3d20 Fairytale Character Creation Tables

This was the original method of character creation that I was going to use for my Weird Wanderings game. I had initially envisioned this game as another in-person ttrpg but my life really isn't super conducive to running such games, and further deliberation with my friends over in the Free Faction Roleplay Discord convinced me to take a more focused and hand crafted route for a play-by-post game. 

However, the idea of this is in keeping with my thesis about fantasy from my earlier post. The character's story starts in the middle of a much longer story of both themselves and the world around them. So you'd have three tables to roll on and these would assign you three Aspects for your past, present, and future. 

I still think these tables are cool and worth using. Expect yet another post about how I actually did character creation for the game I ran. I really like the simplicity of rolling three dice to make a character. It's fast, and the questions provide a little more depth, and you can have fun figuring out how it all works together.

Roll some dice and tell me who you are in the Wandering Wilds!

First Table of Origins: 1d20

Where did you come from? Why did you begin wandering?

1. The Witch's Servant: You were kidnapped, sold, or otherwise given away as a child and forced to serve a witch. What trick did you pick up during your servitude? How did you escape? What did you steal? Who was this witch? Does she still live?
2. The Beast Slayer: As a child, you slew a mighty beast that was tormenting your village. What did you see as the light faded from its eyes? What aspect of the beast lives on in you? How goes the story that others tell about you?
3. Fairy Child: You are the result of a dalliance between a fairy and a mortal. What strange desires set you apart from the other village children? What strange senses guide you in ways inexplicable to others? You have a friend among the Fair Folk. Who is it?
4. Circus Runaway: You ran away to a traveling circus of wonders and were raised by a colorful cast of misfits. What skill did you pick up in this circus? Why did you run away from home? Did you part ways with your circus on good terms?
5. Gutter Rat: You grew up in the labyrinthine alleys of the Shrouded City, a street urchin, stealing what you could to survive. One day you plucked something strange and precious from a magician's pocket. What was it? 
6. Strange Stars: The stars of your birth portend strange happenings and magical giftedness. What odd thing did you do that always sent a chill through your parents?
7. Raised by Wolves: Beasts raised you from childhood. You learned their language and the language of two other beasts. What are they? What skill or talent has been passed onto you by your beastly parents?
8. My Father's Sword: One of your parents was a great hero. What armament did they leave you? What power have you thus far discovered in it? What difficulty or quirk accompanies it?
9. Sleeping Beauty: A powerful fairy’s curse sent you into a slumber for ages uncounted. You wandered in lands of dreams longer than most men live. What did you awake to? What did you bring back from the lands of dreams?
10. The Giant's Lover: You were cursed by a scornful stepparent to only fall in love with a giant. You must marry a giant before you can ever return to your ancestral holdings. Your loving parent gave you a magical gift to aid you and told you of a powerful relative who could aid you. What was this gift and who is this relative? 
11. Cursed with Taxes: You were once an animal turned into a human being. Who did it and why? What bestial aspect remains with you? What animal kin did you leave behind for humanity? What do you think of this new human life?
12. Strange Inheritance: Your adventurer relative left you an odd trinket and an even more odd request. You have been left to deal with their unfinished business. What skill did this adventurous mentor pass onto you? What is this mysterious bauble? What must you do with it? What danger follows?
13. Daughter of the Sea: You were found in the shallows as a babe by the fisherman’s daughter, or so she said to her father. One way or another, you clearly do not solely come from the dry land but from under the sea. While you are on land, you seem human. In the sea, you change. What is your subaquatic form like? Where do you suspect you come from? You know one day that you will have to choose between the land and the sea. Which do you currently think you will choose?
14. Wizard’s Apprentice: You are the apprentice of a bitter wizard who would see you never learn magic so you can never threaten him. What trick did you stolen or coaxed from him? He has sent you into the world with an impossible task. What is it? He gave you a minimally useful tool to help you. What was it?
15. Dire Squire: You were once a squire to a mighty knight who abruptly met his end, then another, then another. You received a lot of training but no lord ever wanted to risk your foul luck killing more of his knights, so you were sent away to find a knight that didn’t die immediately. What lesson did you learn along the way from the grizzly fates of your mentors? What three pieces of equipment have you posthumously inherited? Why do you suspect this is happening to you?
16. Servile Upbringing: You were raised in a noble house as a servant. You would be surprised the kind of skills demanded of a servant for scheming and petty nobles. What three skills did you pick up? Why were you dismissed? What did you take with you?
17. Wandering Prince: You are a prince on a quest to save a princess or your kingdom from a terrible villain. The only issue is: you don’t really know what castle your princess is meant to be in. Where have you looked before? Who is this villain? What strange tool have you found to help you on your quest? Who is your talking animal companion
18. Wayward Son: You are a vagabond. You have mostly gotten by with a silver tongue, good luck, and a lot of cunning. What is something you have stolen? Who is someone you have made an enemy of? What kind of target are you most adept at fooling? What is a talent you’ve always had?
19. Cursed Orphan: Your parents were ensnared in a terrible curse. What is this curse? Who placed it? You have had to deal with many odd entities in your quest to free them. What is one strange creature you have shown mercy? What is one friend you made in an unexpected place? What is one rule of the world of fairies and spirits you have come to learn?
20. Down the Rabbit Hole: You come from another world altogether. What is your world like? What three things did you bring from the other world? Do you have a way home? Do you want to go home?

