d100 - Alliterative Alehouses & Tavern Traits

Perhaps we have the venerable “Prancing Pony” to thank for it, but for some reason it seems that most Taverns seem to be a bit more memorable when given Names, and I often see those Names sharing those starting sounds. So, for an amusing distraction, I slapped together some samples to speed up the generation of these alliterating appellations. Finding the results a little thin for a d100 Table, I decided to pad it out with a hundred little “Features” or “Vignette” style elements that could be used to embellish a given drinking establishment.

Starting things off in a Tavern is a timeless tradition after all, even if I have Tables To The Contrary, but should you still need one to kick things off, or as another Building for those Starting Settlements, or even wish to decorate a City Street with a few, this table might be useful. If you find yourself in need of a bit of Flavor for Local Libations, I have another Table to assist with that as well.

d100 - Random Rivers

For this Quick Table I decided to take the same approach that I embarked on for my Some City Streets Table. Naming things is something I’m very fond of, because they often make those Rumors/Hooks/NPC Directions a lot more interesting when they are tied to a Place. Places with Names have an easier time earning Reputations, let Maps do a little more work, and are sometimes a little more memorable than their anonymous counterparts.

So, here’s a handy source of Names for Creeks/Streams/Brooks and Rivers, alongside a few additional inspirational details that can be sprinkled into those riparian routes.

d100 - Faction Features

Usually as I’m stocking a Dungeon or a Hex with a particular group of Humanoids, I want to attempt to associate them with a specific Faction or Group. Giving them this distinction makes for more useful Rumors, Hooks, and far more interesting interactions down the road when an encounter occurs in Play. Giving these groups Names makes it easier to refer to them, and I often like to try and add something Distinctive that might set them apart from other societies or similar Encounters.

The first two columns of this Table are to assist with generating a Name or even Iconography for the Faction, while the third contains ideas for that “special feature” that might make them a bit more unique.

I have included a quick Perchance generator below for easy output:

d100 - Some City Streets

When Adventure whisks the Characters into Urban Environments, I often find it convenient to have some serviceable Street Names at hand. Navigating those places can get a little more interesting by using Landmarks, and in their own way, those Named Thoroughfares serve this function well. They are also immensely useful for when the Players have the rare good sense to query a Local or NPC for Directions. I’ve provided a starting point with two-hundred here, the left-most ones are perhaps more appropriate for the more Sinister or Shady sections of a settlement (after all, quite a bit of excitement tends to happen in those places,) and I threw in another hundred Embellishments that might work to dress up a few descriptions as the Players make their way around.

d100 - Some Cities & Settlements

When painstakingly placing a happy Haven or convenient Village somewhere in a World, I often find myself needing a few things. Names are nearly always necessary, but I also like to think a little bit about what sorts of Resources might have informed the establishment of the place. Especially as a Campaign might shift more toward the Domain Tier, it becomes pretty handy to have some ready ideas for the useful Imports/Exports or other features that might be present and play a larger role. Some entries are obvious Natural Resources, but I like to sprinkle in some less tangible Cultural Resources as well from time to time to keep things interesting. These can inform Rumors, serve as a source of Adventure, and answer those pesky Player questions that crop up from time to time: Where can we find the best quality Falcons? Where is a Sage that has made this obscure topic their life’s work? Where can we sell all these ingots of Tin for a tidy profit?

I’ve also included a handy-dandy generator that I spun up to test out the Naming Stems as well below!

d100 - Dodgy Dogs & Wholesome Hounds

In my many years of running these games, several peculiar patterns have emerged. One is a certain fondness some Players seem to demonstrate for acquiring “Pets.” Whether it’s the Ranger with their loyal Animal Companion, a Paladin's peerless Mount, the Witch with their fantastic Familiar, or even the well-trained “key-retrieving” Rodent, some Players just can’t seem to get enough of obtaining a mini-menagerie to accompany them on their Adventures.

