There are lots of tables and methodologies for making islands. I've looked over the ones I could find and collected them here.
At Sea in the Tropics
Where to get it
The Rusty Dagger
This was also part of Secret Santicore 2011.
What is it
A set of six d10 tables: "Cliffs", "Night", "Random", "Ships", "Creepy", and "Islands".
Sample Output
Island 1
Large mechanical insects are scattered across this island. They lie dormant as if, waiting for a signal.
Island 2
This island appears to be a solid chunk of smooth and rounded stone. That outcropping looks almost like a nose. Is the whole island a half submerged head?
Island 3
This is actually and archipelago chain which has been formed into a an island nation. It is a primarily agricultural based society, or it was until the plague struck. The pox struck nearly everyone, so now the stench of rotting bodies and crops is noticeable well out to sea.
Island 4
This is actually and archipelago chain which has been formed into a an island nation. It is a primarily agricultural based society, or it was until the plague struck. The pox struck nearly everyone, so now the stench of rotting bodies and crops is noticeable well out to sea.
Island 5
This is actually and archipelago chain which has been formed into a an island nation. It is a primarily agricultural based society, or it was until the plague struck. The pox struck nearly everyone, so now the stench of rotting bodies and crops is noticeable well out to sea.
Island 6
Volcanic eruptions are creating a new island here. Huge steam clouds form as magma pours into the sea, and black ash falls like snow for miles.
Notes
It's unclear how to use some of the tables,
but lots of the ideas are evocative. Because there are only 10 options
in "Islands", some of the sample outputs are repeated.
Welcome to Fantasy Island
Where to get it
This was part of Secret Santicore 2014 (p. 22-24,
here).
What is it
A set of eight tables: "Normal Island Types" (d20), "Exotic Island Types" (d6), "Ocean Island Weather Events" (2d6), "Adventure Themes" (d12), and four encounter tables (d12) for islands of different sizes.
Sample Output
Island 1
Sea Stack (large)
A narrow rock, taller than wide, and more than 30’ tall.
The Island is home to a shunned, but noble people.
Island 2
Islet (small)
A small patch of land supports a copse of trees, apron of sand.
The island is a massive arena where things fight for the pleasure of unseen overlords.
Island 3
Rock (tiny)
A single large piece of rock jutting up from the water.
The island is a massive arena where things fight for the pleasure of unseen overlords.
Island 4
Greater Island (huge)
A large landmass that includes hills, volcanoes, and real forests.
The island holds is lost culture, advanced in magic.
Island 5
Rock (tiny)
A single large piece of rock jutting up from the water.
The island is a massive arena where things fight for the pleasure of unseen overlords.
Island 6
Cays (large)
A landmass rich enough for a small community of humans.
The island holds a lost culture, advanced in magic.
Notes
I did not include the weather or encounter tables in the sample results, but they may be useful in a pinch. I also did not end up with any "Exotic" island types, because they are only rolled for on a 20, but that could be OK for an extended island campaign. The final "Adventure Themes" table is interesting, but strangely weighted for a d12 (fully 1/3 of the results are "The island is a massive arena[…]").
Mazes & Minotaurs
Where to get it
Mazes & Minotaurs is free
here. Island generation is on p. 28-29 of the Maze Masters Guide.
What is it
A set of 14 nested tables (mostly xd6)
Sample Output
Island 1
Ringed by smooth, sandy beaches.
Town with some surrounding villages.
The inhabitants live in harmony.
Remote temple
Gigantic Cyclops
Island 2
A variety of coastline exists.
Powerful city ruling an island kingdom.
Gruesome secret. Is a god involved?
Secretive tower
Hydra
Sphinx
Island 3
A variety of coastline exists.
Small villages.
They have never seen outsiders!
Old road
Lycans
Roc
Stone Titan
Island 4
Ringed by high cliffs.
No settlements, uninhabited by humans.
Ruined fortress
Myrmidons [tiny warriors]
Serpent Men
Sphinx
Island 5
Ringed by high cliffs.
No settlements, uninhabited by humans.
Secretive tower
Ghosts
Island 6
A variety of coastline exists.
Town with some surrounding villages.
Islanders regularly attacked by a cruel monster.
Territorial markers (skulls etc.)
