
100
|
Orichalan
|
O
|
Amerind |
-2
|
-2
|
Hair, Eye & Skin Colors – the Ready Ref Sheets supplement has a set of tables for creating descriptions of females. I would say is that Bob Bledsaw had a target market in mind when he wrote them up. Inspirational, rather than something I would use out of the box.
I expanded them to apply to all humans, not just the girls and weighted them so that people with the same cultural background will tend to have similar tones - but individuals from any group can, in the end, have any combination.
Hair
Color |
C |
T |
Alt |
S |
D |
V |
Ant |
Am |
O |
Black |
01-14
|
01-20
|
01-10
|
01-05
|
01-12
|
01-10
|
01-25
|
01-20
|
01-50
|
Brunette |
15-29
|
21-40
|
11-25
|
06-10
|
13-17
|
11-20
|
26-45
|
21-25
|
51-65
|
Brown |
30-45
|
41-60
|
26-40
|
11-15
|
18-22
|
21-35
|
46-65
|
26-30
|
66-75
|
Chestnut |
46-59
|
61-69
|
41-60
|
16-20
|
23-27
|
36-50
|
66-75
|
31-33
|
76-80
|
Auburn |
60-65
|
70-72
|
61-65
|
21-30
|
28-30
|
51-60
|
76-79
|
34-35
|
81-85
|
Red |
66-68
|
73-75
|
66-68
|
31-40
|
31-32
|
61-65
|
80-82
|
36-45
|
86-87
|
Strawberry Blonde |
69-73
|
76-78
|
69-73
|
41-50
|
33-44
|
66-70
|
83-85
|
46-55
|
88-89
|
Blonde |
74-83
|
79-84
|
74-93
|
51-75
|
45-56
|
71-75
|
86-89
|
56-75
|
90-92
|
Platinum Blonde |
84-87
|
85-87
|
94-96
|
76-85
|
57-68
|
76-80
|
90-92
|
76-85
|
93-94
|
White/ Gray |
88-90
|
88-90
|
97-99
|
86-95
|
69-80
|
81-85
|
93-95
|
86-90
|
95-99
|
Exotic |
91-00
|
91-00
|
00
|
96-00
|
81-00
|
86-00
|
96-00
|
91-00
|
00
|
Skin
Color |
C |
T |
Alt |
S |
D |
V |
Ant |
Am |
O |
Pale White |
01-10
|
01-05
|
01-05
|
01-10
|
01-20
|
01-20
|
01-05
|
01-05
|
01-05
|
Fair |
11-25
|
06-25
|
06-10
|
11-30
|
21-60
|
21-40
|
06-10
|
06-15
|
06-10
|
Bronze |
26-37
|
26-45
|
11-19
|
31-50
|
61-80
|
41-45
|
11-30
|
16-25
|
11-15
|
Olive |
38-52
|
46-65
|
20-39
|
51-60
|
81-82
|
46-50
|
31-50
|
26-45
|
16-35
|
Yellow |
53-57
|
66-70
|
40-44
|
61-68
|
83
|
51-55
|
51-55
|
46-50
|
36-40
|
Light Brown |
58-67
|
71-75
|
45-64
|
69-73
|
84-85
|
56-60
|
56-65
|
51-60
|
41-49
|
Red |
68-77
|
76-80
|
65-84
|
74-80
|
86
|
61-65
|
66-70
|
51-65
|
50-54
|
Brown |
78-82
|
81-85
|
85-89
|
81-85
|
87
|
66-70
|
71-75
|
66-70
|
55-59
|
Dark Brown |
83-86
|
86-88
|
90-94
|
86-90
|
88
|
71-75
|
76-85
|
71-80
|
60-79
|
Ebony |
87-90
|
89-90
|
95-99
|
91-95
|
89-90
|
76-80
|
86-95
|
81-90
|
80-99
|
Exotic |
91-00
|
91-00
|
00
|
96-00
|
91-00
|
81-00
|
96-00
|
91-00
|
00
|
Eyes
Color |
C |
T |
Alt |
S |
D |
V |
Ant |
Am |
O |
Light Blue |
01-06
|
01-08
|
01-10
|
01-20
|
01-12
|
01-02
|
01-05
|
01-12
|
01-05
|
Blue |
07-16
|
09-20
|
11-25
|
21-40
|
13-24
|
03-07
|
06-10
|
13-24
|
06-11
|
Gray |
17-26
|
21-30
|
26-40
|
41-60
|
25-36
|
08-10
|
11-15
|
25-36
|
12-16
|
Gray-Green |
27-32
|
31-38
|
41-48
|
61-63
|
37-43
|
11-13
|
16-25
|
37-44
|
17-22
|
Green
|
33-42
|
39-50
|
49-63
|
64-68
|
44-55
|
14-18
|
26-40
|
45-56
|
23-29
|
Green-Brown |
43-53
|
51-62
|
64-71
|
69-78
|
56-65
|
19-33
|
41-55
|
57-63
|
30-49
|
Hazel |
54-70
|
63-74
|
72-86
|
79-83
|
66-70
|
34-53
|
56-70
|
64-68
|
50-69
|
Dark Brown |
71-82
|
75-86
|
87-91
|
84-88
|
71-76
|
54-73
|
71-85
|
69-73
|
70-90
|
Red |
83-85
|
87-88
|
92-93
|
89-93
|
77-83
|
74-78
|
86-90
|
74-75
|
91-96
|
Hetero- chromia * |
86-87
|
89-90
|
94-95
|
94-95
|
84-88
|
79-80
|
91-95
|
76-80
|
97-99
|
Exotic |
88-00
|
91-00
|
96-00
|
96-00
|
89-00
