🎰 Random Tables

👤 For: Game Masters · 💳 Plan: All plans · 🔄 Updated 2026-10-17

When players go off-script — and they always do — random tables save the session. Wovenkeep ships ten oracle tables: one click rolls a result instantly, no prep required. And you can add your own tables to each campaign — typed in or pasted straight from an adventure — and roll them in prep and live.

The Random Tables: ten cards such as NPC Name, Tavern Name, Treasure and Rumor

What it does

Each table is a curated list of short results. You click a card, Wovenkeep picks one at random, and it appears on screen with two buttons: 🎲 Roll Again to re-roll the same table, and 📋 Copy to copy the result to your clipboard for pasting into a note or chat.

No dice, no lookup, no page-flipping. Below the ten cards you find your own tables for the campaign (see Your own tables), and during a session the card 🎲 Random table rolls any of them live (see Rolling live).

All tables are free on every plan and cost no Threads — they are random picks, not AI generation.

When to use it

  • You need a name for the bartender the players just decided to befriend
  • Players take an unexpected route and you need an encounter on the spot
  • The crime scene needs a cause of death you didn't plan
  • You want to seed rumors at the start of a town scene
  • You need a dungeon name for the map the party just found

Step by step

  1. Open the GM tool in your Realm (yourname.wovenkeep.com/gm).
  2. In the left sidebar, click 🎲 Random Tables (under Create). During a live session you don't need to switch: use the card 🎲 Random table in 🎬 Scenes & Sound (see Rolling live).
  3. The page shows a grid of ten cards — one per table.
  4. Click any card. The result appears below the grid instantly.
  5. Click 🎲 Roll Again to get a different result from the same table, or 📋 Copy to copy the result text to your clipboard.

💡 Tip: Roll five NPC names and five location names before the session and jot them in your notes. When a player surprises you mid-scene, you have a name ready without clicking.

The ten tables

Table Icon What it returns
NPC Name 👤 A random fantasy name (for the bartender you didn't plan)
Tavern Name 🏚️ A name for an inn — e.g. "The Golden Griffin"
Treasure 💰 Random loot: coins plus an item
Travel Encounter 🌲 What happens on the road
Rumor 👂 What people are whispering about in town
Merchant Goods 🏪 What this shop has in stock
Weather 🌤️ Today's weather
Cause of Death 💀 How this person or corpse died
Quest Hook 🗝️ An adventure seed
Place Name 🏰 A name for a location or dungeon

What the result looks like

A rolled NPC name below the last table cards, with Roll Again and Copy

The 📋 Copy button copies the result text to your clipboard — useful for pasting straight into a scene description or a player message.

Using them in play

The classic mid-session scenario:

Player: "I want to talk to the bartender."
You (who never named the bartender): [click NPC Name → "Greta Stormwind"] "Greta Stormwind sets down a mug and squints at you. 'Help ye with somethin'?'"

Three seconds. The illusion that you planned this bartender all along is preserved.

Other common patterns:

  • Travel Encounter when the party takes an unexpected route — roll, improvise the result into a scene
  • Rumor when players ask around town — roll 2–3 times, deliver the most interesting one
  • Treasure when they loot a body you didn't stat — roll, hand it over (or push it via Give Item)
  • Weather at the start of an outdoor session — roll once, set the scene
  • Cause of Death at a crime scene — roll, let it complicate the mystery
  • Combine tables for instant scenes: "You enter [Place Name: Shadowrift]. [Weather: Thick fog, visibility under 30 feet] fills the entrance. A [NPC Name: Norbert Silvertongue] is already inside, and he has a [Rumor: The old bridge is cursed]." Four clicks, an instant scene.

Your own tables

Below the ten cards, Your tables for this campaign holds the tables you build yourself — a d12 of road encounters, the rumours of your port town, a d100 wild-magic table from an adventure. They belong to the campaign you have open.

