Character Generator: Instructions v1.2 · 29 Oct 2026

1. Quick start

1. Press Random Star to make a ready-to-play hero, or New blank to start from nothing.
2. Change anything you like in the form on the left. The sheet on the right updates as you type.
3. Press Save file to keep a copy on your computer.
4. Press PNG page 1 for a picture of the sheet, or Print / PDF to print it.

Good to know: the character you're working on is remembered in this browser, so it's still there when you come back. Only one character is kept this way, so Save file each one you want to keep.

2. Random characters

The Randomise box at the top rolls a character using the book's tables.

• Random Star makes a Star, the player's hero, at Rep 5 with the Star's choices made for you.
• Random Grunt / NPC makes an ordinary character, the way the book rolls the people you meet.

Steering the dice

• Race and Class: leave on "Any" to roll them, or pick one to fix it.
• Area and Daytime: where in New Hope City the character is met. These change the odds of who turns up, as they do in the book.

Rolling again replaces the character on screen, so save first if you want to keep the old one.

3. Filling in the form

Everything on the sheet comes from the form on the left, from top to bottom:

• Who: Star or Grunt, name, portrait, race, gender, class and profession. Some races only have one gender (Grath are always genderless, Hishen always male, Xeog and Razor always female), so the gender list locks for them. Zhuh-Zhuh also choose a size: Tall or Muggie.
• Reputation and Skills: Rep, People and Savvy.
• Attributes: up to three. Roll a random Attribute rolls one on the book's tables.
• Weapon and armour: chosen from the book's lists. The sheet shows each weapon's Targets and the armour's modifier.
• Enhancements and Psy: only Basics (humans) can have these.
• Career: only needed if the character had a career before you started their log. Enter their Lifetime Rep d6 and months so far.
• Notes: anything else. They appear along the bottom of page 1.

4. Portraits

• Choose portrait opens the picture library. Use the buttons along the top to show one group, such as Grath, Zhuh-Zhuh or robots.
• Upload my own uses a picture from your computer. It stays in your browser and in your save file. It is not sent to the website.
• Remove leaves the portrait box empty.

Random characters get a random portrait to match their race and gender.

5. Band and items (page 2)

Items

Pick an item from the rules' list and press Add item, or Add custom item to type your own. A character can carry items worth twice their Rep: one-hand items count 1, two-hand items count 2. The sheet shows the total, and it lights up if you're carrying too much.

Band

Add a member adds a blank line to fill in. Add a random follower rolls one for you. A Band can be as big as the Star's Rep, counting the Star, and no member can have a higher Rep than the Star.

On the sheet each member takes three lines: name, race and profession; then Rep, People, Savvy and weapon; then notes. The page has room for five members, the most a Band can legally hold.

6. The campaign log (page 3)

5150 is played a month at a time. Press Start a new month at the start of each one, then add that month's Encounters:

• the Involuntary Encounter that comes to you,
• then a Voluntary one you choose, or staying Home,
• plus any Encounters that follow on from those.

Write what happened in each one. At the end of the month, enter the Rep d6 you gained and lost and the result. Net and Lifetime Rep d6 are worked out for you, along with your lifestyle and months passed on page 1.

Each Encounter takes two lines on the sheet, and the page shows the latest seven. Older months are still kept in your save file, and the sheet tells you how many it isn't showing.

7. Saving and loading

• Save file downloads a small file with everything in it, portrait included. Keep one per character.
• Load file opens one of those files again, ready to update after your next game.
• New blank clears the screen for a new character. Save first!

Tip: save after every game session. Clearing your browser's data, or using a private window, will lose the character on screen but never your saved files.

8. Pictures, printing and PDFs

The Export buttons are at the top of the page and again just above the sheet.

• PNG page 1, PNG page 2 and PNG page 3 save sharp pictures of each page, ready for videos, posts or a tablet at the table. They use whichever colours you've picked.
• Print / PDF opens your browser's print window with all three pages, A5 on its side. To make a PDF, choose "Save as PDF" as the printer.
• Editable PDF downloads a PDF of all three pages that you can type into. Every value and every blank line on the sheet is a fill-in box, and the tick squares (Star Power, Status) can be ticked. Open it in Adobe Reader, a web browser or a PDF app, change what you like, and save. It's handy for players who'd rather not use the website, or for updating a sheet at the table.

About editable PDFs: the writing in the boxes uses a plain bold font, not the sheet's own font, because PDF fill-in boxes can't use it. The character generator can't load an edited PDF back in, so keep your Save file as the master copy and copy any changes into it. Phone PDF apps vary; Adobe's apps and desktop browsers work best.

Saving ink: pick Greyscale (for printing) in the Colours list before you print.

9. Colours

The Colours list at the top right changes the whole look: Amber terminal, Neon pink, Phosphor green, Cobalt and gold, or Greyscale for printing. Your choice is remembered, and it's shared with the other 5150 tools.

Custom colours lets you pick your own Main, Highlight and Background colours, which is handy for giving each faction its own colour. Reset puts them back to amber.

10. Screen layout

The tool is designed for a computer screen. It works on phones and tablets, but the sheet is shown very small there.

On a wide screen, the striped bar between the form and the sheet can be dragged left or right to give the form more room, or to make the sheet bigger. Double-click it to put it back. You can also click it and use the arrow keys. The width you choose is remembered.

11. From NPC Squads

In the NPC Squads tool, every card has a To Character Gen button. It's for the goon who survived and is worth keeping. It opens this tool with that NPC loaded as a Grunt, after asking before it replaces the character on screen. Save your current character first if you want to keep it.

12. Where your character is kept

Everything happens in your own browser. Nothing you type is sent to this website, and there are no accounts. Your current character, colours and layout are kept in your browser's storage on your device. Save files and pictures are made by your browser and saved straight to your computer. See the privacy page for more.