Giant Spiders
Giant Eagles
Empusae [vampire witches]
Notes
I really like this one, but it is more of a process to generate an island. Instead of one or two complicated elements, the tables focus on simple elements, and as you fill in the island, you can imagine how they interact. For all that, it sill goes pretty quickly. I think that the tables unnecessarily combine dice, which will lead to e.g. "Gruesome secret" being more common than "Athletic games underway", and I don't see why that is. If I were using these for an extended campaign, then I'd probably just discard duplicate results.
Tome of Adventure Design
Where to get it
You can buy it from
Frog God Games ($21). This is p. 290 of my copy.
What is it
Two d100 tables: "Unusual Island" (d100), and "Owner of the Island" (d100).
Sample Output
Island 1
Vegetation on the island is intelligent and dangerous.
Titan
Island 2
Island is a graveyard for ships.
Leader of aquatic humanoid tribe
Island 3
Island is a graveyard for ships.
Ghostly leader with minions
Island 4
Central volcanoes.
Powerful religious leader (non-human)
Island 5
Cyclopean statues.
Storm giant
Island 6
Island is a living creature and any tunnels probably lead to internal organs.
Mist creature.
Notes
This isn't really what the book is good at (it's more for brainstorming), so it seems a little unfair. There are only 10 items on "Unusual Islands", so it could just be a d10 table, but everything in the book is mapped to a d100 table.
Pathfinder GameMastery Guide
Where to get it
You can buy it from
Paizo ($45 print/$10 PDF). This is p. 216 of my copy.
What is it
One d100 table (25 entries).
Sample Output
Island 1
Island with trees that behave like natural siege artillery, firing enormous nuts and fruit at ships passing too close to shore.
Island 2
Reef rules by warring kingdoms of sentient crabs.
Island 3
Island almost entirely made up of old shipwrecks.
Island 4
Iceberg with a ship trapped in it.
Island 5
Frigid island in the far north filled with countless misshapen monsters trapped within its ice.
Island 6
Frigid island in the far north filled with countless misshapen monsters trapped within its ice.
Notes
I quite like the tables in the Pathfinder GM book, even for non-pathfinder games. There are some other good tables in the "Water Toolbox" section, including "Pieces of Interesting Flotsam", "Ghost Ships and Shipwrecks", and "Sailors and Boatmen".
Weird Science Fantasy Island Generator
Where to get it
Weird & Wonderful Worlds
What is it
A set of eight nested tables.
Sample Output
Island 1
Small
Fungal forest
Volcanic
Singing flowers
Apex predator: Camouflage golems
Threat: Long-range reptiles
Other: Reptiles, Fungus
Treasure: 200 gp natural resources
Island 2
Small
Short grass or mossy
Coral forest
Perpetual, localized storm
Apex predator: Super fast golems
Threats: Fast Reptiles, Trap-making birds
Other: Plant animals, Golems
Treasure: 400 gp ancient relic or natural oddity (special)
Island 3
Small
Tall, sparse trees
Synthetic (plastic, metal, etc.)
Apex predator: Massive birds
Threat: Poisonous golems
Other: Mammals
Treasure: 600 gp ancient relic or natural oddity (mundane)
Island 4
Large
Fungal forest
River of cold blue magma
Apex predator: Fish able to swallow a man whole
Threat: Poisonous mammals
Other: Reptiles, 2 different kinds of arthropod
Treasure: 800 gp ancient relic or natural oddity (special)
Island 5
Tiny
Fungal Forest
Synthetic (plastic, metal, etc.)
Apex predator: Super strong reptiles
Threats: Strong reptiles
Other: Mammals
Treasure: 100 gp natural resource
Island 6
Tiny
Dense, woody forest
Floating building-sized plates
Singing flowers
Scattered, ancient, advanced relics
Apex predator: Poisonous fungus
Threats: Durable fungus
Other: Mammals
Treasure: 200 gp natural resource
Notes
This is most similar to the Mazes & Minotaurs generator, but feels slightly less interesting, I think because it leaves the categories so broad (e.g. "mammals"). I quite like the re-use of base types though, so that we can see Island 5 has Super Strong Reptiles that prey on Strong Reptiles, for example. I also like the conceit of building the "ecosystem" on each island.
I did arbitrarily make the decision that each niche could not support more "species" than the size roll of the island.
These tables would be much faster if there were numbers in front of the options.
Uncharted Isles: a Saltbox Generation Toolkit
Where to get it
Billy Goes to Mordor
What is it
Unlike the other tables here, this is actually a method for mapping a bunch of islands.
