How do I write a table?

One row per line, as a number or a range, a colon, and the result: one dash two colon nothing, three dash five colon wolves, six colon a traveller. Pick the die size from the dropdown beside the name and the tool checks that every roll on that die has exactly one row.

What happens if my rows leave a gap?

It says so, and it names the numbers that have no row. A table with a gap still works, and a roll that lands in it gives no result, which is almost always a mistake rather than a choice. Overlaps are named the same way and the first matching row wins.

Can one table point at another?

Yes. A row that reads exactly roll again on, followed by another table's name, sends the roll there and reads the result from that table instead. It follows up to four levels, so two tables pointing at each other stop rather than looping forever.

What is drawing without replacement for?

Tables of one-off events. A rolled table can give the same row twice in a row, which is right for wandering monsters and wrong for a list of things that should each happen once in an evening. Drawing takes each number out as it is used and says how many are left.

Does it remember my tables?

Yes, in this browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no share link, because a table is either one of the three that come with the page or rows you typed yourself.

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Encounter table

Rows with a dice range and a result. Roll the die, read the row, or draw without replacement.

Made by the PaperCarnival team · Updated 2026-09-22

No tables

Press the button and read the row.

How to pick a row

Rolling is what a table is for: the same row can come up twice in a row, and sometimes should. Drawing takes each number out as it is used, which suits a table of one-off events you do not want repeated in an evening.

Sound

Space roll on the chosen table

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The oldest tool in the hobby

A random table is two columns and it has been driving stories for fifty years, because it does something a writer cannot: it produces the thing you would not have chosen. The unexpected row is the one the evening is built around, and it only arrives if the table is genuinely being rolled on rather than picked from.

Which is why this page bothers to check the table. A row range that leaves three with nothing on it is a table that silently does nothing once in six, and on paper you would never notice. Here the numbers with no row are named, and so are the ones covered twice, before a single die has been rolled.

For rooms combined from three tables at once rather than one row from one, the dungeon room generator is the page, and for the dice themselves with keeps, modifiers and exploding, the dice pool does the arithmetic.

Kept in this browser under pph.encounter.tables and pph.encounter.muted, and nowhere else. Accounts, printing, storage and what the page loads are answered on the FAQ.

Questions

How do I write a table?: One row per line, as a number or a range, a colon, and the result: one dash two colon nothing, three dash five colon wolves, six colon a traveller. Pick the die size from the dropdown beside the name and the tool checks that every roll on that die has exactly one row.
What happens if my rows leave a gap?: It says so, and it names the numbers that have no row. A table with a gap still works, and a roll that lands in it gives no result, which is almost always a mistake rather than a choice. Overlaps are named the same way and the first matching row wins.
Can one table point at another?: Yes. A row that reads exactly roll again on, followed by another table's name, sends the roll there and reads the result from that table instead. It follows up to four levels, so two tables pointing at each other stop rather than looping forever.
What is drawing without replacement for?: Tables of one-off events. A rolled table can give the same row twice in a row, which is right for wandering monsters and wrong for a list of things that should each happen once in an evening. Drawing takes each number out as it is used and says how many are left.
Does it remember my tables?: Yes, in this browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no share link, because a table is either one of the three that come with the page or rows you typed yourself.

Encounter table

The oldest tool in the hobby

Questions

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