Tools, Titles, Tables for Fantasy Adventurers and Groups

Here we are looking at pdf and book titles for Fantasy characters, adventurers and adventuring groups, on Drive Thru RPG.

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Starting Points

Fantasy Roleplaying games can't exist without the characters. The adventurers of fantasy roleplaying games are the most important part, being the conduit for player to influence and experience the game.

Then there are groups. Of mercenaries, swashbucklers, scoundrels, misfits and friends. Serving a faith, faction, patron or themselves. And the extended family of hirelings, allies, pets, mounts and other companions.

Fantasy covers existing worlds such as Glorantha, Middle Earth and Westeros. Your own homebrews plus dungeon delves, hex crawls and fantasy soap opera. Using tools such as Pathfinder, D&D, Savage Worlds, OSR, Ironsworn, Warhammer or whatever takes your fantasy.

For for more fantasy options try System-Neutral Tools, Tables & Titles for Fantasy or Solo Tools & Tables for Fantasy .

Dec 2025: Added tools for each section. Dec 2024: Added companions section and new titles; Jun 2024: Added titles; Oct 2023: added more titles

Major Tools and Titles

The Random Character Generator from Role Generator creates an entire stat-less character, including name, occupation and detailed description. Can optionally specify race or profession. Here Be Taverns also has a Characters generator with portraits and a D&D theme.

Naming characters can be a time-consuming process. Donjon has a single Fantasy Name Generator covering humans, elves, dwarves and halflings. 7Tools also has a Name Generator covering many fantasy races. And Names Nerd has several different Fantasy Names categories such as centaur, elf, hobbit, ogre and warrior cat.

To visualise a character, Meiker has Fantasy RPG Character Maker with a random option (the die icon under options). Or Anvl has a 3d Miniature Generator with a "Generate a random character" option, with options such as stance, weapons, bodyshape and mount adjustable.

Then for digital titles there is...

For questions to ask about a characters backstory, try 5 Questions by Roving Band of Misfits Press, with d100 tables for 5 categories.
Your Life: Random Fantasy Character Backgrounds from Micah Abresch has tables for all kinds of things in a character background, including ancestry, trinkets, major life events and communities
A generator for starting off a group is the Party Backstory Generator from Severed Books.
Lee's Lists has a collection of many d100 titles in the 25699 Names Bundle.
Infinite Trinkets from Inkwell Ideas has d12 tables to create random trinkets characters might have as keepsakes, mementos, charms, heirlooms or curiosities.

Free and Pay What You Want Options

If you like pdfs and random tables then there are some options. And where you find one you might find more...

To figure out how adventurers came together, Blackstone Entertainment has 47 Fantasy Adventure Hooks: Bringing Your PCs Together With Style. As well as 47 Motivations, Secrets and Backstories for Your RPG Character and 47 Quirks and Personality Traits for PCs and NPCs
Atelier Clandestin has the Adventurer Background Generator, a pay-what-you-want to help with your character concept. And a Physical Appearance Generator.

Adventuring Parties

Adventuring groups can take on a life of their own, living on even after members have died or retired. 7Tools has a Group Generator (choose "adventuring party") with a name, sigils and other details. They also have a dedicated Group Name Generator. And my most popular tool at Chaos Gen is the Adventurer Group Name.

To create a shield emblem for a group or character there is a Random Shield generator with a fantasy vibe and lots of options.

Plus ditigal titles to detail the group, hirelings and other parts.

Ennead Games has the Adventuring Party Outline Maker with party names, mission and character connections plus others.
For camping, Hero Level Games has Campsite Story Tables and Maps Pack, with tables for story hooks, encounters and weather.
What does their campsite look like? Inkwell Ideas has Infinite Campsites with several d12 tables to help out.
For ideas of sellsword adventurers, Azukail Games has 100 Random Mercenary Companies.
From Chaos Gen (me) is Adventuring Group Names - Random Tables, with tables of example names and more for creating your own name for a group of adventurers.

Companions and Pets

People love their pets in real life and in RPGs too. Faithful mounts, witch familiars, beast companions. So here are some tools to create and customise pets for your games.

There is a Magical Pet Maker at Springhole.net. For complete pet descriptions then you can find earth-like versions at the Pet Generator from RanGen or more fantastical ones in 100 Familiars/Pets from DnD Speak.

Dogs have been companions of humanity since we were hunter-gatherers. And that continues into fantasy and space games with the Pet Dog Name Generator at Fantasy Name Generators. For a wolf or more ferocious dog consider the Random Wolf Generator from Springhole.net.

Cats have been with us for thousands of years too and were revered in Egypt. Name your felines with the Pet Cat Name at Fantasy Name Generators or create a complete one with the Random Cat Generator from Springhole.net.

If horses there's the Pet Horse Name Generator or more heroic-sounding Horse Name Generator at Fantasy Name Generators. There's also a fascination for magical horses, with a Marvellous Technicolor Pony Maker at Springhole.net. Finally there's d100 Horses at Chartopia.

Otherwise there's the detailed Animal Description at Seventh Sanctum. For familiars look at the Witch's Familiar tool at Magic Gurll.

And for digital titles there's...

For hirelings, allies and possible PC portraits, Inkwell Ideas has NPC Portraits Deck: Henchmen & Hirelings, a deck of 54 cards with portrait and details. And then if an adventure goes terribly wrong, it also has Sidequest Decks: After the TPK.
For people to hire, Wintertree Software has 1001 Hopeful Hirelings, with each described in a line or two.
What are the adventurers riding? Find out with D-Percent - 100 Fantasy Mounts, Steeds, and Conveyances from Black Falcon Games.
Ennead Games has Quick Generator Creature Concepts - Familiars with 2 D100 tables.

Other Titles

Then there are some particular things for characters.

Trinkets have been popularised by 5E D&D, with Trinkets at Donjon, 100 Interesting Trinkets from DnD Speak and Fantasy Trinkets (with themes) at Chaos Gen.
Voices can be an unusual thing to specify, with 7Tools having a Voice Generator.
Defining Life Events is a dark-fantasy themed generator from Glumdark
Personalities can be hard to encapsulate, with Fantasy Name Generators having a Personality Description Generator with a detailed one.

And a grab bag of pdfs...

Sherry D. Ramsey has Hooks & Histories: Character Backstory Starters for Fantasy RPGs. Choose from a variety of roles, each with a d6 table with a quirk or quality.
For foretellings for the group, try the Prophecy Generator from Pink Dice Bag Publishing, with d20 tables to build possible futures.
Black Falcon Games has D-Percent - 100 Character Traits for PCs and NPCs. It is part of a bundle, the Character Builder - Random Generator Collection.
To discover what a warrior (npc or character) is doing, Azukail Games has What's the Fighter Doing? 100 Activities. Related is What's the Druid Doing?