[MNBlockHead]

You can use Phrase Express to randomize anything. It is easy to import delimited text file to create the list you want to randomize selection from and, once you have a number of lists, it is trivial to combine them:

There is a {#insert ##chestdescription -random} containing {#insert ##coins -random} and a {#insert ##trinket -random}.

You can get really complicated with this, but I really don't use it this way since I don't like to randomly generate a lot of things in the adventures I create. I think it makes the game feel generic and video-gameish.

But there are some things, like book titles that make sense to generate randomly if characters are absently browsing bookshelfs. I can just edit a scene as the players are in it and as the look at books, I can just type "rbook" and it Phrase Express will automatically replace that word with the name of the book and its coin value. I don't bother generating entire lists before the game—rarely would they look at every or even any book, so it would be a waste of time. I do it during play when they do bother to look.

I do plan to make a number of different books lists, appropriate to different locations. Also, you can nest randomizers, so I could have a list of 1000 books and one of the items in that list could be rare. If rare comes up, it would trigger another random list.

If I really go through building up a number of large lists, I will likely have rbook trigger a pop up asking me to select culture, environment, etc. Maybe rarity (the rarity selection could change the % chance of a rare book).

This all seems like a lot of work, but I find it EASIER to copy from book lists shared online or that I buy from EN5ider and DriveThruRPG and paste them into plain text (e.g. notepad...though I use UltraEdit) and import them into PE, then I do trying to create large random-roll tables in RW.

Slowly but surely, I'm replacing my random-roll tables in RW, Inspiration Pad, and Evernote with lists in PE.

That way, all I have to do, no matter WHAT program I am in, it type a trigger word and have it magically replaced with whatever it is that I wanted randomized.

The one thing I've not made a decision on yet, is how to handle random tables, especially simple ones, in a specific scene description. E.g., I have a scene or area topic for the Spooky Woods and you have and X% chance of an encounter. In the event of an encounter you roll a d20 and consult a table with 20 possible encounters.

Do I want to create a macro for a one-game use?

On the one hand, why clutter my PE library?

On the other, it doesn't take much more time than formatting a table in RW. Instead of a table, I would have a notation in RW like: You have a 35% chance of an encounter for every hex traveled in the Spooky Wood. If an encounter is rolled, use PE "rspookywoods".

I can easily folder phrases by adventure in PE and put them all under an "Adventure Specific" folder to keep things tidy.

I kinda like rolling dice, though, so I would probably only use PE for generating random items from large, frequently consulted lists.