My random tables are letting me down

Yours probably too. But worry not—we can fix this.

I gotta say, I’m getting real tired of my own ideas.

Let me explain.

I’m hosting a game of Everspark for my home group. It’s been delightful—we are over 30 sessions now, the group has great chemistry, the system clicked with everyone, and the campaign has developed in surprising ways. Keeping it true to the principles of the game, I don’t prep anything in advance. Everything is created at the table, derived from the characters’ actions and the players’ decisions.

But I’ve been noticing something: things are starting to feel a bit… repetitive. And, if I’m being honest, this is a phenomenon I’ve noticed before, even when I GMed games and prepped sessions in advance. Thing is, when you’re coming up with new stuff for your sessions (during prep or improvising), you usually take one of four approaches:

• Grab it from your source material, be it the core book, adventure modules, other games or pieces of fiction

• Create it from scratch using your amazing mind

• Roll some random tables that have predetermined entries

• Roll some oracle-like tables and come up with ideas using word association

All of those approaches have advantages and limitations (which is why we usually rely on a combination of them, but that’s beside the point). If you go for options 1 or 3, the problem is that the resource is finite: there’s only so much you can get from a pre-written source before you start to repeat yourself. Sure, there are always more tables to grab, more modules to read, but soon enough you feel drowned in content, and you’re paralyzed by choice.

If you go for options 2 and 4, technically the possibilities are limitless, right? The power of imagination! In practice, however, what ends up happening is that we rely on habits, shortcuts, tropes and deeply ingrained associations that our minds make, sometimes even without us noticing them.

Game Master trying to come up with the 176th variation of “you hear a strange noise”. Photo by Simeon Jacobson on Unsplash

Don’t burn your random tables just yet

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ll be the first to defend free association random tables (or “spark tables”, as you’ll see named in some games). They truly are a marvel—paired with our capacity to find patterns where there are none, nothing quite matches the power of grabbing pieces of seemingly unrelated sentences and finding out they suddenly fit perfectly with the ongoing plot of our adventure. Heck, I even wrote about it here in the past.

For my aforementioned home game, I’m using my own Random Realities as a supplementary tool, and it’s been doing wonders. But the very thing that makes those tools sing is what confines them: our pattern recognition and word association abilities.

Even with completely disparate entries, our personal references and habits tend to pull us towards similar interpretations, even when we are trying to create something unique (for me, it’s floating things. My players are tired of things floating. Or glowing. God, everything glows. And it’s probably because of a cult. Always a cult).

As I said, you can try to work around that by increasing your references, either by consuming new media and rewiring your brain in the process, or by relying on new tables and source material. That is fantastic, and I encourage everyone to do that. But, could there be a reliable way to guarantee I won’t fall back to my tired tropes when time comes to devise, say, a new encounter?

Me: “You see a floating crystal that glows with…” Players: “Yeah, yeah, sure.” Photo by Joseph Malone on Unsplash

Make it weird

You knew this was coming, but yeah, I made a tool for that.

Behold, Weird, Whimsy & Wonder (I also drew this cover art with a combination of photobashing public domain art and my own sketches, which was fun).

Please appreciate the fishdude. I love the fishdude.

I could’ve come up with a large set of random tables with predefined out-of-the-box entries full of strange ideas, but that would have only got you so far (and also, Monte Cook Games already published ‘The Weird’, which does just that, brilliantly). Soon enough, those once unique entries would start to feel like the tired ones, or just be completely out of place for your context.

Instead, I opt to create a tight procedure—also aided by random tables, mind you—that allows you to start with a spark of an idea and elevate it to make it eerie, delightful or majestic. You push, pull, stretch, combine, morph and voilà, something your players will never forget.

You can craft encounters, NPCs, locations, monsters, items and more, using the same procedure. It’s great for GM prep or improv, and also fantastic for solo players. But that’s just me saying that; let’s look at an example.

A whimsical encounter

So here’s how you go about using WWW.

1. Choose a Flavor. Decide how you want the moment, scene, or element to feel—weird, whimsical, or wondrous. There are tags and checklists for each one, and you can combine them too if you want.

Let’s say I’m playing solo, and my character has just left a city behind after surviving days of political tension and dark, dangerous encounters. It feels like the story is craving a breath of fresh air—something gentler, lighter, maybe even strange in a fun way. So instead of rolling, I choose the flavor myself. I go with Whimsy. I want this next moment to feel like a curious little detour from the heavy plot I’ve been dealing with.