Sample Output
Island 1
Small (1 square)
Rocky
Ruin: Settlement of a monstrous race, with a plague or curse
Person of Note: Naval Officer
Island 2
Large (9 squares)
Surrounded by hidden reefs
Salt-swamp
Ruin: Fortress of a wizard, with monsters
Ruin: Settlement of a wizard, with technology
Ruin: Other ruin of a wizard, with a plague or curse
People of Note: 3 Natives, 1 Colonist, 2 Pirates, 1 Naval Officer
Island 3
Small (2 squares)
Jungle
Ruin: Settlement of a humanoid race, with a treasure
Ruin: Temple of a humanoid race, with a weapon
People of Note: 2 Pirates
Island 4
Medium (7 squares)
Rocky
Ruin: Industrial/scientific complex of a wizard, with technology
Ruin: Fortress of a giant race, with a plague or curse
Ruin: Fortress of an ancient pagan race, with technology
Ruin: Other ruin of inhuman things from another dimension, with a survivor
Ruin: Temple of an ancient pagan race, with monsters
People of Note: 3 Natives, 2 Colonists, 1 Escaped Slave
Island 5
Medium (7 squares)
Freshwater river
Rocky
Ruin: Settlement of inhuman things from another dimension, with a weapon
Ruin: Settlement of a monstrous race, with monsters
Ruin: Temple of a humanoid race, with a plague or curse
Ruin: Settlement of a giant race, with a plague or curse
People of Note: 2 Natives, 1 Colonist, 1 Escaped Slave
Island 6
Large (18 squares)
Freshwater river
Surrounded by hidden reefs
Jungle
Ruin: Tomb of inhuman things from another dimension, with a survivor
People of Note: 3 Natives, 1 Colonist, 1 Escaped Slave
Notes
I misunderstood the directions and placed 1d6 ruins on each island, instead of distributing them. I did the same thing for persons of note. This has made for some very dense islands, and a less enjoyable generation experience, but I hope that this will not reflect undeservedly on the toolkit.
I arbitrarily decided island size by 1d4 (this seems common). I limited hte number of ruins and notable people that an island can hold by the size roll. I also skipped names and interrelations of the notable people, and I skipped settlement and lair generation as well.
Worms Upon a Piece of Wood
Where to get it
Legacy of the Bieth
What is it
Five nested tables (for island generation), and an ocean encounter table.
Sample Output
Island 1
Flock of monstrous avians (harpies, perytons, etc.)
Island 2
Inhabitants are very welcoming to outsiders, but have strange customs which wind up causing pain. Sindbad encountered this with the islanders who insisted he marry one of them, but then revealed that if one spouse dies, the other is buried alive with them. Some other examples might be ritual sacrifice
Island 3
Cannibals
Island 4
Sorcerer keeping the populace in thrall through use of charm spells to set up a secret police. No, everything's fine here in this little island village, how are you?
Demon-possessed large animals (think the Lions of Tsavo but worse and all demonic) committed to terrorizing the locals. No interest in rulership or gross consumption, but to cause pervasive terror. Or they're waiting for something, killers even more horrendous than the animal that they now ride...
Island 5
Perfectly symmetrical island. When structures are built on one side facsimiles will appear on the other. Same for the remains of any sapient being. Every day that a facsimile is separated from the island, roll a d6; on a 3+ the facsimile disappears.
Island 6
Colony of ghuls - erudite, urbane, eaters of the dead, and running out of consumable corpses.
Notes
Even though the tables are nominally held together by a 1d4 table, and there is the possibility of combining multiple options, I feel like the options are complete enough and the overlaps simple enough that this might work better as a single table.
Low Country Point Crawl Prep: Barrier Island Generator
Where to get it
Unlawful Games
What is it
Four d20 tables.
Sample Output
Savage Man’s [Island]
Small, Forested
Natives
Dead Alligator [Island]
Medium, Rocky
Uninhabited
Green Man’s [Island]
Medium, Marshland
Uninhabited
Hermit Helena’s [Island]
Medium, Sandbar
Natives
Surly Helena’s [Island]
Large, Structures
Uninhabited
Lost Snake [Island]
Medium, Marshland
Colonists
Notes
Apart from the names of islands, I don't feel like this table is really adding a lot. Similar to "Welcome to Fantasy Island", there is a subtable for "Other" islands, but it is only used on a roll of 20.
