Game in the Brain

The Random Lord Generator is meant to allow for the quick, simple, and detached creation of NPC lords as allies, patrons, or adversaries. They are also designed in mind of populating a setting for a GURPS Mass Combat War Campaign. Random Character creation can be fun when the Would Builder tries to make stories that would explain the whos, whys, and hows of the character.

I have yet to test this out and I will attempt to post several sample lords quickly generated when I get the chance (when I go home and print out the tables). The Random Man-at-arms tables and the Low Tech Mass Combat Templates will be quite useful when rolling up Vassal knights and Retainers. As a “jump-off” point these characters can have noted differences with the templates instead of having all the stats reprinted.

The idea of having a map printed out, and a quiet afternoon rolling up NPCs and using a random name generator I can find to populate a setting. Reminds me of the Appendix in Song of Fire and Ice where there was a cast of “thousands”. Plenty of little notes and references to other NPCs.

That reminds me I should have a better village generator up, since I found my Building Low-tech Landscapes Pyramid article print out. That article really needs a step by step summary, it was really hard for me to use although informative.

Makes me wonder if there was a Physics geek ever thought about fixing the Fudge damage system or know how to develop a damage “save” system like in T20. So much has happened since the long wait for GURPS low tech 4e I’ve moved so far on.

Right now I’m studying empires before Alexander, beginning with Sargon the Great. I find such lost and forgotten empires so alien. Applying game theory in terms of how certain patterns of decision making and organization evolve gives a lot of insight regarding what possible hidden factors influenced their culture.

Applying the Allison Model, what deduction can you make studying the earliest empires on earth? Considering the development of cultures of active problem solving, competition, personal freedom, and ethics what would these empires look like given the limitations of their technology?

Given cognitive dissonance and modern understanding of human behavior, why were stories so embellished with fantasy? What made men color what is clearly massively witnessed events (such as wars) with fantasy? Was it shared delusions? Strong reasons to idealize a new age?

How would such an empire appear with certain technologies present? When certain cultures developed? or when something as subtle and grand change, like the slow stretching of the seasons?

The thing about ancients forgotten empires, what ever cultural aspects that led to their failure to adapt and the uncoupling of long incubated problems in their systems are probably nothings so strange as what normal accident theory explains.