36 character types (extracted from Georges Polti's "The Art of Inventing Characters")

Georges Polti (1867-1946) compiled long classifications of different types of literary devices. His most famous book is "The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations", a description that was also taken as a prescription by future authors. He also did a similar work on character types, "The Art of Inventing Characters". In it, he outlines 36 types of literary characters.

36 you say?

THAT'S A D66 TABLE OF COURSE!

So I took the e-text of the 1922 English translation (available on archive.org!) and turned it into a random table. There are also freakin' subtables for each of the 36 entries, with a dozen or so types.

Warning: Mind, though: the source text is quite awful. It's essentialist, moralizing and misogynistic. It's naive in how the author thinks that a classification of things (including literary constructs) is the revelation of the true nature of the whole world, and a key to understanding human psychology.

Nevertheless, here's a random table!

Good for melodramatic RPGs?

			CHARACTERS
1	1	VESTA	The Pious
	2		The Wise
	3		The Faithful
	4	JUNO	The Jealous
	5		The Vengeful and Just
	6		The Strict and Severe
2	1	NEPTUNE	The Avaricious and Grasping
	2		The Despotic
	3		The Ambitious
	4	MINERVA	The Daring and Romantic
	5		Adventurers
	6		The Eloquent and Boastful
3	1	VENUS	The Seductive and Seducing
	2		Courtesans
	3		The Vicious
	4	APOLLO	The Impassioned
	5		The Chimerical
	6		The Intellectual
4	1	MERCURY	The Shrewd
	2		The Traitorous
	3		The Knavish
	4	JUPITER	The Arrogant and Insolent
	5		The Haughty and Dignified
	6		The Majestic and Protecting
5	1	CERES	The Generous and Prodigal
	2		The Gay and Sensual
	3		The Vulgar and Practical
	4	VULCAN	The Earnest and Serious
	5		The Deluded and Discouraged
	6		The Unselfish and Devoted
6	1	MARS	Murderers and Assassins
	2		The Violent and Rebellious
	3		The Bold and Fearless
	4	DIANA	The Tender and Sentimental
	5		The Weak
	6		The Pure

Subtables for each type:

1d10 more carousing mishaps for city-based campaigns

 Ten more carousing mishaps! Can be combined with the Three Musketeers table or used in any fantasy or historical fantasy urbane campaign.

1. During your night-time escapades, you discover a shortcut leading through the hidden alleys, rooftops, dark sewers. Once this session, you can lead the party through this shortcut to any place in the city, ten times faster than it would take normally. However, each member of the party must roll a d6. The character who rolls highest takes that much damage from an unforeseen attack or mishap along the way.
2. First, you just talk to a stranger in a bar. A mysterious stranger with a mesmerizing gaze. Next thing you know, their fangs sink into your neck. Luckily, the assailant flees before sucking you dry. You take d6 damage from blood loss. Any time you encounter a vampire, there is a 1-in-6 chance (cumulative, if you roll this mishap more than once) it is this particular fiend.
3. You turn a corner and witness a masked man stabbing a foreign sailor to the death. The killer looks at you, then drops a pouch on the ground and says, in a hoarse voice: “You’ve seen nothing”. He then leaps over a wall and disappears into the night. The pouch contains 200 sp.
4. A fortune teller reveals a source of imminent danger. Roll d6: 1 blades, 2 fire, 3 poison, 4 height, 5 water, 6 black magic. This session, the first time you are threatened by the type of danger rolled, you automatically fail your save or automatically get hit, and take double damage.
5. You are drawn to games of chance this night. Both you and the Referee must roll 2d6, higher roll wins. If you win, you get half your carousing money back. If you lose, you must spend double for this carousing attempt. The amount of experience points gained does not change.
6. You befriend the owner of a drinking establishment (perhaps you healed their favorite parrot or saved their son’s ass is a brawl). The next time you go carousing, you get a 100 sp discount. The amount of experience points gained does not change.
7. Your body is a temple and you should be more careful what you drink! You wake up with a terrible hangover and a strong acidic aftertaste. Once during this session, you can regurgitate the contents of your stomach (10’ cone, 2d6 damage, save against Breath Weapons for half).
8. A random item belonging to you is stolen, but soon you rediscover it – hanging from a place at least 100’ high (like a tower or a flagpole).
9. The place you party at has extremely loud music (out-of-tune experimental bagpipe drone orchestra?). Your hearing is ruined for this session. You are surprised on 3-in-6 and fail all checks or saves depending on sound.
10. A tasteless remark earns you the ire of a stranger. At the worst possible time during this session, this person shows up and hinders you in some very annoying way (embarrasses you during an important meeting, trips or tackles you during a fight, casts an appearance-changing spell, sicks a pack of stray dogs on you, etc.).