[Jovus]

For some NPCs, I don't bother with anything other than what ErnhamDJ had further up in the thread; namely "Old Man, Farming-11". Then, if I need an attribute score, I roll 3d, sometimes plus or minus something. If I need a skill I decide he should have (e.g. it came up that the farmer knows how to drive a wagon, and the PCs want to hire him as a teamster), I either set the skill in question to 12 or roll 2d+5. If I need a skill he "shouldn't" have, he gets it at default. Generally I don't do that much, though, since it's more interesting if an NPC has surprising skills - it tells you something about the farmer's backstory if he also has Thaumatology-14.

You can even generate combat-relevant NPCs this way, if you like, though it requires some more knowledge of the system, like basic damage and weapon damage modifiers. It can be useful if the PCs start mucking around somewhere you don't have prepared, though.