The window New random table: Name Night on the Pegnitz road, Die d12, four entries from 1-5 Wolves howl in the distance to 12 A lantern in the fog, the hint on ranges, Spread ranges evenly, and the preview 4 entries recognized with the ranges 1–5, 6–8, 9–11 and 12

  1. Click + Own table. The window 🎲 New random table opens.
  2. Type a Name.
  3. Choose the Die: Automatic or d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d100.
  4. Write the Entries (one line per entry) — or paste a table from an adventure.
  5. Check the Preview: it shows every entry with its range, or what is wrong.
  6. Click Save. The table appears as a card with 🎲, its name, the die and the number of entries.

Click the card to roll. ✏️ edits the table, 🗑 deletes it after a question — for good, there is no trash.

How the lines work

  • With a die, every line starts with its range: 1-5 Wolves, 6–19 Nothing happens, 20 A dragon. Between the numbers you can use -, – or —, or one of the words to, bis, à or a with a space before and after it (in lower case, in every interface language): 1 to 5 Wolves. After the range comes a space, a tab or one of : . ) |. With d100, 00 stands for 100. A wider range comes up more often.
  • With Automatic, every line is one entry with the same chance. Numbers at the start are part of the text.
  • ⚖️ Spread ranges evenly gives lines without ranges equal ranges. It appears when the die is divided evenly by the number of lines — for a d20, with 1, 2, 4, 5, 10 or 20 lines — and replaces existing ranges.
  • Gaps are allowed: a d20 table may cover only 1–15. The preview points them out — 🕳️ Not covered: 16–20 — and you can still save. Rolling a number without an entry shows No entry at 17 and 🎲 Reroll.
  • Errors show in the preview, with the line in red — for example Line 2 overlaps with line 1. or With a die every line needs a range from 1 to 20, e.g. “1-5 Wolves”. Or use “Spread ranges evenly”.
  • Limits: a name of up to 80 characters, up to 100 entries, up to 300 characters per entry.

💡 Tip: Write the word between the numbers in lower case: 1 To 5 Wolves is read as the single number 1 with the text To 5 Wolves. The preview shows it — check the range column before you save.

Rolling in prep

The result appears below the cards: with a die as 🎲 d12: 2 → Wolves howl in the distance, with Automatic as the entry and Entry 3 of 7. 🎲 Roll Again rolls the same table again, 📋 Copy copies the line.

Your tables are stored as you typed them — they are not translated when you switch the language. When you duplicate the campaign, the copy gets them too.

Rolling live

During a running session, the card 🎲 Random table in 🎮 Live → 🎬 Scenes & Sound rolls any table without leaving the live view:

The 🎲 Random table card in Live: the table Night on the Pegnitz road selected, the button Roll, and the result d12: 2 → Wolves howl in the distance with the button To all players

  1. Choose a table — Built-in tables or Your tables.
  2. Click 🎲 Roll. The result appears in the card and in the 📋 Log.
  3. If you like, click 📤 To all players: every player gets the result as a document with the table's name as title and the entry as text — on the phone as 📜 New Document: … – tap to read. The button then reads ✓ sent until your next roll, so a result goes out only once. If sending fails, the button works again and the 📋 Log says ⚠️ Sending failed: ….

On a gap the card offers 🎲 Reroll instead.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Cause Fix
Clicking a card does nothing JavaScript blocked or slow connection Reload the page; check your browser console for errors
📋 Copy button stays highlighted as "Copied!" Browser clipboard API succeeded Normal — the button resets on the next roll
Result area stays blank after clicking Very rare race condition on first load Click another card, then return to the intended table
Your tables for this campaign is missing No campaign is open Open a campaign — own tables belong to a campaign
Line … overlaps with line … Two ranges share numbers Fix one of the ranges so they don't overlap
With a die every line needs a range … A die is chosen, but the lines have no ranges Add ranges, choose Automatic, or use ⚖️ Spread ranges evenly if it is shown
No entry at … when rolling The table has a gap there Click 🎲 Reroll, or close the gap with ✏️
💡 The lines start with ranges. Choose a die so they count. Automatic is chosen, but the lines start with ranges Choose the matching die
No 📤 To all players button The roll hit a gap Click 🎲 Reroll
✓ sent instead of 📤 To all players This result was already sent Roll again for a new result

For more detailed drafts there is the optional AI help.