Hi there,

Sometimes I need a dozen or so NPCs who the PCs will (hopefully) interact with in a little more depth than 'shopkeeper', 'customs officer' etc.  Perhaps a small community with people of various ages.

The Mongoose Core Rulebook has a section on generating quick NPCs (rather than running through the full char gen rules) but it assumes that the PCs will be meeting other professional types like themselves presumably in their 30s or 40s judging from the number of skills they have.

There's no taking into account age (youth or elderly) which of course is the biggest determinant of how many skills you might have.

Now I know I could use the full char gen, but this is far too much for several NPCs.  I know I could 'just make it up' (and have done so), but I was really looking for something a bit more systematic so I wouldn't have to stop and puzzle over it every time.  Just how many skills is a 90 year old likely to have?  What about a 15 year old?

When I say 'skills', I'm thinking skills and 'skill levels'.

I've tried to work out what the char gen rules might give someone on average.  (If anyone has any number crunching on this I'd be interested.)

Clearly you get a skill per term for sure.
Another skill if you get advancement (let's call it 50/50) for the first 9 terms although some careers are much easier than others.
And another possible skill from Events.  My back of the envelope calculations show that this varies from a little over 20% to nearly 50% again depending on career.  Let's call it a third chance.
(you can also get skills in Mustering Out but I'm ignoring that as I've slightly rounded up some of the above)

So my first pass at a 'rule' might be:
- pick 6 level 0 skills (they don't have to be from one service table)
- for the first three terms pick two 'skill levels'
- for terms 4-8 pick 1.5 'skill levels' (round up)
- for terms 9+ pick 1 skill level
(but I'd limit NPCs generally to a level of 4 in any one skill, and not pick *too* widely - i.e. not 19 skills at level 1)
Don't forget to either use the aging rules on the UPP or pick UPP stats that are lower to begin with to reflect older age.

e.g. the Shona Blio matriarch of an asteroid mining community is 68.  That's 12 terms (although I might decide she'd actually 'retired' at 60 giving her 10 terms).  We'll ignore the last two years.  So, that's 19 'skill levels'.
Engineer (life support) 3, Zero-G 3, Comms 2, Diplomat 2, Gun Combat (energy pistol) 2, Leadership 2, Vacc Suit 2, Computers 1, Space Science (planetology) 1, Streetwise 1

don't forget 6 level 0 skills: Engineer (electronics) 0, Engineer (power) 0, Gambler 0, Social Science (economics) 0, Steward 0, Trade (hydroponics) 0

e.g. Peeta Versit, a 26 year old farmhand.  That's 2 terms so four skill levels:
Animals (riding) 2, Animals (training) 1, Melee (blade) 1, Deception 0, Drive (wheeled) 0, Gambler 0, Recon 0, Survival 0, Trade (farming) 0

As you can see, it makes a huge difference how old a character is and this isn't reflected at all in the single paragraph on page 75 "While non-player characters can be generated using the normal
character generation rules, it is generally faster just to note down characteristics and a few appropriate skills. A skilled professional has two or three levels in skills related to his occupation, and zero or one levels in a half-dozen other skills."

That's fine, as far as it goes, but I want a wider pool of NPCs than just "skilled professionals" and will sometimes want a bit more detail if the PCs are going to interact with them for a while.

I *think* this gives skill sets that are slightly underpowered compared to full char gen, but that's as it should be for NPCs who aren't the main focus of adventure!

Any thoughts or comments?  Other systems?

tc