A novice was once assigned to code a simple financial package.

	The novice worked furiously for many days, but when his master
	reviewed the program, he discovered that it contained a screen
	editor, a set of generalized graphics subroutines, an artificial
	intelligence interface, but not the slightest mention of anything
	financial.

	When the master asked about this, the novice became indignant. 
	"Don't be impatient", he said, "I'll put in the financial stuff
	eventually".

		_The_Tao_of_Programming_, 5.3

	So, grasshopper, has been the evolution of this present program. 
	After the success of the magic-shop, thieves guilds, and
	gems/jewellery generators, many, many months have passed before this
	new one sees the light of day and the pounding of keyboards.  This
	long, long delay is all the more embarrassing for me since this
	Windows version is based on a fleet little Turbo Basic program I
	wrote in a couple of days, about six years ago.  Ambition, event
	clutter, my wife, my two children, my clients, and my other
	interests all got in the way.  Forgive me.

	Why write a sage-generator?  In the second-edition DMG, sages are
	simply convenient mouthpieces for the DM to dispense plot-expediting
	information.  Mechanical, or what?  But back in the first-edition
	DMG, things were different.  In this, the true DM's Guide, Gygax
	spent several pages explaining what a sage should be, should know,
	and should have.  He also gave great advice for role-playing sages
	as individuals, not merely trivial dei ex machina for fixed-script
	plots.  He showed how to make sages individualized, unique
	personages in your world with lives and goals all their own.  Talk
	about adventure hooks galore!

	Hence, in writing this program, I have been guided by his words, his
	glorious passion for detail, and his endless inventiveness.

	Why do a sage-generator?  Because it saves time and adds greater
	levels of relevant detail to a campaign.  Moreover, this one churns
	out sages that may be human, elven, dwarven, even up to githyanki
	and titan!  Not only that, all are fully detailed in terms of stats,
	spells, items, and xps.  Even saving throws, God forbid they should
	be needed!

	That's pretty de rigeur.  One thing I've added is a subroutine to
	generate things the sage is interested in.  The beauty of this is
	that it gives ways to role-play the sage as more than an information
	vending machine.  Perhaps in exchange for some research or a ration
	of insight, the sage will ask the party for a favor, such as getting
	or doing something in another land.

	And proper role-playing is essential to the proper function of the
	sage.  The sage should never be treated as merely a book with legs
	and stats.  Here are some suggestions to making the most of these
	cool guys (and gals).

* Look for the alignment!  Don't take it for granted that all sages share
the default racial alignment; sages live in a world of their own.

* Think of the sage's racial background.  Even a good-aligned Githyanki sage
will be inclined to asperity, to say the least.

* Look for patterns in the admittedly randomly-generated specialties of the
sage.  For instance, if a titan sage has a strong interest in the literature
of the dwarves, this unusual predilection might suggest something about the
sage's own motivations: down-to-earth, attentive to handicrafted things, a
zeal for things that are the antithesis of his own experience, etc.

* For real variety, think of real-life sages: Albert Einstein, David Cutler,
Thomas Edison, Carl Jung, Karl Kerenyi, Indiana Jones (oops, not so
real-life).  Each sage has an individual temperament, passion, and set of
foibles.  Make the most of them!

* In some cases, the sage has personal treasure.  The amount, value, and
type will all suggest something about the sage's personality.  Even an
absence of treasure, in an otherwise treasure-endowed race, like titans,
could suggest something.

That's it.  Generate tons of sages, use them well, keep your players busy,
and look for my next program, a dragon generator, which should be appearing
in a couple of months.

Denrandrien
darkstar@hntp2.hinet.net