Second Table of Findings: 1d20

What have you found during your travels? What kind of adventures have you had along the way?

1. An Encounter with Death: You met Death along the road. You managed to escape with one of the following items. How did you manage it? Each item will call Death to it when used. Roll 1d4 or choose one. 1) Skeleton Key: Unlocks any door. 2) Gossamer Cloak: Put it on to move unseen by all but spirits. 3) Death's Dice: Death is a notorious gamester. Use these bone dice for a stroke of luck. 4) Fate's Scissors: Cuts any thread, rope, or chain
2. Beast Companion: You rescued a noble beast from being caged or killed. It has followed and served you ever since. What is this beast? What is one strange thing about it? How did you save it?
3. Fairy Favor: You rescued one of the Fair Folk from a trap. They offered you a gift. Roll 1d4 or choose one: 1) A beautiful glass flower that offers you protection from magic. 2) A crystal tear that grants you light that repels evil. 3) A cloak of woven moonlight that allows you to go unseen under moonlight. 4) A single fairy favor to call upon the fairy you saved in your time of need.
4. Dark Reflection: Your shadow has a life of its own due to a curse. Who cursed you and why? What dark aspect of yourself does your shadow self reveal? Your shadow can go out from you and interact with the physical world although it may not always obey your will.
5. Fireworker Foibles: The creation of fireworks is a secretive art that you have managed to learn to some small degree. You regularly possess the materials for crafting fireworks on your person. How did you learn about this or from whom? What have you set on fire and who has it upset? 
6. Terrible Treasure: You laid hands on a treasure you should have left alone. It offers you a power at a great cost. What is that power? The object is (1d4): 1) A whispering ring. Whose will continues to haunt it? 2) A tainted blade. What mighty evil did it slay whose blood yet defiles the wielder? 3) A sin-stained dagger. What horrors have been committed by this weapon that it thirsts to repeat? 4) A gemstone prison. What evil is trapped within?
7. Bothersome Bard: A bard follows you to record your exploits in song! What did you do to make this bard think you were a legend in the making? What was the song it inspired
8. Dreadful Draught: You have a flask of some useful potion. Who did you steal it from? It might run out as a consequence of a roll. The potion is (1d4): 1) a healing potion 2) a potion of swiftness 3) a water breathing potion 4) a potion of strength.
9. Hey Listen!: You have a tiny glowing, flying fairy helper who is loyal to you. From what danger did you rescue it? What is annoying about this fairy friend? 
10. Bag of Useful Things: Reach into this leather pouch to pull out a useful object for your situation. You may invoke this object to automatically pull out an object that would be genuinely useful, however invoking it will change or deplete it as per your Storyteller's whim. You may also roll to see how useful the item is, a straight 2d6. On a 5 or less, the item may be actively detrimental. Who did you steal this bag from?
11. Plentiful Pockets: You have a coat absolutely covered in pockets. They perpetually contain (1d4): 1) starry sparkles, 2) cogs, gears, and little mechanical parts, 3) potent herbs and spices, 4) shining marbles.
12. Welcoming Wind: You managed to befriend a wind. It is… (1d4): 1) light but loyal, 2) furious but fickle, 3) mighty but mischievous, 4) protective and paranoid. How did you befriend this wind?
13. Gift of Song: By fairy gift or wondrous lineage, you have been given the gift of song. Your singing has the power to charm beasts, fascinate fey, and even sway the hearts of men. How did you come by this ability? How have you used it in the past?
14. Mirror Mirror: This mirror contains a bound devil which can be used to see distant events and answer questions, although the imp within might give you answers you don't wish to hear. How did this come into your possession? How much do you trust it?
15. Lunar Visage: You met the Queen of the Moon on a moonless night. She prepared to remove her veil, asking you to avert your gaze. If you looked away, you sensed a bright flash and her veil lay on the ground before you, a cloak of shadow allowing you to move unseen under the cover of darkness. If you looked at her, you witnessed something sacred and mysterious with your crude eyes. You gain the ability to manipulate light and shadow, but a terrible hunger for the wonder you lost remains with you. 
16. Brownie Brigade: A small group of brownies, tiny, useful Fair Folk have grown attached to you it seems. What task did you awaken to find completed by them in the morning? You learned how to curry their favor with offerings of food and maintaining a tiny portable fairy house. In exchange, the brownies will do things for you while others sleep, while others cannot see. They will be unable to undertake any tasks requiring strength and they abhor violence, but anything requiring crafty hands or skillful fingers they do gladly.
17. Mask of the Ball: Somehow purloined from the nightmare masquerade in Wonderlost, you have an exquisite mask. Once worn, it utterly conceals your identity. None may even suspect you of any acts done while you wear it even if they watch you put it on, but it is a dangerous thing to gamble with your identity. Be careful, lest you lose it.
18. Scholar’s Skull: This decapitated head remains quite talkative. For liberating hom from his isolation, he'll regale you with ancient stories and wisdom. What decapitated him and what do you suspect it's reason was?
19. Troll Purse: A troll's purse is a dangerous thing to pickpocket. They are snarling, barking, biting things with bad tempers. How did you come across this one? How did you befriend it?
20. Tiny Friend: A little mouse, spider, or other such small animal that might be more than it seems. How did you encounter this helpful creature? What do you suspect its true nature to be?

