Rolling with the Homies . . . or the Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Adventure Generator!

Adron J. Smitley
3 min readFeb 2, 2023

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Fantasy writers can use these inspiration tables as an adventure generator for your next exciting story. But don’t think the tables are limited to the fantasy genre. Plug and play with the provided tables as you like and as according to your specific genre.

For instance, as with horror or suspense or mystery you might replace Kingdom with Haunted House, or Build with Stalk, or Wizard with Detective . . . and so on.

I suggest making a list of genre-specific persons, places, things and events (anything and everything that comes to your mind) then arranging, rearranging, as well swapping the options from the supplied tables until you have those that are more suited to your preferred genre of writing.

And after that?

Have fun with your new adventure generator!

The great thing is you only need the bare minimum of supplies: a pen, paper, and everyone has some six-sided dice lying somewhere around the house that can provide you the easy means required.

How to use:

Roll 2d6 (two six-sided dice) for each column of the inspiration tables in this order: Thing > Action > Thing > Fallout.

This creates a threat or entity that wishes to act upon another entity, and if successful then fallout occurs. For example: a Warlord (4) wants to Corrupt (6) a Kingdom (7) which causes Slavery (11).

-THING-

2. Horde

3. Monarch

4. Warlord

5. Monster

6. Wizard

7. Kingdom

8. Cult

9. Artifact

10. Interloper

11. Deity

12. Monolith

-ACTION-

2. Destroy

3. Protect

4. Discover

5. Steal

6. Corrupt

7. Revive

8. Build

9. Dislocate

10. Empower

11. Weaken

12. Control

-FALLOUT-

2. Plague

3. Exile

4. Upheaval

5. Tyranny

6. Slaughter

7. War

8. Desecration

9. Famine

10. Summoning

11. Slavery

12. Cataclysm

*Note: I did not invent this method or these tables by any means. Tabletop gamers have been using them or some modified version of this system for too many years to count for a single person to claim true credit.

Again, for your own adventure generator I suggest you tailor your inspiration tables to your specific genre of writing. Want more of a sci-fi? Then swap in Spaceship or Aliens. Is ‘Monster’ too vague a term for your potential horror story? Then change it to something more specific like Vampire or Werewolf or some other imaginary beast your characters might contend with.

You can shorten or lengthen your adventure generator as well if you care to invest a few dollars and purchase some specialized gaming dice, or just add or subtract another six-sided die while adjusting your inspiration tables’ numerics and their options accordingly.

With these tables (or any modified version of them) you can generate a story adventure in seconds that is easily applied to the protagonist, the antagonist, or any other of your characters, giving them an instant purpose to act upon and a reason to be acted against.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

ADRONJSMITLEY.BLOGSPOT.COM

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Adron J. Smitley
Adron J. Smitley

Written by Adron J. Smitley

Blog for writers on everything plot, character, and story structure architecture at: adronjsmitley.blogspot.com

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