Wandering Mind

a consolidated post of all m’maymays thus far

https://pastebin.com/raw/0yg1UDRy

So when I’m writing I sometimes need prompts or sometimes I just want to write random shit, so I will use generators. This is just a few that I use and like;

Family Tree, Relationship Generators

Battletech Family Tree Generator - Generates 2/3 generations, can choose options such as name types (real life/fantasy/ethnic fusion/place/gang).

Demarco - Generates a family trees based on info provided, P/Matriarchs, Years born, married and died, and current imput year. Also includes a Type of “race” choice: Human: Medieval, Scottish, Eqyptian or Modern or Dwarf (Fantasy race). All generations up to imput current date are automatically open.

Ja.Partridgez - Family tree generator, similar to Demarco but without the Type option and the generations are not automatically opened, you click a button to see it. 

Gayahithwen- Family Tree generator that follows the Male line, it’s a Harry Potter one, so you can choose Hogwarts houses. Options include; Family name or randomly chosen English or Irish surname, Year of birth of family founder, or choices between eras 800-1100, 1100-1400, 1400-1700 or 1700-2000. You can have Hogwarts houses chosen randomly or choose percentages. Also you can choose options to suggest partners names and to include year of death.

Rangen Family Generator-  doesn’t so much generate a family tree as members and their names and ages, Parents, Siblings, Children, Grandparents etc. Includes Simple (Just name and age) or Detail (whether they get along with main character, personality) Options.

Rangen Pregnancy Generator - generates a birth/s, whether it’s a boy/girl/unknown, birth weight, date of birth, whether it resembles the mother/father/relative/family friend, whether the baby/ies is/are heathy/weak etc. Generates Single Births, Multiples, No Conception.

Cities, Towns, Kingdoms

CrystalBallSoft - Fantasy City You choose the name, size (from Thorp up to Metropolis), whether it’s by the sea, or a river, whether it has military, if it has gates. You can generate Wards, and Professions. Choose major race (Human, Hafling, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half Elf, Half Orc or Other) and Society (Isolated, Mixed or Integrated). It’ll also generate GP Limit, Imports and Exports, what the city is famous for and infamous for, no. of wards, and professions.

Mathemagician - You choose the name, size (Thorp-Metro) and population percentages (Human, Dwarf, Elf, the usual). It gives you Power Center, Alignment, Population, GP Limit, Community Wealth, You can view all the Militia/Town Guard/Aristocrats/Experts etc members. Names/Race/Gender/Level/Profession/Personality. As well as a list and opening hours of all Blacksmiths, Scroll and Potion shops, Jewelry Store, General Stores, and Taverns. You click and it’ll also give you the  Names/Race/Gender/Level/Profession/Personality of employees  for each of said options. Tavern option also gives hour by hour list of currently working employees, patrons and entertainment as well as a full menu. 

Rangen City Generator - This gives you single word descriptions of things like Settlement type (e.g Metropolis), Size (e.g Large), Cost of Living (e.g Expensive). Etc. Good for general outlines, and basic stuff. 

Lucid Phoenix Kingdom Population - Give you Civilisation vs Wilderness size and %. Number of castles and castle ruins, Population density, Total Population, Population breakdown (No. Rural, Urban or Isolated). Also now gives Urban Population Centres (big cities) with demographics of population size and businesses.

Worlds and Solar Systems

Donjon Fractal World Generator - Gives you a basic map/image of a world. You choose Map Projection (Square, Spherical, Mercator etc) Map Palette (Atlas, Olsson etc), % Water, % Ice, Image Height, Iterations and Rotation.

Donjon Fantasy World Generator - First, the servers for this are busy a lot of the time but it’s worth it. Basically does the same as  above but different options. Map Style (Atlas or Antique), Font (Black Castle, Tengwar Others etc.), % Water % Ice, Geography (Yes or No), Rivers ( Yes, No or Many) Cities and Castles (Yes, No or Many), show Hex Grid and/or Labels.

Donjon SciFi World Generator - You choose things such as World Name, Map Projection (Square, Mercator etc.), Map Palette (Atlas, Barren, Antique etc.), %Water, % Ice, Image Height, Iterations and Rotation. It gives you things like; Basic Image, Physics (Type, Radius, Surface Area, Land Area, Mass, Density, Composition (Iron, Oxygen etc). Gravimetry (Gravity m/s2, (# x Earth), Escape Velocity km/s), Rotation (Period and Axis Tilt), Hydrosphere (Water and Ice %), Atmosphere (Type, Pressure in kPa, # x Earth, Composition), Climate (Type, Min Temp, Avg Temp and Max Temp in Kelvin and Celsius), Biosphere (Chemistry, Lifeforms), Civilisation (Type, Population, Tech Level). If you us the Imperial you’re out of luck.

Donjon Star System Generator - Star Name, Companion Star (Random, None, Close or Distant), Planets (Random, None, Few, Several, Many). You can force a system to include a terrestrial world. It’ll generate things like the Star/s and it’s data (Type, Radius, Mass, Temperature and Luminosity), any terrestrial worlds, rock planets, jovian planets, ice or neptunian planets and their data also. If it includes a terrestrial planet you can further click on that and get more data like that of the SciFi World Generator above.