100 Uncharted Islands
Where to get it
DnDSpeak
What is it
One d100 table, 100 options. Handy "Generate" button.
Sample Output
Island 1
An island with only one inhabitant, a crazed artist trying to find his muse. He will paint portraits of all who visit him but will destroy them hours later as they did not meet his standards and do not show his inspiration for art.
Island 2
A small rocky island. On the South side, a dock pokes tentatively out of the mouth of a cave at sea level. A long staircase winds up inside the rock from the cave to a temple on the top of the island, long abandoned. The Western side houses a small beach, then a sheer cliff overlooked by the temple gardens, now overgrown. The rest of the island is barren rock, rising upwards from the sea.
Island 3
This island seems to be in constant movement... Turns out it actually is a tiny island that sits on top of a enormous turtle that roams the surface of the ocean. The island is a patch of sand and dirt that sits on its shell, a single, tiny tree sits on top of it.
Island 4
A tiny rocky island with a large tower, the top is illuminated by a very powerful Light spell. This is used as a lighthouse but there isn’t a shore nearby, the lighthouse keeper is elderly and doesn’t remember why they are there or who sent them.
Island 5
A giant knot of vegetation. Kelp extends deep into the waters below, and mangrove-like trees are rooted into the mats of kelp.
Island 6
An island is floating above the sea, about twenty feet from the top of the ocean. On top of the island is a library run by Chameleon warriors who travel around collecting books for their massive library. You can find information about nearly any civilization here, for a price.
Notes
As a crowdsourced-from-reddit table, the quality of entries varies wildly. At least one entry is just a list of short suggestions that were never properly separated, multiple entries are the Zaratan, multiple entries are giant skulls that only look like islands, the units are arbitrary (feet, km, miles, meters), etc. Still, there's some good stuff too, and as the first 100-entry d100 table it is at least full of variety.
Islands in the Sky: Random Island Generator
Where to get it
A Pack of Knolls
What is it
Four tables with some nested rolls and a sky travel encounter table.
Sample Output
Island 1
1 sq mile, plains/prairie
Organized militaristic humanoids
100% human
Island 2
1 sq mile, fey or shadow
House on a hill (occupied)
20% gnome, 20% dragonborn, 20 % shadar-kai, 20% fomorian, 20% drow
Island 3
3 sq mile, fey or shadow
Artisan town
100% human
Island 4
0.5 sq mile, badlands
Small trading village
100% troglodyte
Island 5
24 sq mile, desert
Wilderness
100% wilden
Island 6
4 sq mile, fey or shadow
Wilderness
100% human
Notes
The racial makeup is not very evocative for me, and consequently I feel that these tables also do not carry their weight. Technically these are sky-islands, but I figure the principles are the same.
D100 Islands
Where to get it
Elf Maids & Octopi
What is it
Two d100 tables: "Insular Islands within and around Exile Island", and "Islands and oceanic phenomena on Planet Psychon".
Sample Output
Island 1
A lonely, haunted gravesite, haunted by one undead.
Island 2
Grog shop under tarpaulin over fallen tree with local exotic sentients drinking together
Island 3
Lich dwells in a fortified tomb and a lich inside has power only limited by corpses
Island 4
Drunken cult of the wine god holidaying here in stupors
Island 5
A vampire lord is trapped here, a crumbling collapsed manor is only remnants
Island 6
A gigantic sea serpent hides in a cave here to recover from encounters with worse monsters
Notes
I did not see the second d100 table, so none of the sample islands were generated from it. I generally like these, but some of them link to other d100 tables, and I don't think there's any particular "island" feeling about those ones.
Adrift Amid the Random Isles
Where to get it
Tales from the Sorcerer's Skull
What is it
Six tables
Sample Output
Island 1
Volcanic (active)
Large
Sahuagin, war-like women (man-hungry)
Earth-bound god
Island 2
Coral atoll
Large
Uninhabited
Island 3
Volcanic (active)
Small
Animals
Froghemoth
Island 4
Voclanic (extinct)
Small
Humanoid cargo cult
Island 5
Volcanic (active)
Medium
Uninhabited
Living statues
Island 6
Mountain top of a drowned continent
Very small
Animals
Giant animal
Notes
By making civilization so rare, I feel like the more interesting possibilities of these tables are limited.
