Roll the Bones: d20 Tables for Building Better Starting Settlements

Greetings from the edge,

Got a new article live, and I thought it would be a good idea to expand on it here.

The piece is all about how your starting town is the welcome wagon for your entire campaign. First impressions matter. If the village is memorable, the world feels memorable. If it’s bland… well, your players will treat it like a loading screen.

If you’re building a setting from scratch, or just adding flavour to something prewritten, a few well-placed details can make all the difference.

This post is a companion piece to that article.

What I’ve got for you today is a set of random tables you can roll on to generate a town that feels like more than a dot on a map. Something messy, strange, and alive.

Roll once per table for a quick setup, or roll a few times and stitch the results together into something wonderfully unhinged.

d20 Tables for Building Better Starting Settlements (Steal These)

d20 Village Hooks

1. Built around a crater that still hums at night
2. Entire village floats on tethered platforms
3. Everyone wears mourning clothes… no one will say why
4. A sacred tree bleeds when cut
5. The river runs warm, even in winter
6. Villagers refuse to speak after sunset
7. A statue in the square changes position daily
8. Built atop an ancient battlefield that won’t stay quiet
9. All livestock are born with strange markings
10. The village moves location every few years
11. A bell rings at random with no visible ringer
12. The sky above is permanently overcast
13. The well whispers back when spoken into
14. Everyone shares the same recurring dream
15. A ruined tower no one acknowledges
16. The village celebrates a festival no outsider understands
17. A permanent rainbow hangs overhead… sometimes inverted
18. Doors are painted with protective sigils, all slightly different
19. The forest nearby grows in perfect geometric patterns
20. No one remembers when the village was founded

d20 NPC Quirks

1. Never blinks during conversation
2. Laughs at inappropriate moments
3. Speaks in riddles, even when unnecessary
4. Refuses to touch metal
5. Constantly writes things down, never explains why
6. Talks to an unseen companion
7. Uses the wrong names for common objects
8. Always smells faintly of smoke
9. Finishes other people’s sentences… correctly
10. Afraid of a very specific, mundane thing
11. Insists they’ve met the party before
12. Carries a broken weapon they refuse to discard
13. Whispers even when alone
14. Overly friendly, borders on unsettling
15. Won’t step on cracks or lines
16. Collects something bizarre (teeth, buttons, feathers)
17. Changes mood instantly when a topic is mentioned
18. Speaks of themselves in the third person
19. Treats animals like people and people like animals
20. Has a habit of staring just past you

d20 Village Problems

1. Livestock found drained of blood
2. Crops rot overnight
3. Children reporting the same “imaginary friend”
4. Bandits demanding something oddly specific
5. A local figure has gone missing without a trace
6. Strange symbols appearing on buildings
7. The water source is slowly drying up
8. Nightmares spreading through the population
9. A nearby ruin has become active again
10. Trade caravans refusing to stop here
11. A feud escalating toward violence
12. A new religion gaining influence rapidly
13. Someone is sabotaging essential infrastructure
14. Unseasonal weather causing chaos
15. A local festival is about to go very wrong
16. An outsider is asking dangerous questions
17. A powerful artefact has been discovered
18. Something is stalking the outskirts at night
19. The dead are not staying buried
20. A “solution” has been proposed that may be worse than the problem

d20 Points of Interest

1. A shrine that grants minor miracles… at a cost
2. A tavern where no one remembers arriving
3. A well that shows visions instead of reflections
4. A grave that is always freshly tended
5. A bridge that hums when crossed
6. A ruin that appears only at dusk
7. A market stall that sells impossible items
8. A tree with carvings that change overnight
9. A statue that weeps during storms
10. A cave that amplifies whispers
11. A locked door in the middle of nowhere
12. A pond with perfectly still water
13. A tower with no visible entrance
14. A house that is larger inside than out
15. A crossroads with too many paths
16. A bell tower that rings without a bell
17. A campsite that is always warm
18. A wall covered in warnings in different languages
19. A fire that never goes out
20. A shadow that doesn’t match its owner

d20 Rumours

1. The mayor hasn’t slept in weeks
2. Someone is digging where they shouldn’t
3. The priest has lost their faith
4. A monster has been seen… but only by one person
5. The forest is shrinking overnight
6. A noble is hiding in plain sight
7. The river leads somewhere it didn’t before
8. Someone made a deal they regret
9. A child knows too much
10. The village is cursed, but no one agrees how
11. Something is buried beneath the tavern
12. A ghost is trying to warn people
13. The guards are hiding something
14. A festival tradition has a darker origin
15. A traveller never left… officially
16. Someone is being replaced
17. A sound is heard every night at the same time
18. The animals are behaving strangely
19. A prophecy is being fulfilled… badly
20. The problem is much older than anyone thinks

If you roll something that doesn’t quite fit, don’t throw it out. Twist it. Reinterpret it. Half the fun is figuring out why it makes sense.

Or don’t roll at all. Just pick the ones that make your brain light up and run with them.

There are no wrong answers here. Only interesting ones.

That’s it from the broom cupboard for now.

Stay awesome.

See you in the margins,