My first cut at naming artifacts was pretty okay, but a little unsatisfying. I had a decent start, but I really needed a more varied set of objects to work with.
So, here I have more. I cobbled together a much richer collection of ‘object tables’ that I can use to build artifact names.
I don’t weight the results much, though I do sometimes. For instance, the original Table Table had each entry with the same weight, but had three more entries (‘Gear’ was ‘Books’, ‘Gear’, ‘Instrument’, and ‘Transport’). Because each of those was functionally a one-row table when I brought them in, I merged them into a single table and then added their weights together. I then bumped ‘Armor’ and ‘Weapon’ weights because I figure they’re most often of interest to players.
The tables are far from complete. I tried to stick to things that would sound cool, hit the high points, so there were many things left out. I wasn’t trying to definitively catalog all the possibilities.
Tables
Of course we need to know where to start. That would be the Object Table.
Object Table
| d10 | Table |
|---|---|
| 1..2 | Armor |
| 3 | Clothing |
| 4..7 | General |
| 8 | Jewelry |
| 9..10 | Weapon |
Armor Table
| d4 | Armor | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helmet | d12 | 1..4: helmet, 5: basinet, 6: burgonet, 7: casque, 8..10: helm, 11:morion, 12: sallet |
| 2 | Piece | d8 | 1: bracers, 2: breastplate, 3: cuirass, 4: gauntlet, 5: gauntlet, 6: gorget, 7: pauldron, 8: vambrace |
| 3 | Shield | d10 | 1..5: shield, 6: aegis, 7: buckle, 8: bulwark, 9: guard, 10: rampart |
| 4 | Suit | d3 | 1: mail, 2: plate, 3: brigandine |
Clothing Table
| d6 | Clothing | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Body | d6 | 1: shirt, 2: cloak, 3: coat, 4: jacket, 5: mantle, 6: tunic |
| 2 | Feet | d5 | 1: boots, 2: moccasins, 3: sandals, 4: shoes, 5: slippers |
| 3 | Hands | d3 | 1: gage, 2: gauntlet, 3: glove |
| 4 | Head | d12 | 1: beret, 2: bonnet, 3: cap, 4: coif, 5: cowl, 6: headdress, 7: hood, 8: mask, 9: skullcap, 10: turban, 11: veil, 12: wimple |
| 5 | Legs | d4 | 1: leggings, 2: pantaloons, 3: pants, 4: trousers |
| 6 | Shoulders | d8 | 1..2: cape, 3: cloak, 4: mantle, 5: scarf, 6: serape, 7: shawl, 8: stole |
General Table
| d5 | General | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anatomy | d12 | 1: arm, 2: claw, 3: eye, 4: fang, 5: finger, 6: hand, 7: heart, 8: horn, 9: scale, 10: skull, 11: talon, 12: tooth |
| 2 | Book | d20 | 1..5: book, 6: album, 7: atlas, 8: codex, 9: folio, 10: grimoire, 11: lexicon, 12: libram, 13: manual, 14: monograph, 15: octavo, 16: quarto, 17: scroll, 18: tome, 19: tract, 20: treatise |
| 3 | Gear | d20 | 1: abacus, 2:anvil, 3:astrolabe, 4: bell, 5: bellows, 6: cauldron, 7: chest, 8: compass, 9: cup, 10: flask, 11: hourglass, 12: key, 13: lamp, 14: lantern, 15: loom, 16: map, 17: needle, 18: pavilion, 19: satchel, 20: spindle |
| 4 | Instrument | d12 | 1: bell, 2: chime, 3: drum, 4: fiddle, 5: flute, 6: gong, 7: harp, 8: horn, 9: lute, 10: mandolin, 11: organ, 12: whistle |
| 5 | Transport | d10 | 1: carriage, 2: cart, 3: chariot, 4: sleigh, 5: wagon, 6: barge, 7: boat, 8:galley, 9: kayak, 10: ship |
Jewelry Table
| d6 | Jewelry | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amulet | d10 | 1..3: amulet, 4: beads, 5: locket, 6: necklace, 7..8: pendant, 9..10: talisman |
| 2 | Bracelet | d3 | 1: armlet, 2: bangle, 3: bracelet |
| 3 | Brooch | d2 | 1: brooch, 2: pin |
| 4 | Crown | d8 | 1..4: crown, 5: chaplet, 6: circlet, 7: coronet, 8: tiara |
| 5 | Ring | d4 | 1..3: ring, 4: band |
| 6 | Scepter | d4 | 1..2: scepter, 3: rod, 4: wand |
Weapon Table
| d8 | Weapon | Roll | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axe | d10 | 1..4: axe, 5..6: battleaxe, 7: cleaver, 8..9: greataxe, 10: handaxe |
| 2 | Club | d20 | 1..5: club, 6..10: mace, 11..15: staff, 16: baton, 17: bludgeon, 18: cudgel, 19: shillelagh, 20: truncheon |
| 3 | Dagger | d12 | 1..4: dagger, 5..6: bodkin, 7: cestus, 8: dirk, 9: knife, 10..11: poniard, 12: stiletto |
| 4 | Hammer | d6 | 1..3: hammer, 4: maul, 5: mallet, 6: sledge |
| 5 | Polearm | d5 | 1: bardiche, 2: glaive, 3: halberd, 4: naginata, 5: ranseur |
| 6 | Ranged | d6 | 1: arbalest, 2..3: bow, 4: chakram, 5..6: crossbow |
| 7 | Spear | d12 | 1..4: spear, 5..6: dart, 7: harpoon, 8: javelin, 9..10: lance, 11: pike, 12: trident |
| 8 | Sword | d20 | 1..5: sword, 6..9: blade, 10..11: broadsword, 12: claymore, 13: cutlass, 14: falchion, 15: flamberge, 16: greatsword, 17: rapier, 18: sabre, 19..20: scimitar |
Closing Comments
This isn’t exactly what I have implemented in my table resolver (random generator), but it’s pretty close. This is a much richer set than I had a couple days ago, and the sample output so far looks much richer.
At the same time, now that I see more output, I see that some of the rules produce results that I might describe as ‘consistent insipid’. I think I’ll clean that up next.