|
81-00
|
96-00
|
81-00
|
00
|
* Heterochromia
is the condition where each eye is a different color
Exotic Colors etc
Roll |
Hair |
Skin |
Eyes |
01-10 |
Light Blue
|
Pale Blue
|
Purple
|
11-20 |
Blue
|
Blue
|
Orange
|
21-30 |
Dark Blue
|
Lilac
|
Lilac
|
31-40 |
Olive Grab
|
Purple
|
Black
|
41-50 |
Green
|
Orange
|
Gold
|
51-60 |
Lilac
|
Green
|
Silver
|
61-70 |
Purple
|
Fur (Roll for
color)*
|
Copper
|
71-80 |
Striped (Roll
Twice)
|
Feathers
(Roll twice for colors)**
|
Dead white,
including iris and pupil
|
81-90 |
Plumes (Roll
for colors)
|
Scales (Roll
for color)***
|
Cat's Eye
Pupils (Roll for color)
|
91-00 |
Bald
|
Transparent
|
Faceted (Roll
for color)
|
*Has a feline
tail
**Has wings
***Part mermaid
Common – the primary trade language of the City State of the Invincible Overlord and the surrounding region. Characters with this background are a plurality within the City State and receive no special bonuses.
Tharbian
– one of the three languages that Common developed out of. People
with this background receive Common as a free language, although if
they have an intelligence penalty they really speak a horrible
mishmash patois of the two. Tharbian speakers tend to be thinner
than most.
Altanian –
one of the three languages that Common developed out of. People with
this background receive Common as a free language, although if they
have an intelligence penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash
patois of the two. Altanian speakers tend to be taller and larger
than average.
Skandik – the native
language of the Invincible Overlord himself and the pirate people he
springs from. People with this background receive Common as a free
language, although if they have an intelligence penalty they really
speak a horrible mishmash patois of the two. Skandik speakers tend
to be much taller and heavier than most.
Duneal– the language of
the foresters of Dearthwood. People with this background receive
Common as a free language, although if they have an intelligence
penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash patois of the two.
Duneal speakers tend to be smaller and thinner than most.
Viridian– one of the
three languages that Common developed out of and the language of the
City State of the World Emperor. People with this background receive
Common as a free language, although if they have an intelligence
penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash patois of the two.
Viridian speakers tend to be shorter and heavier than average.
Antillian– the trade
language of the south seas. People with this background receive
Common as a free language, although if they have an intelligence
penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash patois of the two.
Antillian speakers tend to be thinner than most.
Amazon– the language of
the southern Amazon tribes. People with this background receive
Common as a free language, although if they have an intelligence
penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash patois of the two.
Amazon speakers tend to be thinner than most.
Orichalan – the
language of the people of the Moonraker Moors. People with this
background receive Common as a free language, although if they have
an intelligence penalty they really speak a horrible mishmash patois
of the two. Orichalan speakers tend to be much smaller and thinner
than most.