Yet another Traveller NPC generator

This is a simple NPC generator for the Traveller RPG. It follows rules described in this article. I'll briefly describe the rules here.

Ability scores

Instead of randomly generating ability scores, this generator uses several standard arrays:

Citizen Category	Average Score	Characteristic Array
Below Average	6	8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 4
Average	7	9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5
Above Average	8	10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 6
Exceptional	9	11, 10, 9, 9, 8, 7

Skills

According to the previous experience of the NPC, the generator will assign a number of skill points according to this table, "Average Skill Levels by Term":

Average Skill Levels by Experience

Experience	Number of Skills by Skill Level
	3	2	1	0
Recruit	0	0	0	4
Rookie	0	0	2	4
Intermediate	0	1	2	4
Regular	0	2	2	5
Veteran	0	3	2	5
Elite	1	2	3	6

Build & Run

To build the project execute the following command:

make build

This will generate this binary out/generate-npc.

To run the project execute the following command:

./out/generate-npc --help

These are the options for the command:

Option	Long Option	Description	Default
-c	--category	Citizen Category: 0-Below average, 1-Average, 2-Above Average, 3-Exceptional	1
-e	--experience	Experience: 0-Recruit, 1-Rookie, 2-Intermediate, 3-Regular, 4-Veteran, 5-Elite	3
-r	--role	Crew role in a starship: pilot, navigator , engineer , steward , medic , marine , gunner , scout , technician , leader , diplomat , entertainer , trader , thug	required
-g	--gender	Gender of the NPC: female, male, unspecified	unspecified
-d	--debug	Enable debug mode	false
-h	--help	Show the help message

Generator library

You can also use this project as a library in your Go applications.

You can install it by running the following command:

go get github.com/carloscasalar/traveller-npc-generator

Here are some examples:

Example 1: Generate a Character

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/carloscasalar/traveller-npc-generator/pkg/generator"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	npcGenerator, err := generator.NewNpcGeneratorBuilder().Build()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Error creating NPC: %v", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	request := generator.NewGenerateCharacterRequestBuilder().
		Category(generator.CategoryAboveAverage).
		Experience(generator.ExperienceRookie).
		Role(generator.RolePilot).
		Gender(generator.GenderUnspecified).
		Build()

	character, err := npcGenerator.Generate(*request)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Error generating character: %v", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	fmt.Println("Generated Character:", character)
}

Example 2: Generate a Character with custom name generator

The library uses a very simple name generator. You can provide your own name generator by implementing the NameGenerator interface.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/carloscasalar/traveller-npc-generator/pkg/generator"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	npcGenerator, err := generator.NewNpcGeneratorBuilder().
		NameGenerator(new(CustomNameGenerator)).
		Build()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Error creating NPC: %v", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	for _, gender := range generator.GenderValues() {
		request := generator.NewGenerateCharacterRequestBuilder().
			Category(generator.CategoryExceptional).
			Experience(generator.ExperienceVeteran).
			Role(generator.RoleLeader).
			Gender(gender).
			Build()

		character, err := npcGenerator.Generate(*request)
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Printf("Error generating character: %v", err)
			os.Exit(1)
		}

		fmt.Printf("Generated Character: %v\n", character)
	}
}

type CustomNameGenerator struct {
}

func (c CustomNameGenerator) Generate(gender generator.Gender) (firstName, surname string) {
	switch gender {
	case generator.GenderMale:
		return "Dwayne", "Hicks"
	case generator.GenderFemale:
		return "Hellen", "Ripley"
	default:
		return "Forge", "Jynxori"
	}
}

Example 3: Generate a Character with catalog of surnames and names based name generator

This library comes with a name generator that uses a catalog of names and surnames. You can use it by creating a new instance of CatalogNameGenerator.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"github.com/carloscasalar/traveller-npc-generator/pkg/generator"
	"math/rand/v2"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	femaleNames := []string{"Hellen", "Jane", "Alice"}
	maleNames := []string{"Dwayne", "John", "Bob"}
	nonBinaryNames := []string{"Forge", "Jynxori", "Alex"}
	surnames := []string{"Hicks", "Doe", "Smith"}

	catalogNameGenerator := generator.NewCatalogSourcedNameGenerator(surnames, nonBinaryNames, femaleNames, maleNames)
	npcGenerator, err := generator.NewNpcGeneratorBuilder().NameGenerator(catalogNameGenerator).Build()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Error creating NPC generator: %v", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	for _, gender := range generator.GenderValues() {
		category := pickRandomItem(generator.CitizenCategoryValues())
		experience := pickRandomItem(generator.ExperienceValues())
		role := pickRandomItem(generator.RoleValues())

		request := generator.NewGenerateCharacterRequestBuilder().
			Category(category).
			Experience(experience).
			Role(role).
			Gender(gender).
			Build()

		character, err := npcGenerator.Generate(*request)
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Printf("Error generating character: %v", err)
			os.Exit(1)
		}

		fmt.Printf("Generated character: %v\n", character)
	}
}

func pickRandomItem[T any](items []T) T {
	itemIndex := rand.IntN(len(items) - 1)
	return items[itemIndex]
}