Donjon SWd6 System Generator - Made for use with Star Wars d6 RPG, generates a basic system, and information basically like that from SciFi World Generator. 

Donjon Traveller System Generator - Again, generates a basic system, includes whether there is a naval base, starport or scout base and tech levels on a terrestrial planet.

What are the drawbacks of using magic? Does it have mental, physical, and/or emotional consequences for the user?

What tools are needed to harness magic? Wands? Spells? Magical artifacts?

How do people learn magic? Instinct? In school? From family members?

Can everyone use magic or are only certain people capable of using it?

Is the capability to use magic hereditary? What about different ways of using magic (transformation powers, teleportation, etc.)?

What is impossible for magic to do?

How long does it take to master different magical skills?

Can creatures other than humans learn magic? Are different creatures better at using different kinds of magic?

Does it require spells to be spoken, written, or thought?

Is it possible for someone to lose their magical abilities?

How do characters’ emotions affect their ability to use magic? Do their emotions affect the magic’s intensity or controllability? 

How does the strength of a person’s magical abilities change as they age?

Can people normally perform any kind of magic or can they only perform things that fall under their specialty? Are their exceptions?

What rules restrict magic use in society?

How do people’s magical abilities impact their career prospects?

What kinds of magic are the most feared or seen as the most powerful? Which are seen as mere jokes?

How do people use magic to help with everyday tasks?

Can magical energy be stored for later use?

What objects or other factors can amplify someone’s magical powers?

When do magical abilities initially manifest? From birth? At a certain age? Under certain conditions?

What is the first spell a character is likely to learn?

What happens if a spell is performed incorrectly? Nothing at all? A weaker version of the intended results? Pain?

NASA Spotlight: Christina Hernandez, NASA Mars 2020 Rover Instrument Engineer

“I was in love with the beauty of space. It was my introduction to appreciating the beauty of complex, chaotic things—black holes, giant gas planets, or killer asteroids—that got my imagination riled up.“ -Christina Hernandez

Christina Hernandez, a space enthusiast and self-proclaimed nerd, is an aerospace engineer at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California where she works as an instrument engineer on our newest rover mission – Mars2020. The Mars2020 rover is a robotic scientist that is launching to the Red Planet next year. If you would like to launch to the Red Planet as well, you can Send Your Name to Mars along with millions of other people! Christina’s job is to make sure that the instruments we send to the Martian surface are designed, built, tested and operated correctly so we can retrieve allll the science. When she isn’t building space robots, she loves exploring new hiking trails, reading science fiction and experimenting in the kitchen. Christina took a break from building our next Martian scientist to answer some questions about her life and her career: 

If you could go to Mars, would you? And what are three things you’d bring with you?

Only if I had a round trip ticket! I like the tacos and beach here on Earth too much. If I could go, I would bring a bag of Hot Cheetos, a Metallica album, and the book On the Shoulders of Giants.

If you could name the Mars2020 rover, what would you name it and why?

Pilas, a reference to a phrase my family says a lot, ponte las pilas. It literally means put your batteries on or in other words, get to work, look alive or put some energy into it. Our rover is going to need to have her batteries up and running for all the science she is going to be doing! Luckily, the rover has a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to help keep the batteries charged!

What’s been your most memorable day at NASA?

It’s been seeing three of the instruments I worked on getting bolted and connected to the flight rover. I’ll never forget seeing the first 1’s and 0’s being exchanged between the rover compute element (RCE), the rover’s on-board brain, and the instruments’ electronics boxes (their brains). I am sure it was a wonderful conversation between the two!

It’s a long journey to get from Earth to Mars. What would be on your ultimate road trip playlist?

Metallica, The Cure, Queen, Echo and the Bunnymen, Frank Sinatra, Ramon Ayala, AC/DC, Selena, Los Angeles Azules, ughhhh – I think I just need a Spotify subscription to Mars.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone would’ve told you?

Take your ego out of the solution space when problem solving.

Do you have any secret skills, talents, or hobbies?

I love reading. Each year I read a minimum of 20 books, with my goal this year being 30 books. It’s funny I increased my goal during what has definitely been my busiest year at work. I recently got into watercolor painting. After spending so much time connected at work, I started looking for more analog hobbies. I am a terrible painter right now, but I painted my first painting the other day. It was of two nebulas! It’s not too bad! I am hoping watercolor can help connect me more to the color complexities of nature…and it’s fun!

What’s a project or problem that you would love the ability to tackle/work on?

I would love to work on designs for planetary human explorers. So far, I have focused on robotic explore, but when you throw a “loveable, warm, squishy thing” into the loop, its creates a different dimension to design – both with respect to operability and risk.

Thanks so much Christina! The Mars2020 rover is planned to launch on July 17, 2020, and touch down in Jezero crater on Mars on February 18, 2021.