Third Table of Skills: 1d20

Who have you become? Where might you be heading?

1. Troubadour: You traveled for a while with some troubadours for a while who turned out to be more than they appeared. What was their secret? How was your parting from them?
2. Sailor: You took to the high seas and learned how to navigate the waters. What strange thing have you seen on the waves? What little mysterious treasure have you received from the depths?
3. Woodsmen: You traveled the fairy paths of the Witchwood, learning to chart your path through wooded areas. What fairy have you encountered before and what did you gain from them?
4. Highwayman: You spent some time stealing from the nobility and merchants who traveled the roads. Who did you work with? How was your parting with them?
5. Soldier: You fought in the petty wars of the many many nobles of the Crownwoods. What did you have to do to survive? What gear did you gain from your time? Who did you fight with?
6. Peddler: You have spent time as a peddler of the strange and potentially fraudulent. What three strange items have you found and kept? What did you peddle that you regret?
7. Scholar: You studied in the Veiled College and gained knowledge of things both ordinary and arcane. What was your area of study? What arcane secret did you discover?
8. Courtier: You spent time in the ancient and venerable profession of being a leech, a professional houseguest in the homes of the wealthy and powerful. Your gifts of conversation, storytelling, and other talents have gained you the ability to repeatedly lounge in houses of finery. Whose house do you frequently return to? What talent do you have to thrill the well-to-do.
9. Hunter: You tracked beasts in the forest for food. What strange creature did you wound? What did it offer you to let it go?
10. Fortune Teller: Perhaps you have some real divinatory skill, but you are as much of a deceiver as you are a seer. What real vision did you receive? What was your most usual client? What item do you use to make your predictions?
11. Gambler: You wandered from tavern to tavern winning what little coin you could and fleeing drunken tempers time and time again. What strange thing did you win in a game? Who did you anger that you regret?
12. Mountaineer: You climbed and scrambled over the mountains. What beast or monster did you slay to survive? What secret but dangerous path do you know?
13. Merchant: You sold various goods abroad but made some bad deals and fell afoul of the guild. What did you do wrong? What strange good did you pocket?
14. Shifter: You spent a long time transformed by a witch into an animal, but after you escaped your curse, you continued to have bestial aspects and the ability to transform into the animal at will. What visible clue marks your condition? What animal can you transform into?
15. Fairy Friend: You lived for a time with fairies, in the dreamy atmosphere that accumulates in their proximity where time seemed to bend and stretch. Pleasure blinded the senses. The impossible became the mundane. Did you take a fairy lover? What fairy gift did you take with you? Why did you leave? How much time had passed when you returned to mortal company?
16. Farm Hand: You worked for a while on a farm, sleeping in the hay loft, watching the stars, perhaps side by side with the farmer's beautiful daughter. You awoke one evening to the sound of fairy music. What did you see that night? What did you take with you?
17. Shrine Tender: You tended a place sacred to the fairies. What secret did you learn about dealing with fairies? What gift did you receive for your service?
18. Sky Sailor: You sailed through the heavens in a sky ship. What far off lands have you seen? What treasure did you bring back?
19. Spy: You've crept through the shadows of cities and elegant palaces to uncover the secrets of rival powers. What secret did you discover that put a target on your back? What has helped you stay alive?
20. Dragon Slayer: You have made it the mission of your life to slay a foul dragon and free a realm from its tyranny. Why? What mighty weapon have you found from a hero of old? What mount do you ride?