Random Tables

Using links in books you can build a wide variety of random tables to support random encounters, random treasure tables and even random storylines. Rich text tables and Shard Links, especially with Link Actions, provide the building blocks for random tables.

Creating a Random Table

Generally a book is the best place to create a random table. A random table can be created in any of the rich text sections of a book. Here are the steps to create a random table in one of those sections:

1. Create a table. Select some text and use the table tool to create a table with two columns and a number of rows for the options. Note: you can easily add rows if you need more.

2. Create headers, in the first row of the table. In the first column set the die roll in bold for the random roll, for example 1d6 or d100. In the view mode this roll will be clickable to roll. Other header columns may have headers for their options, for example Encounters or Treasure.

3. Create random options in each row. The first column should have the values for selection of the row. Other columns should have links for the random values. In view mode all of these entries can be added to the encounter in a single click:

   • Monsters: any monsters that should be added to the encounter.

   • Items: any items that should be added to the encounter as treasure or directly added to shared treasure.

   • Coins: any coins (pp, gp, sp, ep, cp) that should be added to the encounter as treasure or directly added to shared treasure.

   • Custom types: any custom types that should be added to the encounter. This is mostly useful for custom types that represent entries for the combat tracker, for example traps or elder influences.

     Note: all of these links can be preceded by a number or a die roll for the count to be added. Die rolls will randomize the count.

   Other links can also be included in the row. These will not automatically be added to the encounter, but can be used to drill down to other options. These might link to different story options, or could cascade to other random tables in books for more complicated scenarios.

Example random encounter table

Best Practices

When creating random tables try to place a single random table per section of the book. This makes them easy to read and use. Place a meaningful title that can easily be searched. This makes it easy to search for a random table rather than having to always browse to find a random table. You can also use these links to create links that point to these random tables to make it easier for users to navigate to the random tables.

If your story has encounters that don’t occur on a specific location on a map then you can create a single row table in the book for the encounter. Users can then add all of the monsters to the encounter similar to a planned encounter without the need to have the map predefined. Remember that you can include both monsters and treasure.