Tables, Tools & Titles Guide for OSR and Older D&D Games

Random tables, random generators and titles for older versions of D&D and related games.

Disclaimer. I'm an affiliate for DriveThru RPG and DM's Guild

Starting Points

D&D has been around since 1974, and is available in many forms older than 5th Edition. There are also many rebuilds of the older versions with the OSR (Old School Revival) games.

Random tables have long been part of D&D, and here we show off some useful in your OSR group or solo games. There is also a D&D Mega-Guide for Generator Tools.

Sept 2025: Initial Guide.

Major Titles

Some of the larger, more well known random titles of D&D 5e

The Tome of Adventure Design (revised) from Mythmere Games has over 500 pages of tables and guidance for various fantasy adventures. If you have the older version you don't need the updated one as it's mostly a formatting update. It has sister titles the Tome of World Building and The Nomicon.
The Perilous Tables from Lampblack and Brimstone is a set of renowned random tables for generating wilderness adventures, emphasizing exploration and discovery. The full Perilous Wilds (revised) has rules and advice using Dungeon World.
Knave: Second Edition from Questing Beast Games is a lightweight old school RPG supported by many useful d100 tables.
Inkwell Ideas has Sidequest Decks: Dungeons, Caves, & Ruins Fantasy, 50+ cards with dungeon plots and encounters.
Castle Oldskull - Game World Generator (deluxe edition) from Kent David Kelly has tables and generators for maps, kindoms, terrain, cities, names and many other things for your fantasy campaign

Old D&D Solo

Many products with random tables are good for Solo play, but these are specifically for solo games. Also for Shadowdark there's SoloDark over at The Arcane Library. Just One Torch at Itch is a toolkit to help solo any OSR Game.

Another option from Tom Scutt is DM Yourself - solo roleplay for 5e, D&D and OSR adventures. It covers not just 5E D&D, but older editions of Dungeons and Dragons. And DM Yourselves is a sequel title.
From Parts per Million is Old School Solo, a guide with tables to playing solo in an OSR style.
Scarlet Heroes from Sine Nomine Publishing has rules for one player and one gm that are also applicable to solo play. Either as an overlay for another OSR game or it's own game.

Free and Pay What You Want Options

If you like free (or pay-what-you-want) pdfs and random tables then there are some options. On Itch.io there's Just One Torch, a 38-page toolkit supporting Old School Revival games.

Worlds Without Number from Sine Nomine Publishing is a full rpg, but also has a free edition and many random tables to detail your world.
Black Streams: Solo Heroes from Sine Nomine Publishing is a lightweight solo rpg written for running classic D&D adventures for a single character.
From BroadSwordBard is Manual of Hexterity, a pay-what-you-want guide to sandbox wilderness crawls using old-school systems.
The Hounds of Halthrag Keep by the Hapless Henchman is a solo kit for Dungeon Crawl Classics (but would work for other OSR) with a 0-level focus.
Random Fungi from 3 Toadstools is a pay-what-you-want title with many random tables for dungeon settings.

Hexcrawl Generator Titles

Hexcrawling is a style used when playing many old school rpgs. What will the next hex have?

Atelier Clandestin has a Sandbox Generator with hex maps and tables for filling them with settlements, npcs, dungeons and other pieces of interest.
The Old Commander goes to Hexcrawl from Doppelganger Publishing is a fantasy mini-setting with tables for hexes in a hexcrawl wilderness setting.
Inifininm Game Studios has FlexTale Hexcrawl Atlas: Western Realm of Aquilae, with many hexmaps for wilderness terrains.
From Shielddice Studio is Hex-Worlds & The Domain Cartographer, a grid and system for creating hex-icon worlds.
The Hexcrawl Toolbox from Games Omnivorous is a collection of 150 map hexes, covering eight biomes. Plus a 48 page guide on running hexcrawls, with random tables to support these.

Dungeons

Dungeons are the original default setting for old school adventures.

For 220+ pages of advice on dungeon building and random tables, Kent David Kelly has Castle Oldskull - The Classic Dungeon Design Guide. It's also system neutral. The Castle Oldskull - Oldskull Dungeon Generator has tables focused on building an old school OSR-style dungeon
Dungeon Ambience and Encounter Bundle from Grinning Skull Studios has several 100 item titles along with adventures and sound tracks.
For a deck with basic maps and room summaries the Universal Adventures Dungeon Deck from New Realms Publishing has a deck of 54 cards, with several visible in the previews. There is a sequel of Universal Adventures Dungeon Deck II.
From Axebane Games is Axebane's Deck of Many Dungeons, a deck of 54 cards, each with a part of a dungeon map and a random table containing treasure, quest ideas or something else.

Other Titles

And anything that doesn't fit in other categories. One of these is OSE (Old School Essentials) Encounter Activity Tables from d4 Caltrops, listed by creature type.

Bad Things Happen from Atelier Clandestin is a collection of tables for misfortunes and challenges when exploring a dungeon, camping in the wilds or visiting a city.
Maze Rats from Questing Beast Games has rules for playing simple osr. But just as valuable are the many d66 tables to create things for your game.
Seas of Sand by the Goat's Head has tables and tools for a game in a huge desert.
From Lore Wise Games is d1000 Plus Non-Magical Treasures, to give a full range of interesting treasure objects.
For trinkets to give to characters and NPCs, Inkwell Ideas has Infinite Trinkets with a few d12 tables. For more items they also have Infinite Tomes, Coin Creator and Inifinte Gems & Jewelry.