A virtual cast maker for building the whole troupe

Start with roles, then fill them

Before generating a single portrait, list the parts the story needs. A short vertical drama rarely needs more than six: a lead, the person who stands in their way, a confidant, someone with authority, someone with a secret, and one wildcard who shows up late. Write the role names down in the world bible so the cast page has something to grow into.

Only then generate characters to fill them. Working role-first stops the common failure where you end up with five charismatic strangers and no story. It also tells you which sheets need the most relationship lines: the lead and the obstacle should each reference the other by name.

The preset troupe is already shaped this way. Tobias the junior barrister and Ottilie the judge sit in a natural authority gradient; Anouk the art student and Caspian the art dealer are set up to want different things from the same painting. Borrow the structure even if you replace every face.

Archetypes, and when to break them

Archetypes are a scaffolding, not a cage. The retired headmaster who cannot stop grading people, the pastry chef who runs her kitchen like a courtroom, the harbour pilot who is calm everywhere except on land. Each pairs a recognisable type with one trait that cuts against it, and that friction is what the dialogue model performs best.

When you write the personality field, put the archetype in the first clause and the contradiction in the second. "A hotel manager who keeps everything running, except her own life" gives Keiko a shape the scene writer can use in any location you drop her into.

Mixing age, gender and bearing

A cast that is all the same age flattens out on screen. Vertical framing makes faces large and close, so variety in age, build and posture does more visual work than it would in a wide shot. Aim for at least two decades of spread and at least one person who stands differently from the others.

Gender mix is your call, but write it into the sheets rather than leaving it to chance. The generator honours what you describe; it does not balance a cast for you. The same is true of era: if the world bible says 1962, describe hair and clothing accordingly so wardrobe later has something to match.

Bearing is the most underrated field. "Takes up space", "folds inward", "always slightly turned toward the exit" survive into rendered body language more reliably than most people expect, because the sheet is in the prompt every time.

Naming so the audience keeps up

Names in a short drama need to be distinct at a glance and in the ear. Avoid two cast members whose names share a first letter or a syllable count. Sigrid, Rafael, Delphine and Hollis can share a scene without confusion; three names starting with M cannot.

Names also carry era and place. The preset roster leans on names that are plausible across several decades and countries so the troupe can be dropped into most settings. If your world bible is pinned to one city and one year, let the names say so.

Relationship notes are the engine

Every sheet has relationship lines pointing at other cast members: "Owes Bastien money and resents him for not mentioning it", "Was Ezekiel's student and still calls him sir". When two characters who reference each other are placed in the same scene, both notes are in the prompt, and the scene writer builds the exchange on them.

Keep each note to one sentence with a verb in it. Static labels like "friends" or "siblings" do little. Tension, debt, history and secrets do a lot. Write the notes from each side separately; what Wren thinks of Caspian and what Caspian thinks of Wren should not match.

Revisit the notes after a few episodes. Relationships change in a drama, and the sheet is where that change is recorded so later scenes inherit it.