Best Generator Books for TTRPG Worldbuilding/Solo Play

Streamed live at / chaoclypse
Skip to 31:28 if you just want to know my recommendation! (Perilous Wilds, Maze Rats, GUM, Sandbox Generator, GM's Miscellany)
Links to the books mentioned:
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.jedmc.com/ixdd/2016/7/12/w...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
jeansenvaars.itch.io/game-unf...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/p... (GM's Miscellany)
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
blog.d4caltrops.com/2018/03/w...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
kellri.blogspot.com/2008/07/cd...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
0:00 Intro
0:41 Perilous Wilds
04:00 Tome of Adventure Design
08:57 Wilderness Hexplore
12:04 Sandbox Generator
14:11 Game Unfolding Machine
17:03 Maze Rats
18:07 Great Book of Random Tables
19:25 GM's Miscellany Collection
21:33 D30 Sandbox Companion
23:23 100 Wilderness Hexes
25:17 Artifices, Deceptions and Dilemmas
27:00 Scarlet Heroes & WWN
28:00 CDD 4 Old School Encounters Reference
29:23 Untold Encounters of the Random Kind
30:54 Ironsworn
31:28 Summary & Favourites

[@Chaoclypse]

I wrote it in the transcript, but forgot on-stream to recommend new solo players to stick to 1-2 books of tables to keep it simple and consistent 😅 I'm covering a lot of books here, but using a ton of books is useful mostly for GM Prep - Using more books is okay as a solo player as you get accustomed to them, but at the start just stick to a few :)

[@kyb3er]

Now I need a random generator to help me pick out which random generator to use...

[@d4caltrops]

Thank you for the shout out for my Wilderness Hexes! I need to get back to making more of those, the plan is to eventually have a hundred for each Terrain type :)

[@Chaoclypse]

Oh that's awesome!! Your blog and the tables on it are so awesome!

[@mattjackson]

Yes!! Please continue the Wilderness Hexes, they are amazing!

[@KyleMaxwell]

Seriously there's SO MUCH in the Tome of Adventure Design. You pointed out things I didn't even realize were in there! Perilous Wilds is excellent, and there was a revision in late 2022 that really improved the dungeon generation procedure. Folks should look for the new revision, it's well worth it.

[@Chaoclypse]

Definitely! I have the revised edition.

[@user-pc5ww8fh6d]

Old school encounters reference was an amazingly useful item to find. Thanks for mentioning that. Sandbox Generator is a great item. Got that as a hardcover. Very useful. Not a fan of The Adventure Design Tome. Poorly organized and seemed too cluttered with fringe material. The D30 Generator is very handy.

[@Marsh1563]

This was a great video and much appreciated. I learned about a lot of new respurces that I didn't know about and I personally really like this type of content.

[@Chaoclypse]

Thank you! I really enjoy this kind of content too but wasn't sure if anyone else would. It's really encouraging to hear this.

[@Marsh1563]

I liked that you explained how you use these supplements and what you feel they are good for. It was helpful that you went into detail for a few tables in each book. People talking about what they use to solo and what their personal solo philosophies/ approaches are is my favorite content so this was great stuff imo. Thanks!

[@konatelassina5301]

Amazing! Thank you for this. It wasn’t too long. Look forward to more solo Mörk Bork, or how about some Pirate Borg!!!

[@perplexingruins]

fantastic video! some old friends here. Ironsworn, combined with Delve, is still one of my favorites, for that general tone...but definitely need another resource for specific encounters with character - nice job

[@Chaoclypse]

Thank you friend!

[@thetrojanhoss]

Excellent vid! I never heard about most of these, they are good sources for material. Thank you!

[@VisualMediaConcepts]

Thank you so much. I definitely enjoys these videos. I’m just starting my solo adventures.

[@cracklingsnow]

While watching I had to order the Hardcopy incl. PDF of the Sandbox Generator from DTRPG. Now happy for the package I'll receive :D

[@Chaoclypse]

Yee I just got mine in the mail a week or so ago, it's great!

[@Warghoul]

Great list, thanks!

[@GothridgeManor]

All very good suggestions. I think I had 8 or 9 of them already.

[@solitaryrpg]

Thanks for sharing some new books for me to add to my collection. Great video

[@Chaoclypse]

No problem! Glad you enjoyed the video! :D

[@tabletopsidekick]

Great video! Thanks.

[@samchelms]

Thanks for going over all of these! I really like the Manual of Hexterity, have you seen it?

[@Chaoclypse]

I have it! That's another good one.

[@blac3174]

Thank You!!!

[@Chaoclypse]

Thank you for watching :D

[@Grognard-Solo-Gaming]

Good one! 👍 I have a few of these, and I’m trying to not get (too much) more stuff 😂 So I’ll stay away for now. I’m currently mostly playing LotR LCG with a friend and I recently bought everything for LotR: JiMe, so working on getting that painted to play solo. The LCG just really got me into LotR, I also got The One Ring to play Strider Mode, but (of course) I’ve barely opened it yet 😂 I have finished painting the JiMe core box though 😁

[@Chaoclypse]

Haha, nice! :D

[@KekoaSkills]

Thanks for showing tables and explaining how you use these tools. I started by getting into solo play but realized I’m basically world building and collecting random tables etc. Do you post your solo play sessions?