Like Horses and Mules, I tend to like to make these Animals Memorable, and by far one of the most frequent of these are Canines. Dangling the prospect of Dogs in front of Players nearly always gets a taker, and some more canny ones even like to acquire them in advance of Adventure (they even show up in some Hireling Generators like this one). So, in order to have an appropriately interesting Kennel to cull from, I decided to put together a table of Hundred Hounds to ensure that I had plenty of inspiration for a distinguishing feature or so.

At some point down the road, I might go into more detail with how I handle these Pets in my games. For Dogs, it’s usually a question of Training (Watchdog, Hunting, Tracking, War, Service, Herding/Harrying, and Work types are all some options that have come up before). These tend to dictate some of the capabilities an acquired canine might possess or be able to learn via Downtime gold expenditure and Time with an Animal Trainer Specialist. Much like how I handle Henchmen/Hirelings, they aren’t automatons to be ordered about generally, and I’m not terribly fond of them turning into just another series of Combat Rolls either.

But this can wait for another time, for now hopefully this list of 100 Compelling Canines will at least provide some inspiration for making those Mutts more Memorable in your games:

d100 - Marvelous Mules & Distinctive Donkeys

Appearing on most Equipment Lists, the Trusty Mule sometimes stoically accompanies our Adventures into the strangest of places. Helping them haul their gear and buoy those hopes for retrieving those glittering hoards. Just as with my prior table on Horses, I do prefer to give these precious Pack Animals a little more attention than just a perfunctory price of thirty gold pieces

So, should you find yourself needing some additional Equine Embellishments: here are a Hundred potential Traits for these brave beasts of burden (though I’m sure some of the Names/Entries on the prior table above might apply as well). I know we’ve certainly had some memorable Mules at my tables over the years.

d100 - Five Hundred Names for Dolmenwood Games

One can never have enough Names. A while back to assist a Referee in distress, I put together a few for Dolmenwood. Here are Five Hundred Names for Dolmenwood Games:

d100 (x 4) - Bynames, Sobriquets, and Epithets

We’ve all been there: in dire need of a memorable Name during play to hastily christen an NPC to make them more meaningful, or requiring one as we make our preparations for the next session. Spontaneous Namecraft is a tad tricky though. When Naming things, should I have the luxury, I do tend to try to speak it aloud a few times, just to ensure that it flows off the tongue without too much stumbling and can’t be inadvertently mispronounced into something silly or humorous (a very common conundrum in my games that can be a bit derailing). While onomastics are intensely interesting to me, I’m usually a little more concerned with having something immediately accessible to solve the problem.

Specifically, I find myself often in need of Names for Gods/Deities/Tutelary Spirits and such for How I Handle Clerics (every Spell gets its own Source, so having at least eight on hand by Second Level is useful). This led me to start assembling a list of interesting Bynames/Nicknames because those are just more evocative to me when referencing such things. These have also been extremely useful for Formidable Wizards (and the line between the two does blur a bit) and even Infamous Monsters.

I know it is often bandied about that one should never “Name” the Monster (i.e., endeavor to refrain from referring to them by their Statblock Names in play) and this is excellent advice to preserve some of that mystery, but I do heartily recommend Bewtowing a Name on your Monsters. Especially any with say...a Fairy Tale Weakness.

Referees needn’t have all the fun namesmithing, however. They may be suitable or appealing for some Player Characters as well 😊. These nicknames can serve a bit of a double-duty with their implications of characteristics/personalities sometimes (and therefore this Table might have other uses as a source of distinguishing Traits or Cues), but they also are occasionally used to humorously contrast things (think of “Little John” as a good example of this).

I didn’t want to run out right away, so technically we’re sitting on Four Hundred here. Combine with a d4, read across and select, or simply cross them out as you use them. I’ve also provided a convenient perchance generator below to showcase how these can be applied to generate some occasionally compelling Names in a pinch.