I personally find few things as nostalgic as rolling on a table mid-session, whether for a random encounter, a piece of treasure, or simply a bit of inspiration when you’re stuck.

While building Sagenlund, I found inspiration in Pixar’s Seven Sentences structure and Forbidden Lands. I read and listened to dozens of fairy tales and built an entire setting around a simple idea: fairy tales have long served as warnings, but what if those warnings were a little more literal? What if telling those stories actually brought them to life?

That idea became the foundation of Sagenlund. Reality is malleable, shaped by the stories people tell. If a small village shares a tale, that tale gradually becomes truth, never giving memories the chance to become legends, or legends to fade into myth.

So far, I’ve used this structure to create three introductory adventures for Sagenlund, all of which I’ve run as one-shots. Eventually, though, I wanted a way to generate these stories on the fly—and a simple tool that would let me share the process with others. So I took those seven sentences and turned them into a mad-lib-style story generator powered by a series of random tables.

Roll once on each table, in order, and read the results into this:

1. Every Day, the ⟨Protagonist⟩ ⟨Action⟩ ⟨Adverb⟩,
2. While the ⟨Antagonist⟩ ⟨Action⟩ ⟨Adverb⟩.
3. Then One Day, ⟨Noun⟩ ⟨Verb⟩.
4. Because of That, the ⟨Protagonist⟩ ⟨Protagonist Verb⟩.
5. Because of That, the ⟨Antagonist⟩ ⟨Antagonist Verb⟩.
6. Finally, the ⟨Protagonist, rolled again⟩ answered, and ⟨the Noun from 3⟩ ⟨Opposite from 3’s row⟩, bound by ⟨Ward⟩.
7. Ever Since, ⟨Ward⟩ must be ⟨Kept How⟩ ⟨When⟩, and the ⟨Protagonist⟩ has obeyed.
8. Until ⟨Ward⟩ ⟨Omen⟩.

Four rules help keep it consistent:

• The turn and its answer are one roll. Step 3 takes the Verb, step 6 takes the Opposite from that same row. This ensures what happens and how it shifts are intricately linked.
• The ward is one roll. Steps 6, 7 and 8 all name the same ward. Roll once, keep the whole row. I want to relax this in the future, which is why these are not just a sentence.
• Whoever answers is someone else. Step 6 re-rolls the Protagonist table; roll again if it matches step 1.
• Match the number. The Plural column tells you whether step 7 reads has obeyed or have obeyed, and which Omen column step 8 uses. This is really only necessary for the generator’s sentences to make sense, rolling on the tables this would be easy to manually adjust.

The generator below creates a simple fairy tale using the structure outlined above. The raw tables follow the generator.

The Protagonist (d20)

Roll	Who	Number	Every Day… (action)	…(adverb)	Because of That…
1	Child	—	Played	Carefully	Searched
2	Children	plural	Prayed	Patiently	Discovered
3	Villager	—	Studied	Quietly	Protected
4	Villagers	plural	Worked	Kindly	Rescued
5	Old Woman	—	Lived	Generously	Gathered
6	Old Man	—	Journeyed	Faithfully	Traveled
7	Orphan	—	Gathered	Bravely	Learned
8	Shepherd	—	Helped	Wisely	Befriended
9	Miller	—	Built	Honestly	Freed
10	Woodsman	—	Created	Humbly	Restored
11	Farmer	—	Learned	Joyfully	Revealed
12	Apprentice	—	Tended	Cheerfully	United
13	Teacher	—	Protected	Wonderfully	Endured
14	Priest	—	Shared	Creatively	Bargained
15	Alchemist	—	Traded	Confidently	Remembered
16	Sailor	—	Explored	Gracefully	Forgave
17	Thief	—	Harvested	Diligently	Sacrificed
18	Slave	—	Mended	Gently	Challenged
19	Hunter	—	Discovered	Thankfully	Escaped
20	Hermit	—	Celebrated	Hopefully	Defeated

The Antagonist (d20)