[@Chaoclypse]

Heya! I do post my solo play sessions, both in edited form and also (more recently) live on KZbin. Hopefully they can help ease you into solo play :D

[@ReadingAde]

Very helpful

[@Chaoclypse]

Thank you, glad it helped!

[@nixey_6768]

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions, they've really helped me with deciding what would be best to use for my own adventures :) I wondered if you had any experience with the "Realm Fables: World Generator" books and if you think they would be worth getting to aid alongside your recommendations here? Thanks!!

[@Chaoclypse]

Heya! I have it, but I unfortunately don't have enough experience with it to make a recommendation one way or another. I should look into it though!!

[@nixey_6768]

@@Chaoclypse no worries at all, I look forward to seeing what you think of it, if you decide to make a video of course. Keep up the great work!!

[@JasonMDockins]

Thanks for all the recommendations. A couple of these were not on my radar. What dice roller do you use if I might ask?

[@Chaoclypse]

No problem! I use Sophie's Dice for the die roller, it's fantastic! Lots of options for customization, and it's on mobile too.

[@fitzgeraldlimisella4393]

Thanks for this. I've already got some of the books/resources you mentioned such as GUM and Untold Encounters, but I was looking for something else. I'm looking for something that can help flesh out kingdoms and stuff. Most books cover dungeons and settlements such as villages and cities, but not entire kingdoms. Any ideas if such a book exists? I have heard Table Fables, but not sure if that's what I need. In the meantime, I am liking the sound of Perilous Wilds and Sandbox Generator.

[@Chaoclypse]

I think you might want to look into Gygax 75, which is more of a workbook/process for creating an entire kingdom! These generators can help but ultimately a lot of that work is gonna fall on you. rayotus.itch.io/gygax75 The campaign backdrops from Raging Swan Press may also be of interest to kick things off!

[@fitzgeraldlimisella4393]

@@Chaoclypse Thanks, I'll take a look. I also just discovered Realm Fables. Have you heard of it (what are your thoughts if you have)?

[@Chaoclypse]

@@fitzgeraldlimisella4393 I have heard of it, but have not read enough of it to have a strong opinion. Sorry!

[@fitzgeraldlimisella4393]

@@Chaoclypse no worries. Could be something you find useful as well, who knows :)

[@IAcePTI]

I like tables, i love them... but they make to mutch work to use them. A bunch of books with tables but it takes to mutch to pick up and search. I prefear to use "inspirational" tables like verb+theme , action/theme and the likes. With the same results i can get diferent ideas depending the situation. Dont need to switch books or search for tables. That sayd i still got a bunch of books with random tables ... i guess all depends of the creativity of the person. I like the video as i like to discover new things. I think next thing im trying to use will be hexflower "tables"

[@Chaoclypse]

Oh man, that reminds me (I even wrote it in the transcript, but forgot to say it on stream) that I was supposed to recommend new solo players to stick to 1-2 books of tables to keep it simple and consistent 😅 Like you said, this is mostly a way for me to go over all my favourite resources for GM prep, but especially for solo, I agree, best to keep it minimal.

[@IAcePTI]

​@@Chaoclypse My only solution to use a bunch of tables from diferent books is to put them all in cards. Can be a card with diferent entries or a card for each table colour coded. I was learning how to code and put some of them in a pdf, so i can press a button and roll a bunch at once. But like every work i start it tends to last and last and never finish xD

[@Chaoclypse]

@@IAcePTI Done the card thing for sure - makes things very convenient! Recently I've been messing with blank dice, will have a video on that soon probably. I've actually coded up scripts for Obsidian that uses an accompanying text file for a procedural Tracery/Perchance-like grammar which allows me to essentially use nested tables. I might make a video on that sometime too, not sure!

[@IAcePTI]

@@Chaoclypse as some one know nothing about coding, i was just reverse engineering some cards in pdf format that i got years ago. What i done allrady was to put all the tables i wanted into 100 cards and printed and later just used some app that random pick a picture from a folder on my phone and in that folder is the image of the 100 cards. I dont like to use to mutch eletronics to play, i find my ipad with apple pencil aceptable becouse it feels like it is on paper, but i cant see me play with a mouse and keyboard.

[@paulbigbee]

@@Chaoclypse If you still have any interest in making a video on this topic, I'd be eager to see it. I've got a lot of sources with excellent tables, and I use Obsidian, so I'd dearly love to figure out a way to bring all of these together!

Me gustaría ver un video dedicado a Game Unfolding Machine. Saludos

[@Chaoclypse]

I'm hoping to make a separate video on it too! So many videos to get to, haha :D

[@francoisdumont4105]

I am working on a monster creator for my games. What specific book would you recommend for this? I'm looking for ideas.

[@Chaoclypse]

Maze Rats is good for that I find, but also I've heard good things (several times!) about Random Esoteric Creature Generator. Still need to delve into that one properly, myself!

[@user-jg3bh4wf5g]

What program did you use to throwing dice on the screen?

[@Chaoclypse]

Sophie’s Dice

[@user-jg3bh4wf5g]

@@Chaoclypse thank you very much

[@destroso]

32:22 that looks like a cool print out, how did you do that?

[@Chaoclypse]

It's just printed booklet style with a green paper cover!

[@destroso]

@@Chaoclypse I’m too simple to understand, I can’t even print on both sides of one paper