RoleBodkinA whole cast, dealt in a moment
RoleBodkin is a character generator for novelists, game masters and anyone who needs forty marines by Friday. Say what you already know about your cast. RoleBodkin deals the rest: a name for everyone, and a temperament, a want, a fear, a secret and more. Keep what you like, deal the rest again, and rewrite anything in your own words.
From GNUware, the makers of WordCairn and LoomArras. Features, supported computers and price may change before the first release.
Twelve townsfolk for a western, dealt in a current test build (0.2.4).
How it works
A bodkin is the pointed tool a printer used to pick a single letter out of set type. RoleBodkin picks characters the same way: one at a time, or a whole cast at once.
1. The brief
Choose a setting and how many characters, up to 60. List any names you already have, and one trait the whole cast shares, such as a rank or a home town.
2. Deal
Every character gets a name and about ten traits: temperament, wants, fears, body, habit, belief, secret and voice, plus a few that belong to the setting.
3. Keep and deal again
Lock the names and traits you like. Deal again and only the rest change. The die beside a trait deals just that one.
4. Make it yours
Type over any name or trait. Your words are marked as yours and kept through every later deal.
Ten settings, and decks you can change
What the current test build does. It may grow before the first release.
Ten settings
A novel, a fantasy party, a ship's company, mystery suspects, a western town, a modern office, a heist crew, a royal court, a small-town high school and a space station. Each has its own traits: a trade and why they came west, or a role in the job and a weak spot.
Names two ways
From lists of whole names that suit the setting, or built by joining a start to an end ("Bran" + "noch") for names nobody has heard before.
No two alike
A deal doesn't hand the same trait to two characters, so even a big cast stays varied. The table tells you if any traits are shared.
Decks you can edit
Every list a deal draws from is plain text, one entry per line. Add to it, replace it, or bring your own lists from a spreadsheet or text file.
The same deal again
Each deal has a short code. The same brief, decks and code always deal the same cast.
Take your cast to LoomArras
Save a cast as a spreadsheet that LoomArras imports as character cards, or as Markdown to read and share.
A novel's cast. Ada Thorne and Wilf Marsh were named in the brief; the other six were dealt.
The Decks page: every name list and trait deck, ready to change.
Private by design
Like everything from GNUware, RoleBodkin works on your own computer.
Nothing leaves your computer
No account, no tracking, and no looking anything up online. RoleBodkin never connects to the internet.
Plain files
Each cast is one plain file on your computer, and only the decks you change are saved beside it. Nothing is locked away in a database.
Our own lists
The built-in names and traits are written for RoleBodkin, not taken from any published deck or game.
Where it stands
RoleBodkin is being built and tested now. There's no download or price yet.
Working in the test build
- Dealing, locking, dealing again and rewriting, for casts of up to 60
- All ten settings, with editable decks and name lists
- Saving a cast as a spreadsheet for LoomArras, or as Markdown
- Light and dark, seven color schemes and eight typefaces, including Atkinson Hyperlegible and OpenDyslexic
Still to come
- More testing with real casts
- Installers you can download
- The price, announced before release
Questions
Can I download it now?
Not yet. RoleBodkin is coming soon. Email us and we'll tell you when it's ready.
What will it cost?
The price hasn't been set. Like WordCairn and LoomArras, the plan is to pay once, with no subscription.
Which computers will it run on?
That will be announced with the first release.
Is it for novels or for games?
Both. It deals a cast for a novel as readily as a fantasy party, a heist crew or a ship's company, and every deck can be changed to suit your story or your table.
How is it different from LoomArras?
RoleBodkin makes characters; LoomArras keeps track of them. Deal a cast in RoleBodkin, then import it into LoomArras to draw the family tree, the timeline and the relationships.
Can I help test it?
Possibly. Write to [email protected] and say a little about what you write or run, and your computer.
Want to know when it's ready?
One email when RoleBodkin is released. Nothing else.
Tell me when it's ready