2. Pick a Subject. Choose the Subject you'll alter in your scene—a person, place, phenomenon, event, etc. You can go with your own idea, or roll on the Subject table. If you need a creative push, there’s a Seeds table with 648 single-word prompts for free association (so far this is no different from using Oracles, I know, but stay with me here).

I don’t have anything specific in mind, so I roll on the subject table and get Flora. To help spark an idea, I roll on the Seeds table and get Cup. That’s fun. My first thought is: what if there’s a flower shaped like a teacup? Or maybe a tree that grows cup-shaped fruits. That already feels playful and odd in the right way.

3. Select a Trait. Now the magic starts to happen, You pick a specific characteristic of your subject to change. Traits can range from straightforward physical attributes like size or material, to abstract qualities like symbolism or purpose. The Traits table includes 36 options, followed by detailed definitions and examples (side note: coming up with this table was one of the most challenging game design tasks I ever gave myself; truly almost broke me).

What makes this cup-tree special beyond just its shape? I roll on the Traits table and get Agenda / Purpose. So I start asking myself: what is this tree for? What does it do, or maybe even want?

4. Decide on a Shift. A Shift is how you’ll modify the chosen trait to fit your selected flavor. Of course, there’s a Shift table to help you with that.

I roll on the Shift table and get Multiply. Okay… so what would it mean to multiply a tree’s purpose? Maybe it changes depending on the season. Or depending on who interacts with it. It could serve different roles, reveal different personalities, or behave in unexpected ways depending on context.

I’m still not totally sure, so I roll another seed and get Skull. That almost pulls things in a darker direction—but I stop myself here.

5. Check your Flavor Tags. Now is when you stop to make sure you’re going in the direction you want, and not drifting away from your desired tone. There’s a list of questions at the end of each flavor session to help you here.

I usually advise otherwise, but for the purpose of this tool, it might be better to reject your first idea, to avoid the shortcuts, associations and tropes you normally rely on. Say it out loud to get it out of your system, and then consider, "What's the next association I can make here?" That's where the magic lives.

I revisit the Whimsy flavor tags and spot one that says “Charming.” That helps me reframe it. Instead of going creepy or grim, I lean into something more playful and decorative—something with personality.

I land on this idea: the tree’s cup-shaped fruits are decorated with stylized skull-like blotches—not really scary, more like painted masks. The fruits can be used as actual cups. Depending on the liquid you pour into them, they reveal different personalities: Pouring tea results in calm, sage-like advice. Pouring wine brings out a sassy, dramatic voice. A healing potion might awaken a nurturing, overprotective personality.

I check the tags and questions again to be sure. It’s not too grim. It’s still odd, still light, still whimsical. It’s got that playful “talking object” vibe without being too silly or too dark.

6. Frame the Scene. The effect of a scene is only as good as the description you're able to convey. So I offer a Framing table too, to help you describe the situation beyond the obvious.

Now I want to bring it to life. I roll twice on the Framing table and get: Ornament / Pattern and Posture / Attitude

Perfect. Here’s how I describe it:

“As I leave the last cobbled street behind, the dirt path meanders into soft moss and golden grass. I spot a low tree with branches that curl into loops like cup handles. Its broad leaves shimmer with silver veins, and the fruits hanging from them are ornate—filigreed cups decorated with swirling skull-like blotches. I pluck one. As I pour in a pale blue potion I’d found earlier, the liquid glows slightly, and the cup emits a soft hum before opening a pair of painted eyes and asking with a velvet voice, ‘Well now, aren’t you a curious one?’”

You can do that too!

It may seem a bit finicky when I break that down in details, but I have been testing it out in my home game, and I assure you, it slaps! In a minute or so, you can concoct stuff even you’ll be surprised by.

Now you can help me bring this project to life. I’m taking it to BackerKit, and I’m partnering with Critical Kit to offer the physical version as well.

The teaser page is already up so you can follow today—and if you back it in the first 48 hours, you get a free postcard with a unique random table on the back—The Weird-o-Mator, instant formulas to weirdify anything.

I’m equal parts excited and nervous—it’s my first time doing a campaign with physical rewards, add-ons and all the jazz—so I’d love to have your support!

I truly believe Weird, Whimsy & Wonder can be a valuable tool in your arsenal, and I can’t wait to see all the peculiar stuff you’ll be able to create with it!