Roll	Who	Number	While… (action)	…(adverb)	Because of That…
1	Cult	—	Destroyed	Defiantly	Hunted
2	Cult Leader	—	Stole	Dangerously	Stole
3	King	—	Hunted	Angrily	Corrupted
4	Queen	—	Cursed	Cruelly	Captured
5	Wicked Stepmother	—	Controlled	Secretly	Hoarded
6	Noble	—	Commanded	Ruthlessly	Pursued
7	Town Council	—	Demanded	Jealously	Manipulated
8	Tax Collector	—	Deceived	Greedily	Betrayed
9	Guild	—	Corrupted	Deceitfully	Enslaved
10	Merchant Prince	—	Imprisoned	Mercilessly	Destroyed
11	Wizard	—	Banished	Relentlessly	Concealed
12	Witch	—	Consumed	Silently	Divided
13	Guards	plural	Conquered	Recklessly	Oppressed
14	Captain	—	Hoarded	Cunningly	Deceived
15	Militia	—	Watched	Sinisterly	Erased
16	Bandits	plural	Pursued	Maliciously	Avenged
17	Thieves’ Guild	—	Invaded	Viciously	Demanded
18	Necromancer	—	Threatened	Obsessively	Commanded
19	Dragon	—	Schemed	Corruptly	Imprisoned
20	Giant	—	Whispered	Darkly	Returned

The Turn — what changed (d20)

Roll	Noun
1	Darkness
2	Light
3	Death
4	Power
5	Monsters
6	Cold
7	Heat
8	Forces
9	Magic
10	Undead
11	Fae
12	The Realm
13	A Wizard
14	A Warrior
15	A Demon
16	An Angel
17	Time
18	Life
19	The Forest
20	The People

The Turn — verb and its answer (d40)

Roll	Then One Day… (verb)	Finally… (opposite)
1	Rose	Fell
2	Quaked	Stilled
3	Sundered	Restored
4	Shattered	Restored
5	Hid	Appeared
6	Appeared	Hid
7	Conquered	Enslaved
8	Destroyed	Forgot
9	Created	Destroyed
10	Fled	Returned
11	Returned	Fled
12	Conquered	Escaped
13	Enslaved	Freed
14	Vanished	Returned
15	Awakened	Banished
16	Descended	Ascended
17	Stopped	Resumed
18	Bloomed	Withered
19	Awakened	Slept
20	United	Divided
21	Spread	Receded
22	Faded	Returned
23	Claimed	Released
24	Shifted	Settled
25	Awoke	Slept
26	Spread	Melted
27	Withered	Flourished
28	Stirred	Quieted
29	Awakened	Faded
30	Rose	Rested
31	Crossed	Departed
32	Changed	Endured
33	Disappeared	Returned
34	Fell	Rose
35	Escaped	Imprisoned
36	Appeared	Departed
37	Fractured	Mended
38	Returned	Vanished
39	Spread	Receded
40	Remembered	Forgot

The Ward (d20)

Roll	The ward	Number	Kept how	When or where
1	the bells	plural	rung	at sunset
2	the night-fires	plural	kept lit	until dawn
3	the salt line	—	scattered	at every threshold
4	the gate	—	barred	before dark
5	the old song	—	sung	at the crossing
6	the offerings	plural	left	at the shrine
7	the vigil	—	kept	from dusk to dawn
8	the toll	—	paid	at the bridge
9	the ward-stones	plural	set	along the boundary
10	the lantern	—	carried	after dark
11	the fast	—	held	on the longest night
12	the names	plural	left unspoken	in the dark months
13	the doors	plural	marked with ash	before the new moon
14	the watch	—	set	upon the walls
15	the horn	—	sounded	at moonrise
16	the circle	—	walked	each evening
17	the tithe	—	given	at harvest
18	the masks	plural	worn	through the dark months
19	the last loaf	—	left	upon the step
20	the mirrors	plural	covered	at night

The Omen (d20)

Roll	If the ward is singular	If the ward is plural
1	Returned	Returned
2	Vanished	Vanished
3	Awakened	Awakened
4	Fell Silent	Fell Silent
5	Was Broken	Were Broken
6	Was Forgotten	Were Forgotten
7	Was Stolen	Were Stolen
8	Failed	Failed
9	Changed	Changed
10	Stopped	Stopped
11	Began Again	Began Again
12	Opened	Opened
13	Closed	Closed
14	Cracked	Cracked
15	Was Named	Were Named
16	Was Found	Were Found
17	Was Lost	Were Lost
18	Was Seen	Were Seen
19	Was Heard	Were Heard
20	Came Early	Came Early