To generate fantasy characters and inhabitants that populate an imaginary world, sometimes you need a little creative fuel...and a 20-sided die.

Fantasy Genesis Characters is a choose-your-own-adventure game where a roll of the dice decides what type of creature you create. Each chapter expands on mimicking the observable world to engineer original populations by mashing up unrelated quirks and concepts--think "vegetarian zombie," "Byzantine goth" or "gangster sheep." Roll the dice to combine traits from word lists. Mix random emotions, behaviors, costumes, cultures and anthropomorphic attributes to create infinite and unexpected characters. Short lessons supply the building blocks to develop character components--expressions, gestures, posture, etc.--while mini demos, creative challenges and RPG-like activities help you bring them to life.