DerfDice

Hey, Dungeon Master, are you tired of making up random names when the players ask what the hobbit’s name is? Or the hobbit’s hometown? Perhaps they want to know the menu for the inn the party just entered? This is the job of DerfDice, a tool for game masters to quickly generate random creative content from tables. As producer, I created the majority of tables for this site.

Creating tables for DerfDice is one of the most complicated gaming projects I have undertaken. It required not just extensive creativity to write outputs but also the ability to logically break down these creative outputs in order to find order and identify basic elements for randomization. For example, to generate a hundred random elf names, I first had to imagine a dozen elf names and note any patterns.

My first task for DerfDice was to create one hundred basic tables, building a common library for all users to draw from. These included lists like {noble_titles}, {personal_names}, {colors}, {animals}, {place_names}, and {weapons}. Then I began creating complex tables.

Complex tables fully demonstrate the utility of DerfDice because combining many tables in sequence creates more useful, detailed, and colorful outputs. For instance, the small tables combine as:

{noble_titles} {personal_names}, who defeated the {animals} of {place_names} with a {weapons}

giving results like:

Baron Alfgar, who defeated the Black Wolf of Fenley’s Bluff with a Crossbow.

This, however, is still a rather easy complex table to construct. The most complex tables required a good deal of planning. I originated some complex tables myself, but for others I was given a list of example outputs.

I deconstructed these examples to reveal a formula of elements. For example, the Foraging table started with three elements: measurements, plant type, and descriptor [optional]. Then, I started to expand the concepts of these tables. Measurements became {Foraging_Amount_Foods} and {Foraging_Amount_Plants}, because a pint of berries sounds better than a clump of berries. Descriptors actually stayed as a single table, which was itself complex. It made extensive use of preexisting simple tables like {BasicColor} or {Gaelic_First_Names_Female}, to demonstrate to new users the power of community resources and to create greater detail. But by far the most complex part of this table was the plant names themselves.

I put more time into plant names than other parts of this table, not only because they are the integral part of the table but also because I became an expert on medieval herbalism by creating a card game based off Old English herbalism books (see Medieval Apothecary). I created four tables of herbs historically used in the Middle Ages. Then I created a larger table with generic plant names like wood, dock, and grass. This table was preceded by an adjective table with twelve entries – each of which referred to another table. The master table was created, which would determine whether fantasy herbs, real herbs, or food were found. Finally, I ran many batches to check for grammatical errors like missing articles, punctuation, or capitalization.

In all, the entire foraging table incorporated thirty-two tables and took half a day to design and implement. Along the way, some cuts were made. The numbers from the original examples were eliminated because they would have required nearly identical tables distinguished only by being plural rather than singular or adding [s] to all entries. Indeed, incorporating existing tables can be tricky. Some tables are not useful simply because they contain plural nouns rather than singular nouns. Numbers may need to be ordinal, cardinal, or even multiplicative. Indeed, after a few months of being live, the product owner added scripting to adjust capitalization, thereby improving uniformity and presentation.

I have many other complex tables at DerfDice that demonstrate creativity and planning. Do you need the name of a notable society that will hire adventurers, the name of a bad man to fight, or the name of a somewhat sinister site? Check them out at DerfDice.